The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1903-11-28
CoRFAN EXPERIENCES.
Tales Told by an American Mission
airy Worker.

airy Worker.
Miss Esty, one of over a hun
dred young men and women who
have gone to the ends of the earth
from the union missionary insti
tute, 131-133 Wayerly avenue,
Brooklyn, n. Y, says the New
York Observer, thus describes her
experiences as a worker in COrea:
One cold morning l started out
from a village where | had been
for several days, to 90 to a new
place. | loaded my bedding, food,
boxes, books, etc, on a beast they
called a horse, but such a speci-
men of a horse / had never seen
before, and hope may never see
again. We had gone a mile and a
half when we came to a little
brook, and what did that animal
do but calmly sit down in the mid
die of the stream, much to the det-
riment of my worldly articles"
Is the Coreans say. Everything
was wet, my staff of life could not
by any possible means be called
"dry bread" We had to turn back
and spend the remainder of the
day in drying bed and bedding, etc.
Ny heaviest loss was some be-
loved books, which had their nice
new covers spoiled, and now like
their owner show the marks OF
age. The Coreans said it was
"GOd's will for me not to 60" but
! knew hal such ''leadings. OF
Providence" in country work were
too frequent to allow that inter
probation. But the hardest blow
to me in that trip was at my pride.
AT one place a dear old lady came
in, and, sitting down on the floor
at my feet, looked at my curly
hair and said: do you have lice
in your head? To my emphatic
reply in the negative, she re
marked by way of apology; 81
only asked because it always
looks as if you never cOmbed it,"
Alas, for the last remnants of
e my pride! | have written home
that straight hair must be added
to the list of qualifications for the
next missionary candidate for
) Corea. The COreans think curly
1 hair is awful; if even so much as
+ a hair curls in their heads they
oil and work with it till it lies
smooth and sleek. Consequently
curly hair is never seen among
, them, and they think l never comb
my hair because it curls.
: On my last trip l became ac-
quainted with a bright, happy
= looking Corean woman. On this
trip she came to me with the sad
dest face | think | have ever seen.
, | found, on inquiry, her only son
had died of cholera last fall. His
wife, a young girl whom she loved
fOndly, had returned to her own
home after his death. The morn
ing | arrived there, the mother
in-law had crossed the mountains
between their homes to bid the
daughter-in-law farewell, for she
had heard that an old aunt had
. sold the girl off to another man.
So she went to bid her gOOd-by,
!, weeping all the way, thinking she
had lost her son and was about to
lose the wife also. But the wife,
not wanting to marry again, fol
lowed the mother back. Then she
felt happier. This was Saturday
night. Early Monday morning,
a before people were supposed to
:. be up, a party vas seen by the old
woman crossing the mountain,
She instantly took the alarm, and
the girl hid while the n~eighbors
were called. When the party
came up, consisting of the old
aunt and 20 young men, who were
J. quietly going to take the girl back
1t by force, the neighbors all sci
upon the party. They beat the old
J. aunt, pulled out most of her hair.
a kicked her about on the ground.
etc, and gave the same treatment
/ to as many of the young men az
% they could catch. While it is the
custom to sell the girls to their
&c first husbands here in the north
yet upon a second marriage they
are free to say whether they will