The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-10

difference of rank, but as you watch
man coming along the street there
is slight swing, redolent of immense
dignity. that points out the patrician
to the most casual onlooker. Some
Of them look as If they were always
walking up the center of palace cham
Der to the dais. amid admiring eyes.
1t is not swagger, but q very quiet,
superlative self consciousness OF their
own worth Of position. The young
Vaughan" or noble. is a delicious
study. No London, Paris or New
York swell, fianeur or dud is in it with
him. His white suit is spotless-there
is not hair straying from his "Mang-
Kun" a crownless skull cap of horse
hair gauZe coming well down over his
forehead and fastened so tightly as
TO produce permanent groove in his
skin and frequent headaches to be
borne for the sake of fashion. On this
his hat, also of horsehair, is poised
and tied under his chin by black rib
bons. If he has brown hair, it has
been darkened with lamp-black to the
fashionable shade. He Is invariably
attended by a servant, he carried MOTH
ing for himself, not even his pipe; even
going to school their books are car
ried for them. When he travels he is
attended by as many servants as he
can possibly muster. When he rides,
he does not even hold the reins of his
diminuttve horse. It is led, and SER
wants attend him on either side of
the high saddle on which he is perch
ed. Seoul simply swarms with these
young toffs, who come up from all
parts of the country to this center Of
that political intrigue in which the
Vaughan lives, moves and has his
being. He never all his life does any
work himself; this would be the worst
OF bad form and altogether mira dig,
but he is not above being supported BY
his relatives, and will even wink at
the fact of his wife at home surrepti-
tiously taking in washing to earn a
little toward the household expenses
of perhaps big pretentlous ydmen,
covering a lot of ground and in a
chronic state of dilapidation and de-
cay. .I,.alsMw
These Yang-bans are the curse of
Korea. The common people are woe
fully oppressed by them. " a peasant
is known to have accumulated little
money it is not long before the local
Vaughan comes down on him, perhaps
nominally for loan, which is never
repaid, or perhaps for a levy pure and
simple. If the hind objects, he Is
promptly taken to the Yang-ban's va
men and kept there until he pays, or
else he is imprisoned on some
trumped-up charge and kept locked up
until his relatives produce the re-
quired amount.
No Women Out in Daylight.
One great popularity Of the streets
of Seoul is that during the daytime
practically no women are to be seen
about. One occasionally sees an odd
woman of the lower class, dressed very
much as the men, but wearing her
cloak over her head. holding it with
her hands, so as to conceal the lower
part of her face. ABOUT o'clock in the
evening the great bell of Seoul tolls,
which is the signal for men to retire
off the streets, and gives permission to
the women to emerge from their Sc
clusion. This extraordinary regulation
is strictly enforced, except as regards
blind men, foreigners and persons 60
ing with prescriptions for the sick.
Korean men are frequently found go
ing about with sticks, pretending to
be blind; but such is the rigid seclu-
sion that the majority of the ladies OF
Seoul have never seen the streets Of
their city by daylight. From s o'clock
until II the streets are alive with
women, most of them attended by
servants carrying lanterns. During
this time they go visiting their friends.
At ~ o'clock the great bell tolls again,
from which time they have to be tn
doors, and men are again at liberty to
go out if they Like.