=Deformation of the Feet.= The practice of footbinding among the Chinese females was carried on by all classes of society, so it was not a mark of rank. It was the fashion and all classes followed it, for in some places women sitting by the roadside begging had their feet bound, and in some places, where women worked in the fields, they would have to kneel to do their work because they could not stand upon their mutilated feet. But of course it prevailed most with the higher and wealthier and more fashionable people. 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.