The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-09-02
UGLY WOMEN QE KOREA.
Unattraetiye Costumes Accen-
tuate this Impression.
TREATED LIKE SLAVES.


Occupies No Position in Her Hus.
bands ousehoId--Daughters Are
Looked Upon as Poor Assets.
Never Given First Names--Divorees
Easily Obtained.
think the assertion may safely be
made that the women of Korea are
the most unattractive In the world,
says a writer In Leslie's Weekly.
One of my chief occupations during
my stay in the little hermit King.
dom" has been making diligent
search for a passerby pretty face |
have failed to find one. II is not that
they havn't pretty eyes; they have.
Eyes of softest brown and gentlest
expression. 1t is not that their feat
ures are coarse or irregular; for,
while this may be true of many, 1t is
not by any means true of all, and
have caught glimpses of as delicately
moulded features at Seoul as in any
part of the world. But the Korean
woman is just ugly. One doesn't or.
the better class in this strange little
land, but being admitted, as | have
been, to the imperial palaces and
several houses of high degree, | have
been at least able to receive impres.
sions. The women who are TO Ds
seen on the streets of the cities are
usually slaves or servants of low
order or perhaps the plentiful and
everpresent courtesans; but whatevsy
they are, they, each and every one of
them, look as II they had hurried out
into the street without taking time to
dress themselves properly. Whoever
invented Korean attire had never
seen any other, or had seen such
specimens as were very misleading
in their proportions.
used the word slave" ad-
vlgedly. They are many female
slaves in Korea to-day. and there
were slaves of both sexes until the
japanese almost annihilated the race
in the sixteenth century and made II
necessary for the government to de.
care all males free. There are ram.
ilias of slaves who have been in
DC ldage for centuries, and they pre-
sJt a curious domestic situation. A
woman slave may marry whom she
j,C2scs. or whomever may care to
u&r.y her, and her master must pro-
idc her n households: and, since he
ccGmes master OF all the female OF.
l"ing Of such alliances II is 20 his
'fVaa.ate 10. encourage them. The
on Of slave mother Is his fathers
on, Gai Is brought UP with a proper
f@.enpt fcr women in general and q
roper appreciation of the fact that
@ / man and may close his fathers
,cs IN Aeath. and have the same
road chice performed for himself by
Sc OF his own one day. The Kore-
,la live only to die. and the most i'm
)ortant i"aiding they receive in life
8 that which Gts them for properly
Mourning and bur"iag their dead, and
or spprcaching the great f1al honor
I death themselves. But Korea is a
ountry for men, and women enjoy
ew Of It's privileges.
Daughters count for little, and I'm
consequence their lives would be most
unhappy did they know any other sort
# life. But they do not. They are
| received into the world with more or
ess resentment and are Immediately
dedicated to sort OF slavery to the
male members of the family. The
Korean child receives no name. This
an honor reserved for the individu-
tliZed man. She is given some small
)et name in babyhood for the con.
Jenience of her elders, but as soon
rs she becomes old enough to take
her place in the women's apartments,
way from the eyes of man, she be.
comes the daughter of 80 and So"
md this is the only Identification
youchsafed to her until she becomes
the wife of 80 and So" and to her
own parents "our daughter of the
house of so and So" When she be-
comes the mother of $50 and so" this
;his title is added to her wifely dig
iities, and when she is buried as the
mother Of so and So" and her son
performs for her the wonderful fun.
eral rites so dear to the Korean heart
A Korean may divorce his wife for
any one of the Confucian lust
causes' for divorce, but he cannot
give her freedom to honorably marry
again. He may do whatever he likes
and marry as often as he pleases,
but he can never marry a widow un.
less he wishes to defy all the social
laws of his country, The children of
widow who has remarked are con.
sidered illegitimate, and are lower in
the social scale than are the children
of the innumerable concubines kept
by every man who can afford to sup
port them.