Many other ceremonies had to take place, such as kneeling very often before the bridegroom's parents, when at last it was time for the bride's heavy outer garments to be taken off, together with her head-dress, so that her hair could be well arranged; but she was not allowed to eat anything at all at the wedding dinner. Indeed, on her wedding-day, she is hardly expected to touch food at all.
Many people came in to see her, and on this day she must be quite natural, and wear no rouge at all. She has to stand up quietly to be looked at, blessed, and have remarks made upon her appearance. Presents are sent to the bridegroom's family. For three days the bride's parents send her food, as she may not, during that time, eat what her husband provides. In some districts of the province of Canton the bride leaves her husband, and goes home again for a time after she is married, but after marriage she is generally considered to belong almost entirely to her husband's family, in a wing of whose house she lives with him, and to whose parents she is supposed to help him to be filial. On many other days the ancestral tablets have to be worshipped by the bride and bridegroom, and amongst other gods and goddesses, those of the kitchen have adoration paid to them.
AT A CHINESE FARM.
"Canton, February, 1881.
"My Dearest Lily.—Father took us to a lovely farm the other day" (Sybil wrote in another letter), "where we saw a little donkey, who was so well cared for that he seemed like one of the family. Leonard and I fed him for some time. We both thought that the farm-house was something like a Swiss cottage. Father said the walls were made of clay, and on these walls were scrolls, which were supposed to have power to keep the fox and wild cat away.
"There were a few bullocks and cows here, but not many; their stalls were quite near to the house. We liked the village, to which we went, very much, and it was surrounded by high trees. Father says that the stables of the Chinese are like cart-sheds, but each stable has an altar in honour of the ruler of horses. In this city there is a large temple to this god.
"We saw a number of bean, pea, rice, and cotton-fields, and had some sugar-cane given us to eat. Sugar-cane is grown in Canton, and we had some bean-curds to drink. We liked them very much. Mother says she was told that they were made in Canton overnight, and generally sold very early in the morning. The beans are ground to flour, which is strained, and then boiled slowly for an hour. I wonder if you would like it?
"The Chinese are so fond of sugar-cane, and it grew in China before it grew anywhere else. Ever so many fruits and vegetables grow also in China, but there seem to be more rice-fields than any other. I will tell you a few of the vegetables: sweet potatoes, yams, tomatoes, cabbages, lettuces, turnips, and carrots; and some fruits are apricots, custard-apples, rose-apples, dates, oranges, pomegranates, melons, pumpkins, and ever so many others. Canton is in the tropics, but it is not hot here in the winter. There are such pretty water-lilies here, not only white, but also red and red-and-white. The Chinese look upon this lily as a sacred plant. Some shop-keepers use the leaves, in which to wrap up things, instead of paper.
"Chinese people do very funny things. Because they think that their birds sometimes like change of air, they carry their cages out of doors with them for a walk. But I do so wish that they did not eat dogs! You see them being sold in the shops, and in one district of Canton a fair is held, where they are regularly sold for food. Many people like black dogs best. At the beginning of summer nearly everybody eats dog's flesh, when a ceremony takes place. If people eat it, they think that it will keep them from being ill in the summer. I am glad, for that reason, that I shall not be here in June, as the dogs are cruelly beaten the day before they are killed. Fancy, poor little things! I suppose that is to bring luck too! And yet the Cantonese think that they displease the gods when they eat dog's flesh, and we have seen it written on Buddhist temples that people ought not to eat 'their faithful guardians.'