Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-01

IkeS{A MI lanu rarely slnu themselves
! lk Wal amid surroundings as unfa-
lsaAsAsA miliar as they fancied might
exist in regions remote from
"home." 1t is seldom that one finds
within the souvenir postcard and hotel
baggage label precincts of the earth
customs. so different from those else
where that he feels that he is at last
living, moving and having his being
among his antipodes. If there is a
country where this feeling may be ex-
perienced it is Korea, but the traveller
must go deeper than the surface to dis
cover the conditions that will occasion
it. 1t is not merely the novel aspect of
the men and women of Korea as they
pass to and fro in the streets, but the
strangeness Of things revealed by some-
thing more than cursory inspection
of the country and the people. AS one
delves into matters Korean he is tempt
ed to believe that here Nature wearied
of monotony and determined to vary
her program.
Elsewhere in the world the tiger and
the leopard are prominent members OF
jungle society in the tropics. In Korea
both flourish where winter brings zero
weather." and where the mountain
gorges are packed with Alpine SHOWS.
The Indian mother frightens her child
into obedience by telling it Of the dread
man-eater that may come from his lair
in the steaming swamps in search of a
meal of human flesh. In Korea the viii
layers bar their doors against. the COM
ing of a man-eater with longer fur and
finer stripes than the royal Bengal
tiger. He comes, hunger-driven, into
the clusters of thatched huts, and upon
padded feet that do not Crunch the
frosted snow, sinks through the streets
shifting the air and clicking his chops.
While there are fewer fatalities from
incursions of tigers in Korea than in
India, where the population is forty
times greater, the danger is ever pres
ent in remote districts and occasional
ly child or an adult is killed. The
Korean explanation of the denudation
of the mountains in large part OF the
country is that one of the early kings,
fearing revolution, forbade the people
to carry arms. AS a result the man
eating tigers grew so numerous that 1t
became necessary to deforest the mus
near villages so that they would retire
to uninhabited sections.
In Korea the farmer does not drive
or "toll" his hogs. When he sets out
to market with a porker he carries the
animal upon his back, tied to carrier
made of two strong branches of trees
with projecting limbs that serve as
rack The luggage carrier at the rail-
way station uses the same archaic con-
trivance, and it serves upon the farm
to transport all loads that are not
drawn by bullocks. The Korean 1ar1l-
er never uses his pony for draught
animal and never thinks of killing a
bullock for beef.
In other countries women are devot-
ed to shopping and merchants are anX-
ious to cater to their every whim. Ihe
stranger in Korea finds that he. mas
M. dom ho
that women do not like shopping, that
tie prominent merchants keep their
wares concealed in closets instead of
displaying them in show cases, ana
that the customer who does not fancy
the first piece of goods brought from
concealment is likely to be told that
the merchant is quite sure he mas
nothing better. Elsewhere the street
sign plays an important part in at
tracing trade. The large mercantile
houses in Korea are entirely without
street signs.
When the lawyer inquiries into affalrs
in Korea he meets surprises. Recently
in America we have clamored for the
criminal prosecution of crooked cap
tains of industry. During the 4Q0O
wears of civilization that preceded the
Iananese occupation the Koreans new
err Imagined the existence of courts de-
voted to the adjudication of civil cases.
Persons guilty of what are civil OF
fenses in other countries were punlshed
as criminals or not at all. While 9TH
er countries have always been busy
making laws to prevent swindllng, the
Koreans of the old regime turned over
trust funds and took mere receipts
and defalcations were rare.
THE women's rights exponent would
he amazed to find that in Korea Wom-
en- have always had the right which
men in the western hemisphere and IN
other parts of the east consider their
one inalienable prerogatiVe, namely,
that of rowing about town at night.
After o'clock the Korean custom,
which the influx of foreigners mas
served to abolish was for all men 10
go indoors and remain rigidly at nome,
while the women were auoWeu the
freedom of the city. So strict was the
rnie that no woman feared to go out
at night although in daytime ladies OF
social prominence are secluded ana
none but slaves or peasants appear
with faces uncovered.
The donkey is despised in many
countries for his snail-like gait ana
his uncomeliness. In Korea he is the
mount of the man of fashion VINO
would scorn to appear upon a highway
straddling a pony, although the ponies
of this country are highly pFlzea py
Europeans who have long Journeys ~ y
make The Korean violinists methou
10 the reverse of that of Kubelik. lac
s'finpers' near the bridge with his right
hand and pluc1xs the strings at the
ether end of the instrument with ms
1eft hand. and does not use a DOW
Ti1e u,esterner who builds handsome