The Korea Magazine
Editoral Board:
S. A. Beck,
J. S. Gale, W. G. Cram,
W. A. Noble
Vol. II
MAY, 1918
No. 5
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS—
Scenes along the Chosen Railways— Taiku Station— Goods
for Export, Fusan Pier — Express Train at Fusan Pier — Ginseng
Plantation, Songdo— Market Day, Taiku— Fusan Railway Pier-
Coal Mine Entrance, Pyeng Yang— Fish Market— Water Fall,
Fusan— Old Wiju— “Ayu” Fishing — Fusan Railway Station—
Korean Feast Day — Front View, Fusan Pier— South Gate Street,
Seoul— Severance Medical College -Salt Fields, Chinnampo—
Buddhist Image, Suwon — Chinnampo— Great Iron Basin, Konan
Line — Cotton for Export, Mokpo — Bean Cakes and Rice, for Ex-
port-Queen’s Tomb— Plowing Rice Fields— Steamer and'Train
at Fusan Pier— Ruins of Five-storied Pagoda of Ancient Dynasty—
Kija’s Tomb, Pyeng Yang— Avenue of Pines, near Suwon—
Tetsugen — Prince Yi Household, Museum, Seoul — In Diamond
Mountains— Hot Springs, Taiden— Ryusan Station— Royal Tomb—
Yalu Bridge— Governor-General’s Official Residence— Railway
Bridges, Han River— East Palace, Seoul
EDITORIAL NOTES 193
THE RAILWAYS OF KOREA 193
THE KI-SAING (Dancing Girl) 198
THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION 202
THE KOREAN LANGUAGE, “Hand”— J. S. Gale 208
THE STUDY OF JAPANESE, III-F. H. Smith
A Page of Indispensable Phrases 210
WONSAN BEACH SUMMER LANGUAGE SCHOOL 211
CHOON YANG— Continued
XX. — The Mother-in-Law 213
XXL — The Prisoner 218
BLAZING THE TRAIL— Continued
Chapter XXV.— Martha Hears Good News 224
FIVE YEARS ON THE PACIFIC-Fred J. Halton 236
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CHATS WITH OUR READERS
Because of the recent vacation period it is thought best to omit from
this number of the Magazine the article in the series on the schools in
Seoul. It will appear in the June issue.
J. H. Morris has made an enviable record as Agent of the Canadian
Pacific Ocean Services. The Company should appreciate the business
he has secured for them, and assist him to get hold of a due proportion of
the traveling public. Abnormal freight rates have had their effect on
increasing automobile prices, but a market is found for machines as fast
as the freight space on incoming steamers will permit their arrival in
Korea. An initial shipment of one hundred dozen hats manufactured in
Seoul of Korean materials will soon compete in the New York market
with the celebrated Panama variety.
Attention is called to the removal of the offices of W. W. Taylor and
Company to the large brick building opposite the main gate to the
Palace. Here there is ample room to care for their growing import and
export business; space to exhibit their Korean brass-bound chests and
curios, and transact business as Agents of the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company, together with a general office and private office and consult-
ing rooms. Out-of-town visitors will be welcomed, and a convenient
desk and writing facilities are always at hand, while the telephone will
save many otherwise necessary steps.
The time for the excursion to Songdo has been definitely fixed for
Saturday, June 8. No better place can be found for acquiring information
about some of the celebrated characters of a former Korean dynasty.
With the party will be those who can furnish authoritative information.
While any one will be cordially welcomed on that day, whether or not
previous notice has been given, yet it is desirable that where it is con-
venient for you so to do, names be sent to the Korea Magazine as soon
as possible, that better arrangements may be effected. The party will
leave South Gate Station at 9:50 a. m., reach Songdo at 11:35; have a
picnic luncheon; spend the afternoon in visiting historical monuments
and mausoleums; and leave Songdo at 5:44 p. m. arriving at Seoul at
7:25. Please remember the date, Saturday, June 8, and send your name
as one planning to go.
SCENES ALONG THE CHOSEN RAILWAYS
1 Taiku Station 2 Goods for Export, Fusan Pier 3 Express Train at Fusan Pier
4 Ginseng Plantation, Songdo 5 Market Day, Taiku G Fusan Railway Pier
7 Coal Mine Entrance, Pyeng Yang 8 Fisk Market 9 Water Fall, Fusan
10 Old Wiju
SCENES ALONG THE CHOSEN RAILWAYS
1 “Ayu” Fishing 2 Fusan Railway Station 3 Korean Feast Day
4 Front View, Fusan Pier 5 South Gate Street, Seoul Severance Medical College
ti Salt Fields, Chinnampo 7 Buddhist Images, Suwon 8 Chinuaiupo
9 Great Iron Basin, Konan Line
The Korea Magazine
MAY, 1918
Editorial Notes.
IT will be well for you to turn to “Chats With Readers” on
back of Table of Contents, and learn there about the com-
pleted plans for the historical excursion to Songdo.
SUPPLEMENTING the article on the Railways of Korea, it
is appropriate to state here that to relieve the freight
congestion the authorities are constructing twenty-seven ad-
ditional locomotives and three hundred and sixty freight cars.
Provision must also be made for additional passenger coaches
on the main line and some of the important branch lines.
Railways of Korea
Korea has been thought of by many as being hopelessly
behind the times, and so much in the rear of the procession
that generations must come and go before the old lethargy
could be shaken off.
A ride on the splendid luxuriously equipped South Man-
churia express train from Fusan to Mukden will convince any
traveler that in the matter of railways Korea belongs to the
twentieth century, and is right in the forefront of progress.
It was from the old Korean government that James R.
Morse, an American citizen, secured a concession in 1896 to
build a railway line from Chemulpo to Seoul. While the line
was still under construction a Japanese syndicate represented
by Baron Shibusawa purchased the concession and the rights
connected with it from Mr. Morse in 1897.
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THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
The syndicate became the Seoul-Chemulpo Railway Com-
pany in May, 1899, and in September of that year 20 miles of
the line was opened for traffic. For some months after that
passengers from Seoul traveled to Yongsan by electric car,
crossed the Han river on a sampan, then crossed the sands in
two-man open push-cars, finally reaching Yong-dong-po, where
a train might be found waiting to start for Chemulpo.
In July, 1900, after the completion of a splendid iron bridge
across the Han, the line was extended to West Gate Station,
Seoul, twenty-five miles of railway then being completed.
SEOUL-FUSAN RAILWAY
The Seoul-Fusan Railway Company commenced construc-
tion work in August, 1901, on the line from Fusan to Seoul, a
distance of 267 miles, and the line was opened to traffic in
January, 1905.
During the Japan-Russia War the Temporary Railway
Department of the Army built the line from Seoul through to
the northern border of Korea, but general traffic was not
undertaken until 1908.
After the Japanese government decided to nationalize the
railways in Japan in 1906, the Imperial Government of Japan
first purchased the Seoul-Fusan and Seoul-Chemulpo lines,
and later in the same year the Seoul-Wiju line and the Masan
lines were all transferred to the Railway Bureau of the Res-
idency General. In October, 1910, all the lines were trans-
ferred to the jurisdiction of the Government-General of
Chosen, and in 1917 to the South Manchuria Railway Com-
pany.
The construction work of the main line was carried
through so hurriedly that later it was found necessary to do a
large amount of reconstruction work, shortening the line,
building permanent bridges, and ballasting the road-bed.
With the completion of the Yalu River bridge and the re-
construction of the Antung-Mukden Line the railways in Korea
1918
RAILWAY OF KOREA
195
became a very important link in the communication system
between Europe and Asia, by way of the South Manchuria and
Chinese Eastern Railways.
STANDARD GAUGE.
From the beginning the railways in Korea have been
standard-gauge, with the cars broad and comfortable, end
entrances. This standard-gauge has made possible the gradu-
al great improvement in the class of engines and cars purchas-
ed, and now the 12-wheel, 120-ton locomotives, and first-class
compartment sleeping cars are in continual use on the main
lines.
Sleeping cars for both first and second class passengers
are on the night express trains, and well-appointed dining
cars, under the direct management of the Company, are found
on all through trains. Meals may be obtained at very reason-
able prices, either table de hote or a la carte, while courteous
waiters anticipate your every need. Writing tables are pro-
vided in the dining cars.
While the needs of local traffic are provided for, special
attention has been given to caring for through passengers,
and no expense is spared in equipping trains that will com-
pare favorably with the best appointed train service in any
part of the world. Many are the commendations heard from
those long accustomed to travel in Europe and America, and
the wonder is expressed that such service can be found in
the Far East.
On the through trains all cars have electric lights, and in
summer electric fans, while in winter they are made comfort-
able by steam radiators. The trains to Wonsan are now being
electrically equipped.
HOTELS.
Beides the dining cars, the Company conducts good hotels
at Fusan and Shingishu, where guests receive the best of
care; while in Seoul the Chosen Hotel, in the heart of the
city, owned by the Company, is declared to be the most luxuri-
ous hotel in the East. It has been built and equipped at a cost
of nearly a million yen. The hotel is five-storied, fire-proof,
196
THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
with electric elevators, public and private dining rooms, par-
lors, library, music room, etc., and is the pride of the entire
country. Situated within the grounds containing the Temple
of Heaven, tourists have an opportunity to study oriental art
and architecture without inconvenience. At the South Gate
station a refreshment room is open at all hours.
At the foot of the Diamond Mountain the Railway Company
has erected a chalet, for the entertainment of guests, and the
same care is given tourists from the first of June until the
end of October as they would receive at the best summer
resorts in other countries. Great pains is being taken to call
the attention of the traveling public to this Diamond Mountain
country, which is considered one of the finest summer resorts
to be found anywhere in the world. It is becoming world-
famous.
DIAMOND MOUNTAINS
The Diamond Mountains may be conveniently reached by
taking the Seoul-Wonsan line to Wonsan, and then a six-hour
steamer ride along the coast brings one to within a short dis-
tance of the hotel. This year beginning the first of June an
automobile service will also take passengers from Wonsan
to the hotel, at the outer Diamond Mountain; and an addi-
tional automobile service is being established from Kozan,
between the mountains and Wonsan, which will take pas-
sengers to a hotel just now being built in the inner Diamond
Mountains, the latter service commencing the first of July.
WONSAN BEACH
Missionaries in Korea have established at Wonsan Beach,
only a short distance from the city of Wonsan, a summer re-
sort for rest, recreation and study. Summer Language Study
Classes are held, Mission Meetings, Bible Conferences, etc.,
while there is one of the best bathing beaches to be found any-
where, and facilities for volley ball, baseball, tennis and golf.
The Beach House is being erected this season to care for those
not owning cottages, and reservations have already been made
for guests from China, Japan and Korea.
SCENES ALONG THE CHOSEN RAILWAYS
1 Cotton for Export, Mokpo 2 Bean Cakes and Rice, for Export 3 Queen’s Tomb
4 Plowing Rice Fields 3 Steamer and Train at. Fusan Pier
6 Ruin of Fire-storied Pagoda of Ancient Dynasty 7 Kija’s Tomb, Pvcng Yang
8 Avenue of Pines, near Suwon b Tetsugen
s;enes along the chosen railways
1 Prince Yi Household, Museum, Seoul 2 In Diamond Mountains
3 Hot Springs, Taiden 4 Kyusan Station 5 Royal Tomb 6 Yalu Bridge
7 Governor-General Official Residence 8 Railway Bridge, Han River
9 East Palace, Seoul
1918
RAILWAYS OF KOREA
197
A GREAT DEVELOPER
A country blessed with up-to-date railways is bound to
advance. At first the Korean people were very curious, and
flocked to the right-of-way to get a first view of the “steam
horses,” but now they have learned the value of the railway,
and find a much better market for all they can produce, and
they can sell for cash, whereas formerly they could only barter
with one another. It is difficult for the Railway Company to
keep up with the demand for increased facilities for transport-
ing goods and passengers. At almost every station great piles
of farm products are awaiting shipment, with every train load-
ed to the limit ; and all passenger trains, even on the branch
lines, are crowded. Rice, beans, tobacco, coal, and iron ore,
are the principal items of freight, but lumber and wood are
hauled in considerable quantities.
EMPLOYEES
From the beginning Koreans have been employed, first
very largely in the construction of the main line and branch
lines, and later in the maintenance department, construction
offices, and workshops. From the last available report, out of
a total of 9,404 officers and employees, there were 3,162
Koreans, and 7 Chinese, together with 5,635 Japanese.
In the matter of wages, European and American railway
people may well wonder how such efficient service can be
obtained for such relatively small sums. But the work is
done, and done well; and the train service is of the best.
Compared with older roads, the Chosen Railways have made
good both in the matter of service and cost. There have
been very few accidents, and trains are seldom other than
on time.
RELIEF ASSOCIATION
The employees are members of and contribute to a Relief
Association, to which the Government also makes a grant of
2 per cent of the wages of the two classes of employees who are
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THE KOREA MAGAZINE
1918
members. This association provides relief in times of sickness,
accident, and old age ; and dependents are cared for when the
bread-winner can no longer provide for them.
There are more than 8,000 members of this Association,
while in the last year more than 2,000 have benefitted by its
funds.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Practically 1,100 miles of standard-gauge railway are now
in successful operation in Korea, the through line extending
from Fusan to Antung, with main branches from Taiden to
Mokpo, Seoul to Wonsan, Seoul to Chemulpo, and Pyeng
Yang to Chinnampo ; and smaller branches from Sanroshin to
Masan, Riri to Kunsan, Koshu to Kenjiho, and Pyeng Yang
to Jido, the coal fields. The line from Wonsan is gradually
being extended north, and recently there has been completed
on this extension the longest tunnel in Korea.
There are also several short lines of light railway, one
being in the far north-east corner of the peninsula, where in
due time it will be incorporated with the main line.
No other single factor has done so much for the material
development of Korea and its people as the railways, provid-
ing unlimited markets for products, creating demands for
better roads and better methods of farming and carrying on
business, and giving ever-widening glimpses of the broad
world beyond the borders.
A later article will give further details of work already
accomplished or contemplated.
The Ki-saing (Dancing-Girl.)
One of the noticeable features of Korean life is the
dancing-girl, or ki-saing. You see her on the tram-car, dress-
ed in all her fluff and feathers, coloured like a bird in pink
and green, and, I forget whether she has touches of red in
her gear or not. However, she appears seemingly in all the
1918
THE KI- SAING
199
colours of the rainbow, with ermine-tipped edges, a picture
for the eye to see, not often pretty from a Western point of
view, but striking. She rides about in the best ricsha with
up-to-date pneumatic tires, and holds her head up like a
queen.
It might seem to a foreign passer that a woman who not
only sells her gift of song, and her grace of foot to dance, but
her body as well, ought to hide her head, or be seen only
lurking about hidden corners, or dodging here and there in
the twilight as do our castaways at home.
But not so the ki-saing. She is as blithe a bird as ever
hopped, with not a shadow lying across her little old con-
science, happy in the r61e she is called upon to play, and feeling
that she is a very necessary and important part of what the
East calls Society.
If we reckon up her ancestry according to the books and
records on hand, she is a thousand years old, and probably, as
far as society is concerned, comes down from some of the best
classes of the day in which her fathers lived.
Mr. An Chung-bok, a strict old Confucianist, who spent
some of his best strength in attacking Christianity, and who
died in 1791, says in his book, Sung-ho Sa-sul,
“The official ki-saing comes originally from the basket-
maker class, called in Korean yang-soo-chuk (willow-water
yard-measure).
“When Koryu conquered Paik-je in 918 A. D., one group
of people absolutely refused submission and so lost their
family records and their standing in the state, and betook
themselves to the hills, where they wandered about as gypsies,
hunting, and making wicker baskets.
“Later in their history a certain Yi Chi-yung took one of
their number, whose name was Cha-oon Sun, Red Cloud
Fairy, as his concubine. Thus they became known to the
outer world. After that date if their women were pretty and
won the favour of the official in charge of the district where
their wanderings took them, these were dressed in silk,
taught music and dancing and called ki-saing , or singing-
girls."
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THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
This class to which she belongs, namely the basket-
makers, was evidently, like the “wild” Irish, “agin” the govern-
ment for all time, for we find them in 1217, or three hundred
years after their defection, charged with aiding and abetting
the Kitan Tartars in an attack upon Korea. The basket-
makers petitioned the king against this suspicion and made
considerable noise about it.
Korea, until recently, classed basket-makers with execu-
tioners, butchers, acrobats, witches and shoemakers and mark-
ed them the lowest in the land.
Thus the dancing-girl took her origin.
Mr. An goes on to say that the habit of cultivating the
dancing-girl increased and grew till she was found in every
county in the state. She became the musician not only on
official occasions, but at private entertainments as well. He
adds, “The impure language, and foul acts that attended her
way put one’s eyes and ears to shame.”
In 1430 there was a discussion in state circles as to how
do away with her, when Hu Choo, a minister of great note,
and a severe and correct man in his own life, remarked, “Such
women must be had for officials who go to far distant out-
stations and cannot take their wives with them, otherwise
decent women will run great danger,” and so the custom was
maintained.
We read that in the year 1519' an edict was promulgated
doing away with the ki-saing, but the force of puplic senti-
ment was too strong against it and it failed to carry.
Yoo Hyung-un, a noted scholar who died in 1673, writing
in the Pan-ge Soo-rok, says, “The ki-saing is an instrument
to teach men evil ways. The Book of Ceremony reads, ‘Offi-
cials should never speak of women.’ A word even regarding
them was not allowed, much less their near approach.
"In ancient times in the Court, in the Temple of Heaven, at
the Ancestral Shrines, in all places of the state, whether
teaching, dressing, eating, feasting or entertaining, men did
everything in accord with the laws of God, but later these
1918
THE KI-SAING
201
laws fell into disuse and society gave itself up to unlawful
pleasure. Laws, regulations, and even punishments were not
sufficient to keep back the flood of evil.
“Men’s passions rise at sight and hearing, therefore the
ancients ordered the greatest care in what one saw and heard,
so that the eyes should not behold a sight that tempted, nor the
ears hear a sound that suggested wrong. Unchaste women
were to be put far away. Now, however, officials rear and
breed a race of low women that they can use in the entertain-
ment of their guests. They dress and adorn them and have
them await the stranger who comes. They serve to give him
drink and sing him songs, so as to arouse his passion. Because
of these the heart is taken captive and the victim drowns as in
water, while state affairs go by the board and the customs
and habits of the day degenerate. Resolutions toward better
purposes in life are undermined and true service is gone for-
ever.
“A man who can associate with ki-saing and yet never
yield himself to them is a rare individual. Few men can do
so. If there were no singing-girls, it would be possible for
many a man to live a life of virtue who otherwise falls. Any-
one overcome by passion to the extent of taking forcible
possession of another man’s wife or daughter is a low criminal
and his case falls outside the realm of ordinary discussion.
“Laws and ordinances are intended to conserve good form
and keep right the heart, but for the sake of the lowest of the
land to prepare these creatures of evil is only another way of
encouraging vice. Is it right ? As well prepare goods for a
thief to steal, in order to meet the evil bent of his thievish
nature, as to legalize the dancing-girl.
“ Ki-saing, too, are human beings. If those above them
never teach them morals, but rather encourage them to sin,
what hope is there for them ? Are such laws and customs
just ?
“When Confucius saw dancing-girls being used by the
king of No, he resigned office and left.”
All down through history we find Koreans out fighting
this evil, honest men whose names would honour any state,
•1
202 THE KOREA MAGAZINE May
but they were crushed under the rough feet of the' ruling
classes one of whose greediest aims and ambitions was to
possess the dancing-girl.
She has survived all these years of a long millennium and
still moves about the capital undaunted as though her case
was above reproach.
Yi Kyoo-bo writes of her seven hundred years ago,
“Have you not heard that the glance of her eye is a
sharpened blade, that her eye-brows are a double-faced heads-
man’s axe, that her red cheeks are a deadly potion, and that
her soft flesh is a hidden demon that demands the soul ? With
her axe she strikes, with her blade she thrusts, with her hidden
wiles she seeks my life and endeavours to bring me to sorrow
and shame. Is she not a danger ? Among all my deadly
enemies can anything equal her ? Therefore is she called ‘a
thief,’ ‘a robber.’ A robber means death to me, how dare I
make friends with him ? So I say, Put her far away. To the
eye she is a delightful invitation, while in reality she is a fearful
evil.
“There is no doubt that the beauty of the dancing-girl is
something that can overturn the world. Her fascinations
surpass in the fierceness of their intent even the tiger and the
leopard. The love of such as she is the cause of all jealousy
and strife. Once caught by her, a man’s name is gone,
and his good reputation tarnished forever. Kings and princes,
ministers and men of state who have overturned thrones and
wrought ruin have done it at her bidding. She has blinded
their eyes and beclouded their understanding. By her they
have begotten disaster and woe, and dynasties have toppled to
their ruin.”
The Law of Retribution.
Note: — It seems to the writer that Koreans could teach Sir Oliver
Lodge and his company many things in regard to the spirit world, that are
beyond what they have discovered, in interest, in dignity and in definite
purpose. In the following story such would appear to be the case.
Korean spirit appearances have thought back of them, that put mere
1918
THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION
203
table-rappings, liftings and such useless antics to shame. Please read
the following, which is a translation from the Keui-moon chong-wha.
There was a certain scholar who threw down his pen in
disgust and decided to take to the bow and become an archer.
Daily outside the city at Mo-wha Kwan he practised and train-
ed his hand.
Once, in the evening, on his return home, he saw a wom-
an’s closed chair passing with a very pretty maid-servant
following it. With his bow over his shoulder, and his arrows
through his belt he sauntered along, sometimes ahead, some-
times behind.
As the wind blew and swung aside the curtain, he saw
inside the chair an attractive face of a woman dressed in
mourner’s white. Seeing her comely features, the scholar
wondered who she was and where she had come from. So
he followed on, till finally the chair passed in through the
West Gate and turned in the direction of South Mountain,
where it entered a well-to-do home.
He walked back and forth for some time before the door,
thinking over the woman he had seen, till the shades of even-
ing began to fall, and then he turned into an inn near by and
had his meal.
Later in the night, with his bow still over his shoulder,
and his arrows through his belt, he walked round the house
to make a closer inspection, but found no possible gate of
entrance. However, there was a little hill against which the
rear wall abutted. This he climbed, and looked over, and
beheld a flower garden inside with fruit trees. There were
bamboos as well, and places here and there where one could
easily hide.
In the light of the moon he scaled this wall, and went
softly on till he came to the rear of the house. In two rooms,
one to the east, and one to the west, there were lights burn-
ing. He went quietly up to the window of the east room and
peeked in, and there he saw an old woman leaning on an arm-
rest, while the young woman, whom he had seen in the chair,
was reading to her from a story-book. Her voice was very
sweet and low.
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THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
The scholar kept perfectly still and watched, till a little
later the old woman said, “You’ve been on a journey to-day,
you’ll be tired, go to your room now and sleep.”
The young woman bade her good-night and retired to the
room on the west side. Following her on the outside, the
scholar slipped over to this room, and watched through the
chink.
She called her servant and said, "You’ll be tired after
your journey to-day, go home now to your mother, have a
good rest and come tomorrow morning early.”
The servant left, while she herself arose and closed the
upper windows, the scholar meanwhile, watching. He said to
himself, “She seems to sleep alone, I must endeavour to make
my way in,” and he held his very breath with his eye close to
the chink.
She opened the wardrobe box, took out quilts and made
her bed. Then she had a smoke under the lamplight as
though she was waiting for someone. The archer wondered
what this could mean, when suddenly he heard the sound of
footsteps from the bamboo grove. Startled, he stepped with-
in the shadows and hid, and from there he saw a close shaven
Buddhist priest come out of the darkness, go straight to the
window and rap.
At once the shutter opened and he went in, the scholar
again resuming his place of watch by the chink. He saw the
priest take the young woman in his arms and indulge in all
kinds of familiarity.
She then took down a bottle and offered him drink. He
accepted, and as he did so asked her, “When you went to the
grave to-day did you feel sorry ?” She laughed as she replied,
“I have you, what cause have I for sorrow ? Why should I
feel tearful over a grave with nothing in it ?”
While the archer watched this proceeding his former
mind departed from him like a morning cloud, and fierce anger
burned in his soul. He strung his bow, drew full the arrow,
and let fly through the paper window. It struck the priest
square on the head and drove through to his chin.
1918
THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION
205
The woman, in a terrible fright, gazed speechless, and
then wildly excited rolled the body in a quilt, and dragged it
by main force up the stairway to a room above.
After he had taken careful note of all that she had done,
the archer scaled the wall and took his departure. Already it
was past midnight.
He returned home, and in his sleep he had a dream in
which a young literatus of 18 or so, dressed in a green robe,
came to him and bowed saying, “I have come to thank you for
taking vengeance on my enemy.”
The scholar asked, “Who are you, pray ? What enemy
have you, and how have I taken vengeance ? Why do you
thank me ?”
He bowed and made reply, "I am the son of such and
such a Minister, and in my studies went to one of the neigh-
bouring monasteries where I read the Classics. When there I
used to send a priest to my home on errands, and so he often
went and came. It seems that my unfaithful wife looked with
favour upon him so that they met at times unknown to me.
“One day on the way to see my parents, when he was with
me, we were crossing the hills. Suddenly he stopped, kicked
and killed me and left my body in a crevice of the rock where
it still lies. I died most unjustly, and yet no one came to be
my avenger, till last night your shaft drove through his head
and killed the criminal who did me wrong. The woman is my
wife. Thank you beyond words for this vengeance you have
taken ; but I have still one favour to ask. Go to my father,
please, and tell him where my body lies, and have him give it
burial. If you do this I shall be forever grateful ?”
Thus having spoken he disappeared.
The scholar awoke and it was a dream. He wondered
over what had taken place, and so went next day to this house
and sent in his card. The old Minister arose to invite him in.
The scholar asked, “How many sons have you ?”
The Minister, tears flowing from his eyes, answered, “A
most unfortunate old man am I. I had no children till after
50 years of age when a son was born to me ; a jewel in my
hand he was. I had him married and sent to a monastery in
206 THE KOREA MAGAZINE May
the mountains to study, but on his way home he was killed by
a tiger and devoured, and we are just now completing his
time of mourning.”
The scholar said, “I have a question on my mind concern-
ing this matter. Will you not come with me please till I show
you where his body lies ?”
The Minister gave a great start of terror, and inquired,
“How do you know ?”
The reply was, “Let’s go and see.”
A horse was made ready, and the old man went along till
they reached the monastery, where he dismounted. Together
they went some distance up the hill to the rear, where were
rocks. Here was a cave with the mouth closed by stones and
earth. They had the servant remove these and looking inside
found the dead body of the son, his face fair still, unmarred
by death, just as when he lived.
The old man on seeing it fainted away and only after
some time did he revive. He then looked at the scholar and
said, “How did you know this ? You must have killed him.”
The scholar laughed and made reply, “Had I done such an
evil deed, is it likely that I would have informed you ? Let’s
take the body away, get it ready for burial, and then, when
you have returned home, ask your daughter-in-law about it.
There is something in the upper story of your house that
bears on this matter. Let us make haste.”
The old Minister had the body taken to the temple, and
after due preparation for burial he returned. At once he went
to the daughter-in-law’s room and said, “My palace robe is
upstairs in the box. I want to get it out. Unlock the door
for me.”
The daughter-in-law in a state of unspeakable fear,
replied, “I’ll get it, I’ll get it. You needn’t go up, I’ll get it.”
A look of death was on her face.
At this the Minister’s suspicions were suddenly aroused.
He unlocked the door and went in to where a fearful odour
met him. Behind a box was something wrapped in a quilt.
He dragged it out and here was the body of a fat young priest
with an arrow shaft through his head.
1918
THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION
207
He shouted, “What is this ?” A face of ashy gray colour
was the woman’s only reply. He then called her father and
brother, told them all that had happened, and finally drove her
off the place. A moment later her own father struck her
through with a knife and killed her.
The body of the son was taken and buried on the hill
with his ancestors.
Again the scholar had a dream when once more the young
literatus came and said, “I shall never be able to repay the
kindness you have done me. There is one matter, however,
in which I may be able to render you assistance and show my
gratitude. The time for government examination, you know,
is near at hand. The subject to be given is something that I
have already written on, and so I can repeat it to you. Listen
now and catch every word, for if you attend carefully and
write it down you will indeed win the first place.”
He then recited a poem of twenty verses, the subject of
which was CK oo-poong hoi-sim-maing (Amid the Autumn
Winds my Repentant Heart Awakes).
The scholar repeated it over and over in his dream, and
after awaking wrote it down. A few days later he entered
the lists of the kwago (examination) when, sure enough, this
very subject was given. Inspired by the thought he wrote
the poem as revealed in the dream, and passed it in.
In this poem was the verse,
Ch'oo-poong sap-he suk-keui
An autumn wind at eventide ,
Ok-oo whak-i chaing-yung
A marble hall both high and wide.
Now instead of writing ch‘oo for autumn he had written
keum, or metal as that word is sometimes used as a synonym.
The examiner was the noted Kim Ch‘ook-chun(Kyoo-jin).
When he saw the poem he said, “Well done, done by the
gods, surely. The spirits must be playing some trick upon us
by these verses.” When he came to the line however where
keum was written instead of ch‘oo he laughed and said, “Not
the gods after all, but some man’s superior gift.” He marked
the writer as the winner of the much coveted prize.
208
THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
Some one standing by asked the examiner how he drew
a distinction between what was by the gods, and what by
man.
He replied, “The spirits hate keum or metal. No spirit
would ever use the metaphor ‘metal wind’ for ‘autumn wind.’
When the results were announced the archer was the
honor man, crowned with the laurels of the day. If you look
up the Kook-jo Pang-mok you will find the winner’s name
marked there, though I have not yet made search for it my-
self.
The Korean Language.
“Hand”
The development of language and the formation of words
have followed along the well-beaten pathway of human effort,
until they have grown into similar expressions on this side of
the wide world and on that.
To take up the little word hand, as an example, this useful
member with its five fingers that serves for every daily occu-
pation, we find that in many of its metaphorical meanings it
has grown to be what it is with us at home.
We say ‘good hand’ and the Korean says ‘good hand’
as well.
He is a professional and so is a good hand.
That man is a good hand at the gun, (a good shot.)
He is a number one good runner, who won first prize.
For ‘poor hand’ the Korean says, ‘poor hand.’
****** a
He is a poor hand at everything.
We call an unpractised person a poor hand, and a
skilled person a good hand.
A ‘master-hand’ would be or ‘first hand.’
1918 THE KOREAN LANGUAGE 209
When a Korean wishes to express the idea that two are
equal he says or ‘equal hands’ as,
Let us try it with those equally matched.
We say ‘skill of hand’ and he says ^31 ‘hand skill’
£ A|7fl X X.J] ^ * 5J4x
A man who has no skill of hand cannot repair any-
thing like a watch.
The words and are in frequent use, but they
mean skill in general sense and do not admit of a literal trans-
lation. The word which might be literally translated
‘manuscript,’ is really ‘note of hand,’ also rendered by the
form -^^§.
One very common word now used in Korea is ‘hand-
magic.’ What do you suppose ‘hand-magic’ could be ? Sur-
gery ! Well expressed is it not ?
As for verbs in which ‘hand’ occurs we have
Who was the first to put his hand to this work ?
While the Korean word is literally ‘slip of hand’ it
means a slip or mistake of any kind as,
When I was speaking that day I made a slip.
a4* is a word that has more recently come into the
language in the wake of the foreign idea to ‘applaud’ by clap-
ping the hands.
Don’t clap your hands, please.
The skilful way in which the Far East puts together
characters to make the required word is very remarkable.
Ideas expressed by a long English word, or by a German word
that would climb to the top of the hill and back and yet not
get through, is touched off by the man in the East with two
or three characters most deftly. Take for example ears, eyes,
nose and mouth, the Korean says hands and feet he
reads to wave the hands and dance How
very simple !
J. S. Gale.
210
THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
The Study of Japanese — III.
A Page of Indispensable Phrases.
0 hayo gozaimasu. (Honorably early is.) Good morning.
0 hairi nasai. (Honorably come in please do.) Please
come in.
Yoku irasshaimashita. (Well deigned to come.) I am
glad to see you.
0 kake kudasai. (Honorably sit please.) Please be
seated.
Komban wa. (This evening as to.) Good evening.
Konnichi wa. (Today as to.) Good day. (Not good
bye.)
Hajimete o me ni kakarimashita. (For the first time
honorable eyes on have hung.) This is the first time I have
had the pleasure of meeting you.
Mata o me ni kakarimasu. (Again honorable eyes on will
hang.) I will see you again.
Ikura desu ka ? (How much is ?) What is the price ?
Dochira ye irasshaimasu ka ? (Whither toward going ?
Where are you going ?
Gomen nasai. (Pardon please do.) Please pardon me.
ArigatQ gozaimasu. (Precious is.) Thank you.
Shitsurei itashimashita. (Discourtesy have done.) I
have been very rude.
D5 itashimashite. (How doing.) Don’t mention it.
Shikata ga nai. (Way of doing there is not.) There is
no help for it.
Yoi o tenki de gozaimasu. (Good honorable weather is.)
It is fine weather.
Warui o tenki desu. (Bad honorable weather is.) It is
bad weather.
0 samu gozaimasu. (Honorably cold is.) It is cold.
0 atsu gozaimasu. (Honorably hot is.) It is hot.
1918
SUMMER LANGUAGE SCHOOL
211
0 jama itashimashita. (Honorable hindrance I have
done.) I am sorry to have troubled you.
0 ki no doku desu. (Honorable spirit’s poison is.) I am
sorry for you.
0 saki ni gomen nasai. (Honorable before in excuse.)
Please excuse me for going before.
Nan-ji desu ka ? What o’clock is it ?
Hisashiburi de gozaimasu ne. (After a long time it is
indeed.) I have not seen you for a long time.
0 kawari ga gozaimasen ka ? (Honorable change is there
not?) I hope you are well and prosperous.
Sayo nara. Go kigen yo. (If it is so. Honorable state
of health well.)
Goodbye, take care of yourself.
F. H. Smith.
Wonsan Beach
Summer Language School
KOREAN LANGUAGE COURSE I
First Grade
Second Grade
Subjects
Hrs. per
Week
Teachers
Subjects
Hrs. per
Week
Teachers
Sentences
2
Cooper
Sentences
2
Cooper
Easy translation
selection Bible
2
Scott
Translation
Bible
2
Scott
Household
Expressions
1
Cooper
Household
Expressions
1
Cooper
KOREAN LANGUAGE COURSE II
First Grade
Second Grade
Subjects
Hrs. per
Week
Teachers
Subjects
Hrs. per
Week
Teachers
Methods
Sentences
2
Becker'
Stories
2
Stokes
Grammar
2
Stokes
Mixed Script
2
Deming
Recitation of
stories
1
Becker
Korean Cus-
toms
1
Deming
212 THEKOREAMAGAZINE May
KOREAN LANGNAGE COURSE III
First Grade
Second Grade
Subjects
Hrs. per
Week
Teachers
Subjects
Hrs. yer
Week
Teachers
Theological
terms
1
Deming
Theological
terms
1
Deming
Medical terms
1
Grierson
Medical terms
1
Grierson
Mixed Script
1
Stokes
Mixed Script
1
Stokes
School terms
1
Becker
School terms
1
Becker
Stories
1
Grierson
Stories and
Korean Customs
1
Deming
Information
1. Enrollment fees ¥2.00 per student.
2. Course I is for those desiring an easy course which does
not require much preparation or time. Course II is the
regular course for those who are preparing for Mission
Examinations. Course III is an advanced course for gradu-
ates of the Mission courses.
3. On every Saturday there will be a combined class at which
the students will demonstrate their powers in the
Language, and special subjects will be discussed.
4. Certificates will be given to all who complete any
course.
5. Each hour of study or class work will require one or two
hours’ preparation with a native teacher.
6. Any who desire to take up Course III should do some pre-
liminary reading. During the year the committee sug-
gests the following: —
(a) Theological World.
(b) Ma II Shinpo.
(c) Gospel of John in mixed script.
(d) Some simple stories in the vernacular.
7. The school will be held from July 8th to August 5th, 1918.
1918
CHOON YANG
213
COURSE IV STUDY OF THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE
First Grade
Second Grade
Subjects
Hours
Teachers
Subjects
Hours
Teachers
Memorized
Sentences
£
(2 days)
Stokes
Momorized
Sentences
-1
(2 days)
Stokes
Drill on Pro-
nunciation
1
(2 days)
Ichijima
Drill on Pro-
nunciation
1
(2 days)
Ichijima
Reader Vol. 1
Japanese Script
2
Ichijima
Reader Vol.
II, III
3
Ichijima
Grammar
Lange 1-10
3
Becker
Ichijima
Grammar
Lange 10-20
2
Becker
Ichijima
The above course of study in the Japanese Language
presumes that the student has not had much opportunity to
study this language, and would not satisfy any who have
made it a special study for severral years. We hope to plan
a third year course as soon as there are candidates.
CHOON YANG.
(Continued from the April Number.)
XX.
The Mother-in-Law
He had met with insult and yet there was an interest-
ing side to it, which he greatly enjoyed. He slept at Osoo
post-house, crossed Hard Stone Hill, there rested his tired legs
on a rock under a pine tree, where he nodded off to sleep for
a little and had a dream. In it he saw a beautiful woman fall-
en in the long grass, that was on fire. She rolled and tossed
in helplessness, and then called “Commissioner Yee won’t you
help me ?” He rushed into the fire in great excitement, took
her in his arms and carried her safe outside, and then with a
start awoke to find that it was a passing dream. But his
heart was disturbed by it, and he hurried along on his way,
till he reached Namwon, saying to himself, “Is poor imprison-
ed Choonyang dead, or is she alive ? Does she think of me
and break her heart ? If she knew I were coming she’d dance
to meet me, and laugh to greet me, but she does not know,
and all is yet uncertain.”
He saw once more the old sights that he had lived among
and known, “The hills are the same hills ; the streams are the
214
THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
same streams, and the green trees line the same pleasant path-
ways that I journeyed over years ago. I see again the moun-
tain city of Choryong. Is it you, too, Fairy Monastery, that I
behold? And are you well Moonlight Pavilion? I am so
glad, old Magpie Bridge !”
He climbed up once more into the pavilion, and looked
down toward Choonyang’s house. The gate-quarters were
leaning sideways and there was nothing left worth seeing.
“It’s not quite three years since I left Namwon, why does
the place look so deserted ?”
He went here and there slowly, stepping softly, and at last
reached Choonyang’s house that nestled among the trees. The
whitened wall at the front and to the rear was broken down
in places, and wild grass grew upon the terrace tops. There
were few traces of people anywhere. The hungry dog before
the twig gate did not know him, and so barked snarlingly.
But the trees under the windows were the same green bamboos
and ever verdant pines. Soon the day would fall, and the
moon would rise over the eastern hills. His heart was full of
crowding thoughts, while the calling of the birds tilled him
with intense sadness. He heard a low moaning sound toward
which he looked here and there among the evergreens, where
they grew thickest together, and just where he could dimly
distinguish, there was seen Choonyang’s mother before a little
shrine built to the Seven Stars (Big Dipper). She had
brought a basin of holy water and was burning incense and
bowing, as she prayed, “Oh thou spirit of Heaven and Earth,
thou spirit of the Stars, thou Saviour Buddha, and thou five
hundred Nahan, thou Dragon King of the Seas, thou kings of
the Eight Regions of the Dead, thou Lord of the city before
whom I pray, Please send Dream-Dragon Yee of Hanyang
(Seoul) as governor, or as Commissioner, so that my child may
be saved from death and prison. Thou Spirit of the Heaven
and Earth, be moved by my prayer and save her !”
She prayed for a time, and then half fainting away, said,
“My child Choonyang, thou precious twig, thou priceless leaf,
I brought thee up without help of father or husband, why have
we come to such a pass as this ? Is it on account of the
1918
CHOON YANG
215
miserable mother from whom you are bom, whose sins of past
existences have to be atoned for, that you die ? My child, my
child, alas ! alas !”
She cried so bitterly that Dream-Dragon was almost over-
come. He drew a long sigh and went step by step quietly to
the gate, and there coughed a loud cough.
“Come here-e-e!” he called (their way of knocking).
When he had so sung out two or three times, Choonyang’s
mother stopped her crying.
“Hyangtanee !” said she, “go and see who is calling at the
gate.” Hyangtanee went step by step, wiping her tearful face
with her frock.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“It is I.”
“I ? Who is I?” asked she again.
“Don’t you know me?” inquired the voice.
Hyangtanee looked carefully and then shouted for joy
“Oh, who is this ?”
She threw her arms about Dream-Dragon, and cried for
delight, while Choonyang’s mother gave a great start of sur-
prise, and came bounding out.
“Who is it that is beating this child ?”
But Hyangtanee replied, “Madame, the Master has come
from Seoul.”
Choonyang’s mother, like a person struggling for life in
deep water gave a plunge of amazement saying, “Oh, my!
Oh ! my !” She flung her arms about his neck. “Who is this ?”
said she, “Who is this ? Can it be he ? be he ? God has heard.
The Buddha has been moved. Did you fall from heaven or
come forth from the ground, or ride in on the winds ? Do
you look just the same as you did? Let me see you, come in
quickly, come, come.”
She drew him by the hand and when they were seated in
the room, she hastened out of the door once more calling,
"Hyangtanee, make a fire in the next room ; call Disorder’s
mother and tell her to prepare a meal ; call Hook-prong also,
and get him to buy some meat at the yamen , and you, yourself
catch a chicken and make ready.”
/
216 THEKOREAMAGAZINE May
After she had given these orders, and returned to the
room, she took her son-in-law by the hand and looked him
well over. General stupefaction added to her already becloud-
ed vision, and a dim uncertain light, rendered him difficult to
see, so she got up, opened the wall-box, took out a candle
case, and had four or five of them trimmed and lit in the room,
till the place was illuminated like the sun. She sat down oppo-
site and inspected Dream-Dragon through her filmy eyes,
and truly his face was as the gods, but his clothes were dirty
and ragged, and of the appearance of desperate poverty.
Suddenly her vitals grew cold within her and everything went
black before her eyes. As if she had been struck, she gave
a scream.
“What do you propose by this appearance, and what’s the
meaning of it?”
“Listen mother to what I say,” was his answer. “I work-
ed at my books diligently, and yet for the thousand I read I
got nothing. I failed at exams. The promotion that I had
hoped for has faded away, and the means is cut off for my ad-
vancement in life. What can one do against the eternal fates?
Since I am so disgraced, I have decided to go here and there
and beg my living, and give the village dogs something to
snap at. Naturally in my plight I thought of my relations,
that they would help me out, and I specially thought of you,
mother. I have overcome all feelings of shame, and with that
my old love for you has returned, so that I have longed to see
you every day and every hour. I have no clothes or baggage
to bother with, and so I came lightly and easily, and have been
a month, or so, on the way, stopping in this guest room and
that, wanting to see you all the time, you understand, and
here I am. Like frost on top of a fall of snow, I am surprised
to find Choonyang’s plight, which adds to my misery. My
throat is dry trying to spell out the meaning of these things,
and I am ashamed and don’t wish to see her.”
The mother hearing this, gave a bound into mid-air and
fell prone.
"She is dead, she is dead. We are both dead, mother and
1918
CHOON YANG
217
child,” screamed she. “Ya ! Is God as mean as this? He has
no love. The spirit of the Stars too, and the Buddha, and the
five hundred Nahan, and all the rest are good for nothing.
Hyangtanee ! Go into the rear garden and destroy that shrine
that I built there, clean it all out. I have built a good-for-
nothing altar and worn my hands thin in prayer. Oh my poor
child, how pitiful thou art ! My child, my child, of twice eight
sunny summers, my precious child, doomed to die, away from
all the joys of life. You were unblessed in your mother and
are to die thus hopelessly. How can I bear to see you, I shall
die myself first.”
Her throat grew hoarse, and her heart beat a wild rattle.
She raged about deciding to take her own life, till Dream-
Dragon was really anxious about her, and put his arms round
her saying, “Look here mother, calm yourself, please.”
“Let me go,” said she, “I hate the sight of you. Get away
from me, you thief. Taking advantage of your social standing
you came like a robber to my home. You tramp from Seoul!
Since I see what you look like I wonder that you have escaped
arrest. You will surely be taken yet.”
Dream-Dragon replied, “I say, mother, don’t talk like this.
I know my appearance is against me, and that I make no show
outwardly, and yet who can tell how it may turn out. Al-
though the heaven fall, there will be some manner of escape I
reckon ; and though the mulberry fields become blue sea we’ll
overcome it in some way or other. Don’t cry, please calm
yourself.”
“What way out, pray?” demanded the mother. “Become
an Osa (Commissioner), or a Kamsa (Governor) and you
might ; but there is no Osa or Kamsa for the like of you,
nothing but a kaiksa (a dead beggar), I imagine.”
“Never mind,” was the reply, “any kind of sa at all would
improve matters. I am hungry, give me a spoonful or two
of rice will you.”
“I have no rice,” was the emphatic reply.
Hyangtanee came in crying to say, “Mistress don’t take on
so, please. If the young mistress should know of this she
would throw her life away. What is the use of adding dis-
218 THE KOREA MAGAZINE May
tress and misery to our troubles? It will do no good. Please
calm yourself. It’s not late yet so rest a little, and then we’ll
go and see the young mistress.”
Hyangtanee went out and hastily prepared the meal,
brought it into Dream-Dragon, who knelt down before it and
ordered a glass of wine.
“Please, Young Master, dine liberally,” said she.
“Sure,” was the reply, “I’ll devour every bit.”
Dream-Dragon, though a Royal Commissioner, had already
been insulted by his mother-in-law, and looked at with the
wildest of contempt, so to make himself, if possible, more
hateful than ever, he pulled the table greedily up toward him,
and ate every scrap of side-dish there was, drank a great bowl
of water on top of it, and called,
“Hyangtanee !”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring any cold rice that you have laid by will you !”
The mother’s soul was furious. “Look at the greedy par-
asite. He’s full up now to distension. Really he has become
a ‘rice-bug,’ and when he’s old he’ll die a beggar.”
He sent away the table and filled his pipe, while the water
clock struck “Dang, dang.”
Hyangtanee lit the dragon-lantern and said, “The water-
clock has struck the hour, let’s go now and see the young mis-
tress.”
XXI.
The Prisoner
Hyangtanee took the lantern and led the way for the
mother, while the son-in-law followed behind, and they wended
their desolate procession to the prison. It had come on to
blow and to rain, while the wind moaned “oo-roo, oo-roo,” and
gusts sent the showers scattering here and there. The
thunder roared “wa-roo, wa-roo,“ and the lightning flashed.
The spirits of the dead wailed and cried from the prison enclos-
ure “ too-run , too-run.” There were ghosts of those who had
died under the paddle; of those who had died under the
bastinado, those who had died in the torture-chair, those who
1918
CHOON YANG
219
had died by rods, those who had been hanged dangling from
the beams. In pairs and trios they whistled and whined,
“Whee-whee, ho-ho, ay-eh , ay-eh.”
The lightning flashed and the rain scurried by ; the wind
whirled and tossed ; and the loose paper on the doors flapped
and sang. The gates rattled, and the drip from the eave went
“ dook-dook The distant crow of the cock was heard from
the neighbouring village while Choonyang lay helpless and
desolate.
"How hard and cold seems my Young Master. We said
farewell and he seems to have forgotten me. Not even in my
dreams does he come any more. Bring him to me, oh ye
dreams ! Let me meet him. In my twice eight summers what
sins have I committed that I should be an orphaned spirit
shut up here within the prison ? Even though you are not
moved by me, think kindly of my white haired mother. When
shall I see my husband ?”
So she lay upon the unyielding pillow and slept, and in her
troubled dreams the Young Master came and sat silently be-
side her. Looking carefully at him she saw a golden crown
upon his head, and a girdle of honour about his waist, while
his appearance was like the gods. So awe-inspiring was his
presence, that she was amazed and took him reverently by the
hand, and then with a sudden start she awoke and he was
gone. But the cangue remained fastened about her neck, and
the husband whom she loved and wept for, and whom she had
met for just the moment, had not waited long enough to have
her tell him anything. She wept to think of this, when at that
moment her mother arrived outside the gate.
“Choonyang!” she called, “Are you there?”
When she heard the voice she gave a start, "Who is it call-
ing me?” asked she. “Is it the shades of Soboo and Hawyoo
who dwelt near the Key Mountains and the Yong River ? Is it
the Four Ancients of Shang-san seeking me? Is it Paikee
and Sookjay, who dug weeds on the Soyaw Mountains who
seek me? Is it the Seven Righteous Men of the Bamboo For-
est, who left the glories of the Chin Kingdom to seek me ?
Are you Paik Mangho who went to Turkestan to seek the
220
THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
married lovers of the Milky Way, and was taken prisoner who
comes asking that I go with him ? Are you Paik Nakchon who
loved music and the wine cup who comes seeking me ? Tis
only the wind and the rain, nobody seeks for me, but who is it
that called ?”
“Call louder,” said the son-in-law.
“Don’t you make a row here,” retorted the Mother-in-law,
“If the Governor were to hear of it you would lose your liberty
and your bones would be properly broken up.”
Then Dream-Dragon gave a great yell,
“Choonyang!”
When thus called Choonyang gave a start,
“Who are you ?” she asked.
“It is I,” replied the mother.
“Is it you, mother? How did you come ?”
“I just came.”
“Why have you come ? Is there any news from Seoul ?
Has some one come to take me? Who did you say had
come ?”
“It’s turned out fine,” said the mother, “just as you would
wish, never saw the like, would delight your soul, beautiful,
pitiful, wretched, a nice beggar indeed has come.”
“But who has come, mother ?”
“Your beloved, your long thought of Yee Sobang, Worm
Sobang, has come.”
Choonyang on hearing this replied, “He whom I saw for a
moment in my dream shall I actually see alive ?”
She gathered her dark tresses about her neck, and turned
the heavy cangue about and about to get rest from it. “Oh,
my back, my knees !” said she. Having turned the cangue she
stooped down, and came on all fours toward the door.
“Where is my husband ? If you are here please let me
hear you speak?”
The mother clipped despairingly with her tongue.
“Look at that, she is crazy, poor thing.”
But Choonyang said in reply, “Even though he’s in mis-
fortune he’s my husband. High officialdom and nobility I have
no desire for. I want no high pay. Why talk of good or bad
1918
CHOON YANG
221
about the one my mother chose for me ? Why treat so un-
kindly him who has come so far to see me?”
The mother thus rendered speechless, looked on while the
son drew near.
“Choonyang,” said he, “You’ve had a hard time, and it’s
not your fault ; a thousand things have contributed toward it.”
“Put your hand in through the chink of the door, please,
and help me up,” said she.
The son in his haste pushed forward his hand to reach her
but they were still too far apart and could not touch.
“Stoop down here, mother,” said he.
“You wretch, why ask me to stoop down ?”
“I wanted to rest my foot on you, so as to be able to reach
in my hands to Choonyang.”
“Contemptible creature, more contemptible than ever,”
was the only reply.
Choonyang with great difficulty reached forward her hand
and trembled as she rose.
“Where have you been so long?” she asked. “Have you
been to see the pure waters of the Sosang ; or did you go to
visit Soboo, who washed his ears to rinse away the hateful
word of favor ; or have you been lost in some butterfly dream
with a new love? You have not loved me, you have not lov-
ed me.”
Dream-Dragon with her hand in his laughed at times, and
cried at times.
“God has had pity,” said she, “and I have not died but
lived. Who would have thought that we would ever meet ?
Have you married again ?”
“Married again ? What do you mean ? I haven’t even
managed to make a decent way. I, when I left you, went up
to Seoul, and, absorbed so deeply in you, failed in my studies,
and my father sent me off so that I have gone about in the
guest-rooms of my friends, getting a little here and there to
eat, not hearing anything of you but wanting to see you so. I
have walked the thousand lee; but you have had it harder
even than I. The world is all confused and my heart is dis-
tressed so that I shall die.”
♦
222 THE KOREA MAGAZINE May
Choonyang replied, “Mother, please hear me. When the
day is light, in the room where we two were united, make a
fire, spread out the mattress smoothly and attractively. From
the three storey chest in the room opposite, take some of the
rolls of cloth, and make inner and outer clothes for the Young
Master. Get a good hat and headband that fit him. The
extras you will find in the tortoise shell box. Get the thou-
sand yang from deputy Song, that I left with him, and use it
as is necessary. See that he is well cared for with good
things to eat, and also see to yourself, my mother dear. If,
when I am away you are in a state of fever and anxiety, how
it will disturb my husband who has come so far. He knows
your disposition, but if you treat him with contempt, not only
will I be a disobedient daughter to you, but it will hasten my
death. Please help me.”
The mother heard this and was silent, but under her
breath she spoke resentful remonstrances, “The beggarly
creature has taken these fits now !”
“Are you there Hyangtanee!” asked Choonyang.
“Yes!” answered Hyangtanee.
“Will you see to Master’s sleeping and eating. His being
well cared for and comfortable rests with you. See to his
meals with every attention. If required get medicine from
Yee Cho-boo outside the East Gate, and serve him just as
though I were with him. You know my mind and I know
yours so why should I tell you ?”
“My husband!”
“Yes, what is it?”
“They say that to-morrow there is to be a birthday feast,
and that at the end of the feast I am to be taken and killed,
and that the keeper of the prison has orders to make many
rods and bastinados. Please do not leave me, keep just out-
side the prison or just before the yamen and wait. When the
order comes to bring me out, help me with the cangue, and
when they have killed me and cast me aside, let no one else
put hands upon me but just you. Come in quickly and take
my body and carry me home, and after putting me to rest call
out for my spirit. Take the coat that I have worn in prison,
ft
1918
CHOON YANG
223
and that has been wet with my tears and shake it toward
heaven and say, ‘In this east land of Chosen, east Chulla, in
the county of Namwon, in the town of the Descent of the
Fairies, whose birth year was Imja, Song Choonyang, Pok,
Pok, Pok !’ tossing it up on top of the house. Make no special
shroud for me, but take something from what I have already
made, and dress me in it. Do not put me in a coffin but let
my young Master take me in his arms and go to some quiet
resting place, dig deeply and wrap me in your own great
coat, bury me and put a stone in front of my grave with this
inscription, ‘This is the grave of Choonyang who died to save
her honour.’ Write it in large characters so that it can be seen
and read, and I’ll not mind then even though you say that it is
the grave of your dead concubine.
“My poor mother, who will care for her when I am dead
and turned to dust. She has been so distressed and like to
die. If she dies unsheltered and uncared for, she will be at
the mercy of crows and kites. Who will drive them off, alas!
alas!” and the tears flowed from her eyes and wet all her
worn and trampled skirts.
She asked “My husband!”
“What is it?”
“If I had attended my Master, and we had grown old
together, I might have asked a favour of him, but to have
never served him at all, and to die so pitifully, what could I
dare to ask? But still I must, and it is about my mother. By
your good will, which is broad and deep as the river, please
take my mother under your care, as tenderly as you would
me, and when you come to meet me in the Yellow Shades, I’ll
reward you with the ‘tied grass.’ All we have failed of in
this life we will make up in the world to come and never part
again. I could talk forever to thee, but the day dawns, so I
speak only this one wish. But you will be wearied, go quick-
ly, sleep and rest.”
“Yes!” said he, “Don’t be anxious. I’ll wait for the day
to dawn and then I’ll know how it goes as to death or life.
Let us think only of meeting again.”
, {To be Continued).
BLAZING THE TRAIL.
(Continued from the April Number.)
CPAPTER XXV.
Martha Hears Good News
It was Martha’s tender solicitude that finally brought
peace to the heart of the grief-stricken friend Mary. Martha
alone knew of the Christian burial rites ; it did not seem out
of place to see her stand with tear-stained cheeks before the
little bier and hear her gentle voice pronounce the awe in-
spiring words which commit the dead to the ground till time
shall be no more. For the first time in the North Country
during the history of man, childhood was dignified and honored
with a religious burial rite ; the people talked of it wonder-
ingly and pronounced it good.
While Martha’s heart burned with desire to hear news
from the South, she refrained from making enquiry till the
solemn duties were over. The burial was at sunrise to har-
monize with the ideas and customs observed through so many
generations. At the close Martha walked with Mary and Annie
in the company of women down the mountain side to the
town. At Mary’s door, Martha’s hand held the latch and she
smiled down on Mary as the sympathetic townswomen troup-
ed by with their kindly farewell to suffering Mary. Each
one in passing raised her eyes from the face of Mary to the
one filled with self effacing goodness above her. They
thought of the dead babe, the suffering mother, and Martha’s
face, and said it was all good. Martha opened the door. Mary
and Annie entered. She led Mary to a warm place on the floor
and seated her beneath a paper covered window where the
sun blazed through the frost smitten air upon its white sur-
face.
The light glowed down upon Mary and she turned her
drawn face to its rays, as will a flower long immersed in dark-
ness, and a far away look came into her pain-filled eyes.
1918
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Martha and Annie retired in silence to the opposite side of the
small room. Mary was again traveling through the frost
with the silent burden on her back, again longing for the
nestling head and touch of the baby hands. Her unseeing
eyes traveled from the window across the room to the face of
Martha and rested there as if held by a sense of mutual
concern until intelligent comprehension crept into her eyes
and her lips formed the word, “Martha”; the latter crossed
the floor on hands and knees and Mary whispered “He
believes.” Martha took Mary silently in her arms while a great
joy burst upon her soul.
Not many days thereafter the south wind swept the hill
free from snow and soon the life of early spring stirred and
fingered its way over plain and mountain, and the world thrill-
ed with the miracle of a resurrected year.
Each day Martha arose with the twilight and hastened
down into the fiord up which her husband must come to reach
the town. As the days passed and he did not arrive the
buoyancy faded from her and she drooped as a frost bitten
plant. Her lips smiled back at all who spoke to her but her eyes
did not smile, they grew larger and a heavy ring encircled
them. Her voice was gentle ; but her lips were sealed as to the
gnawing cankerous fear of her heart. She doubted not that
her husband had flung himself into the bitter cold of that
night with a frenzied desire to reach her and make right all
the wrong. His delay whispered of a tragedy beneath the
blistering cold of that star-lit night, where the drifting snow
lightly trod upon that she loved, covered it over and left it in
silence, a silence unbroken by the south winds and the stirring
life of spring. In the ingenuousness of the Asiatic mind, many
discussed, in the presence of Martha, the tale of Annie and
Mary concerning the attempt of Mr. Cho to reach their moun-
tain village, and plainly declared that in their judgment he was
dead and there was no use thinking of the matter longer. If
dead, then it was the proper thing for Martha to get another
husband, and the sooner it was done the better would it be for
her father’s clan. They even told her of men who might be
willing to accept of her. To all this Martha made no reply.
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May
She made her daily trips to the head of the fiord and remained
scanning the south till weary, or duties compelled her return.
The people were perplexed at such silence and conduct. Till
tales were repeated of ancient constancy of wife for her dead
husband, then they spoke of Martha with awe. “Would she
indeed join him in the yellow valley?” they asked.
For weeks Martha had revolved in her mind a plan. She
did not want to believe her husband was dead. Perhaps he
had returned to his home for funds. Did not Annie say he
appeared destitute ? Was it not her duty to hasten to him, for
as long as he lived was she amenable to any other on earth
for her acts ? She knew her brother and relatives would under
no consideration consent to her return alone. The Clan had
been scandalized in her coming, therp must be no second act
of that character.
She made close enquiry of the road leading to Rocky
Ridge where was the home of Pastor Kim. Once there the
matter would be easily settled. She could learn the necessary
facts, and from that point she could forward news to her
husband and await his coming.
She discovered that she must travel back upon the road
she came for at least five days, and then turn southward eight
more to reach the home of Mr. Kim. The baby had grown
much since she came to her ancestral home and she would be
heavy, so heavy at the end of a day’s travel ! When Martha
thought of the danger of traveling alone among strangers she
was appalled, and through many a night stared up into the
darkness weighing her responsibility to the authority of her
brother, who she knew would not hesitate to punish her into
submission to his wishes, and the real peril of the road : against
her duty to husband and baby and the call of her aching
heart. Finally she went to stupid Annie and poured out her
soul. “While Annie would never read though she studied a
hundred years she never erred in questions of right or wrong,”
said Martha.
Martha found her friend sitting on the floor of her home
industrially rattling the ironing sticks, with a Bible, pencil, and
white tablet placed at her side, her eyes shifting from the
1918
BLAZING THE TRAIL
22?
garment she was beating into glossy whiteness to the word,
“Jesus,” she had laboriously written all over her tablet.
Martha entered the room so quietly Annie did not notice her
till the former unobtrusively took her seat on the opposite
side of the ironing block and picked up two ironing sticks.
Annie would have sprung to her feet in protest, but Martha
reached fob the hand that held the clubs and pulled Annie to
the floor and with lips quivering with a smile struck the iron-
ing block a tentative blow ; her friend laughed and accepted
the invitation and immediately the swift falling clubs were
merrily challenging the neighborhood to their morning labor.
One garment followed another in rapid succession till the task
was over. With the intuition of a child of Asia, Annie sensed
a crisis in the affairs of her friend, and her eyes frequently
shot a glance of inquiry into the other’s sad face. When the
ironing clubs pealed out their last long roll and throb, Martha
knew Annie understood, and she quickly told her struggle
over the problem of her future.
Annie picked up her tablet and for a long time seemed
bent on reading and re-reading the one word she had so many
times written. She then went to the door and swung it open
and looked up on the mountain side where her husband and
neighbors were struggling to wrest a living from its grudging
soil. She stood in silence a -long time while a passionate song
of a sky lark poured from above over the town and filled the
hut. Annie finally turned into the room and went to the wall
where was fixed a cupboard projecting outward over the
kitchen fire place. For some time her hand moved about in
the darkness with uncertainty as if their owner was waging
a warfare of debate. Presently she drew from the dark a
small bag of coin and crossing the room hastily, she placed it
on the ironing block opposite which Martha still sat watching
the curious movements of her friend. Then Martha placed
her head down on the block and wept long.
“It is mine,” said Annie, “and I can give it to whom I
will. My father was a miner,” she explained, “and he hoarded
a bit of gold dust. Soon affer he died my mother died also
and this is mine. My husband has always respected my
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May
ownership. Not long ago, feeling that the recent silver coinage
would be less easily lost, he turned the dust into coin and
brought it back to me. Take it. Are we not Christians ? I
know you will return it some day it you can, if you can not,
that also will be well.”
An hour later Martha passed through the gate leading
through the corn stalk fence which surrounded Annie’s home.
She paused a moment to listen to the voice of stupid Annie
singing a Christian song to the only tune she knew, one of her
own invention that fitted every kind of hymn. “Better than
real music,” she said, “just like good Annie.”
A week later, on the fifteenth day of the fourth moon,
while the brilliant moonlight poured upon mountain and
valley, two women might have been seen skirting the outer
fringe of the village on their way to the head of the mountain
fiord. Annie insisted upon accompanying Martha to the main
road five miles away. They finally knelt at the forks of the
road and gazed into each other’s eyes while they lifted their
hearts to Him who cares for the helpless.
“Oh, my Father,” said Martha, “this seems right and good
for the sake of husband and baby ; Annie thinks it good ; keep
me from evil hands, my Father.” “Amen,” said Annie.
Shortly afterwards Martha with her baby tied to her back
disappeared down the road beneath the shadows of the
willows.
It was nearly noon before inquiries were made for Martha
in her old mountain home, but her absence excited little con-
cern till her brother and fellow laborers came in from the field
at night. The town was then in commotion. Every Christian
home was visited in the search. Mary and Annie visited
Martha’s home and Mary was in tears, but stupid Annie said
nothing. The Christians and many others turned out to assist
their townsman search the country for his lost sister. The
next day they extended their search to the forks of the road at
the foot of the fiord and later a hundred li southward. Enquiry
from travelers coming from long distances gave no informa-
tion of a lost woman.
“What,” said a pedestrian, “searching for a lost woman?
1918
BLAZING THE TRAIL
229
and are you fools enough to think you could find a lost widow?
Pretty, eh ?” They understood what he meant and many had
already discussed the probability of her seizure as a wife for
some one living at a distance who had learned of Martha’s
charms. Martha’s brother stormed about the village, neglect-
ing his fields, furious at the insult offered him and his clan.
He made a long journey to the magistrate and petitioned re-
dress.
“Only a widow ?” the magistrate asked.
“But she was my sister,’’ declared the man, “and my name
has been insulted. I demand satisfaction, sir.”
“Did you look into all the village wells ? I have noticed
that young pretty widows have a habit of throwing them-
selves into wells, and over mountain cliffs,” the magistrate
drawled. “You are sure you have looked carefully? Do you
not think it would appear better for the dignity of your clan
and better for the peace of your town to assume there was an
accident, that she fell from a cliff, and the wolves did the rest,
or something of that sort? Of course, now that you have
brought to my notice the facts concerning your loss, I shall
order my runners to keep their eyes open on all their business
trips in my territory. Usually in such cases the captor is will-
ing to make a large settlement in cash for the woman if she
turns out a good house-keeper. You are possessed of some
property I take it, and if the man who stole your sister is some
poor vagabond, a little consideration on your part may help
towards his punishment. You understand, of course, that we
usually assume that widows are much better off married to
who ever may be willing to accept of them. Still, as I said, I
may be able to do something for the dignity of your clan
provided we are able to find the widow.”
The petitioner began to wish he had not attempted to
consult the law, and hastened from the Magistracy as soon as he
could politely withdraw. He returned home and announced
that his sister was either dead or stolen and carried beyond
his power or the power of the Magistrate to recover her, and
the fatalistic East dismissed the matter as beyond remedy.
The question lingered long in the mind of the Christian com-
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May
munity with much sorrow and regret. Stupid Annie alone
made no reference to Martha and continued with cheerful
industry to write the one word she knew whenever oppor-
tunity afforded.
In the meantime Martha was traveling nights and hiding
daytimes among the graves that surround ancient cemeteries
which adorned the hillsides above all the villages she passed.
On the third day the food Annie had prepared for her gave
out, so she traveled during the day and bought food at the
inns. She was regarded with so much interest that she re-
tired to the hillside during the midafternoon and arose with
the darkness and traveled all night. Thereafter she travel-
ed occasionally at night to discourage search by people she
passed on the road. Late on the sixth night of her jour-
ney she crept into the women’s quarters of a certain inn and
asked for shelter and food.
She and the baby were examined in the usual critical cu-
riosity by the wife of the inn-keeper. Martha announced that
she was a Christian and was going to meet her husband.
Her hostess shook her head disapprovingly.
“You Christians,” she said, “run strange chances, your
audacity is amazing. Have you organized, as have the Ped-
dler’s Guild, to mete out swift revenge upon any one who
harms your number? How dare you, madam, thus travel the
road alone ; or are the Christian men so degenerate that they
are oblivious as to what happens to their wives?”
Martha was too weary to answer these oft-repeated ques-
tions but enquired regarding the road that lead to Rocky
Ridge. As she had expected, her road turned from this point
southward. Her supper over, she and her baby were soon
fast asleep.
Before daylight Martha was awakened by the bustling
about of the inn-keeper’s wife as she prepared the morning
meal for her many guests. Martha sat up and prepared to
leave immediately after her meal of millet.
“The biggest one you ever saw,” confided her hostess.
“Biggest what?” asked Martha.
“Biggest man,” she replied. “Came here, he says, to carry
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231
away a sick man. It would be a hard day for you did you
fall into his hands, so take my word and beware. It he takes
the road south you go north for your life, that is the best
advice I can give you. See,” she added, “peep through the
hole in the paper door. He is there in the yard now.”
Martha placed her eye to the opening in the door cover-
ing and what she saw set her teeth to chattering with fear.
The colossal form of Bali stalked about the yard with impa-
tient step, waiting for his morning meal. The inn-keeper’s
wife had stepped out into the kitchen and did not see Martha’s
agitation. When she returned Martha was sitting on the
floor, her face as white as the jacket she wore.
“Sick ?” asked her hostess.
“Not ill,” replied Martha with her ear close to the outer
door endeavoring to catch the words of Bali who was convers-
ing with another person who had been hid from her view by
an ugly mud chimney. “I was listening,” she continued in a
whisper, “to the words of the giant. I thought he said he was
hunting for some one. Do you think Madam, while you laid
out their meal and arranged their tables you could find out the
nature of their journey ? Perhaps you could learn their pro-
fession. At least learn the direction they will take, for of a
truth I wish not to journey their way.”
“Sure I will,” replied the hostess, “ask them straight if
necessary.”
A half hour later she reappeared. “Found out all about
them,” she said. “What I could not catch by eaves-dropping I
found out by asking. Not one giant, two of them, large
enough to be brothers, but they don’t look alike. Both going
north, so you need have no fear. They are on their way to
a town called Pine Tree Knob, hunting for a runaway woman.
She belongs to neither one, but for some reason they want
her. I didn’t listen for any thing more. Have listened to
those tales so often I know in advance what they are.”
“What?” Martha asked and waited with parted white
lips, “what is it you know?”
“And you don’t know, you innocent thing? Had you
known, then would you not have taken the road alone to tempt
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May
such creatures as they. Do you not know that men are creat-
ed to tear and rend the weak and helpless ? What would you
silly butterfly do under his mighty grasp. He would roar with
delight, while he pulled off your gaudy wings. Blessed is the
woman who most speedily grows old and ugly, for all this is
woman’s lot. Ah,” she added with a tone of disapproval, “don’t
look so frightened. Did I not say he traveled north ? Unless
you, indeed, seek him he will not find you, he has other game.”
Martha remained in the inn long after her hostess declar-
ed the giants had disappeared over the mountain road to the
north, then she left in great haste and fairly ran from the
town, and many curious eyes followed her down the street.
As she sped out into the narrow valley she paused and looked
back at the town and up at the distant mountain. On the
divide three men were standing, and one of them, a tall figure,
was shading his eyes and gazing in her direction. At the
sight weakness overcame her and she sat down by the way
trembling with fear. Her staggering step seemed to satisfy
the watcher, for he presently turned with his companions and
disappeared over the pass.
The night Mr. Cho bade good night to his friends at the
inn and returned to the roof that had so long sheltered him,
he passed the figure of a woman who was carrying a babe on
her back and fled almost into the gutter in the effort to avoid
him. At other times he had invariably followed young
mothers with their babies till he had peered into their faces.
The practise had frequently caused stern rebuke from some
male member of the community. Now for the first time on
the long journey, because of the gladness of his heart, he pass-
ed her by, the pause and mechanical stare he gave her added
speed to her feet, and he absently watched her enter the yard
of the inn in quest of the woman’s quarters. The late moon
was slowly climbing the distant mountain and the long rays of
light were fingering their way over the ridge and down upon
the silent village, but the deep shadows of the forest still
covered the town and Mr. Cho failed to recognize his lost wife
and child. On the morrow he would travel to the north
where, according to the information of that cold night so long
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BLAZING THE TRAIL
233
ago and confirmed by Pastor Kim, lived the one he sought.
Further, he would have with him two dauntless friends, one
of whom had for many years been a hunter of men, under
whose keen eyes every foot print had a meaning. If Martha
still lived he would soon find her, and then how good it is
to live the life of a Christian !
On the following day, under the spur of Mr. Cho’s voice,
the chair bearers covered in one day twice the distance made
by Martha during the same period. How strong were his
companions. It was a tonic to look into their faces, and what a
world of good news they had to tell. Mr. Cho’s property
was safe, and he had not cared whether it were safe or not.
The devil on the salt-marsh was preaching and all his ser-
mons were on “heaven.” His ugly face and puffing, rumbling
roar, before he opened his lips to speak, frightened his list-
eners into silence, but when he spoke he talked of gentle
things. Bali rehearsed the activities of the hermit with in-
fectious delight. It was evident that the hermit was the most
admired man of Bali’s acquaintence. “Not afraid of men,
devils or the magistrates,” Bali said.
Bali related how after becoming a Christian he had pre-
sented himself to the Magistrate to receive in his person
punishment for evil deeds where he was unable otherwise
to make restitution, but in spite of all that he could say the
Magistrate believed it was a ruse to involve him in more
trouble. The only result was many presents and many pro-
tests of personal regard. He had gone to the Governor who
had more knowledge of the way of Christians and he had
finally promised to examine carefully into Bali’s history and
would surely punish not only to the satisfaction of Bali but
also the full satisfaction of all magistrates and good citizens
who had been wronged by the robber chief. This had oc-
curred not long before Bali left, as it had required a world of
labor to meet the demand of his conscience as well as his
personal freedom to do so. Caution on the part of the Govern-
or had caused delay in making Bali’s arrest. This remarkable
robber carried so much power and now it was possible he was
associated with the foreigner and had become more formidable
234 THE KOREA MAGAZINE May
than ever. Time would tell, and the East is patient. Bali knew
that the time was near when the deadly hand of unrestrained
officialdom would be laid upon his person. He smiled as he
talked of the day when he would be led forth from the gov-
ernor’s prison. Then there would be a flash of steel in the
sunlight, — and the end.
“1 can see,” he mused, ‘‘that He is a God of justice as well
as of mercy. I carry with me the work of His blessed mercy.
Coward would I be and deserving of my own utmost contempt,
and, I think, of His also, did I for a moment shrink from His
justice.” “Think not that it makes me sad,” said he on one oc-
casion, reviewing the matter with Mr. Cho. “To be sad would
mean complaint, to complain would be the whimper of a cow-
ard, no, no, I rejoice with exceeding great joy,” and he
laughed a great deep-chested laugh, the laugh of a conqueror
capable of thrilling the world with his power. Pastor Kim’s
face glowed in response and Mr. Cho slid from his chair and
ran to Bali’s side forgetful that he had been an invalid. The
giant picked up the smaller man and placed him back in the
chair half playfully, half gravely.
On the second day Bali picked up news that deepened the
gravity of his face. He learned that a Christian woman in the
town of Pine Tree Knob had recently been spirited away.
He said nothing to his companions and on the last day of
their journey he left before daylight and by noon was in the
village of their destination six hours ahead of his fellow travel-
ers. Announcing himself a Christian, he had immediate ac-
cess to all the facts they knew concerning Martha. His
enquiries were sharp, almost imperious. He visited Mr. Yang
the brother of Martha and pushed his’enquiries with dauntless
energy till he seemed to dominate the town. Learning that
Martha had last been seen with Annie, it was not long before
he had all the facts concerning her flight and destination.
Three miles out from the town he met his companions, and
walking by the side of Mr. Cho rehearsed all he had learned.
Mr. Cho lay back in his chair white and weak. When he arriv-
ed he was carried to the ancestral home of Martha. Annie
1918
BLAZING THE TRAIL
235
immediately sought him out and told him all she knew of
Martha’s flight. The story was not without comfort. That
night half of the village gathered in the great open yard of their
host, and Mr. Cho told the story of his conversion, Martha’s
faith and fortitude, and his own long eventful wanderings to
find her. It was a long story, and many were sobbing when
he closed, and Martha’s brother announced to the gathered
throng that he was going to serve Martha’s God.
The next day the three men were hastening southward to
overtake Martha. Mr. Kim was glad the road led him to his
own home, while Bali, the ex-robber, was speeding with a
light heart to face the king of all terrors.
Six days after leaving the village where Martha’s path
had crossed that of her husband they re-entered the village for
the night. The coolies refused to travel faster and it was only
by a promise of great pay that they were induced to proceed
the next day. The inn-keeper’s wife was voluble with many
descriptions of Martha’s appearance and all that she had said,
how she had seen Bali and had raced down the street in
fear.
Fear of harm to his wife put urgency into the voice of
Mr. Cho as he urged his chair-coolies ahead the next day. He
promised them rewards so large, each man strove as greed
will make men strive.
“Good,” said Mr. Cho at the end of the second day. “Two
hundred and seventy li. To-morrow night we will overtake
her,” and he laughed. “Yesterday a man met her on the
road and she was still safe. One more day,” and he laughed
again.
Over-speeding was too much for the coolies and the next
day noon they refused to move from the inn. Money would
not stir them, and no woman in the land was of sufficient value
to have them do so. That afternoon Mr. Cho trudged at the
side of his friends, surprised that he was not without
endurance.
( To be Concluded ) .
236
THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
Fifty Years on the Pacific.
Fred J. Halton.
(On the 12th of April the Pacific Mail, pioneer of American shipping
on the Pacific, celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding. The fol-
lowing article first appeared in “The Paradise of the Pacific,’’ published
in Honolulu.)
As fascinating as the stories of the buccaneers who preyed upon the
Spanish galleons in the Pacific and South Atlantic waters in the sixteenth
century ; as romantic as the tales of Columbus, Drake and Magellan,
reads the history of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which as early
as 1848 was engaged in coast trade, carrying passengers and freight from
Panama to California in the early gold-rush days.
The golden jubilee of the trans-Pacific traffic occurred in January,
1917, but the event was allowed to pass unnoticed in the stress of
events connected with the great world war.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was incorporated in New York
on April 12, 1848, with a capital of $500,000.00. Congress had passed an
act authorizing the opening of a new mail route between New York and
Portland, Oregon, with San Francisco as a port of call. By the act a
subsidy of $200,000 per annum was to be paid with the intention of per-
petuating the American Flag on the waters of the Pacific.
Incidentally that policy was abandoned many years ago and the
American merchant marine had declined with this peculiar policy until
in the year 1915 there were but six vessels in foreign service flying the
American Flag.
The vessels used in the early days were side-wheelers, hardly larger
than the ferryboats of San Francisco bay today. They carried beam
engines and were built entirely of wood. The first steamers were the
Golden City, Montana, Colorado, and Constitution. The last-named
figured prominently in the Civil War, having been chartered by the
government as a transport, and having on occasions carried as many as
5,000 troops and their necessary equipment.
The Constitution was considered a remarkable vessel in her day.
She was one of the first steamers built with two funnels.
Drawing about twenty feet of water she could attain a speed of fifteen
knots per hour. She ended her days in San Francisco in 1864 by burning.
The remainder of these vessels were bought by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha,
forming the nucleus of its present fleet of 102 vessels, of 480,000 tons
gross. It is interesting to surmise what might have been the position
of the American mercantile marine at the outbreak of the war if our
government had aided shipping by subsidies and subventions as did the
Japanese government.
In the year 1861 the Pacific Mail Company bought the so-called “Van-
derbilt Line” operating from New York to Aspinwall on the Isthmus of
1918
FIFTY YEARS ON THE PACIFIC
237
Panama. The steamers on this run were the North Star, Northern
Light, Ariel, Ocean Queen, Quaker City, Champion and two new ships,
the New York and Costa Rica.
The Pacific Mail Company in their service between New York and
San Francisco enjoyed many years of great prosperity but with the com-
pletion of the first trans-continental railway it was presumed that the
bulk of the passenger traffic would naturally move over the shorter over-
land route. So in 1866 there arose the incentive which engaged the
thought of all transportation men concerning the carrying of passengers
and freight from China and Japan across the Pacific and thence overland
to New York. Again Congress was appealed to and asked to bear its
share of establishing a new transoceanic route covered by ships carrying
the Stars and Stripes. Congress responded with a subsidy of $500,000
awarded to the Pacific Mail Company for carrying the mails from San
Francisco to Hongkong. And thus was inaugurated the service that gave
the Port of Honolulu its first impetus as a shipping center.
The steamer Colorado, a side-wheeler of 3,000 tons, one of the largest
and finest of the Pacific Mail fleet at that time, was elected as the pioneer
of this new enterprise and on January 1st, 1867, under command of Cap-
tain W. H. Bradley, steamed through the Golden Gate on her momentous
first voyage.
As the first steamer to make such a trip the route to be taken and
the conditions that possibly might be encountered were thoroughly stud-
ied. Captain Bradley was a man quite familiar with the trans-Pacific
service so far as applied to sailing ships and was not without steamship
experience, as he had served on some of the company’s steamers on the
Panama run.
The Colorado had a fair freight including 1,000 barrels of flour, $500,-
000 in specie for Hongkong and $21,700 for Japan. That cargo of flour
seems rather insignificant now as compared with consignments of 10,000
to 12,000 barrels subsequently carried by steamers of the same line. She
also had a fair passenger list.
A detour was made to Honolulu, as the Captain deemed it wiser to
replenish his bunkers rather than to essay the long voyage to Yokohama.
At any rate the call at Honolulu had not been planned when the ship left
San Francisco. Thus were the first tourists regaled with a sight that
would never leave their memory— the sight of these sun-kissed, palm-girt
isles subsequently described by Mark Twain as the “loveliest fleet of is-
lands that lies anchored in any ocean.”
Naturally the arrival of this steamer created much excitement in
Honolulu and she was the object of much curiosity on the part of the na-
tives. The arrival of the first Pacific Mail liner in Yokohama and Hong-
kong stirred up the commercial circles of those ports due to the fact that
she carried European dispatches of fully twelve days later dates than
those received by the English and French lines.
238 THE KOREA MAGAZINE May
The Colorado arrived at San Francisco on March 20, having made the
round trip in seventy-eight days, including all detentions.
The Colorado was followed on February 1st by the Great Republic
and each month thereafter by the old China, Japan and America.
It was in 1868 that what is known as the “branch line’’ was started
from Yokohama to Shanghai via the Inland Sea of Japan. Some of the
ships on the Atlantic were sent around the Cape of Good Hope. Together
with some new steamers, the Costa Rica, Ariel, Oregonian and Golden
Age, comprised this fleet and was the first line of steamers to navigate
the Inland Sea. At that time there were no lighthouses buoys or other
signals to mark the danger points and it indeed goes to the credit of
those old sea-masters that the feat was accomplished with such regularity
and with so few accidents.
In the meantime an extension was taking place on the San Francisco-
Panama run and the steamers Acapulco, Colon, Guatemala, City of Pa-
nama, Colima and Granada replaced the older ships while the Alaska
and Arizona came from the Atlantic and enhanced the number of vessels
on the Pacific. The former went on the San Francisco-Hongkong run
and the latter on the Panama run.
When the run to the Orient was first started the ships made many
precarious voyages by reason of the fact that owing to storms, they
would run out of fuel and fresh water. On occasion they were known to
burn their cargoes for fuel.
In order to provide against such calamity, a brig was despatched in
1869 from Pennsylvania with a load of Pocahontas coal for Midway Is-
land. At that time the island was uninhabited, though now it is used as
a cable relay station. Some of that same coal was used by the Pacific
Mail steamers when chased out of their courses by the Russian Vladivos-
tok fleet during the Russo-Japanese war. Up to that time it had been
forgotten, for better boats soon replaced those vessels, and better time
was made.
Though tea and silk have always been two of the most important
items of freight, in the very early days, before the Chinese Exclusion
Act was passed, when the old paddle wheels plowed the great sea
troughs, Chinese coolies made up the chief “cargo.” As many as 2,500
were brought to this country on a trip and fortunes were made for the
Company in this traffic.
In the year 1871 the fortnightly service was inaugurated and in 1874
the screw-propelled steamers City of Peking and City of Tokyo were
placed on the China run. These were followed by the three “Cities”—
San Francisco, Sydney and New York— in 1875, when the line was es-
tablished to Australia. This marked another era in trans-Pacific traffic
and gradually the old wooden side-wheelers were displaced.
Even the new ships were not large enough to make much of a show-
ing against the great typhoons which very often shook the very founda-
/
1918
FIFTY YEARS ON THE PACIFIC
239
tions of the universe along the China-Japan coast. In 1874 the Alaska
was blown up high and dry at Aberdeen on the Island of Hongkong. An
American named Williams finally got her afloat after engineers from Eu-
rope had failed. One year later she was burned off Amoy on the coast
of China.
That year was a disatrous one for the Pacific Mail as two steamers were
burned, the American in Yokohama and the Japan on the China coast.
The next year other screw steamers were added to the fleet, including
the Rio de Janeiro, Para, Columbia and Peru. The Rio de Janeiro
struck a rock at the entrance to the Golden Gate, San Francisco, in 1901
when, under Captain Ward’s orders, Pilot Loe Jordan was attempting to
guide her through a dense fog that overhung the harbor. The vessel
sank, taking with it several hundred passengers and members of the
crew, and its hull, containing thousands of dollars of valuable property,
was never located.
The China of 10,000 tons displacement was built in 1890 and became
the most popular steamer in the sevice, and then followed the Korea and
Siberia of 18,000 tons displacement. The Korea left San Francisco on
August 30th, 1902, and on December 27th of the same year the Siberia
was sent across on the long run.
Two years later came the Mongolia and Manchuria, each 27,000 tons
displacement, the former sailing on her initial voyage from San Fran-
cisco Saturday, May 7, 1904, and the latter on Tuesday, August 25, 1904.
It is regrettable that in 1915 the then management of the Pacific Mail
deliberately threw away the best prospects of the company since its in-
corporation by disposing of all the trans-Pacific fleet and the consequent
abandonment to a foreign flag of the cream of the trans-Pacific business.
The alleged reason for this act was the restrictions placed on American
shipping by the La Follette Seaman’s Act.
The American-built steamers Korea and Siberia were sold to a
Japanese company and now fly the Japanese flag. The China was sold to
a company newly formed with Chinese capital and operated by Chinese,
while the Mongolia and Manchuria were sold to the Atlantic Transport
Company of New York and were transferred to the Atlantic Ocean.
Were it not for the far-sightedness of a San Francisco man, John H.
Rosseter, the American Flag would have disappeared from the foreign
trade of the Pacific completely. Out of the wreck of the old Pacific Mail
Steamship Company he organized the present company and by the pur-
chase of three ships built in Holland, re-commenced the service of the
Pacific Mail across the Pacific in 1916 with the steamers Colombia, Ecua-
dor and Venezuela of 14,000 tons diplacement each. In the year 1917
was inaugurated the San Francisco-Calcutta service with the steamers
Santa Cruz, 12,000 tons, and Clousa, 15,000 tons, and the writer hopes to
live to see the day when the American Flag will be seen constantly in
every port on the great Pacific ocean.
240
THE KOREA MAGAZINE
May
A few words as to the personnel of the company: This includes the
names of many famous men. The first President was Captain Allan Mc-
Lean. He was succeeded in 1872 by W. B. Stockwell of sewing machine
fame, followed in about a year by Rufus Hatch, during whose adminis-
tration the screw steamers of the “City” class were built and commis-
sioned. Jay Gould succeeded Hatch and it was he who negotiated the
building of the China. He was succeeded by W. P. Clyde and then fol-
lowed R. P. Schwerin, who was vice-president and general manager of
the company from 1893 to the disruption of the company in 1915. The
man of large vision who organized the new Pacific Mail Company was
John H. Rosseter; he was elected vice-president and general manager of
the company in 1916, and we trust that his dreams of American supremacy
on the Pacific will be realized.
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