CHAPTER III.
Little Golden Lilies.
When I was about four my feet were bound. You
must know that in China the smaller the feet the more
a woman is admired. For over a thousand years the
custom has been observed, and only a few give it up,
even though, as the common saying has it, "For every
pair of small feet there has been shed a bucket of
tears." So as my mother wished me to have "little
golden lilies," as they were called, she commenced to
bind my feet early.
The calendar was consulted for a lucky day (it would never do to commence anything on an unlucky day), and mother brought some strips of calico a few inches wide and several yards long. With these she tightly bound my feet, making them narrow and pointed.
At first I went nearly crazy with crying. No one took any notice of it, and mother tried to console me by saying that no one would marry a woman with large feet. She told me that when she was married hers were only two and a half inches long. Day by day the binding was done until I wished I could die and be rid of the pain. Gradually it became less as the feet ceased to grow, and I was able to hobble about the house.
But with it all I was much more fortunate than little "Pearl," my friend next door. They left the binding
