"They certainly have the edge on us there," remarked Bert. "I wish we had a little of that spirit in our own country. We could stand a lot more of it than we have."
"Outside of the question of religion, however," went on the doctor, "we might think that they carry politeness too far to suit our mode of thinking. If you should meet a friend and ask after the health of his family, you would be expected to say something like this: 'And how is your brilliant and distinguished son, the light of your eyes and future hope of your house, getting on?' To this your friend would probably reply: 'That low blackguard and detestable dog that for my sorrow is called my son is in good health, but does not deserve that your glorious highness should deign to ask about him.'"
"You will notice," said the captain when the laugh had subsided, "that the doctor uses the son as an illustration. The poor daughter wouldn't even be inquired about. She is regarded as her father's secret sorrow, inflicted upon him by a malignant decree of fate. In a commercial sense, the boy is an asset; the girl is a liability. You hear it said sometimes, with more or less conviction, that the world we live in is a 'man's world.' However that may be modified or denied elsewhere, it is the absolute truth as regards China. If the scale of a nation's civilization is measured by the way it treats its women,--and I believe this to be true,--then the Celestial Kingdom ranks among the very lowest. From the time she comes, unwelcomed, into the world, until, unmourned, she leaves it, her life is not worth living. She is the slave of the household, and, in the field, she pulls the plough while the man holds the handles. In marriage, she is disposed of without the slightest reference to her own wishes, but wholly at the whim of her parents, and often sees the bridegroom's face for the first time when he comes to take her to his own house. There she is as much a slave as before. Her husband can divorce her for the most flimsy reasons and she has no redress. No, it isn't 'peaches and cream' to be a woman in China."
"It doesn't seem exactly a paradise of suffragettes," murmured Ralph.
"No," interjected Tom, "the Government here doesn't have to concern itself about 'hunger strikes' or 'forcible feeding.'"