Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-04-05
QUEER cOREAN WAYS.
Nearly All Their Manners and Customs
Are Imported from China.

The COreans are strange mixture of
Chinese and japanese. 4 correspond
ent of the London Times who has lately
described them. says that, though their
faces are almost japanese, their Gus
toms. through their having become
thoroughly imbued with Chinese ideas,
are much more Chinese than japanese.
And they have even ventWred To invent
few customs of their own.
The Coreau winter il long and bitter,
but the Coreau has anticipated the
American in providing his house with a
furnace. His furnace, however is con-
slructed on different principle from
the Americans. Practically his whole
cellar Is furnace. 1t has an opening
out of doors. and into this opening the
COrean before he GOES to bed at might
stuff, a quantity OF fuel, which smolders
all night aud heats the hOuse-which
never has more than one story-to an
uncomfortable degree.
Next to the Eskimos the Coreans are
the heartiest eaters and heartie,t sleep
ers i'm the world Their favOrite dish is
young dog, and their fayorite drink
Japanese beer Tney devour great
quantities of fish, like all orientals and
watermelons are their favorite fruit.
Their country abounds in all manner
of animals wild and domestic. There
are tigers, bears, deer COWS, horses,
dogs eats, wild boars, eagles, storks.
woodcocks, and many other kinds of
birds.
There are also snakes in great num-
bers. for the Corean not only venerates
but loves the snake. No Corean ever
kills "A snake He feeds il and does
everything he can to make il comfort
able. The poorest and the hungriest
Corean will share his evening meal
with the reptiles that crawl about the
rocks that bound his garden.
The traveller sees few goats in Corea,
but that is because they are so much es-
teemed that they may be reared by no
one but the king. They are used solely
for sacriiicial and other religious pur-
poses.
The signboards on the Corean roads
are curiosity. Each is shaped like an
old-fashioned coffin. and is topped by
the grinning Corean face of Chang-Sun,
a great soldier who lived about 1000
years ago, and who opened the country
with roads and paths. To this day
therefore, he beams upon travellers all
over the land, and his name is recorded
with the directions and other informa-
ton on the signboard.
The Corean hotel is only resthouse
where the traveller may cook arti eat
his own meals. and wrap himself in his
own blanket and sleep. The average
Corean wants little more than these
things. except chance TO write poetry
and paint pictures. Every educated
Corean is "A poet and painter. and the
majority of Coreans are highly edu-
Gated as Corean education goes
The Corean's social position depends
on the brilliancy with which he can pass
competitive examinations. Scholarship
takes the precedence of all things but
royalty-it is esteemed above common
sense
The real religion of the country is
ancestor worship and the terror of dew
lis. In every Corean house burns a
perpetual fire which is sacred to the
dead ancestors of the household. To
tend this fire and see that it never runs
the least risk of going out is the first
and most important duty of the house,
wife.
Blind men in Corea invariably prac-
tice the profession of casting out devils.
They brighten the tends to death by
means OF diabolcal noises ar catch
them in bottles and carry them to
places from which they never escape.
The person of the Corean king is
wholly sacred. TO touch the kings
person with a weapon or any instru-
ment of metal is the highest treason.
This principle has lis disadvantages.
for ninety-four years ago King Tieng-
g-tai-dang died OF an abscess rather
than permit Il subject to touch his body
with knife.