Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-05-29
IN COREA.
Customs OF the Country-ArrivaI of ths
First American Missionaries.

Customs OF the Country-ArrivaI of the
First American Missionaries.
The ladies of our party were, so far
as we could ascertain, the first Amer
lean ladies who stepped upon the
eastern coast Of Corea Two by two
we walked through the winding lanes,
past the walls of mud and cobblestones
which enclosed the back yards of
Corean house. until we came into the
main street, where there were few
shops, but nearly all were houses.
These were one-storied, matched roof,
and fronting the street; had one door
and one window, provided sometimes
with single shutter opening upward
and sometimes with two shutters open.
ing sideways.
There was no glass in the windows.
The floors were smoothly polished.
Occasionally they werc covered with
straw mating or a thin layer of wood
In the sides of the mud-and-stone
walls of the houses dark, smoky open.
ings could be seen. These openings,
we were told, served for chimneys.
Underneath the floor is an arched
brickwork, in the hollow of which,
during the cold weather, fire is made,
when the heated air warns the en-
tire flooring, and circulates through
the sides of the wall of the house,
until it escapes at the sooty opening
already mentioned.
The clothing of the men wss usual
ly white, and generally made of home
spun grass cloth. 1t consisted of a
sort of jacket and pair of trousers
made in loose zouave fashion. Thei,
head was adorned with a black,
transparent, broad brimmed hat of
horsehair, through which knot Of hair
about three or four inches high could
be seen. Occasionally this grass cloth
was of light shade of blue or green.
The women wore very short wasted
jackets and full-gathered skirts. Their
hair was parted in the middle and
smoothly combed. The general ap-
pearance of these Corean women was
more like that of Europeans than either
the Chinese or Japanese.
The hair of the youth and young
men of Corea is worn parted in the
middle so long as they are unmarried.
As soon as they become husbands their
hair is tied in knob on the top of
their heads, just as the Chinese did in
their native Ming dynasty, and as the
Taoist priests in China do to-day.
In all towns there are schools, but
the buildings are small, hardly large
enough to accommodate twenty-five
scholars. Not more than one-ffth of
the boys attend school. The girls do
not go to school. The roofs of the
school rooms are so low that one could
not stand erect in them if he had his
hat on. The scholars had no desks or
tables, but wrote on the floor. They
study the Chinese classics, but not the
history of their own country. It is
said that there is one history of Corea.
However, none except officials are al
lowed TO read it, since by reading of
the wrong-doing of others they might
be melted TO perform wrong acts them
selves.
Most of their books, whether in Chi
nese or Corean characters, are written
by hand. In Seoul, the capital, thee
are two book stores-the only ones in
all the kingdom-in which books writ
ten by hand. as well as those p4;nted
from wooden blocks, but not from
movable types. are to be found.
In corresponding with person OF
ones own or inferior rank they enclose
the letter in one envelope, but in writ
ing to one of higher rank the letter Is
enclosed in two envelopes.
The Coreans, although living De
tween China and Japan, do not gene
rally drink tea.
In certain ailments one mode OF
treatment practised by the medical fra
49, &L,A