The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-08-24


touching the King with metal
weapon appears to be all right, but it
has boomerang element about it that
worked disastrously few years ago.
The famous Tieng tseng. Tai. Ouang,
an early century ruler, was taken sick
with an abscess on his neck, and cried
loudly for relief. All the great doctors
of several nations thereabout were
gathered together and agreed that all
there was to be done was to lance it,
but that this would be touching the
royal person with a metal weapon,
and as this law was explicit in the
penalty for such an offense, and there
was no ruling power in existence that
had the power to change the law, the
doctors all, singly and collectively,
refused to be dropped in molten lead
for the mere purpose of saving the
life Of the ruler, and so Tieng- -tseng-
Tai. Ouang died in horrible agony.
This inconvenient law also pre-
vents the King being shaved, and as
the true Oriental is too much occu-
pied with the thoughts of the welfare
of his people to do anything for HIM
self the Kings Of Corea wear full
boards. On the other hand, for the
King to touch anybody is considered
such an extraordinary honor that
very serious obligations ever after
rest upon the person touched The
most formidable of these is the neces-
sity for wearing forever a brass plate
over the spot touched, but the subject
is exempt from wearing more than
one plate over the same spot if the
King happens to touch him twice in
the same place. The Kings wives are
living castanets when they walk.
1t IS worthy Of mention that while
Kings name is sacred during his
lifetime Immediately upon his death
it becomes common property and is
banded about with the most reckless
freedom. AS soon as the present
ruler dies his successor will put up
monuments to him all over the coun-
try and they will be plastered with Ii
Hsi. All his present subjects will then
criticise his good and bad actions,
and will sneer and applaud as they
feel disposed. No penalty is attached
for libel on dead ruler. Doubtless
the reason is because every known
penalty has been attached to libel:
on live one.
The law courts of Corea are perma
nently as exciting as the recent strikes
were temporarily. The only difference
between the witness and the principal
in Corean lawsuit is that the princi.
pal frequently gets off unscatched
while the witness is invariably manned
and frequently crippled for life. The
principals show their cleverness by de
clining to testify in their own behalf
for as each witness comes forward he
f is warned by the Judge of the terrible
penalties Of committing perjury, ane
: to still further impress it upon hin
: his legs are beat with clubs, his body
5 is cut by cords being drswn rapidly
back and forth across it, his shoulder!
are dislocated, or he is suspended b!
: the arms from the ceiling. The Judge
! addresses him very kindly and say'
t something to this effect, "Now yo'
: see what we can do, and what we will
= do if you don't tell the truth in thi
} case, and if you want to escape it, yo
f want to tell all you know, and tell
e honestly Truthfulness is one of tn
T most beautiful attributes of Coreal
: character.
II No salary is paid the officials, bu
e in view of this economical plan TO
/ conducting the Government no re
S strictions are placed upon those IL
Office in their exercise of blackma
e and extortion. 1t is noticeable tha
a all the officials occupy elaborate res
o dences and they live in comparativ
s. luxury. The Seng ei-tsieng, Mini:
ter answering to our Secretary c
n State receives salary equivalent t
!. about Sr,o per year.
q At one time, tradition says, ther
y were books published in the Chimes
&c language which were more or les
read and seemed to hold out som
1t promise of imparting reasonabl
|, amount Of information and INTEL
IS gence to the people, but the Cover
& ment very soon learned of this, an(
is while they shrunk at the thought
n prohibiting literature entirely, the
n made it law that books should ther'
y after be printed upon marble, and
y at this day, if some daring Corea
e should want to translate "The Hea'
n emily Twins" the story would be er
ly graved on slabs of marble, each tw
J. slabs having piece of velvet betwee
r them to prevent friction, and so til
it six hundred odd pages in that delecti
n BILE book would make a Corean farl
IS look like graveyard if anyone care
ID to read it through.