The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-03-09
The aathita Daily EaoIe "Wednesday orn aare en4

serted.
Boys and girls of tender years wear tbs
! garments Of absolute nudity. a Korean
| crowd is a crowd of white robes and black
| dress hats. which is always moving. but
seems destitute of any object An air OF
nonchalence pervades from the highest tc
| the lowest
The Korean is voracious and not nice in
| his eating. The great merit of Il meal is
! not so much quality as quantity. Three
! pounds of solid meat IS the average ration
of the well-to-do Korean. To be abstemi-
! Gus is TO be poor in Korea. Dyspepsia
and kindred ills are common. The Korean
is omnivorous and dog meat is in great
request.
On looking up, in one of the more re-
Gently published works on Korea, the sub
! ject Of religion, the thing appears TO be
chiefly marked by the absence of any.
| There is no national religion in Korea.
Confucianism is the official cult, and spir-
it worship the cult OF the masses. a mis-
sionary has remarked that the religion a
Korean would accept is one which would
show him how to get money without
working for it, The Korean has managed
and from his point Of view managed well,
so far without a religion and he does not
want to be troubled with one now, espe-
cially one Of restraint and sacrifice" This
/ according to a distinguished Protestant
missionary. The verdict is sad, indeed,
especially if one thinks that at the time
II
Protestant and thirty-four Roman Catho-
lie missionaries in Korea. devoting their
time and energy to a hopeless case.
The Emperor is little known to the out
side world. His name is variously given
as Ii Hi, Ii Hsi. Ii Houi Ii Hieung and
Ii HOui. He was not born heir 10 the
throne. His predecessor an uncle, died
in 1864 without issue. and he was selected
by the Queen Dowager TO succeed at the
age of y years. During his minority his
father, Tai Wen Kun, was Regent.
The present King is described by one
who has seen him as a little man, stout,
and somewhat unhealthy looking. He
smiles amiably and constantly. but does
not look very clever. Another writer as
serts that he is well informed for a man
the walls of his capital. and declares that
he is an intelligent man, who reads Moth
ing but Chinese, but is constantly en-
deavoring to learn all he can by heresay
OF what is going on in the world. He
questions every diplomat and traveller
who comes in his way Seen in his au-
dience hall, he looks ridiculously small
and insignificant. This is not altogether
because of his low stature, but because
the audience chamber is a large one and
the King is always seen alone.
His court is truly Oriental in many re-
spects. He has several hundred wives.
Until 1897 the ruler Of Korea was only a
King, acknowledging the suzeranity Of
the Emperor Of China. Taking advantage
of the opportunity provided by the out
come of the Chinese-Japanese war, he in
that year declared his country, an empire
and himself an Emperor.
Owing TO the fear of revolutions the
Emperor sleeps in the daytime and turns
the night. when revolutions in Korea are
sprung, into day. \ story is told of one
occasion when he was trying new bed
and did not sleep in it for funny reason.
He thought he would like to have on the
palace grounds a house built and fur
nished like a European house. One was
duly built and the bed was completed with
pillows, bolster and linen sheets-all of
which were unknown to Koreans. One
cold day he decided TO sleep in the new
bed. He undressed and popped in between
the sheets. No sooner was he III than he
sprank out again with a yell. An attend
ant threw a blanket around him and he
fed from thc house. never to enter it
again. Koreans usually 60 to bed fully
disrobed. When the bare skin of the
royal parsonage touched the cold sheets
he received a shock which he never for
got.