stances. responsible for the funeral expenses of a stranger dying at his gate, and he is, moreover, exposed to blackmail under such suspicious circumIn Korea an instance is recorded, in a recent communication from a missionary, in which a sick man was hurriedly transported from village to village for a period of five days, without food, the inhabitants of each village fearing, in case he should die within its precincts, "that his spirit would remain to haunt them and work them mischief." 1 Aside, however, from the instances already mentioned, there are numberless cases of neglect of the poor and the sick which are the result of pure heartlessness, and are productive of harrowing sufferings.2 The aged are cast out to The pitiless fate of the die or exposed to wild beasts or to the lingering helpless and suffering. ravages of starvation. Cases of desperate illness or contagious diseases are left without attention or the victims are consigned in some secluded place to their fate. In many lands lepers are utter outcasts, without sympathy or care, and in some instances are put to death. "Lepers and people suffering from unpleasant diseases are usually destroyed," writes the Rev. G. M. Lawson, of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa. The blind and deformed must shift for themselves.3 The poor are indeed friendless, and can only hope to prolong their lives as they are able to beg for sustenance. Not infrequently the sick and the aged are cruelly killed, in some instances by being buried alive. This last crime has been practised in the case of lepers,5 lunatics, and 1 The Missionary Review of the World, August, 1894, p. 595. 2" But what does sickness mean to millions of our fellow-creatures in heathen lands? Throughout the East sickness is believed to be the work of demons. The sick person at once becomes an object of loathing and terror, is put out of the house, is taken to an outhouse, is poorly fed and rarely visited; or the astrologers, or priests, or medicine-men, or wizards assemble, beating big drums and gongs, blowing horns, and making the most fearful noises. They light gigantic fires and dance round them with their unholy incantations. They beat the sick person with clubs to drive out the demon. They lay him before a roasting fire till his skin is blistered, and then throw him into cold water. They stuff the nostrils of the dying with aromatic mixtures or mud, and in some regions they carry the chronic sufferer to a mountain-top, placing barley balls and water beside him, and leave him to die alone." -Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, "Heathen Claims and Christian Duty," address given in Exeter Hall, November 1, 1893. 3 Smith, "Chinese Characteristics," p. 196. 4 Chalmers and Gill, "Work and Adventure in New Guinea," p. 299. Cf. Alexander, "The Islands of the Pacific," p. 395. 5 The Missionary Review of the World, April, 1895, p. 267. Cf. Bailey, “The Lepers of Our Indian Empire," p. 72. 6 A missionary to the Laos people writes: "Two of their number became crazy, and, as was the custom, they were tied up for a time; but as they grew no better, also infants, who among some degraded races are buried alive in case the mother dies. While it is not customary in China actually to bury children alive, yet what is hardly less cruel is all too common. In case of the serious illness of an infant, it is placed on one side pending the issue. If death ensues, it is cast into the street, to be picked up, carried off in a cart, and taken to a common pit outside the city walls. References confirmatory of these statements could be multiplied, but the facts are so notorious that there is no necessity for other than general statements concerning them. of civilization? 5. UNCIVILIZED AND CRUEL CUSTOMS.-The social habits of heathenism referred to in previous sections have certainly not been lacking either in barbarity or in cruelty. There What are the standards remain, however, some customs, not as yet mentioned, which are beyond question cruel, and others which if judged by the standards of a true civilization-such as a consensus of the average culture of Christendom would sanction and enforce-must be designated as indecent and uncivilized, if not brutal. It is not sufficient to say in challenging this statement that many of these customs are regarded as unobjec they were taken out and buried alive in spite of their cries and pleading.”—Mrs. S C. Peoples (P. B. F. M. N.), Laos, Siam. 1 "When a child sickens it has, according to the means and intelligence of the parents, the same anxious care and medical attendance that would be given among us; but if remedies fail of effect and death is apparently near, the situation changes at once. The little thing is stripped naked and placed on the mud or brick floor just inside the outer door. The parents leave it there and watch the issue. If it survives the ordeal, which is seldom the case, it is a true child of their own flesh and blood; if it dies, it never was their child, and is thrown into the street. No power could induce them to give it proper burial in the family resting-place for the dead. If you lived in Peking you would be surprised never to see a child's funeral pass, but if you go into the street very early in the morning you would find the explanation. You would meet a large covered vehicle drawn by two oxen, having a sign across the front stating its horrible office, and piled to the brim with the bodies of children. Sometimes there are a hundred in the cart at once, thrown in as garbage, nearly all of them naked, a few tied up in old reed baskets, and fewer, never more than one or two, in cheap board coffins. These carts go about the streets each night, pick up these pitiable remains, some of them mutilated by dogs; they are thrown in like so much wood and taken to a pit outside the city walls, into which they are dumped, then covered with quicklime."- Woman's Work for Woman, February, 1896, pp. 31, 32, quoted from "The Real Chinaman," by Holcombe. "When walking on the wall of the city not long since I found the head of a child, its body having been all eaten by the dogs. Every morning a cart goes around the tionable by those who practise them. This, if true, only indicates faulty standards of civilization and shows that they need a thorough reconstruction. Civilization is much more than a local subjective code which any barbarian can determine for himself. The mere fact that he is a barbarian renders him incompetent to fix the standards of social order and refinement. Civilization is the matured product of intellectual culture and material progress formed under the guiding influence of religion, morality, decency, justice, brotherhood, knowledge, science, industrial enterprise, and the inventive genius of man. Its goal is prosperity, peace, happiness, and the highest good of the race.1 Its code consists of those principles, laws, and customs which have become regulative among the enlightened nations of the earth, and have been drawn from the higher and purer sources of morality and culture. The elevating and fixing of refined standards of civilization is an achievement which cannot be surrendered at the dictum of a less civilized society, nor levelled down to coincide with the views and traditions of those peoples who have not yet passed the stage of barbarism. Civilization at its best must rather be maintained and cherished as a helpful incentive and guiding standard to communities which are still in a state of arrested development, under the power of blinding ignorance or degrading custom. Some customs which are uncivilized and cruel. The specifications which seem to call for notice under this general head of uncivilized and cruel customs are such as foot-binding, barbarous and filthy manners, uncleanness in person and habits, lack of domestic privacy, insufficient clothing of the body, promiscuous bathing, disgusting peculiarities in diet, abominable dances and orgies, ascetic cruelties, and heathenish burial rites. city and gathers up the dead children which have been 'thrown away.' When a baby dies, instead of burying it they simply throw it out, where it will be gathered up and hauled away by this ox-cart."- Professor Isaac T. Headland (M. E. M. S.), Peking, China. 1 An admirable definition of civilization was given by Lord Russell, Chief Justice of Great Britain, in his Address on Arbitration before the American Bar Association at Saratoga, August 20, 1896. His words are as follows: "What indeed is true civilization? By its fruit you shall know it. It is not dominion, wealth, material luxury; nay, not even a great literature and education widespread, good though these things be. Civilization is not a veneer; it must penetrate to the very heart and core of societies of men. Its true signs are thought for the poor and suffering, chivalrous regard and respect for woman, the frank recognition of human brotherhood, irrespective of race or color or nation or religion, the narrowing of the domain of mere force as a governing factor in the world, the love of ordered freedom, abhorrence of what is mean and cruel and vile, ceaseless devo Foot-binding in China. The process of foot-binding has been accurately described by Miss Adele M. Fielde, long a resident of China, in her "Pagoda Shadows." The suffering inflicted is no doubt most distressing and in some cases intense.1 Taking all China together, it is estimated that "probably nine-tenths of the women have bound feet."2 The origin of the practice seems to be obscure. It was first known in the imperial household during the T'ang dynasty. It is said to have been adopted as a disguise to natural deformity. At present it is a tool of vanity, and has been made an arbitrary sign of respectability. It was not known in the classical period, and made its appearance about fourteen hundred years after the time of Confucius. It cannot therefore be said to have the sanction of the Chinese sages. It has, however, so firmly established itself in Chinese society that the emperors themselves have been tion to the claims of justice."— The Review of Reviews (American edition), September, 1896, p. 320. 1 "The bandages used in misshaping the feet are woven in small hand-looms, and are about two inches wide and ten feet long. One end of the bandage is laid on the inside of the instep; thence it is carried over the four small toes, drawing them down upon the sole; then it passes under the foot, over the instep, and around the heel, drawing the heel and toe nearer together, making a bulge on the instep, and a deep niche in the sole underneath; thence it follows its former course until the bandage is all applied, and the last end is sewn down firmly on the underlying cloth. Once a month or oftener, the feet, with the bandages upon them, are put into a bucket of hot water and soaked. Then the bandages are removed, the dead skin is rubbed off, the foot is kneaded more fully into the desired shape, pulverized alum is laid on, and clean bandages quickly affixed. If the bandages are long left off, the blood again circulates in the feet, and the rebinding is very painful. The pain is least when the feet are so firmly and so constantly bound as to be benumbed by the pressure of the bandages. It not infrequently happens that the flesh becomes putrescent during the process of binding, and portions slough off from the sole. Sometimes a toe or more drops off. In this case the feet are much smaller than they could else be made, and elegance is secured at the cost of months of suffering. The dolor ordinarily continues about a year, then gradually diminishes, till at the end of two years the feet are dead and painless. During this time the victim of fashion sleeps only on her back, lying crosswise the bed, with her feet dangling over the side, so that the edge of the bedstead presses on the nerves behind the knees in such a way as to dull the pain somewhat. There she swings her feet and moans, and even in the coldest weather cannot wrap herself in a coverlet, because every return of warmth to her limbs increases the aching. The sensation is said to be like that of having the joints punctured with needles. While the feet are being formed they are useless, and their owner moves about the room to which she is confined by putting her knees on two stools, so that her feet will not touch the floor, and throwing her weight upon one knee at a time, while she moves the stools alternately forward with her hands. When 1 Ibid., p. 45. |