The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-09-23

dinner b. the ladies' of the family. The
first night that the couple begin their life
together it is the groom's duty to un-
dress the bride, and It Is etiquette hat
she resist in every way possible. After
marriage the bride goes to the house OF her
husbands father to live. She no longer
has any place in her own home, and she
is bossed by her mother-in-law She is car
ried to her new home in a closed chair.
and she changes from the prison of her
girfhood to the prison OF her married life.
Hereafter she is practically the slave of
her husband. who can treat her as he
will and who can divorce her with little
trouble. Divorces among the higher classes
are not common, and the women are,
among these classes, fairly well treated,
as far as the use OF the whip is concerned.
PUNISHMENT OF UNFAITHFULNESS.
It is only the slaves and the wives of the
lower classes who are much punished. but
If a woman is unfaithful. no matter what
her class, she can be taken by her hus-
band to the magistrate and punished with
a paddle. This punishment with the pad
die or the whip Is, / am told, sometimes
meted out to woman servants or slaves
by their masters. 1t Is against the law to
punish women as men; that is, in a nude
condition. They are required, however, to
take off their clothes and put on a single
cotton garment which entirely covers their
body. This Is then wet, so that 1t ci!ngs
to the skim. and the woman is laid face
downward on the ground and whipped up
on the back of the thighs. 1 do not mean
to say that srch punishment is general,
but / was told it is according to law, and
where a master or a magistrate is cruelty
inclined you can see what a terrible weapon
this might be in his hands. The slavery
of Corea is by no means as bad as certain
kinds of slavery In other parts Of the globe,
and the sons of slaves are free. The
daughters of slaves are still the property
of their master. but the law provides that
they can pay the amount which was paid
for them, and thus secure their freedom.
Slaves here bring different prices, ac-
cording to age, muscle and beauty. Young
girls Of from fourteen to eighteen are
worth, according to their good looks, from
$50 to $50 apiece. and you can get a good,
hardy woman Of thirty or forty for one
third of this sum. The number Of slaves
diminishes from year to year. but fathers
can sell their children, and persons can
sell themselves. The slavery which exists
Is a scrt Of serfdom, and many Of the
slaves belong to the old families of the
past. The worst form of slavery is that
which is melted out to the families of reb-
els, by which the females are taken into
the emplay Of the officials and condemned
to work for their husbands, sons or
fathers crimes. Such slaves are treated
little better than beasts, and they become
the concubines or drudges of the officials,
according to the within of the latter.
Speaking of the seclusion Of Corean la
dies, / saw a lady go forth to make a call
one afternoon during my stay i'm Seoul; at
least, / suppose she was going to make a
call. L also suppose I saw her go forth.
As far as getting an actual glimpse of her,
l did nothing of the kind. The house in
which she lived was surrounded by a wall
of small horses devoted to servants quar-
ters. Ti.se were ranged on each side of
the gate, or stable-like door, which formed
the ent -ance to the yard, and there was
another gate inside of this. so that there
was no chance to see into the yard. She
went forth in a chair of about the size and
shape of a small dry-goods box, swung
between two long poles. The men who
bore these poles upon their shoulders took
the chair and poked il into the gate, which
it entirely filed. The front Of the chair
was then inside the yard. The men stayed
outside. The woman crawled in and pulled
down the curtain. The men then dragged
out the chair and carried her away. have
looked into one or two OF these chairs when
, they were not in use. They were just big
enough for a woman weighing about one
hundred pounds TO sit cross-legged within,
and there is no support for the back, nor
well for the feet. 1t is in such boxes that
all Corean ladies go out calling, and all
they ever see of the big Corean capital Is
through the cracks in the chair or the
little glass peepholes, as big around as a
red cent, which they are now introducing
into the closed paper windows of their
houses. 1t is only in this way that they
sse men other than their husbands, and
the man who would dare to enter another
Corean house without al invitation could
be severely punished. and a man of the
lower classes who dares to look over the
wall of a gentle. mans house to take a
peep at his wife can be caught and whipped
by the man or sent TO prison. If he breaks
in and takes hold Of the woman he can be
banished. And If he commits a worse
crime than this of a similar nature he can
be killed. FRANK G. CARPENTER.