Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-05-05
COREACURIOUS
LAND
Snakes Treated With Vener-
alton and Never Killed
Bachelors Treated as
Children

Corea. Once a Corean contracts a
debt he can never escape it.
Corea is the only country where the
marriage certificate is equally divide l..
one-half being given to the husband,
the other half to the wife.
Every Corean husband is answer
able for the conduct of his wife
Should she break any of the ordinary
laws, he must suffer in her stead
No Corean may go on the roof of
his house, not even to repair a leak
without legal permission and without
giving due notice to all his neighbors.
The most important duty of every
housewife in Corea is to keep alight
perpetual fire, which is sacred to
the dead ancestors of the household.
Papers enters largely into the con-
struction of every Corean house. The
interior is lined yith paper. It has a
paper roof, paper fioorcloth and paper
walls.
|
rich take pills of incredible size and
richly gilded. Very many take medi-
cine regularly and systematically.
They seldom suffer any injury how
ever.
Only the poorest women in Corea
go about unveiled, and then they move
rapidly, looking all the while on the
ground. The women of the middle
class wrap an ordinary dress about
their head and shoulders.
Snakes and serpents are treated by
the Coreans with veneration and ten
derness. No one ever kills a snake
The poorest and hungriest Corean will
share his meals with the reptiles that
crawl about his garden
Every bachelor in Corea, no matter
his age, is regarded as a child, dressed
as a child and treated as child. Even
if he be 20 he may not knot up his
hair in manly fashion or assume the
garb of a man.
Every Corean hides his house from
the public gaze by a number of
screens. The poor man employs
hedges and fences; the rich man has
many high walls. Between the walls
are grown gorgeous flowers; lotus
ponds are also to be found there.
In every Corean village there is
one, and in every Corean city there
are several, appointed listeners. These
spies. called by the Coreans "Messen-
gers on the dark path" inform the
king of everything that happens. Not
word is said about the king without
reaching his ears.
No Corean couple would think of
marrying without consulting the sage
who fixes the happy day for them.
This he does simply by adding the
brides age to the bridegroom's, and,
after determining which star rules
the destiny of their united ages, he
DEGREES that the wedding shall take
place upon the day sacred to that
star.
Corean are very great on sign posts.
One is to be found at the corner of
every country road. Each sign is
shaped like an old-fashioned English
coffin. topped by grotesQue, painted,
grinning face. All the faces are alike,
however, and are the countenances of
Gang Sun, a great Corean soldier who
lived thousand years or so ago.
When the king of Corea goes into
the streets he is proceeded by secre-
tary Of state, who carries mercy
box" Into this box are placed all the
papers upon which the Coreans have
indited their petitions or grievances,
and which are thrown from over the
walls or hung on strings from win
dows. The king himself reads every
paper.
In some parts of Corea and among
some Corean families, it is the Gus
tom for bridegrooms to dwell under
the roofs Of their fatherin-law until
the first son has been born and
attained to years of manhood. Should
any Corean, however, stay in the
house of his brides people for more
than three days after his wedding,
he is compelled to remain for an en-
tire year.
Only the king of Corea may rear
goats or have round columns and
square rafters TO his house, or wear
a coat of brilliant red. Only the king
may look upon the faces of the
queens hundreds Of attendant ladies,
or have any building outside of which
there are more than three steps,
Four steps would be high treason,
and would cost the owner a traitors
death.