The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-05-25


\ somewhat similar feeling pre-
vailed as to the magic III the telephone
and telegraph systems. Many of the
Korean ome knowing that the
speech went over the wires, thought
the poles must contain spirits and
was their voices. Indeed, some said
their prayers to the telephone poles
at the time.
Chin-Go-Kai.
lave you ever heard of Chin-Go-
kai? 1t is a section of Seoul which
contains 20, 900 Japanese people, 1t
has big official buildings, many two
story houses and long streets of stores,
which would be a credit to Toxic.
Some of the stores have plate-ghss
windows. and nearly all carry large
stocks of goods. Here everything is
clean, the roadWays are swept. and
most OF them are as smooth as q floor.
There are banks, brick school build
lngs. a postottice and all sorts Of JUS
mess establishments.
At one side Of this section is a great
frame office structure devoted to the
resident general, who governs Korea,
with the emperor as the nomina head;
and back of it is the home Of this high
official with a thousand acres or more
OF mountain about it. n
old mountain had lain there q wilder
HESS 1oI lIlouSdluS u years. II lldU
seen the wall built more than 500
years ago. and had watched the gen
erations rise and fall from then until
now. 1t remained for the Japanese to
make it a beautiful park. They have
cut a through the pines and have
built many pavilions. until now it is
one of natures most beautiful gar
denS.
/ had the good fortune to be invited
TO a ora rIan marty Oiyyan fhnra ~ ha
resident general the other day. More
than 1000 of the high-clasS Koreans
and japanese officials We're present.
His eNcellency received us out in the
open, and there were lunch rooms and
tea-houses the grounds,
whose walters were beautiful Japanese
maidenS. At the close We had dinner
in great tent, covering tables suffi-
cient to seat the two thou nd guests,
and the Japanese military band sang
Il son composed by Niscount Some in
! honor of the occasion.
Mud vs.. Brick.
Twenty-Five years ago there was not
a brick in Korea. The houses We're
all made of mud. of wood or of stones
! piled up one on top of the other and
covered with roofs of heavy black tiles,
or straw thatch, held down with straw
ropes. When / visited the city TWEEN
ty years ago outside the homes of
the missionaries and the palaces of
the king there was not a two-story
structure to be seen anywhere. h
place contained two or three hundred
thousand people, the most of whom
lived in mud butts with roofs of straw
Jhatch. The huts were all made in
the shape OF a horseshoe with quarters
at the back for the Women. There
were larger houses roofed with tiles
which formed the homes Of the nobles,
a and thaca u-aya chnf off from tho
streets by low stable-like structures,
in which the servants and retainers
| were QGartered. The houses We're all
heated by tiues which ran under the
| floors and emptieC their smoke into
the streets through opening cut at
about the height of ones waist from
the ground. At meal times and more
especially mornings and evenings,
these holes poured forth volumes,
making one think of q great forest
fire. The air was so thick that one
could almost cut it and the passerby
had to cough.
Today Seoul has thousands of SINH
lar houses. OF the two hundred thous-
and and odd which make up the ma
tive population. SO per cent live in
/ such quarters. They have no sewers,
and the Stops run out into open bitches
| which have been cut through the
streets. The Japanese have covered
! some of these bitches and they are
now putting in drains.
AS to the buildings, a new class Of
structure is rapidly rising and the peo-
pie stand and gaze at them in open
mOuthed WOnde The Young Mems
Christian Association has just COM
pleted q brick home of two stories,
which is heated by steam. 1t is a
| wonder of wonder to the average
Korean, who cannot tell whence comes
the heat.
The bricks for that building are be-
ing made outside the city. Yards have
| been there constructed, which are now
turning out brick by the millions. The
clay is excellent. and a large part of
tho paw Sao1l will he huilt of these