The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-07-25
SOUNDS OF SEOUL.
a Korean City whose Inhabitants Arc
silent and SJnbcr.

AHha+"FN''~AA'"
silent and SOrnbcr
To the newcomer, Seoul, the capital Of
Korea, seems like city of almost abso-
Lutte silerce. The scream of the fac
tory whistle or locomotive, the jingling
of street car bel,s, the rattling of car
riages, even tho postman's whistle, and
the various street calls and cries so fa-
miliar at home, are never heard here.
The Koreans are silent, sober pc ople.
Their meager lives afford small oppor-
tunity for the development of the hu-
morous faculty, and cheerful tone, or
hearty laugh is seldom hear d. TO look
down upon Seoul from one of the rising
hillocks with which it is surrounded,
and note the streams of people moving
noiselessly about in their long white
garments, suggests nothing so much as
a habitation of ghosts.
BY and by one becomes accustomed to
the absence of general noise, and learns
to distinguish the finer sounds that re-
veal the daily lives of the people, Every
evening at sunset, watch fires, com
municating with Seoul, from the seven
provinces of the kingdom, are kindled
on the surrounding hills and when they
fared up and died down, thus indicating
to the king that his country is at peace
from end to end, the great bell of Seoul
rings out with somber tones, and the
huge gates of the city are drawn to
gether for the night. Any wayfaring
man, who fails to reach the gates be-
fore the great bell rings, must compose
himself to spend the night outside the
walls, unless, indeed, he is surefooted
as mountain goat, and can pick his
way from stone to stone of the high old
wall In the early morning, long be-
fore the sun shows himself, the great
bell rings again. and the city gates roll
slowly open for the day.
At certain season of the year stone
fights are common, at which time the
air is filed with flying missiles, and the
streets resound with angry cries. Men
and boys are often seriously wounded
in these encounters, and, as a national
sport, they do not compare unfavorably
with the game of football so dear to the
heart of the American youth. AS the
day wanes, and night comes on, the men
of Korea withdraw from the streets,
and then the noise of the ironing stick
is heard from house after house. The
white cotton garments of these Korean
gentlemen must be kept spotlessly
clean, and to this end the patient wives
devote much of the night. Long after
half the world is asleep, the clack,
clacS, clacll, of the two round wooden
sticks, with which their ironing is done,
may be heard and in the morning their
lords appear in garments Immediately
clean and stiff, leisurely strolling about
with the air of elegant idleness assumed
by the poorest of Korean gentlemen.
Often the quiet murmur of the sur-
rounding neighborhood is broken by
the loud clatter of gongs and drums,
which continues perhaps for hours,
night and day. Some one is sick, and
his friends are attempting with gong
and drum to drive away the evil demon
who causes the disease. Imagine the
sufferings of fever patient, for in
stance, besleged night and day with
discordant clamor. BY and by the up.
roar ceases. and we are fain to hope
that the sick one has recovered. Or
what is more likely, we meet soon after
on the street, funeral procession, the
mourners hidden in sedan chairs draped
in white, and uttering the wailing cry
'Illo! Iko IlSo," with which dear friends
mourn the loss of departed ones. Occa
sionally, far into the night, that bitter
cry resounds in our ears from some
distant part of the city, and we know
that ''the mourner is going about the
street" Miserable people! THAT which
befalleth beasts befalleth them; as the
one dieth so dieth the other; and there
is no knowledge or wisdom in the grave
whittier they go."-Interior.