The Arizona sentinel., 1888-08-04


 has been said about the natives being
 great eaters of dogs flesh After a
 personal observation of the habits of
 the people for two years 1 can truly
 say that it Is only the lower classes that indulge in that luxury. By the
 middle and upper classes it is consid-
 cred as detestable as by Am orleans.
 However, when one goes through some
 of the poorer parts of the city and sees
 people absolutely starving to death it
 does not cause any surprise that such
 food is made use of. Dog flesh is ab-
 solutely unknown in COrean feasts. A foreigner could sit down to the COrean table and eat of almost every dish that is brought him without fear of dOg-meat.
 Their staple article of food is of course rice. Rice is legal tender in Corea. Almost all salaries and pay ments are estimated in bags of rice. Besides this there is beef, and fish, and poultry. There is a peculiar kind of pickle resembling sauer-kraut which goes by the name of ''kimehi, and while it is rather offensive to ordinary olfactories it is not more so than the famous German dish. The Coreans eat their food highly seasoned with red pepper, and the brightest spots in a Corean landscape are the roofs of houses covered with red pepper which are put there to dry in the sun.
 In regard to the position and social status of women the most various ideas prevail. It is true that the women of Corea are secluded, but not more so than in some more favored empires. Turkey, for instance, shows us a vastly more pitiable state of things in this re- spect than Corea. Women are not slaves here, as they have been pictured. Their seclusiOn is in some sense a blessing to them. Their lack of seclu- sion in Japan has led to the most demoI alizing results in that country. It is impossible that women should be regarded with the same chivalric spirit here that they are in the en- frightened countries, and their seclu- sion is painful necessity rather than an evidence of tyranny. And yet, as l have said, women are not nearly so secluded here as they are in Turkey. It is only women of the highest classes that are allowed to be seen by any man excepting her husband and father-in- law. Thousands of women can be seen on the streets of Seoul in broad day at any time. In walking on any street here a good proportion of the people you meet are women. Many belonging to the middle class have sort of apron thrown over the head and held in front of the mouth, leaving a space through which they can see and be seen. Women of the lower. class, the com mon working class, go entirely un- vailed.
 One can not but be struck by the evi- denees of happy family life on every side. As the sun is setting and the evening meal is being prepared the father sits out in front of his house smoking his pipe and holding his little son or daughter on his lap while he tells stories and quaint legends. The evident affection and confidence be- tween parent and child are beautiful to see, and one feels that these ignorant people would not exchange their hum- ble cottage and their quiet life for mansion on Fifth avenue in New York.
 The Coreans are singularly mild and inoffensive people. Their language contains no stronger epithet of hatred or anger than ''Meechin-nom, which means crazy fellow. One can go to any part of the city or country at any time without the least fear of molesta- tion, and you never hear of a knock down fight or a murder. The criminal class is extremely small, and vagrancy and mendicancy are almost unknown. Now all these points have been brought up against these people, and they do not bear the light of investigation, But no one seems to have mentioned the bne great social evil of Corea, and one which must surely be changed be- fore Corea can fairly begin any such progress as Japan has made.
 This evil has to do with the recog- nized rule of all enlightened nations that the individual must be secure in the lawful possession of his own prop erty, and he must be allowed to accu- mulate property. In Corea the strong prey upon the weak For instance, when man is made an official, which is the highest ambition of the Corean, a certain extent of territory is to him. From that terri tory he is required to send certain number of bags of rice to the granary of the central government, and for him. self he has all the rest that he can squeeze out of the population. His power is unlimited in his own district, md he can seize any ones property md appropriate it. If he be unscrupu- ous he uses this power to an extent hat is monstrous in its injustice.
 He hears of man who has saved a score of bags of rice over and above what his family needs for the season. Soon his minions come down on the | mans lawful savings and sweep the whole away, leaving simply enough | or the man to struggle through the year with.
 Can any thing be more deadening to enterprise and thrift than this? Who | can blaI-e them for saying: I've will raise just enough rice to live on and no more; for why should we accumu-