The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-09
COREA'S NEW EMPEROR-By Frank G. Carpenter

1 around as tea plate. There was one of
 these on each of the shoulders and one | each side at about the fifth rib. His feet
 were shod with heavy cloth boots and his
 head was covered With a navy blue cap | of horsehair net, which was at least five inches high This had no brim and it
 came we'll down over his forehead Inside the cap I could see his topknot. His maj esty then wore his hair long and put 1t
 up in Corean style on his crown. Today the barber keeps it cut to the length of
 two inches or less, and the horsehair hat
 has disappeared, while In place of the gown he wears 0 foreign dress.
 During my audience in 1894 this young
 man, who was then 21, was supposed to be too holy to stand alone, and he had a eunuch on each side Of him, who held him up by placing their hands under his arms while he talked. His father, who was then King of Corea, had the same sort of , support when I appeared before him, and
 at that time no prince or noble of high
 rank walked without having servants on
 each side to help him along. If he went
 upon horseback there was man on each
 side of the pony to hold his legs in place and keep him from falling. These eunuchs
 were almost as gorgeously dressed as the crown prince. They wore hats and gowns and big boots and had great gold en- broidered squares on their chests and backs. The highest of them had golden buttons behind their right ears, attached to their headgear, and they had long wings on each side of their caps, which stood out like ears, denoting that their owners were always listening for the com
 mands of the king. There was nothing
 of the kind in our interview today, and the audience, all told, was not different from that of the principal courts of Flu rope, and the dress of the officials and of his majesty was about the same.
 It seems to me that the emperor is much
 brighter today than when I saw him as crown prince. The Japanese officials tell
 me he appears to be waking up, and that
 he shows more and more ability from day
 to day. The Japanese are ruling the em-
 peror through his cabinet, but there are many papers he has to sign and some doc
 uments which require his official sanction.
 He has been taken out of the palace and
 has visited one or two of the nearby
 towns. He does some things which show
 the existence of humor in his makeup,
 and he Is anxious to know what Is going
 on in the country. The other day, for in-
 stance, there was an exhibition of athletic
 sports here in Seoul in which all the
 schooboys took part. There were foot
 races and other contests, with appropriate
 prizes, and the people in general came out to see. About ten thousand were present.
 The contests created great sensation and the emperor hearing of them, ordered
 the prize winners to be brought to the
 palace to run before him. As they did
 so, he was delighted and laughed and ap- plauded. At the close of the races he or
 dered his highest court officials to come
 out and run a race among themselves.
 Many of these men are old fellows, ac- customed to being held up by the arms, as I have described.
 Some had never done stroke of work