the matter of honors and distinctions. When a man, in consideration of his having rendered great services to the Government, or done a good to the people, obtains a decoration, like insignia are conferred upon his wife. The legislator appears to have thought that a husband would not have had leisure to consecrate himself so closely to the defense of the public interests, if his wife had not been faithful and devoted; if by attending to the orderly direction of his household, she had not relieved him from the care of his personal interests, and left him in full liberty of mind. Women can also obtain official rewards, when, having become widows, they keep faithfully the name of their husbands, and distinguish themselves by the manner in which they bring up their children and administer the estate which the father has left them. The emperor then decrees them a framed diploma, which they hang in their house, and on which, by the side of their name, figures the mention of their virtues.
The duties of the married woman consist in the cares required for the well-being of her husband and children, and the becoming reception of relatives and friends. She has the preparation of the festivals for the ancestral anniversaries, taking precedence in this case of her husband's sisters, by virtue of the rights which her title of legitimate wife, member of the family right, gives her upon the administration of the domestic cult. The interior management of the house belongs to her exclusively. She has full control over the servants, and supervision of the expenditures and receipts. Although invested with such extended powers, the Annamite women have the additional merit of being submissive, patient, and little inclined to coquetry. They spend but little for dress, and the caprices of fashion are unknown to them. When they attend any ceremony or visit relatives or friends, they wear the dress and jewels which their husbands gave them as marriage presents. When jewels are bought in rich families, they are not intended to be worn by the purchasers, but to be reserved for the marriage presents of the children.
Balls are regarded by the Annamites as scandalous affairs. It is contrary to the rites for men and women to take one another's hands unless they are relatives or friends. According to the philosophers, the male element tends to seduction and the female element to levity; their contact in familiar interviews could therefore be only a temptation to innocence. It is for this reason that the affianced man is not allowed to make his court to the woman. Although the theatre is supposed by the Annamites to exhibit good manners in action, it is usually attended only by men and elderly people. Girls go occasionally, but always accompanied by a member of their family.
The education of the children begins even before they come into the world. The prospective mother is at once submitted to a kind of material and moral régime sanctioned by custom. Gross viands are removed from her table, and her slightest movements are regarded,
