{"newspaper_name": "The Washingtonian.", "edition": "01", "page": "p2", "byline": ""}
{"character_count": 1449, "word_count": 256, "ccnet_language_score": [0.9641000032424927], "ccnet_perplexity": [1183.800048828125], "fasttext_language": ["en"]}
M 1RRIAGEs IN CHNA.-In China, children,
are often affianced in early infancyJ and even
befoF they are born The will Of the future
spouie is rarely consulted. Tbese, alliances
are Very difficult to break, especially if the re-
Gues comes from the females The civil au
thoriB compels them, willing sor unwilling, to
marT those to whom their parents promised
them AS several years telapse between the
first Engagement and etne marriage, it some
times happens that the boy dies. If the girl
then letlafe that she adheres to her first en-
gageshent, and will not contract another, she
has right on making this declaration before
the proper tribunal, to receive certain amount
of money, fixed by law. She may appropriate
this money to her own use, or expend it in
building monument, which will be perpetu-
al testimony of her resolution. 1t is kind of
marriage with the shade of the dead. In the
Kiang- Nan, these monuments are often seen
along the great canals, the public roads, and
sometimes before the doors of houses. The
most conspicuous or most frequented places are
always chosen for their erection. These monu-
ments are in the form Of gate yays. THEY con-
sist of two large stones, placed erect at a GER
tain distance from each other, on which a third
is laid horizontally, on which is engraved the
name of the person in honor of whom it is
erected All these stones are more or less
adorned with sculpture, but the last is loaded
with ornaments.