The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-05-09
IN THE KOREAN COURT
A Traveller Tells Of His Audi.
ence With the Emperor.
GUEST At A STATE BANQUET.

Dining Hall Furnished with Euro-
penn Furniture aud Wen Heated.
Table richly Decorated aud Cook
ing Exauisite-Emperor Remained
Invisible Behind = Curtain DURING
Feast--NoveI Pastiine Of Dancers.
IN a recent number OF tile Tour du
Monde Of Paris IN Hagen, who has
Travelled in Korea, recounts IN most
interesting way his impressions Of the
country and It's people OF especial in
terest is Or. Hagen's description Of an
audience and of a state banquet at the
court Of Korea, says the London Globe
when the time fixed for the audi
ence arrived We entered into very
lofty room, the carpets Of which were
by no means costly Behind a table
sat the emperor with the crown princes
and the eunuchs The Emperor ii
Hsi thanked us for our visit and asked
! us how our trip was progressing and
whether we intended to remain long
| time I'll Korea. The crown prince ask
ed us exactly the same questions. He
IS about thirty years old; he has an
inert look a beardless teshy face, and
thus he does not give one tile impress
sion of being healthy and capable OF
1 doing much He has several wives,
but no children he himself is the son
Of one Of III Hsrs eoneublnes. lie GER
tainly viii not ascend the throne with-
out d great deal Of trouble The jap
anese already have another crown
i prince In readiness at Yokohama. This
latter prince has Joined tile japanese,
aud be will be supported by them when
the proper time comes. The crown
| prince Joined but very little in the con-
versatlon; even the simple questions
that he asked were suggested to him
by the leader OF the eunuchs, II is
scarcely TO be supposed that the crown
prince VIII ever think of shaking him
self free from the influence Of that
powerful and feared caste, whose role
III Korea. as in China id olden times
/ is noxious. at the end Of the audience
1 which had lasted scarcely twenty min
utes. the emperor took his leave Of u
in few amlable words
Before dinner we were offered {
glass Of vermouth in the next room
The dining room was wen heated an,
furnished with European furniture
The table was decked out richly will
cutlery. glass, linen, flowers and fruits
The cooking was exquisite. and tn
wines were many and good For som
years the imperial household has bee
managed BY lady from Alsaee, am
she knows her duty very well. For
: merIy the dinner would have cost IL
7 emperor Sl00 per guest; now eael
I guest costs him only about $50
} Korean servants wearing the ma
/ tional garb waited upon us most atten
j lively and noiselessly. 1t seemed anus
ing to us that the emperor RENAME,
Invisible behind a curtain during th
dinner. Still. be kept himself informeI
5 OF all that happened at table and asks
repeatedly what impression the foI
eigners were receiving. The Korean
! present were fully acquainted with ca
{ manners Oh Tue west ana ttae} uiN nv
offend either the rules Of etiquitte Q
those Of good form.'
j eAfter the dinner the room wa
turned into d concert hall for the CT
]. tertainments that were to be given. l
i the outer hall played some thirty mus
i clans, squatting upon the ground, man
5 dollns, guitars and other stringed il
!. struments, as also drums and tam
It bourines. To foreigners the Hosea
o music seems to be only ear splitting
o for it has no rules Of melody and
s monotonous At first appeared onl
h two men clad In very rich garments
9 represent q lion and q tiger The
danced around to the music, rubbe
together their noses as they uttere
weird sounds, and then they vanished
"Thereupon about dozen fema
$ dancers appeared in beautiful gol
shimmering colors and with their hal