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Try to visualise how the Mui Tsai toils year after year with little remuneration commensurate to the huge amount of work she has to do daily. Let alone monetary remuneration, the Mui Tsai in general do not and cannot enjoy a decent meal during the day. All that she gets for her meals is the remains from the table of the family. Quite often she has to hurry through the one or two bowls of cold or lukewarm rice, with the miserable leavings from the table, in order to do the frequent biddings of her pampered master and mistress.
Naturally, the famished conditions under which she lives forces her to steal food and edibles to appease her hunger, and she constsnly resorts to lying to save her skin. The owners do not let the Mui Tsai enjoy & substantial meal, and then they punish them for taking refuge in stealing food to gratify their hunger. What good effect would such circumstances produce on the moral character of both the Mui Tsai and their owner. The one i is given to stealing and lying, and the other indulges in the vicious habits of bullying and browbeating the slave girls.
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Nor is this all. We are not done yet with stigmatising the hard lot and the precarious existence of the Mui Tsai in the Chinese family The size of the Chinese household is necessarily large; it is quite customary to see the mother, together with all the grown up sons and their wives as well as the grandchildren live under one roof. It is in such a large household that the Hui Tsai have to contend against overwhelming odds, because among the members of such a big family, petty quarrels are inevitable, human nature being what it is. Where petty strife and contention recur the oftenest is in the proverbial mothe -in-law. Whenever the irritable old lady of the household is in a fit of rage, her daughters in law bear the brunt of it, andwhere can they vent the pent up annoyance and irritation but on the heart-broken, spirit-broken and despairing slaves like the Mui Tsai.
Further more, there is another angle from which we cân see clearly how the Mui Tsai are bowed under the yoke of slavery. This comes under the category of the continuous round of Mah jong going on in the Chinese family. At times this Mah Jong fever may last day and night for several days on end. During the interval the Mui Tsai is expected to be constantly dancing attendance to bring cigarettesand what not to the players at one table or two. If the Mui Tsai goes slack ever so little she is sharply reproved.
Perhaps at the end of the Mah jong bouts, she may receive a sound beating for failing in her duty as an efficient waitress to the fastidious feminine guests. The outrageous treatment of her does not end here. When the mistress is tired from playing mah jong day and night she goes to recuperate herself in her com- fortable bed for 10 or 12 hours at a stretch. The ill-treated and neglected Mui Tsai has but little chance to refresh herself. At best she can snatch a little sleep for a few hours, and early in the morning she must be occupied again with the most servile work in the household. As soon as evening comes on, more hard work lies ahead of her when the round of mah jong resumes.