The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-14

hY iHe governments On top oi all tiitS there was a short rice crop last harvest, and. altogether, the schools are in much need of more money.
 The Slave Girls of corea.
 As l have said, the new woman move ment is just at it's beginning. I doubt if its members can be numbered by hun dreds. There are certainly less than thousand who havA yet attempted to throw off the shackles of the old GUS toms and the remainder. numbering mill lions. are in the same condition that the sex was held for many generations. The customs vary according to the class to which the girl belongs Korea has mo- bility, a middle class, common people and slaves All of the rich families own hereditary slaves, and the daughter of slave is slave girl in turn. l1 the past such slaves have been given away, and 1t is not long since they were sold When the member of a family committed grave offense against the government, the whole family of the guilty one was often reduced to slavery. This was the case with the wife and daughter of Kim-Ok- Tun, the rebel who was assassinated by orders of the King of Shanghai some years ago. Quite a number of the sing ing girls are slaves, and as such they have been bought and sold. Today al most every Korean lady has her slaves, who wait upon her and do her bidding. l understand that the slaves are usually well treated, and that most of them would not leave their mistresses if they could.
 How Court Ladies Dress.
 Until just now it has been impossible for a foreign man to know anything about the dress of the high Korean lady except from hearsay. I attended a gar den party given by the Red Cross society in the grounds of one of the old palaces this afternoon at which several of the high ladies of the Empress court were present. Among them was sister of her majesty. They appeared in their court gowns, with great gold pins studded with pearls in their hair and with gold badges of their rank over their foreheads. Each woman had on a short jacket of white or light blue silk, which reached only half way to her waist and below this very full skirt of dark blue silk gauge, which was fastened around the body under tho arms and trailed upon the ground. As they raised them l could see their stock ings of padded cotton and their low em- broldered white or lilac shoes.
 They were bapeheaded, and their jet black locks were put up in knot which rested far down on the nape of the neck. They wore no veils nor face covering of any kind. and moved about among the NAAt occasion. During the celebration the court ladies, who heretofore have been abso- lutely secluded, sat upon the platform with the leading Korean and Japanese officials, representing her majesty the Empress, and one of them even read a message from the Empress to the assem- blaze No one would have dreamed such a thing possible five years ago.
 A Corean Girls Costume.
 The dress of the new woman will be far more comfortable and more beautiful than that of the present. A corean friend of mine has given me some of the details as to the costume of the present. Says he:
 "The first thing a girl puts on is a di- vided skirt, consisting of pair of very full drawers which fall in folds to her feet At the top of these is a band about eight inches wide, which Is fastened tightly over the breast by white ribbon drawstring, tied at the front. The draw CTS are so full that they might be fastened about the neck instead of the waist if the girl so wished. The waistband is very tight and it comes high up the back Above it and just meeting it is a little jacket with long sleeves. This is yellow, green blue or white, and 1t is tied together with ribbons of the same color. The jacket is so short that a strip of bare skin an inch wide shows out under the shoulder blades when the woman bends over and if she goes in the sun she may have a red stripe there. The drawers marrow as they fall to the feet, and are lost fin great stockings of wad- ded white cotton, which make her small feet look five times as large as they are. They are more like boots than anything else and they take the place of shoes and slippers at home. The better class houses are carpeted with mating and the women go about in stocking feet. Out of doors they wear low shoes with soles of oxhids or cloth.
 In addition to the divided skirt the Corean woman has on very full pair of white oVerpants which reach from the arms to far below the knees and over the whole a cloakike gown tied at the front with a ribbon. This garment is often of silk of bright colors. The younger women are fond of red, those of middle age like blue and many wear white. Most of the women have more or less jewelry They wear, hairplns of gold, silver or amber as thick as one's litNe finger and many have two gold or silver rings on the third finger of the right hand. They paint and powder, covering the face with white, except at the lips, which are red. They use India ink tq mark out the lines of the eyebrows and arch these in conformity with the Chinese idea of Asiatic beauty. This Is supposed to be curve like that of a line of swans flying through the sky, and if the hairs grow otherwise they are pulled out with tweezers until they approach the ideal.
 The winter clothes of the better class Corean women are sometimes of fur and quilted silk. Padded cotton is also used. the gowns being so made that they can be ripped apart for washing. Much paste and glue are employed in dressmahng, and many 0 woman of these high class
 How Corean Women Live.
 The new woman movement means that a great change is to come in the daily life of the Coreans. What with study, school going and calling, a new world is just beginning for these benighted nor taIs. The well bred woman of today be- gins her life of seclusion at the age of T. and from then until her death she is practically confined to the house of her husband or parents. She is lucky, indeed, if she has little garden to walk about in If she is very high class, she does not go out at all, or only in closed box about three feet square, and not more than four feet in height. This Is slung between poles. In bringing 1t to her house the chair bearers take 1t inside tne yard and then go away while she crawls in The proper signal is given, they re- turn and carry her to the home of 0 friend leaving the box and going around the corner until she crawls out Such visits are rare.
 The Corear lady rises with the sun and