Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1886-06-04
ANNAPOLIS. ND. FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 4, 1886.
GLTNTPsEs OF COREA.
The Young Kings who Il q Great Al
mircr OF tho UnIfed states.
All Of our mission went Is See lis ma-

All Of our mission went 10 see his ma
iesty. Tho Young men whom we are
teaching English offered TO cot us q
good place to s.ku kiungN -see sights.
We accepted their offer We have been
many times impressed with the kind
ness of the Coreans toward us, and this
added another TO the list. They secured
a small room. had it cleaned, put down
nice, clean boards. took some of our
chairs to sit on, and hired three soldiers.
When we reached the place, and the
people saw foreign ladies, the crowd in
creased wonderfully fast and pressed
into the house TO see them. The soldiers
were not regularly armed, and 1t soon
became evident to them, as we'll as to
us, that it took more than their uniform
and ''ka ka--go-to make the people
'.stand back. They soon supplied
themselves with good oak clubs, and by
swinging these faithfully and using
their lungs frequently they managed to
keep small place in front Of the house
clear. Without their services it would
have been impossible for us to have re-
NAMED there. Mrs. NJ. +. Scranton
took with her the United States flac.
which we put up.
While waiting for the king one could
not but be impressed that the s.boy of the
street was present in full force, maxi
ing the air melodious with what would
DO equivalent in America to ''lemonaden
and peanuts, and seemingly doing q
brisk business. Along the middle Of the
street new earth was strewn. Every
few minutes some official with a few
attendants passed, nearly always mount
cd on donkey, which is the animal
used by officers on such occasions. Some
Of these men had very patriarchal APP
pearancc.
The procession proper was headed by
cunuchs from the royal palace. These
were followed BY soldiers who marched
along the sides and i'm the center of the
street. A general of high rank stopped
ia front of us. and l thought he did
it in honor of our fag, but my inter-
prefer told me he stopped for the king.
The royal banner, large empty sedan
chair, and walters passed, music fol-
lowed next, the step becoming livelier,
considerable rafting of what TO me was
old iron, but really the sign for silence,
the kings umbrella, and the second
sedan chair, in which was his majesty.
The chair was wide open on three sides
and We had a good view of the king.
He noticed our flag, looked steadfastly
at us, and, in the judgment of some,
bowed slightly. s'How did he lookP' is
the most natural question He is a
young man of quiet, intelligent, digni-
fed, and manly appearance. Lieut.
Fouk, our representative here, oncc said
to me: "The kings word is good. !"
This remark came to me as / saw the
king to-day, and was impressed that
he is man to do, as far as possible,
his own thinking, and come 10 his own
conclusions, and abide by his word. He
believes in opening his country TO for
eign nations. and has great confidence
in the United States. He has ordered
has palace to be lighted by the electric
light. To the uninitiated this may seem
extravagant, but two things make the
kings course very clear. He reasoned
thus: Americans, after trying every
thing. from tallow candles to the cleo
trio light, find the last the best and
cheapest. will learn from their ex-
perience. and begin where they are
now. The present cost of lighting the
palace is simply enormous, caused by
the officials appropriating large amounts
70 their own use They could do the
same with petroleum, but not with the
electric light. Another reason is; China's
power is everything in Corea. They
have everything there that is to be had,
and when any new invention is sug-
gested the conservatives send to Pekin
and get IT. But the electric light can.
not be gotten there, and the king hopes
in this way to teach his ministers that
there are other countries in the world
besides China. Missionary Letter tn
Christian Advocate.