The National tribune., 1907-08-01

rean houses are flimsy excuses for shell
ter at best, but the floors, are of slabs of
stone with great cavities or caveliSe
ovens under them, as we would leave for
a cellar. In the Winter these ovens are
| filled with wood. trash, and all sorts of
| things, and then set on fire. NJ The heat
from this fire warns thet house. II gets
| so hottie fioor-that ones feet broil,
and the beds all but scoreh. but there is
no relief till the fire burns out and then
| If the fireman is careless you freeze until
another fire roasts you some more. The
Korean has convenient bed, he piles
down on a pad in his Glothes, with a
wooden block for a pillow. So the wet
clothes are simply laid on, the oven top
to dry, and they steam and stink. but
they dry. rg i
Women md Children.
Children, as in most Oriental coun-
tries, go naked up to 10 years of age
and sometimes more. They are dirtier
than pigs, and just as healthy. When
they get at the clOthes-wearing stage
they are ready to get married." not in
fact, but that is what they call it in
Korea. We call it getting engaged to
be married. Every girl must marry.
The parents make the bargain and the
two never see each other until the fatal
night, and not then until after the cere-
mony is performed. Korean women of
caste are never seen by rien. They
never go abroad by day. During the
day men only are seen upon the streets.
men and cOurtesans. 1t is only re-
Gently that this five-centurieS-old Gus
tom of Korea has been abolished. For
centuries q big bell tOlled sunset in Ko-
rean towns and cities. ana then all the
men skurried to their homes and got
themselves to bed At the same time
ghOstly forms of women wrapped in
their seized white padded garments
nf ha 1nnrS al
night they visited, these queer Korean
women. with no fear that in paying
their calls they would run upon man.
Under the law of Korea 1t was death
for a man to be caught out after sun
down.
The Korean woman has no name
When a girl she is the daughter of her
father. When married she is the wife
of her husband. A given" name is un-
known. If there are several daughters
of one family a kind of name is tackled
onto them to distinguish them in order
ing them about, but the minute they
marry that name is dropped.
1t is impossible not to admire the ac-
tivity and energy of the Korean woman.
Despite the contempt in which she is
held, the woman of Korea is its great
economic factor in the household and in
the life of the nation. She works that
her superior lord and master may dwell
in idleneSs and comparative luxury and
peace. In spite of the depressing and
baneful effects of this absurd dogma of
inferiority, and in contradiction of cen
turies upon centuries of theory and
philosophy, her diligent integrity is
more evident in the national life than
her husbands industry.
She is exceptionally active, vigorous
in character, resourceful in emergency,
superstitious, persevering, indcmitable.
courageous, and devoted. Among the
middle and lower classes she is the tail
or and the laundress of the nation. She
does the work of a man in the house
hold and of a beast in the fields; she
cooks and SewS; she washes and irons;
she organizes and carries on a business,
or tills and cultivates farm. In the
face of every adversity,n and in those
times of trial and distress, in which her
liege and lazy lord utterly. and hopeless
ly collapses, it is she who holds the
wretched, ramshackle home together.
Under a previous dynasty the sphere of
the woman of Korea was less sirestricted.
There was no law of seclusion; the sex
enjoyed greater freedom In it's clos
ing decades the tone of society lowered,
and women became the special objects
of violence. Buddhist priests were
guilty of widespread debauchery; conju-
gal infideiity was pasttime; rape be-
came the fashion. The present dynasty
endeavOred TO check these, evils by
ordaining and promoting the iso-
latiOn and greater subsection of the
sex Vice and immortality had been
ticed, however, that already men
had begun to keep their women in Sc
clusion of their own accord. If they
respected them to some extent they
were wholly doubtful of one another
Distrust and suspicion we're thus the
the women, the system developing of
itself as the male Koreans learnt to
dread the evil propensities of their own
sex. 1t is possible that the women find
in that protection which Is now ac-
corded them some little compensation
for the drudgery and interminable hard
work that is their portion.
A Korean Interior.
One who has been there SAYS:
The furniture of a Korean house is
neither over plentiful nor too luxurious.
In fact, at the first glance one is al
most inclined to say that there Is, so to
speak, no furniture at all there. Pos
Sibly tiger or leopard skin may be
found spread on the ground in the re-
ception room; there may be even a
rough minuscule chest of drawers in a
corner. and a small low writing table
near it, upon which rests probably a
little jar with a flower or two in it; but
rarely will you find much more in il.
The bedrooms usually contain chests in
also a custom by which these are hung
on pegs in a recess in the wall. The
chests are covered with white parch-
ment studded all over with brass nails,
and further adorned with brass lock
and two handles of the same metal
When vOyaging the Koreans use these
as trunks. Besides the rooms l have
the richer Korean has a
special room. generally kept locked up,
in which the treasures of the family are
jealousy safeguarded. The latter are in
the shape of ancient native pictures
rolled up like the kakemOnos of ia
pan, painted screens and vases of the
Satsuma ware, the art of making which
was taught to the japanese by the Ko-
reans, altho now those who were for
merly masters in the art cannot produce
it. Some Koreans also possess valua-
BILE specimens of lacquer work, both of
Japanese and Chinese origin, as well as
a rougher kind of native production.
None of these heirlOoms are, however
ever brought to light, and it is only on
rare and very grand occasions, such as
deaths, or national rejoic-
ings, that one or two articles are
brought into the reception room for the
day, TO be again carefully packed up
and stored away at night. The idea |
which prevails in Japan is also current
here, namely, that it is bad form to
make Il great show of what one pos
SeSScS and that the wealthiar "a man iS |