Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-01-28
eLlMPsEs OF coREA.
The Young King Who IL . Great Admirer
Of the United States.

Of tho United States.
All of our mission went to see his
Majesty. writes a missionary. The
young men whom we are teaching En-
glish offered to get us good place to
k kiung'-see sights. We accepted
their offer. We have been many times
impressed with the kindness of the
Coreans toward us, and this has 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 SOL
diers. When we reached the place and
the people saw foreign ladies the crowd
increased wonderfully fast and pressed
into the house to see them. The sol
diers were not regularly armed, and it
soon became evident to them, as well
as to us, that it took more than their
uniform and "ka"-go-to make the
people ''stand back" They soon sup
piled themselves with good oak clubs,
and, by swinging these faithfully and
using their lungs frequently, they man
aged to keep small place in front of
the house clear. Without their services
it would have been impossible for us
to have remained there. Mrs. NJ. +.
Scranton took with her the United
States flag, which we put up.
While waiting for the King one could
not but be impressed that the ''boy of
the street. was present in full force,
making the air melodiOus with what
would be equivalent in America to
Lemonade" and peanuts" and
seemingly doing a brisk business.
Along the middle of the street new
earth was strewn. Every few minutes
some official with few attendants
passed, nearly always mounted on a
donkey, which is the animal used by
officers on such occasions. Some of
these men had a very patriarchal ap-
pearance.
The procession proper was headed by
eunuchs from the royal palace. These
were followed by soldiers who marched
along the sides and in the center of the
street. A General of high rank stopped
in front of us and thought he did it in
honor of our flag, but my interpreter
told me he stopped for the King. The
royal banner, large empty sedan
chair and walters passed, music fol-
lowed next, the step became livelier,
considerable rafting of what to me
was old iron, but really the sign for
silence, the Kings umbrella, and the
second sedan-chair was wide open on
three sides and We had good view of
the King. He noticed our flag. looked
steadfastly ut us, and, in the judgment
of some, bowed slightly. '.How
did he look!" is the most natural ques-
ton. He is young man of quiet, in
telligent, dignilied and manly appear
ance. Lieutenant Foulk. our repre-
sentative here, once said to me: 1.-The
Kings word is good" This remark
came to me as 1 saw the King to-day,
and l was impressed that he is a man
to do, as far as possible, his own think
ing. come to his own conclusion and
abide by his word. He believed in
opening his country to foreign nations,
and has great confidence in the United
States. He has ordered his palace to
be lighted by the electric light. To the
uninitiated this may seem extravagant.
but two things made the Kings course
clear. He reasoned thus: Americans,
after trying every thing, from tallow
candles to electric light, find the last
the best and cheapest. l will learn
from their experience, and begin where
they are now. The present cost of light
ing the palace is simply enormous,
caused by the officials appropriating
large amounts for their own use. They
could do the same with the petroleum,
but not with the electric light. An
other reason is: China's power is ev-
erything in Corea. They have every
thing there that is to be had, and when
any new invention is suggested the con-
servatives 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.-COr. N. Y. Christian Adrocnte.