Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-08-09
SEOUL'S QUEEREST.
The One Eyed Woman In the GraAs
Green Cloak.

Green Cloak.
From my point of view the prinei-
pal and almost the only charm that
Seoul has for the newcomer lies in the
novelty Of the costumes that 1t pre-
eeDts," says George Kennan, writing
about the capital Of Korea in the Out
look. 1T is not interesting architcc-
tnral!y, and it is dctestably and dis
gustlngly uncIeau but It's street sceueS.
particularly in tie unmoditied parts of
tie old town. are unlike anything TO be
found elScN here In the east. | have
already referred to the strange I'M
preston made by q population clothed
wholly i'll white, TO the grotesqueiy alb
eurd headgear Of the mourners TO the
partly naked women aud to the effemi-
nate, girlish appearance of the boys.
but in Seoul there is another figure
which is quite as striking as any of
these. and that is the one eyed woman
IN the grass green cloak
Just as YOU are beginning to get ac-
customed to the woman in white, with
her handkerchief shoulder jacket, her
bnnchy skirts and her seminude ap-
pearanee, you run mp against the wom-
an in green. whose costume Is bizarre
enough to give you II fresh shock 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 Two 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 if 1t 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. and the cloak is dra wn around
the face SO rs to conceal all except one
eye while the sleeves, which are mere
shams, without openings for the arms
hang down from the wearer's ears.
Anything more extraordinary than this
grass green burnoose, With its scarlet
and purple strings and It's dangling
white margined ear sleeves, would be
hard to imagine and when in a crowd
ed street or market place You see Il
dozen of these polychromatie appari-
tio,s a:lI an equal number Of basket
heat.au ialaurEers gliding noiscleSsly to
an. fro IN Il throng of White robed
ghosts who are flaming themselves or
sn4e.z IN" long stemmed pipes You feel
nke rubbing your eyes to make sure
that YOU are awake.
"Fhese women in green are the wives
Of Men who belong to what may be
called the Korean middle class. and
their costume Is traditionally said to
have had its origin in a ruse de guerre
practiced by the women of Seoul when
the city was attacked by the enemy at
night in the absence of all it's male
defenders The wives Of the latter, 1t
is said, caught up weapons. threw their
husbands jackets over their heads and
manned Tor womaned) the walls, and
there they fought SO bravely, OR made
such a brave show of fighting, that the
attacking force. taking them for men,
abandoned the assault and withdrew.
I'm commemOratiOn Of this achieve
ment the women and their descendants
were permitted to wear as badges Of
honor the jackets that they had
thrown over their heads when they
rushed to the walls. This eXplanat ton
Of the green cloak sounds like a story
invented to fit an observed fact. but
tho nf 1fInr. in thiS VI; t;<-
ular garment While all other clothing
remains white and the transformation
of useful sleeves into conventional
shams which now hang down from the
ears seem to indicate survival of
some ancient and significant custom"