The Jersey City news., 1905-01-26
SE0uL'S Qu EEREST.



TIE enc nvea weman In the arass
Green Cloak.
sFrem my point Of view the prinei-
pal and almost the only charm that
Seoul has Tor the newcener lies in the
novelty Of the coatumes that it pre-
sents says Geos9e Kennan, writing
about the capital af Korea In the Out
look 1T IL not interesting architec-
tsarally, ana it is detestably and dis
gustingiy unciean, but It's street scenes,
particularly In the unmo6iAed parts Of
the old iowa. are unlike anything to be
found elsewhere ii the east / have
already vefeered to the strange i'm
pression made by a popula sRn clothed
wholly In white, to the grosM queiy alb
surd headgear Of the meurners, to the
partly naked women and to the effeui-
nate. girlish appearance Of the beys,
but In Seoul there Is another figure
which is quite as striking as any Of
these, ana that is the one eyed woman
in the grass green cloak.
Just as you are beginning to get ac-
euStomed to the woman In white, with
her handbreadth shoulder Jacket, her
bunchy skirts and her seminude an
pearance. you run up against the wen-
an in green, whose costume is bizarre
enough to give You fresh shack Of
surprise. Her outer garment, which is
all that can be seen, may be roughly
described as a green silk waterproof,
with white neck yoke and sleeve cuffs,
held together in front by means Of
four long ribbon tie strings TIVE of
these strings are bright scarlet and two
dull, reddish purple, and they hang
down in front nearly to the ground.
= A grass green waterproof trimmed
with scarlet and purple ribbons would
be striking enough even il it were
worn in the American way. but it is
not SO worn. On the contrary, the
neck yoke or collar. is thrown over
the head, ana the cloak Is drawn around
the face 50 as to conceal all except one
eye, while the sleeves, which are mere
shams, withost openings for the arms,
hang down frona the wearer's ears.
Anything more extraordinary than this
grass green buraoose, With its scarlet
and purple STRINGS and it's dangling
wkite margiRea ear sleeves. weuld be
hard to iaa asine, ana when IN erewd-
ed street or market place you see
dozen of these polychromatic appari-
tions and an equal aumber OF basket
headed Inorlrners gliding noiseiessly to
and fro In q thfoag OF white rebed
ghosts who are tanning themselves or
smoking long stemrned pipes you feel
Ike rubbing your eyes to make sure
that yoti are awake.
These women In green are the wives
OF men who belong to what may be
called the Kerean middle class, and
their costume is traditionaiiy said to
have had its origin in a ruse de guerre
practieed by the wcmen Of Seoul when
the city was aitaeksd by the enemy at
night In the absence Of all sts male
defeaders The wives OF tEc latter, it
Is said, cauxns no weapons, threw their
husbands jackets over their heads and
manned Tor weaaned) the walls, and
there they fought so bravely, or made
such brave shssv Of fighting, that the
attacking fierce, taking them for men,
abandoned tne assault and witkarew.
''In comIaemoration OF this achieve
ment the women and their defendants
were permitted TO wear as badges Of
honor the jackets that they had
thrown over their heads when they
rushed to the walls. This explanation
OF tie green cloak sounds Ike story
invented 10 Git an observed fact, but
the persistence Of color in this partic-
ulsr garment while all other clothing
refiasIls white and the transformation
Of useful sleeves into conventional
shams which nov hang down from the
ears seem to indicate survival Of
some aneient ard significant custom