Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1905-05-01
SCOUTS OUEEREST.
The One Eyed Woman In the Grass
Green CIoaL

"From my point Of view the princi-
pal and almost the only charm that
Seoul has for the newcomer lies in the
novelty Of tire costumes that it pre-
SCENTS" says George Ilenuan, writing
about the capital of Korea in the out
look 1T IS not interesting architce-
turally, and It is dctestHbly and dis
guStingly uuclcan, but its street scenes,
particularly in tie u1rHodiied parts Of
the old town, are unlike anything to he
found elsewhere in tie east. | hayo
already referred to the strange I'M
preston made by q population clothed
wholly In white, to tie ErotcSqucIy alb
surd hradI"Hr of the uolIrncrS. 10 the
partly nated women and To the cffcmi-
nate, giriiSh appearance Of The boys,
but In Seoul there is another figure
which is quite us striking as any of
these, and that is the one eyed woman
In tire grass green cloak
Just It's YOU ar" beginning to get ac-
cuStonCd to tire WOMAN in white. with
her haudbrcadth shoulder jacket, her
bunchy skirts and her seminude apz
peArance, you run ZIP against the woin-
an in green, whose costume is bizarre
enough to give You a fresh shock of
surprise. Her outer garment, which is
all that can be seen, may be roughly
described as 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 ana purple ribbons would
be striking enough even if 1t We're
worn IN the American way, but 1t Is
not So Worn On the contrary, the
neck yoke, or collar IS thrown over
the head. and the cloak is drawn around
the face SO as 10 conceal all except one
eye, while the sleeves, which are mere
shamS, without openings for the arms
hang down from the WrHrer'S ears
Anything more extraordinary than this
grass green burnooSe. With lis scarlet
and purple strings and it's dangling
white mar@ined ear sleeves would be
hard 10 Imagine. and When ia Il crowd
ed street or market place You see Il
dozen of these polHchroinatie Appari-
tons and an equal number Of basket
headed molrueIS gliding noiselessly to
and fro i'll Il tilrong of white robcd
ghosts who are flaming themselves or
lo.1S stemmeu pipes YOU feel
like rubbing your eyes to make sure
that You are awake.
.These' women in green are the wives
OF men Who belong to What may be
called the Korean middle class. and
their costume is additionally said to
have had It's origin III Il ruse de Suerre
practiccd by the women of Seoul when
the city WIS attacked by the enemy at
night in the absence Of all its male
defenders. The wives Of the latter, 1t
Is said, caught up weapons, threw their
husbands jackets over their heads and
Tor womaleN the wallis, and
there they fought so bravely, or made
such Il brave show of fighting, that the
attacking force taking them for men,
abandoned tle assault and withdrew.
In c0nmemorittion of this achieve
ment the women aud their descendants
We're permitted to wear AS badges of
honor the Jackets that they had
thrown over their heads when they
rushed to the walls This explanation
u the green cloak sounds like story
Invented to tit an observed fact, but
The persistence of color i'll this partic
llar garment while all other clothing
remains white and the transformation
II useful sleeves into conventional
'hams which now hang down from the
ears seem to indicate ii survival OF
IoMe ancient and significant custom"