The morning call., 1894-09-23

common, and the women are, among these
classes, fairly well treated. as far as the
use of the whip is concerned. 1t is only
the slaves and the wives of the lower
classes who are much punished, but If
woman is unfathful, no matter what her
class, she can be taken by her husband to
the magistrate and be punished with a
paddle.
This punishment with the paddle or the
whip is, l am told, sometimes melted out TO
women servants or slaves by their masters.
1t is against the law 10 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 it clings to the skin, and
the woman is laid face downward on the
ground and whipped upon the back of the
thighs. l do not mean to say that such
punishment is general, but was told il is
according 10 law, and where master or
a magistrate is cruelty inclined you can
see what terrible weapon this might be
in his hands. The slavery of Korea 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, according TO age, muscle
and beauty. Young girls of from IA to Is
are worth, according to their good looks,
from $50 to $50 apiece, and you can get a
good, hardy woman of 80 or 40 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 sort 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
rebels, by which the females are taken
into the employ of the officials and con.
denned to work for their husbands. sons
or fathers crimes. Such slaves are treated
little better than beasts. and they become
tbs concubines or drudges of the officials,
according to the within of the latter
Speaking of the seclusion of Korean
ladies. | saw lady 60 forth to make call
one afternoon during my stay in Seoul ; at
least, suppose she was going TO make a
call. | also suppose / saw her go forth
As far as getting an actual glimpse of her,
l did nothing of the kind. The house in
which she lives was surrounded by a wall
of small houses devoted to servants quar-
ters. These were ranged On each side of
the gate, or stable-lke door, which
formed the entrance to the ward, 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 small dry
goods box, swung between two long
poles. The men who bore these poles upon
their shoulders took the chair and poked it
into the gate, which il 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. l have looked
into one or two of these chairs when they
were not 10 use. They are just big enough
for woman weighing about 100 pounds
to sit crosslegged within. and there is no
support for the back nor we'll for the
feet. 1t is in such boxes that all
Korean ladies go out calling, and
all that they ever see of this big
Korean capital is through the cracks in
the chair or the little glass peepholes, as
big around as red cent, which they are
now introducing into the closed pape win
dows OF their houses. Ii is only in this
way that they see men other than their
husbands, and the man who would dare to
enter another Korean house without an
invitation could be severely punished, and
a man of the lower classes who dares to
l. - 6 81
TO take 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 worse crime than this of a SIM
liar nature he can be killed.
T r~a< (. Cp4,.,u.~