The baby boy was greatly welcomed upon his arrival into the family, while the baby girl might not only be unwelcomed but very greatly undesired. This was mostly because girls counted for so little as they would marry and then no longer belong to their family but entirely to the family of their husband. Boys would not only become the support of their family but they might have opportunity to acquire learning and thus add dignity and honor to their family. Too, there was great need of sons to carry on the ancestral worship and if not born into the family they must be procured through adoption or by means of concubines. Without a son a man would live without honor and would die unhappy. No matter how good or how beautiful a girl might become, she could never equal the very poorest and weakest boy.

Public sentiment, especially in the older times of China, was strongly against the individual who would not accord to his parents due respect and obedience. No matter how old, how educated, or how wealthy he might become this respect and obedience was still due his parents. Confucius taught: "That parents when alive should be served according to propriety, that when dead they should be buried according to propriety, and that they should be sacrificed to according to propriety."86

"If a son should murder his parent, either father or mother, and be convicted of the crime, he would not only be beheaded, but his body would be mutilated by being cut into small pieces; his house would be razed to the ground, and the earth under it would be dug up for several feet deep; his neighbors living on the right and the left would be severely punished; his principal teacher would suffer capital punishment; the district magistrate of the place would be deprived of his office and disgraced; the prefect, the governor of the province, and the viceroy would all be degraded three degrees in rank. All this is done and suffered to mark the enormity of the crime of a parricide."87

The practice of the compressing of the feet arose in China, it is thought, sometime during the ninth century of our era. It is only conjecture as to how and why this originated. Some accounts state that it arose from a desire to pattern after the club feet of a popular empress; another story is that it gradually came into use because of the admiration of small feet and the attempt to imitate them; and a third suggestion is that it developed through the men wishing to keep their wives from gadding. The Chinese women call their feet "golden lilies," which is accounted for from the popular idea that a certain empress was so beautiful that golden lilies sprang out of the ground wherever she stepped.

The age at which the binding began varied, being from six to eight years of age, but sometimes the bandages were put on as soon as the little girl was able to walk. The whole operation was performed, and the shape maintained by bandages, which were never permanently removed or covered by stockings. The bandages were of strong white cotton cloth, about two yards long and between two and three inches wide. The end of the strip was laid on the inside of the foot at the instep, then carried over the toes, leaving the great toe free, then under the foot and round the heel, and the bandage was so continued till all used up and then the end was sewed tightly down. Each day the bandage was tightened and if the bones should spring back into place upon the removal of the bandage, sometimes they would be struck back into place with a blow from the heavy mallet used in beating clothes. These bandages would finally cause a bulge in the instep, a deep indentation in the sole, and the toes would grow down under and across the sole and come out on the opposite side, the great toe alone retaining its normal position, the foot becoming from four to six inches in length and sometimes even three or less.

The pain and suffering, as might be expected, was very severe and continued so for about three years. In some families the child would have to stay of nights in an outhouse or elsewhere away from the family so as not to disturb them through the night, while in others the mother or mother-in-law would have a big stick by the side of her bed, with which to get up and beat the little girl should she disturb the household by her wails. Toes would often drop off under binding and sometimes the entire foot. When grown up the women could walk alone with their maimed feet for short distances but usually they needed to be supported by some one or something. "Don't imagine, however, that Chinese ladies are unable to move. They can, most of them, walk short distances. But it is true that the spirit is taken out of them by this species of suffering, and that they are oppressed by a sense of physical helplessness and dependence."88

"Active, manly plays are not popular in the south, and instead of engaging in a cricket-match or regatta, going to a bowling-alley or fives' court, to exhibit their strength and skill, they lift beams headed with heavy stones to prove their brawn, or kick up their heels in a game of shuttlecock. The outdoor amusements of gentlemen consist in flying kites, carrying birds on perches, sauntering hand in hand through the fields, or lazily boating on the water, while pitching coppers, fighting crickets or quails, kicking a shuttlecock, snapping sticks, chucking stones or guessing the number of seeds in an orange, are plays for lads."90

"Children's games are always interesting. Chinese games are especially so because they are a mine hitherto unexplored. An eminent archdeacon once wrote: 'The Chinese are not much given to athletic exercises.' A well-known doctor of divinity states that, 'their sports do not require much physical exertion, nor do they often pair off, or choose sides and compete, in order to see who are the best players,' while a still more prominent writer tells us that, 'active, manly sports are not popular in the South.' Let us see whether these opinions are true."91 And this author goes on to give a large number of games, enough to bear out his statement in the preface to his book that, "to the careful observer of these different phases it becomes apparent that the Chinese child is well supplied with methods of exercise and amusement, also that he has much in common with children of other lands."

There were numerous holidays and festivals, giving abundance of entertainment for the children. The principal time of leisure and rejoicing was at the new year. On the night of the last day of the old year everybody would remain up and at midnight a great time was begun with an incessant firing of crackers and this was kept up for a number of days. Another great time was at the Feast of Lanterns, in which was a procession of men and boys with lanterns of all shapes and sizes, the procession ending with an immense and terrible dragon, forty feet or more in length, carried aloft on bamboo poles.

Kite-flying was a national recreation, indulged in by all ages and classes. It was not an unusual thing to see an old gray-haired man enjoying it in company of a young boy. All kinds of kites were used and of all sizes. The ninth day of the ninth month, which comes in October, was "Kites' Day." On that day the men and the boys would go out to the hills and have a great time. Rank and size and age made no difference, as all entered into the zeal of the sport just the same. The greatest sport consisted in the cutting of one another's kite strings while the kites were in the air, which was done by the sawing of one string on another.

There were plenty of little shows and juggling and gymnastic feats for the children and who might wish to see them. They had Punch and Judy, trained dogs and monkeys, the whirling of plates, the tossing of knives, juggling of various kinds, sword swallowing, and many other tricks and performances.

The Chinese children had plenty of toys, which, as in all countries, were suited to the wants of that country. The toys were not greatly complicated in structure. There were rattles for the baby, dolls for the little girl, and drums and knives and tops for the boys.

"There are not many games in which boys and girls play together. If they do play together it is only while they are children, under ten or twelve. Growing-up girls will have nothing whatever to do with boys, though Chinese boys and girls are very sociable, each with friends of their own sex."92

Girls have plenty of games they play among themselves—"Lots of them," which Headland says was the stereotyped answer that would come from any Chinaman to almost any question he might be asked about things Chinese. Several are given but one quoted here will be sufficient to show that their games are as full of life as among girls anywhere. "This small girl after some delay took control of the party and began arranging them for a game, which she called 'going to town,' similar to one which the boys called 'pounding rice.' Two of the girls stood back to back, hooked their arms, and as one bent forward she raised the other from the ground, and thus alternating, they sang:

At which point they both sat down back to back, their arms still locked, and asked and answered the following questions:

They then tried to get up, but, with their arms locked, they found it impossible to do so, and rolled over and got up with great hilarity."93

In the one city of Peking alone, Headland collected more than seventy-five different games. In his pictures and descriptions of games played by boys are such as would call out much vigorous exercise. One of their favorite games was "Skin the snake." In this game the boys all stood in line one behind the other. They would then bend forward and each put one hand between his legs and grasp a hand of the boy behind him. Then they all would back and the rear boy would lie down and the others would back over astride of him and each would lie down in turn, thus bringing the head between the legs of his neighbor. When all were down then the last boy that lay down would get up and each would get up in turn, raising each one after him, until all were up and standing straight, when they would let go hands and the game was finished.

Gambling was, perhaps, the greatest sport of the Chinese, and it was indulged in by both men and boys. "A boy with two cash prefers to risk their loss on the throw of a die, to simply buying a cake without trying the chance of getting it for nothing."94 One of their means of gambling was through cricket-fighting. In the season, the crickets were hunted by men and boys, who would go out to the hills and waysides to get them. They were cared for and trained and some would become such great fighters as to command high prices.

The young women enjoyed wearing colors, pink and green and blue being the ones most preferred. The ordinary dress was a large-sleeved robe of silk or cotton over a longer garment, under which were loose trousers fastened round the ankles just above the small feet and tight shoes. They wore their hair hanging down in long tresses, and the putting up of the hair was one of the ceremonies preparatory to marriage. The eyebrows were blackened with charred sticks and arched or narrowed to a fine curved line, to resemble a young willow leaflet or the moon when a day or two old. Cosmetics were used quite freely, on grand occasions the face being daubed with white paint and the lips and cheeks with red, so that all blushes were covered up. They wore bangles, bracelets, and ear-rings of glass, stone, and metal. "A belle is described as having cheeks like the almond flower, lips like a peach's bloom, waist as the willow leaf, eyes bright as dancing ripples in the sun, and footsteps like the lotus flower."95

In some parts of China, if not in all, the baby in summertime wore no clothing at all. In the winter it wore quilted trousers with feet attached. In some parts the trousers of the baby were partly filled with sand or earth, so that it was a common saying that a person who displayed small practical knowledge had not yet been taken out of his "earth-trousers." The older children wore the same pattern of clothing and cut out of the same kind of cloth as their parents and grandparents.

"I well remember the first time I was led to a temple and there told to bend my knees to the idol decked out in a gorgeous robe, its face blackened by the smoke from the incense. On either side of the room stood four huge idols, with stern and forbidding faces. One of them was especially frightful. It was the God of Thunder represented by an image having the body of a man and the head of a highly caricatured rooster. This idol had a hammer in one hand and a large nail in the other, with which he is supposed to strike wicked persons. This god made such an impression on me that I had a horrible dream about it that very night. I saw him clad in fierceness; he moved his hands threateningly. Almost choked with fright though I was, I managed to cry out and that awoke me."96

Nevertheless of this high esteem for education, there were no public schools in the sense as with us as the government did not establish schools, except, perhaps, for the most advanced students. Yet there were a great number of schools, taken care of in a private way, and although every village did not have a school, yet they would have liked such, but mostly on account of poverty could not, for everywhere was the most profound reverence for education. There were three classes of undergraduate schools: "The primary, in which little is attended to beyond memoriter recitation and imitative chirography; the middle, in which the canonical books are expounded; and the classical, in which composition is the leading exercise."97 Because of the great number of literary scholars who wanted to teach, the pay for the most part was quite meager.

School usually began about six in the morning, and it continued all day, with intervals for breakfast and lunch, sometimes running till dark. In some of the higher schools the scholars would return in the evening to their school work. School would continue throughout the entire week and the year, except one month during the New Year's festival and a vacation at wheat harvest and also at the autumnal harvest. If the teacher was preparing himself for a literary degree, there might be a vacation of about six weeks in the summer. The teacher was often not quite regular in his attendance at the school and the pupils were still more irregular than he, so that in a way made up for the lack of holidays.

There were scarcely any school-houses as such in China. The schools were held as a rule in the hall of a temple or in a private building, usually the ancestral temples were used for such purposes, and yet they might be held in a shed, which scarcely protected from the weather, or in the upper attic of a shop. In this room were placed a table, with an arm-chair, for the teacher. The writing-materials, which consisted of brushes, India ink, and ink-wells made of slate, were placed on this table. About the room were tables and stools for the pupils. In one corner of the room was placed a tablet or an inscription on the wall, dedicated to Confucius and the god of Letters.

Whatever may be said of education in older China, the teachers were educated men, the majority of them being unsuccessful candidates for literary degrees, but many of them were Bachelors and not a few were Doctors. For the work they had to do they were well prepared by a long course of study and they were usually competent. "In no country is the office of teacher more revered. Not only is the living instructor saluted with forms of the profoundest respect, but the very name of teacher, taken in the abstract, is an object of almost idolatrous homage."98 Yet, "as a matter of fact, the Chinese teacher is often barely able to keep soul and body together, and is frequently obliged to borrow garments in which to appear before his patrons."99

The first day of school was a great and noted day in the life of a Chinese boy. He entered school in his seventh or eighth year. When he was to enter school, a lucky day was found for him, and with his good clothes on he started for school, feeling that this was the greatest event that was to happen in his life till he entered the Imperial Academy, which he was sure to do, so said all his friends. On entering the school-room he saluted, by prostrating himself, the picture of Confucius and next, with almost as much reverence, saluted his teacher, for the teacher was held in very high respect.

The course of study for the schools of China was formulated a long time ago and rigidly held to in all the schools of the empire. It was divided into three grades of instruction. The Chinese language does not have an alphabet but there is a different symbol for each word. In the first period the pupil was to learn the most important symbols, learning also to write them, and to commit to memory the nine sacred books, known as the Four Books and the Five Classics. The Four Books are known as the Confucian Analects, the Great Learning, the Golden Medium, and the Sayings of Mencius; and the Five Classics are the Book of Changes, the Book of History, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Book of Odes, and the Book of Rites. All this would take four or five years on the part of the pupil. As these books were written in the old Chinese language they would not be understood by the pupils and the second stage of learning consisted in the translation of these books and classics into the language of the pupils, and also there were lessons in composition. The commentaries on these works were taken up and their meaning explained. In the third stage of learning composition was entered upon and consisted in the writing of essays and poems, imitating the style and thought of the five classics and the better commentaries. A full comprehension of the four books and the five classics and the commentaries upon them and the use of this knowledge in the writing of essays and poems was the desired end aimed at by the Chinese scholar and which was all that was needed for the highest examination in the empire.

The methods of teaching with the Chinese were formal, being based upon methods handed down from the ages, so that all teachers taught in the one stereotyped way. In teaching reading the teacher would have the pupils come to his desk, stand in line, each holding his book open before him. The teacher would read aloud a line, the pupils would then read this in concert in a loud voice, and this would continue till the pupils could pronounce the line without the teacher's help. Then they would go to their seats and commit this line to memory, each shouting it out as loud as he could. "Every Chinese regards this shouting as an indispensable part of the child's education. If he is not shouting how can the teacher be sure that he is studying? and as studying and shouting are the same thing, when he is shouting there is nothing more to be desired."100 When the pupil had learned the line, he would go to the teacher's desk, lay his book upon it, turn his back to the teacher, and shout out the line as rapidly as he possibly could do. This method gave to the Chinese the phrase "to back the book" as we have "to learn by heart." This method was continued till the whole book was committed to memory.

The only other subject taught in the elementary schools was writing. In teaching writing, the master would make a copy and the pupil would place it under transparent paper and trace it with a hair pencil and then copy it without the tracing till he could make it from memory. "In lieu of slates, they generally use boards painted white to save paper, washing out the writing when finished."101 In China, writing takes the place that drawing and painting do here, so all strive to become fine penmen.

For most of the boys, three or four years was the extent of their schooling, but if higher education was desired they attended higher schools. Here they were given lectures explaining the meaning of classical authors, which lectures were greatly committed to memory. They were also taught prose and verse composition, in which they followed the thought, style, and meter of the sacred books or of great writers, memorizing these writings for the purpose.

The Chinese teacher was very severe. The more severe he was, the better teacher he was considered. Fear ruled in the Chinese school. That the boy might ever be reminded of the necessity of studying, the implements to help him were always kept in plain view, as, "a wooden ruler to be applied to the head of the offender and sometimes the hands, also a rattan stick for the body. Flogging with this stick is the heaviest punishment allowed; for slight offenses the ruler is used upon the palms, and for reciting poorly—upon the head."102 Teachers carried their punishments to extreme lengths. The bad pupils were the stupid ones who did not get their lessons assigned in the given time. For such, severe beatings were administered, so severe that in one case "a pupil was so much injured as to be thrown into fits, and such instances can scarcely be uncommon."103

Girls were not often educated in China, because the parents thought it of no use as they would marry and leave them, also there was no such incentive for girls as with boys, who might hold office, and besides popular opinion regarded reading and writing dangerous arts in female hands. Nevertheless here and there a woman came forth among the educated and celebrated instances were sometimes quoted of women who have been skilled in verse. When a woman did emerge with a good education, she was highly respected for her attainments. The girls of the better class were taught needlework, painting on silk, and music.

Education in China did not stop with the youth, as the manner of filling the offices through literary competitive examinations kept many studying even to old age. This system was very old, dating back to several centuries before Christ. In these examinations there were three grades of degrees conferred—"flowering talent," Bachelors; "promoted man," Master; "entered scholar," Doctor. Beyond this was yet another higher honor, as the very highest became members of the Imperial Academy, the "forest of pencils," at the court at Peking. The best and most finished scholar of all was so designated every three years by the Emperor, the very greatest honor. The only thing in history that seems to approach this honor is the winning of the foot-race at the Olympian Games.

Chinese education appears to fulfill the saying heard in this country in bygone days—Educate a boy and he won't work—for in China "the scholar, even the village scholar, not only does not plow and reap, but he does not in any way assist those who perform these necessary acts. He does not harness an animal, nor feed him, nor drive a cart, nor light a fire, nor bring water—in short, so far as physical exertion goes, he does as nearly as possible nothing all day. 'The scholar is not a utensil', (a Confucian saying), he seems to be thinking all day long, and every day of his life, until one wishes that at times he would be a utensil, that he might sometimes be of use. He will not even move a bench nor make any motion that looks like labor."104

"There are among us who are enamored of state-systems which regulate education down to its minutest detail, and leave no room for the free play of mind: in China we have this indirectly accomplished and see in it all its necessary rigidity, uniformity, and pedantry. There are who advocate a secular system of education: in China we see this in full operation. There are who think that all success in the education of mind should be measured by external competitive tests: in China we have this elaborated into an iron system. There are who cling by the dogmatic and preceptive, and regard with suspicion the habituating of the mind of schoolboys to ideals esthetic and spiritual, including even the simple elements of humanity: in China they will find what they desire to see. There are who hold that teachers and school-inspectors are heaven-born, and are above the study of educational principles and methods (as the Emperor Sigismund was supra Grammaticam): so China thinks."105

Whatever may be said of Chinese education, it has lasted through the ages and it has sufficed for the needs of the nation. It may be that when this old nation gets a system of education based upon European and American ideas, and fills her offices with the most highly educated and only the most highly educated, then may China lead the world.

LITERATURE

1. Barnes, Earl and Mary S., Historical ideas and methods of Chinese education. Studies in education, I (1896-97), 112-118.
2. Carus, Paul, Chinese life and customs.
3. Davis, John Francis, The Chinese.
4. Doolittle, Justus, Sketches of social life in China. Harper's Magazine, XXXI (1865), 429-442.
5. Douglass, Robert K., China.
6. Flower, William Henry, Fashion in deformity.
7. Graves, Frank Pierrepont, A history of education, Before the Middle Ages.
8. Headland, Isaac Taylor, Home life in China.
9. Headland, Isaac Taylor, The Chinese boy and girl.
10. Laurie, S. S., Historical survey of pre-Christian education.
11. Lee, Yan Phou, When I was a boy in China.
12. Little, Mrs. Archibald, Intimate China.
13. Martin, W. A. P., The Chinese.
14. Martin, W. A. P., The lore of Cathay.
15. Smith, Arthur H., Chinese characteristics.
16. Smith, Arthur H., Village life in China.
17. Williams, S. Wells, The Middle Kingdom.

CHAPTER VI
THE CHILD IN JAPAN

"Of one hundred and twenty-three Japanese sovereigns, nine have been women. The custodian of the divine regalia is a virgin priestess. The chief deity in their mythology is a woman. Japanese women, by their wit and genius, made their native tongue a literary language. In literature, art, poetry, song, the names of women are among the most brilliant of those on the long roll of fame and honor on whose brows the Japanese, at least, have placed the fadeless chaplet of renown. Their memory is still kept green by recitation, quotation, reading, and inscription on screen, roll, memorial-stone, wall, fan, cup, and those exquisite works of art that delight even alien admirers east and west of the Pacific.

"In the records of the Japanese glory, valor, fortitude in affliction, greatness in the hour of death, filial devotion, wifely affection, in all the straits of life when codes of honor, morals, and religion are tested, in the person of their professors, the literature of history and romance, the every-day routine of fact, teem with instances of the Japanese woman's power and willingness to share whatever of pain or sorrow is appointed to man. In the annals of persecution, in the red roll of martyrs, no names are brighter, no faces gleam more peacefully amidst the flames, or on the cross of transfixing spears, or on the pyre of rice-straw, or on the precipice edge, or in the open grave about to be filled up, than the faces of the Christian Japanese women in the seventeenth century. Such is the position of woman in Japan in the past."106

In later times woman fell from her high estate and even lost power over herself, as she came under her father in the home, under her husband when married, and under her son when widowed. "The introduction of the Chinese civilization with the Confucian system of moral philosophy, and of Buddism, and later on the establishment of Feudalism, were prejudicial to this high position of women. Chinese philosophers seem not to have had much respect for women; while Buddism regards women as sinful creatures, a temptation and snare, an obstacle to peace and holiness. In our feudal system, in the code of Bushido, there was no reverence for women as in the Western Chivalry."107 Buddism entered into Japan in the sixth century of the Christian era and Confucianism came in some earlier, while Feudalism existed in Japan earlier than in Europe and continued later, from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries being the time during which the feudal system received its most perfect development and the Bushido, or "The Way of the Samurai," was fully elaborated.

The Japanese women had a love for beauty, order and neatness; they were patient and long-suffering; their hopes lay in their children and they tended and cared for them as, perhaps, no other nation of women ever did. They had plenty to keep them busy with their numerous household duties and the making of their own clothing and that of their children. Many of them were engaged in the care of silk-worms and in tea-picking. The country wife was busy in the rice-field, doing her work alongside her husband and sons, as well as performing the other duties that came into her country life. "Among the daily tasks of the housewife, one, and by no means the least of her duties, is to receive, duly acknowledge, and return in suitable manner, the presents received in the family. Presents are not confined to special seasons, although upon certain occasions etiquette is rigid in its requirements in this matter, but they may be given and received at all times, for the Japanese are pre-eminently a present-giving nation."108

"As regards our standard of beauty.... A woman to be considered beautiful by us, need not be tall. Height may be divinely imposing, but not essential to human beauty. With us, about five feet would be considered the most desirable height, but if one must err, it is advisable to err by exceeding rather than by falling short of the mark. The figure should be slender without being bony, the waist long and the hips narrow. To secure grace, the body should be held slightly forward, not boldly erect. A very important feature is the neck, which should be long, white, slender, and gracefully curved. The hair should, of course, be abundant, long, and perfectly straight, and while no deviation from black is tolerated, it should not be just black, but should be so glossy that it seems blue-black. The face should be oval and long, with a straight nose, which should also be high and narrow. As for the eyes, opinions are divided, one school of connoisseurs demanding that they should be large with a double line of the lid, while another school prefers that the eyes should be long and narrow and slightly slanting upwards at the outer corner. The color of the eye should always be clear and deep brown; the lashes thick, long, and curved; the eyebrows black and distinct, their line long, and well arched; the mouth small; lips thin, curved, and red; teeth small, regular, and white. The ears must be evenly curved, with no angle, and in size not too small, for pinched lobes look poverty-stricken. Large ears, like those of the probable inhabitants of Mars, lately described by Professor Perrier, if not exactly beautiful, are believed to be lucky. As for the shape of the forehead, there are four types. By the one termed 'horned,' we mean that in which the hair grows to a point in the middle of the forehead and high at the sides after the fashion called by the Germans Geheimraths-Ecke or the 'Councillor's corners.' Then there are the square and the round types; but the forehead most admired is high and narrow at the top, and obliquely slanting at the sides, suggesting the outline of our sacred mountain, Fuji. As for the complexion, it should be fair, with a tint of the rose on the cheek, only, in our parlance, we would call it cherry-hued."109

One of the phases of the life of women in Japan is that of the dancing-girls, the geisha. These are girls obtained when quite young from poor parents or as orphans and trained in establishments for entertaining at tea-houses or at private gatherings. They are taught the old Japanese dances, and other dances, to sing and to play on instruments, to serve wine, and in other ways to entertain. These are from ancient times. "The geisha are not necessarily 'bad women,' as you call them, not any worse professionally than the actresses and vaudeville artistes of America."110 Whatever the geisha may be, there is no question about the jōrō, or courtesans, because licensed houses exist in every part of Japan. Yet this is claimed of rather recent origin, as in the older times such houses did not exist, and especially in the villages and towns of the interior, where there were even but few of such women. The saddest side of these houses is their filling through filial obedience, the one thing considered most important for Japanese women. "The Japanese maiden, as pure as the purest Christian virgin, will, at the command of her father, enter the brothel tomorrow, and prostitute herself for life. Not a murmur escapes her lips as she thus filially obeys. To a life she loathes, and to disease, premature old age, and an early grave, she goes joyfully. The staple of a thousand novels, plays, and pictures in Japan is written in the life of a girl of gentle manners and tender heart, who hates her life and would gladly destroy it, but refrains because her purchase-money has enabled her father to pay his debts, and she is bound not to injure herself. In the stews of the great cities of Japan are today, I doubt not, hundreds of girls who loathe their existence, but must live on in gilded misery because they are fulfilling all righteousness as summed up in filial piety."111

Old age was not a burden or a fear among the Japanese women, nor was it something to be ashamed of. Old age was really welcome, and especially in the last centuries when woman's freedom was taken away and obedience to the men introduced, for old age brought freedom, as then the mother became a person of much consideration, to be waited upon and cared for by children and grandchildren, the burdens of life being turned over to them. "As she bears all things, endures all things, suffers long, and is kind, as she serves her mother-in-law, manages her husband's household, cares for her babies, the thought that cheers and encourages her in her busy and not too happy life is the thought of the sunny, calm old age, when she can lay her burdens and cares on younger shoulders, and bask in the warmth and sunshine which this Indian Summer of her life will bring to her."112

At one time, according to one authority, when a youth had fixed his affections upon a maiden of suitable condition, he disclosed his passion by attaching a branch of a certain shrub (the Celastrus alatus) to the house of the damsel's parents. If this emblem of his passion was neglected, it implied that his suit was rejected; if accepted, so was the lover; and should the young lady wish to express reciprocal tenderness, she forthwith blackened her teeth, though she must not pluck out her eyebrows until after the wedding.113 In other times, the affair was arranged by a go-between. A young man would get a married friend to help him select a bride, to make his wants known to the girl and her family, and to arrange a meeting between the young people at the home of a mutual friend, where they could decide the matter. Again the matter may have been arranged by the families, it might be a long time in advance, so that the young people did not have much to do with it.

When the matter was decided on, then presents were exchanged, the young man usually sending a piece of handsome silk, used for the obi or girdle, which corresponded to the engagement-ring of Europe and America, but sometimes the young man sent other presents, and because of which a handsome daughter was considered rather an addition to the fortune of a family. A formal betrothal was then entered into, and a lucky day found for the wedding.

Just before the wedding, generally on the morning of the wedding-day, the bride's trousseau and the household goods, which the bride was expected to take with her, were sent to the house of the bridegroom. These varied according with the rank and position and wealth of the bride's family. The trousseau would contain dresses for all seasons and sashes of all kinds, and since fashion unchanged a woman might enter her husband's home with a supply of clothing that could last her through a lifetime.

As in old times the wedding ceremony occurred in the afternoon, toward noon there was a bridal procession from the bride's home to the home of the bridegroom. The bride was seated in a palanquin, clothed and veiled in white, escorted by two bridesmaids, and accompanied by relatives, neighbors, and friends, the men all in their dress of ceremony and the women in their gayest robes. When the procession reached the bridegroom's home, the bride was escorted by the bridesmaids into the room of state, where sat the bridegroom in the post of honor, surrounded by parents and nearest relatives.

When the real ceremony was performed there were present the bridegroom and his parents, the bride and her parents, a few of the most intimate relatives or friends, and the cupbearers, perhaps not over a dozen people in all. There was no religious ceremony, no words were spoken, no promises, no vows, no prayer. When all was ready, the wedding-cup, a two-spouted cup, was filled by a young girl with native wine (saké) and presented to the mouths of the bride and groom alternately, till all was drank by them, being a symbol as husband and wife of the equal sharing of their joys and sorrows of married life. Then the young couple arose and offered cups of saké to their parents, after which the bride removed her veil, and the ceremony was ended. Then the wedding-guests, who had been in other rooms during the ceremony, joined the wedding-party and all partook of a feast prepared for the occasion, with the mirth and joy that usually accompany weddings among all peoples and in all times.

On the third day after the wedding, the newly-married couple were expected to make a visit to the bride's family. The bride's family prepared a dinner for the occasion, with music and dancing by professional performers, and other entertainment. A large number of the relatives and friends were invited and the bride appeared as hostess with her mother. Within the course of two or three months, the newly married couple were expected to entertain either in their own home, the home of the bridegroom's parents, or at a tea-house.

"There are wedded couples who labor and save heroically for years, in order to pay the expenses of their marriage festival. There is one rather amusing custom, however, whereby this expense may be avoided. A couple of respectable people have a daughter, who is acquainted with a good young fellow who would be an excellent husband for her, except that he lacks the necessary means to give her the customary wedding-presents and keep a free table for a week, for the two families. The parents, coming home from the bath one fine evening, do not find their daughter at home. They inquire in the neighborhood; nobody has seen her, but all the neighbors offer their services in assisting to find her. The parents accept the offer, and the procession, constantly increasing in numbers, passes from street to street, until it reaches the dwelling of the lover. The latter, protected by his closed screens, in vain pretends to be deaf; he is at last obliged to yield to the demands of the crowd. He opens the door, and the lost daughter, in tears, throws herself at the feet of her parents, who threaten her with their malediction.

"Then, the tender-hearted neighbors, moved by the scene, intercede; the mother relents; the father, remains haughty and inexorable; the intercession of the neighbors increases in eloquence, and the young man promises to be the most faithful of sons-in-law. Finally, the resistance of the father is overcome; he pardons his daughter, pardons the lover, and calls the latter his son. All at once, as if by magic, cups of saké circulate among the crowd; everyone takes his or her place on the matting of the room; the two outlaws are seated in the midst of the circle, drink their bowl of saké together, the marriage is proclaimed in the presence of a sufficient number of witnesses, and the police officer enters it upon his list the next morning."114

There is another side of Japanese marriage, where the young man enters the home of the bride. If in a family there was no son to inherit the name and no son was adopted, upon the eldest daughter's coming of age, her family would seek some young man who would be willing to marry the daughter and give up his own name and take that of the family. The young men were usually attracted to such a marriage because thereby they could inherit wealth or rank or both, but sometimes such was entered upon solely on account of the attractiveness of the young lady.

It is a question whether polygamy in itself ever existed in Japan, but there is no question about concubinage, as it began at an early time, for the Emperor was allowed twelve supplementary wives and the nobles (samurai) two. It seems from the earliest there was one legal wife, and whatever the other women were they were subservient to her. But concubinage did not prevail very much among the middle and lower classes, and with the upper classes only with the wealthier members. These concubines were kept in the home unless the legal wife was strong enough to keep them out, when they were furnished separate dwellings. They were ever a discordant element in the life of the family. Since both Shintoism and Confucianism called for ancestral worship, where there were no offspring by the legal wife, this might call for concubinage to raise up children, and sometimes where there was no heir, the wife might for that cause urge the husband to take a handmaid to raise up sons to preserve the ancestral line. If the child of a concubine was adopted into the family, it was taken from the mother and she became no more to it than any other of the servants and had no more to do with it than they did.

During feudalism in Japan, the legal status of women was very low. They had no legal rights and their evidence was not admitted in a court of justice. The husband had unlimited power of divorce, but under no circumstances could a wife demand to be separated from her husband, but she had to abide his will. A great reason for a wife suffering much and not leaving her husband was that the children belonged to him and in case of a separation their disposal rested absolutely with him.

"Seven causes for justifiable divorce are laid down in the classics of Confucius, which are the basis of legal morals in Japan as in China, or as those of Justinian are with us. The wife may be divorced:

1. If she be disobedient to her parents-in-law. (After marriage, in her husband's home, his parents become hers in a far more significant sense than among us.)

2. If she be barren. (If the husband loves his childless wife, he keeps and supports her.)

3. If she be lewd or licentious. (She must not be given to loose talk or wine. It is not proper for her even to write a letter to any other man.)

4. If she be jealous (of other women's clothes, or children, or especially of her husband).

5. If she have a loathsome or contagious disease. (If dearly beloved, she may be kept in a separate room and cared for.)

6. If she steal.

7. If she talk too much.

"It is needless to say that the seventh and last reason is the one frequently availed of, or pretended. The Japanese think it is a good rule that works but one way. The husband is not divorced from the wife for these equal reasons. Of course, woman in Japan, by her tact, tongue, graces, and charms, is able to rule her husband generally by means invisible to the outer world, but none the less potent. Though man holds the sword, the pen, and divorce, and glories in his power, yet woman, by her finer strength, in hut as in palace hall, rules her lord."115