Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-01
THE FATE OF KOREA
XIII-A Glimpse of Topsyturveydom
By Frederic j. HaSkin

nome IS large he is fond of "Vistas."
The Korean palace is in an immense
walled Enclosure, or compound" con-
cealing the building from the outside
world The palace itself is cut into
many small rooms. One room may be
devoted to a single beautiful screen
which the owner likes to contemplate
and another to a potted plant, a third
to vase.
Cattle have been raised by Koreans
for thirty five centuries, but neither
milk, butter or cheese was used until
the foreign invasion began. The Ko-
rean equivalent of a common aphorism
is that It is useless to grieve over a
broken vase. While women do not do
many kinds of work in Korea, one spe-
cial line of endeavor allowed them in
the island of Qualepart on the south
ern coast, is fishing. In the old days
the women always went into the sea
nude and the law prohibited men from
approaching the vicinity of the fish
cries. When the Japanese came they
would not respect the custom and the
women have abandoned fishing.
Students of sociology might be sur
prised to learn that in Korean society.
the only sort of shop lady may keep
without losing caste is barroom. She
does not serve the drinks, but devotes
a DaTI OIL npl IiOuSG " Tic Dl&olAlCSo anu
has a barmaid attend to the details. A
lady in reduced circumstances may
make grass shoes such as the common
DeoDle wear 90 but not such shoes as
ladies wear She would lose caste by
becoming a seamstressi but may be
fortune teller and retain her position.
She may-and often does-become
physician, and serve powdered tiger
claws. bears gall and other remedies
. aOT11nOnndph
by the witches in Macbeth" A mid
die class woman may not study med
icine.
Generally speaking, drunkards fear
snakes. The Korean legend as to how
snakes came to Korea is that dis
sipated prince imported q shipload
from India to renew his vitality by
sleeping with a number of them in his
room. Many escaped from the sailors
when the cargo was unloaded. In other
lands progress is usually approved If
not sought. Koreans worship the tor
toise as representing the principle of
healthy conservatism. Instead OF
dreading the octopus they fish it up
and eat it. While the Koreans are lit
tie given to athletics and extremely
courteous, the boys and young men in
dulge in stone fights. These are held
every January, whole towns engaging
and many fatalities occur, amid volleys
of invective which no westerner can
equal When he is not engaged in a
stone fight the Korean youth likes Kite
flying. In western countries the i'm
pulse of the boy who sees a hawk is to
kill it. Korean boys amuse themselves
by throwing dead mice and bits OF
meat in the air to see the hawks catch
them, and the hawks enter into the
spirit of the game. Korean girls do not
sit down and "see-saw" like Americans
A long board is laid over a. fulcrum
and two girls jump up and down on
one end of it, the impact of each toss
ing the other in the air.
The Japanese occupation has made
Korea a strange tumble of contrasts
between the old and new and added
touch to Topsyturveydom. The traV-
eler who arrives at Chemulpo is fer
ried ashore in a sampan. The man al
the scull is q Korean with a top-knot
Against the sides of the hills beyond
the harbor rise rows of brown thatcheo
huts. Upon the heights loom flamboy'
antly painted frame houses conspicu-
Gus for "ginger bread" adornment
made in imitation of cottages in the
newest. sections OF America. The sta
tion agent, who speaks a half dozen
words of a half dozen languages, is
spick and span in a gilt buttoned and
gold braided uniform that would make
an American railroader green with
envy.
A train composed Of large American
coaches, drawn by mighty, massive
Mogul," such as Cy Warman likes to
describe in verse, starts with roa1
and a rush through paddy fields, where
Korean peasants in hats like inverted
bushel baskets and coats made of palm
thatch toll in the muck and where
immense white herons make their
stately way through the flooded fields
eating snails with a dignity of demea-
nor that no human being can command
at table. In Seoul the big, hearty voice
of Harry Lauder booms SANDY Nc
Nabb" and my Bonnie Scotch Lassie"
through the purple morning glory horn
of a graphophone in the shadow of
royal palace that but yesterday was
the rendezvous for some 1000 retainers
of an oriental emperor, including hun
dreds of dancing women and an army
of soothsayers, sorcerers and other i'm
pedimenta common to courts 5000 years
ago. In a resplendent pink frame resi-
dence that blooms like a rose against
the barren reaches of the amphitheater
of treeless mountains towering above
Seoul, Japanese resident general ad-
ministers government in it's most mod
ern form through an army of civil
servants, who have abandoned the
costumes of Samuri days for the gar
ments of the American smart set The
brobdingnagian stone dogs, who guard
the tenantless north palace against fire,
look down from their lofty pedestals
and smile.
TomorrOw--The Fate of Korea.
XIV-The Land of the Morning CAIN