Korea Mission Field - The Korea Field, February 1904 (no.10)

THE KOREA FIELD.

SEOUL , KOREA , FEBRUARY ,

A/c. i'O

A MACEDONIAN CALL,

Officially promulgated by the Korea
Mission of the Presbyterian Church
in the U. S. A.

Pyeng Yang, Korea, Sept. 17, 1903.
it'pO one who has just arrived on the
field the discussion this morning
has been painful in the extreme. It is
painful not because of the spirit in which
it has been carried on, for there has ap-
peared a most fraternal spirit through-
out, and a desire to serve the best inter-
ests of all concerned ; but painful because
there was occasion for such discussion —
so few new workers to be assigned. It
makes me wish that I could have come
to the field ten years ago. I believe that
we ought to cry more mightily than ever
before to the Lord of the harvest that he
send forth more laborers. I think it
would be wise to send to the churches in
America with which we are in touch,
and to individuals, an appeal for helpers
in this time of Korea’s imperative need.
Would it not also be well, when we meet
for our next devotional service, to spend
the entire time in prayer to God for more
laborers?” *

The above words were spoken by the
Rev. Ernest F. Hall at the close of yes-
terday morning’s session of the annual
meeting of the Korea Presbyterian Mis-
sion, which is now held in Pyeng

Yang. The occasion of the remarks was
the assignment of the workers to their
respective fields. The claims of the vari-
ous stations that new workers be assigned
to them were pressed with great earnest-
ness, but every station was necessarily
disappoflfted, because the supply of new
missionaries does not equal the impera-
tive demand.

By u nanimous vote the Mission decided
to send this appeal to the churches in
the United States for more workers.

But what words can be chosen that
shall so clearly describe the condition as
to make you feel that this call is to you,
dear friend in America ! Could you but
know of the work close at our hands
ready to be done and of the demand for
the opening of two new stations at once,
which demand cannot be now met for
lack of workers ; could you but know of
the regions as yet untouched that are
ready for the gospel ; could you but
know of the over-worked men and
women here who have neither the time
nor the strength to do all that is wanted
of them by the people who are anxious
to learn the* way of life; could you but
realize the tremendous demand that this
rapidly developing field makes for addi-
tional workers, then you must certainly
face the question squarely, and decide
whether you are not called to the
“regions beyond.”

Korea is a ripe harvest field. Protes-
tant mission work was begun here less
than twenty years ago. Now there are
connected with our Mission 6,391 baptiz-
ed communicants, while the adherents
number nearly 23,000. During the past
year 1,431 persons were baptized, which
increased the number of baptized com-
municants more than 25^ over what
was reported last year.

There is no prohibition against preach-
ing the gospel anywhere in this country
and we may enter aud possess it all.

But we need more workers. The in-
crease in the working force does not
keep pace with the growth of the work.
We need married and unmarried clergy-
men and single women.

You who have been debating with
yourself the question of foreign mission

146

work, we call to you. You whose place
can be filled in the home land by one
who can not come here, we call to you.

We have held a meeting this morning
to pray for more workers. Will you
come, and thus help - to answer our
prayers ?

Come over into Korea and help
us.

“NOW OR NEVER.”

The watchword of Missions and
friends of Missions in Korea.

rjffiis year the cry for reinforcements
has been going up all along the
firing line of Missions. Nowhere is the
cry louder thau in Korea. Korea has
but one claim, but that is imperative and
unanswerable. Korea’s argument is her
present opportunity. The delicate
political situation ; the beginnings of
civilization with its drawbacks, always a
bar to Christ ; the througs of new be-
lievers half taught as yet and apt to
makedangerous mistakes ; the multitudes
beyond, yielding to the least persuasion;
the utterly inadequate force of workers
to fill the need : these are facts that
stand out. One man now is worth a
dozen ten years hence. The hour of
Korea’s opportunity is peculiarly now.
We can take Korea now for Christ.
Perhaps we can’t 10 years hence. Is
the Church going to let this golden op-
portunity go by? It is for you to
answer. Christ wants you in Korea.
Hear the specific calls as they are com-
ing from all over the field.

Seoul says— Loudly as the work here
has of late years been appealing to you
at home for workers, never has the call
been so loud, the harvest so ready, the
danger of delay so pressing as now.
Seoul has in its assigned field over 3^
millions of people. To work this terri-
tory there are but 7 clerical men, 2
medical, and 5 single women. Of these,
3 are assigned almost entirely to what
would be called General Mission work
rather than local work, giving 5 clerical
men, 1 medical and 5 single women for
the evangelization of this field. This
year we report 64 unorganized churches,
94 meeting places, 1,512 baptized be-
lievers, 1,308 other adherents. Last

February igoj..

year, with two of our best men at home
on furlough, with but one fully equipped
man and 4 others averaging 1 y2 years
each on the field, there were 117 bap-
tisms. It should have been 1,000 with
proper manning. One of the old work-
ers returned from furlough has just
come in from his first country trip
through a neglected field and reports Ho
baptisms in twenty days. Surely the
door is open now. Will the Church
enter in and possess the land? In and
around the capital people have gained
a confidence in the American mission-
aries and are willing to come to them for
advice. They say they have no one else
they can. trust. Now is our opportunity.
There are and have been for some years
past the most cordial relations between
the official class and the missionaries.
These may not continue long. Certainly
the old intimate relations between the
missionaries and the palace have not been
maintained. Lack of Workers to enter
the door has been the cause. The door is
open no w to the palace and rulihg clas-
ses. It may close any day. Day by day
we hear from the outdistricts of promis-
ing groups won over to schism or Rome
because of lack of oversight. We can’t
care for the field. It. is so great. The
young Church needs leaders They
must be trained. Who is to train them?
Travel all over this district, go where
you will, start a Christian service, and
you will have crowds who will not only
give careful earnest attention but not a
few will wait to enquire and it’s almost
a certainty that wherever there is per-
sistent effort there will he a church.
No soil was ever more ready for or con-
genial to the seed. God has granted to
the Presbyterian Church in America
this infant church in Korea. She today
is starving, appeals for bread. It is for
the Presbyterian Church to say whether
she will turn a deaf ear to this cry and
let her offspring starve.

Pyeng Yang's Crv is even more
urgent than this.

No one aware of the present condition
of things in the Mission field of North
Korea can fail to know that the hour of
Chistian opportunity in this country
is striking in clear and unmistakable
tones. In the territory covered by

THE KOREA FIELD.

February 1^04.

THE KOREA FIELD.

H7

Pyeng Yang Station alone, during the
last year, 872 adults were received in
baptism and 1,547 to the catechumenate,
and those numbers were only limited by
the inability of the missionary force to
do more. From every part of our ter-
ritory comes the cry for help in any
form, for visits from the missionary, for
classes in Bible study, for Christian litera-
ture, for Christian education. Elderly
women have walked a whole week,
from Monday morning until Saturday
night, to attend a ten day’s class for
Bible study. In many country groups
during the winter months the Christians
meet every night for Bible study, with
only portions of Scripture imperfectly
translated, all equally ignorant and with
no one to lead them. Christian primary
schools multiplying everywhere are call-
ing vainly for qualified Christian teachers
and numbers of Christian boys and young
men, showing the richest promise for
the future self government of the Church,
throng into Pyeng Yang from year to
year, begging for a Chistian education.

And ever sounding day and night is
that o'ther cry, unheard to mortal ear,
yet loud to the ear attuned to the Spirit
and loud surely to the pitying ear of
God, the cry of the unawakened. Hun-
dreds and hundreds of thousands there
are, in our territory alone, lying in des-
perate soul extremity, not because
they have not heeded, but because they
have not heard the Gospel of the grace
of God. Or if they have heard at all, it
has been at a great distance and dimlv.|

It is entirely impossible with our pres-
ent missionary force of 8 ordained men,
one medical, 6 missionary wives and 3
single women to meet the demands of
the situation. Work among the un-
evangelized we cannot even touch, and
even in regions nominally under our
supervision much that ought to be done
is left undone. Groups of believers ask-
ing earnestly for spiritual help and in-
struction are left unvisited perhaps for
long mouths, and when the missionary
is at last able to include them in his
rounds, he finds perhaps that the sickness
of long deferred hope has set in, and
hearts that were once plastic and warm
are now hardened and cold.

Not tomorrow but now is the day of
opportunity for Korea. How long this
spirit of inquiry, so largely unsatisfied,

may continue to exist, or how soon the
people may relapse into the old state of
heathen apathy, who can say? Given a
few more years of utterly inadequate
manning of our Mission force, and it
may be that here and there, all through
this beautiful region, like a mountain-
side swept by forest fires, only charred
and blackened spaces may remain where
was once the promise of green and living
growth.

Christian brother and sister, young
and strong and full of zeal in the Mas-
ter’s work, are these things nothing to
you? This is a day of good tidings.
Are you holding your peace? We are
not asking for money. We are not
even asking for prayer except that the
Lord of the harvest will send forth
laborers into His harvest. We are ask-
ing for consecrated men and women,
separated and sent of God, and through
whom He will deign to work out His
purposes for this people. Come over
and help us. The blessing of those who
are ready to perish awaits you, and more,
ah, much more than that, the unspeak-
able privilege of enabling our Lord and
Saviour, whose visage was marred more
thau any man’s, to see through your ef-
forts of the travail of His soul and be
satisfied.

Syen Chun — with the same conditions
reports 4,537 enrolled attendants, of
which 1,027. are baptized and 1,646
catechumens, 61 meeting places. To
visit every group even once a year re-
quires a journey of 3,000 miles on foot
or on pack pony. Our work has in-
creased 50^ to 7 q% each year for
several years and increase seems only
an earnest of what is coming. No
longer cau we give careful oversight
to the work. That long ago ceased to
be a physical possibility. Our whole
force is but 3 clerical men, i medical and
2 single women. But for the host of
Korean helpers and leaders (mostly un-
der Korean support) we could not at all
do the work and the present work would
long since have crumbled away. All we
can do now, hard as it seems to say it, is
to care for these under shepherds, the
leaders, gather them into classes, teach
them as best we can, one, two or at most
three weeks each per year.

To the north of us about 200 miles is
Kang Kei wrhich is more than ready to

148

be organized as a new station mostly
through the efforts of Koreans who have
gone there to live or to preach the Gospeh
There are over 150 Christians in and
about Kang Kei with about 525 in at-
tendance upon services. This is a great-
er number than can be claimed by many
fully organized stations and the prospects
for growth are exceedingly bright. But
we cannot open the station there simply
for lack of men. A visit of a week or
10 days once a year is all we can plan
to give it. It is needless to say that if the
help we are asking for is to do any good
it should come now. What the future
has in store for us we don’t know, but
we do know that we need help at once to
care for the work already done, not to
mention the crying need in the regions
just beyond.

From the South Country this year
comes the most insistent appeal that'
they have ever sent out. Their call is
for single women. “A woman for Tai-
ku” heads the list of preferred workers
sent home by the Korea Mission. It is
not the first but now the third time and
with an ever increasing demand. In
1900, though this door for work in our
Christian homes stood wide open, the
Christian women were few. In answer
to the demand in February of 1901 Miss
Nourse was sent to us, only to be stolen
away the following Fall. Since then
our work among women has doubled
every year until every house in this
large city (the fourth in the Empire and
capital of the province) presents an open
door to the woman missionary.

With ever enlarging opportunities, not
only hasnoone come to supply the, need,
but this year has seen the only two wo-
men with any knowledge of the language
go home on furlough. With Mrs. Bruen
but little over a year on the field, we
came to Annual Meeting in confidence
that our claims must be met. But again
we were doomed to disappointment and
our little band, reduced during the year
from 7 to 4, was sent back with the loan
of Dr. Eva Field for 3 months. An in-
land city three days by coolie from the
coast, where this little band constitute
the only foreign residents aside from one
French priest, where no foreigner ex-
cept the missionaries and one gold pro-
spector has ever been : these facts con-
stitute the social need which, together

February 1904.

with the need of the work, compelled the
loan of Dr. Field. Every morning she
visits the homes of Christians and in the
afternoon meets a roomful of women in
the new hospital. Also on Sunday and
Wednesday afternoons she meets the
women for Bible study. This work is
interrupted at the time of writing by an
8-day trip to some of the largest groups.
Her first night out she and her Bible
woman addressed a crowd of several
hundred women and had to put out the
light to get them to go home. By the
time she makes one trip East and one
South among the other groups, the wo-
men will be gathering for the Winter
Class, after which her short three months
will be up, and what then? This is the
question we put to you — our sisters — in
the home land. May God lead some one
who reads this brief sketch of our strug-
gle, to come out and fill this loug stand-
ing and ever increasing need rendered
now so acute by the return on furlough
of Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Johnson.
Though you come by the next boat you
cannot get here too soon to answer our
present, pressing need. Come over now
and help us.

Fusan’s strong plea is also for single
women. Our 18 country groups have
seen no lady worker for over two years
and they cry loudly for the peculiar in-
struction that only a woman can give.
The clergymen can reach their lives, it
is true. But not as the}7' should be
reached. Korean etiquette restricts the
.-.sexes in their relation too much. They
need a woman who can enter their
homes, hearts and thoughts. Though
the clergymen can in a small manner
touch the lives of professing Christian
women, they cannot reach those who are
on the border line of faith, or inquiring,
or listening. Women must help women
over the first stages of the Christian
road.

We have no lady worker fof our
country groups. We had one until 2
years ago when the greater need of other
fields pulled her away. Our woman’s
work has trebled since then and the wo-
men are more numerous than the men.
Our Bible classes for women have to be
taught by men — a very serious handicap.
There is no one to train the Korean wo-
men for anything better, no one to raise
up Bible women and Christian female

THK KOREA FIELD.

February 1904..

THE KOREA FIELD.

149

workers. Two or three of our Christian
groups are almost without men, and they
form a serious problem to the pastor,
who cannot properly instruct them. He
could do better if there were men present.
Such groups need a lady worker badly.

The need of these women is appalling.
Had we a single woman at this moment,
the tasks which would be on her when
she was able to use the language intelli-
gently would be greater than she could
bear. We plead for some one to supply
the Bread which these children of our
Father are crying for. We plead for
some one to help develop womanhood in
the south of Korea.

These are facts and facts that cry
aloud to Him and to you His disciple.
Now is the time of our need. Tomor-
row may be too late. So many are
hungry for the Bread of Life, so many
are dying without it; -if we don’t
feed the hungry, speak life to the dying,
a few days hence all our speaking may
be in vain. Come now. Help us now.
Save Korea now for the sake of Him
who loved us and died that we might
live.

Northeast Korea.

^LTHOUGH the Gospel of Jesus has
begun to shine in Korea, and is
spreading with considerable rapidity,
these are still many parts to which
its rays have not even yet begun to
penetrate. And it is remarkable how
near the light and darkness may be
to each other. Even in Southern
Pyeng An province where the most
wonderful work is being done, the present
writer on his way home from Council
found places where the inhabitants had
never heard of Christ or seen a mis-
sionary. Perhaps however the North-
eastern province (called the Ham Kyung
province) being the farthest distant
from the centres where evangelization
began, the least subject to the influences
of civilization, and the most strongly
tied down by the bands of Korean
superstition, is the darkest of all the
Kingdom.

In the spring of 1903 an attempt was
made to carry the Gospel into the
farthest confines of this region by the
missionaries stationed in the port of
Sung Chin. The only preceding work

ever done in this district was by Rev.
W. L. Swallen in the year 1899 when
he visited the northern capital, and by
Mr. A. A. Pieters of the Bible Society
who traversed the length of this pro-
vince for colportage purposes in the
same vear.

In this later expedition of 1903 the
persons engaged were Mr. John
Grierson, Rev. Alexander F. Robb,
the writer, and several Korean helpers.
Leaving on Saturday, April 4th, they
spent Sunday at the large Couuty Seat
of Kil-ju, where there is a small band
of believers. Pushing on northward,
on Monday again they met a solitary
believer and spent a few hours with
him in prayer and praise. This was
the first and the last time that the lonely
Christian joined with the church on
earth in social worship,, for before we
were able to visit him again he was
called away by death to praise in a
brighter region nearer the throne than
we. Still travelling along, we met
another believer 011 Thursday, saw some
reefs of coai, which is very plentiful
near Kyung Sung, and reached the
capital, Kyung Sung, in time to spend
our secoud Sunday. Here we enjoyed
a pleasant Sabbath and were able to
preach to a large number of visitors.
Next day being market day, we sold a
good number of books on the street and
were visited by a man who had been a
Christian for some time. This city
represents at the present time the north-
ern limit of believers in Korea

From this place we pushed inland
toward the north to visit the large
inland towns along the Tumen River.
The road is good for wagons all the
way to Hoi Ryong. The most distinc-
tive sights in this region, as in all the
north, are two, viz., the hillside farm-
ing, and the nodding water pestles.
The farms resemble some of our East-
ern Canadian fields, where, as Mr. Robb
says, "they stand their farm on edge
and cultivate both sides.’’ The water
pestles have no covering or house over
them, as in the south, and are set close
together along the streams, so that
often, looking up a valley, one may see
several scores of these nodding pounders
in one glance, some rising, some fall-
ing. The}’ resemble a flock of geese
feeding and watching, or a crowd of

15°

THE KOREA FIELD.

February 1904..

Koreaus worshipping at ancestral
graves, and are an object lesson in
unwearied labor to the Korean.

Hoi Ryong, the place where this big
road strikes the Tnrnen, is a fine,
large, walled city in a populous centre.
It has 1700 houses, and those nearly all
huge tiled roof buildings. In this region
there is said to be a large Roman
Catholic following, who are visited by
Pere Bret of Wonsan. We had good
sale for our books and reached a great
many people by street preaching. We
found that the people in the Tutnen
region call their own country by no
other name than Syo Kuk, ‘‘the little
Kingdom,” due probably to their prox-
imity to China. We were told that
there are now' tens of thousands of
Koreans settled in Manchuria across
the river, though previous to 1894 it
was almost on pain of death that any
Korean left his own land to live there.
Now however there is no prejudice
against such emigration, and numbers
are constantly crossiug to take up laud
among the Chinese.

After spending our third Sunday from
home in Hoi Ryong, we proceeded to
follow the course of the Tumen. In
some places there is a wide fertile inter-
vale between the river and the Korean
mountains, in other places the old Ko-
rean mountains back right up to the
river. On these, small shrubby' apricots
grow in profusion, and as at that time of
year they were in blossom, the sight was
magnificent. Across the river the Man-
churian hills lay bare and destitute of a
single tree, but the numerous settle-
ments, which seemed to be principally
Korean, betokened a large population.
Tuesda}' noon brought us to Chong Sung
city, where we sold seven Korean New
Testaments in half an hour’s open air
meeting after tiffin. We had now sold
all the large stock of books and tracts we
had with us, except whole Testaments, a
few in Chinese, and a few in Korean.

Along the Korean bank of the Tumen
there are ruins of many old frontier forts
of day's gotie-by, which bear testimony
to the good old fighting times of yore.
We now reached the city of Oin Sung,
the most northern Korean city. Here
the Tumen turns at a sharp angle and
from running' northeast, or nearly
north, flow's off to the southeast. We

however crossed it here so as to travel
through Manchurian and Russian terri-
tory to Vladivostok for the purpose of
ascertaining what mission work might ~
be done among the many Korean emi-
grants in these parts. The ferry was a
most primitive one, a long log hollowed
out into a “dugout canoe” 2 feet wide,
in which we had to sit caunilv, while
our horses swam across the swift ice-
cold river.

We now pushed eastward through
treeless fertile country, not very hilly,
and saw' the Chinese farmers beginning
their spring work. Reaching the large
city of Hun Chnu, we spent a day
in sight seeing and in social intercourse
with the band of Chinese Christians
whom we found there. On leaving we
all sang together ‘ God be with you till
we meet again,” we from Enmoun hymn
books and the}' from Hanmitn. Again
travelling eastward, we passed through
land lying wide and waste, like the
American western prairies, with evi-
dences of having at one time been under
cultivation, but now lying fallow. It
seemed to be nearness to the Russian
boundary that determined this wasteness,
for after crossiug the border, where
there is a large Cossack guard, the same
waste uninhabited character prevailed.

We spent that Saturday night in a
small Korean settlement 15 li from the
large Russiau military post of Nova
Kiefsk. From what w’e saw there and
subsequently there was no support for
the somewhat exaggerated reports which
have been circulated by some travellers
about the great material prosperity of
Russianized Koreans. A few steps
remove across the Tumen, and a few
years residence in a virtually Korean
community even on Russian soil does
uot seem to have developed them in any
visible way except to increase their in-
quisitive and spying proclivities The
houses are no better, bigger, cleaner, or
well furnished than the houses in Ham
Kyung Province. We visited- the
school, where a Russianized Korean
taught some 24 bloused and belted Ko-
rean boys Russian language and Arith-
metic, and their neatness and brightness
was indeed an improvement over Korea.

Of our being preceded into Nova
Kiefsk by reports from local Korean
spies and being there treated with scant

February /QO-f.

THE KOREA FIELD.

courtesy by Customs and police officials,
then more than usually suspicious, ow-
ing to the stress of the international
complications in Manchuria, I will say
as little as possible. Suffice it that our
visit to Nova Kiefsk, Possiet, and Vladi-
vostok showed that it would not be easy
for a European missionary to do much
mission work among the Koreans across
the Russian border. I would not say it
is impossible, for have not missionaries
evangelized Rome and Madagascar and
the Fiji Islands? But it would be next
to a martyrdom on account of the spies
and piolice.

We took the first available steamer for
Song Chin and were glad when we could
breathe again the free air of Korea,
which may God keep to be a land open
to the access of the true and simple
Gospel.

Robert Grierson.
THE NEEDS OF THE WORK.
From Annual Report of Miss M. L.

Chase , September , 1903.

'J'here are 339 baptized and 680 catechu-
mens and, as a very conservative
estimate, 1,400 Christian women in
North Pyeng An province. Only 15
of the 61 churches have ever been visited
by a woman missionary. The women
thought that, as a woman had come to
hold classes among them, it would mean
a visit to each church at least once a
year. As we leave them they ask
“What time next year will you return?’’
We remind them of the many churches
yet unvisited, but notwithstanding they
yet plead for a promise of a return
next year, saying “Oh, we must receive
some special instruction every year ; for,
if we do not, when shall we ever under-
stand even a little of the Bible?” But
alas we are bound by Human limitations,
and, though urgent their call and great
their need, there are others even more
needy, and to them we must go and
give them a little to help satisfy their
thirst for the water of life. While hold-
ing a class in Ku Kol one woman said
in conversing with Kang Si “It will be
easy for all the Christiaus in Syeu
, Chyun to go to heaven because they
live near the missionaries and receive
constant instruction and guidance, but

151

just think of us away out here at the
foot of rough deep mountains and miles
away from the pastors. How can we
ever learn enough to travel the road that
leads to heaven?” With their little
knowledge it is no wonder that they
have come to this conclusion. In an-
other place the women were not very
quiet in class, a number were talking at
the same time, and several asking ques-
tions all at once. Kang Si quieted them
and said “Sisters, let us study orderly
and by rule.” One replied “What is
a rule? Do tell us, for our knowledge
of how to study is not as big as an atom,
even though we have learned just for
the sake of studying the Bible.” With
constantly increasing numbers of Christ-
ians the need for more w’orkers for the
women is even greater than it was last
year.

A BUSY MONTH.

Report of Rev . C. A. Clark for October ,
1903.

pjave spent the busiest month since
we came to Korea. Early in Oc-
tober the Evangelistic Committee in-
structed me to open street chapels at
Koti Dong Kol, Tong Hyun church, Sai
Mun An church, and other places if
possible. We opened the sarang at
Tong Hyun about five weeks ago, and
the chapel at Kon Doug Koi four weeks
ago, for daily noon meetings. For the
last week, on account of the cold, it has
been impossible to hold meetings at the
Tong Hyun sarang. The Koreans have
responded nobly to the call for help in
the work. The results so far are some-
thing over forty professed conversions,
besides the great number who simply
received tracts and went away. During
the time I have sold 14 Gospels and one
New Testament and about 25 of the
larger tracts. Besides these were the
books sold by the city evangelist and
the book room at Tong Hyun. Five of
the men have been received by Session
as catechumens, and at least ten more
have promised to come at the next Ses-
sion meeting.

I have spent every moment of spare
time going over the rolls and recofds of
the Tong Hyun church, which were in
very chaotic condition. We now’ have

*52

THE KOREA FIELD.

February 1 904.

a card index of all the members, em-
bodying all that is known of each of the
several members. I have organized the
catechumen class and taught it two
weeks. About thirty are on the roll.

Have begun teaching the Life of Christ
to the boys at the Boys’ School : have
gone twice to class. Have- addressed
some 3,000 or so of the envelopes for the
seuding to America of the tract ordered
by the Mission. Have spent a couple of
afternoons or evenings a week enter-
taining companies of Koreans at our
house, besides those who come singly.
Have taught a class of women in the
Tong Hyuu Sabbath School for the last
four weeks. This, with lauguage study
three hours a day when possible, has
been enough to at least keep me out of
mischief. v

INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL, THIRD YEAR.
Monthly Report, Rev. E. H. Miller ,
Oct. — Nov. 1903.

'J'HIS month has been a busy one with
me, for it has seen the inaugura-
tion of the Intermediate School on the
larger basis. We began the year with
an attendance of three, but were not dis-
mayed because we had heard reports of a
group of seven which one of our students
had gathered and was bringing up with
him on his return. On canvassing last
year’s students, we found that one had
died and one had left for the larger
advantages and quicker results of the
government medical school, while one
by one the others came back to the fold.

In a few day's the wisdom of the move
last spring was evidenced, for seven stal-
wart young men, ages ranging from 16
to 18 with one 27, came in on us from
Haiju and Sorai, and our quarters were
comfortably filled. Soon after another
from Whang Hai, a Sorai boy who
wished to take the course at the hospital,
came in and is doiug good work with
the earlier ones. Another aud yet an-
other has showed up, till now they num-
ber 22 — or perhaps 23, for since I left this
morning a new one may have dropped
in.

Work has been undertaken by7 Dr.
Underwood, who was to have begun to-
day in Physics and Old Testament ; Mr.
Gale in History and Astronomy — these
two for two hours two afternoons per

week; Mr. Moore, Algebra, well started,
and New Testament Book study, to
begin as soon as he is settled in his
house; Mrs. Reynolds, who has taken
up the class in beginning Arithmetic
which Miss Doty led through her text-
book on Mental Arithmetic; Miss Barrett
and Mrs. Miller, who each teach a class
in Geography, these courses being one
hour a day; Mr. Clark, Harmony of the
Gospels once a week ; and my own work
from 8:30 a.m. Prayers till 10:30, having
the upper two classes in Arithmetic.
The Chinese this year is under the
teachingof Kim Uni Kun, whom we used
two years ago with great acceptance and
good results.

The industrial department of the
school has so far filled my afternoons to
the extent that no planned work could
be made way for. So far, with the clear
weather and open days, grading on the
site for the science building has been
going on steadily and the results are
evident to anyone who looks over the
site. A beginning in teaching the use
of the sewing-machiue has been made
and we plan to lay out work for the
winter of such character that the worst
weather will not leave us idle. Thirteen
boy's are now receiving help under the
industrial department and I’m beginning
to feel that it has developed so far that
it should be brought before the church
as something the whole church ought to
have a hand in furthering. I would sug-
gest that some Sunday be set aside for
the presentation of educational work and
contributions be taken for the support
of our self-help and industrial depart-
ment.

There were so many' odds and ends to
attend to after our arrival that little has
been accomplished in translating and
teaching algebra except the finishing of
the first 13 pages which were omitted
from the Japanese translation. I having
finished this, my assistant who is a
Japanese scholar and who has studied
algebra in the Japanese school was able
to go on with the work translating from
Japanese into Korean. I think he is
doing pretty good work but of course all
of his translation work has to be gone
over by7 my'self. We have now finished
the first 70 pages as far as to division. — .
Rev. S. F. Moose in December Station
Report.

THE KOREA FIELD.

153

February IQOj..

THE KOREA FIELD .

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY IN THE MONTHS Of
February, May, August, and November:

With the object of familiarizing its readers with the
working of the Holy Spirit in the Churches of Korea.

Annual subscription, Including postage 10 cents

or 20 sen

To be paid in America through MR. C. W. HAND, treas-
urer of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions,
156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

To be remitted in Korea to DR. C. C. VINTON, Seoul.

A SUNDAY BY THE S,EA ON THE EAST
COAST.

Kyengju Hase, November 16, 1903.

Y'HE roar of the sea came to my ears
with a strange note that morning
in the remote little fishing village. Or
whether it was the familiar sound that
accentuated the strange surroundings, I
do not know. I dressed and went owt.
It was a lovely, bright fall morning and
far, faraway across the blue waters lay the
homeland. I could see the home church
with its friendly doors opon to the
stranger aud I should like to have been
there and crossed the threshold and taken
my seat as of old. But by this time I
had returned to my little six by eight
room and must prepare for a strange ex-
perience. But first how came I here?
Seven years ago Mr. Adams met a man
from this fishing village in the old time
capital of 2, coo years ago, Kyungju.
Some years ago another man dropped
into the book room at the fall fair at Tai-
ku and bought a book; and later the
first mentioned man happeued into a
service at Fusan. Thus was God pre-
paring a door of entrance into this fish-
ing village. A few weeks ago a Christ-
ian from Taiku visited this place and
reported 50 or 60 professing Christians.
These people would gather on Sunday,
read some part of a tract, take up a col-
lection, and send out to buy wine with
which the brethren would refresh them-
selves. Twice they have sent one of
their number to other groups 25 or 30
miles distant to learn how to conduct
Sunday service.

After breakfast a man came to my
room and presented me with five eggs,
and later I found a fine fresh fish which

one of them had sent in. Nqxt thee
killed a goat and presented to me. Thy
head and tail of the fish together with the
liver, blood and stomach of the goat was
divided among themsel'ves aud eaten raw.

Mats v^ere spread out in the courtyard
and there we kept the Sabbath, receiv-
ing two as catechumens; and thus was
the prophecy and commaud fulfilled aud
the uttermost parts of the earth are
hearing the good news of “Peace on
earth, good will towards men.”

Henry Munko Bruen.

YU HI’S WEDDING.

From Letters of Mrs. A. F. Moffett.

Y« Hi’s wedding day is set for the
15th. of the 9th. mouth. All the
family seem very happy over the arrange-
ments. Her betrothed came in from
the country a fewT days ago bringing the
garments for the trousseau — a substan-
tial supply but not abundant nor elabo-
rate. They met and had a talk together,
he telling her that some men would be
ashamed to bring such a meagre supply,
and that he was sorry to do so, but that
he could afford no more without going
into debt, w'hich he had promised Ma
moksa not to do. She replied that he
was quite right in what he had done and
that she was glad he did not go into
debt, for that would only make it harder
for them later on. They themselves
seem very happy and satisfied and have
the prospect of beginning life together
under very favorable circumstances.

* * * * * #

Today is Yu Hi’s wedding day and
the ceremony was performed in the
woman’s chapel this afternoon at two
o’clock. Men aud women who were
closest friends, and little girls from the
day school, gathered to form a goodly
company, but not a crowd. The pulpit
was placed in the corner of the L aud
was modestly decorated with chrj’san-
-themums. Promptly at the hour came
the groom and his attendant upon
donkeys, and after they entered the
building they were closely followed by
the bride in her closed chair. Yu Hi
made a very pretty bride, but to me she
looked much sweeter when, after having
returned to the inner room of her house,
she put aside the head dress aud smiled
upon us as she arranged her silk garm-

154

THK KOREA FIELD.

ents. Everything passed off very well,
the feast was simple and unpretentious,
and best of all Yu Hi seemed very hap-
py, a feature which has been remarked
upon by the Korean women from the
time when preparations were begun.
Her husband is a man of strong charac-
ter, pleasing manners, and right prin-
ciples. I like him very much and I do
believe she will have a happy home.

The new school for girls began its
sessions last Monday with thirty-eight
girls and women in attendance, and there
is much enthusiasm in the study. Miss
Best has her hands very full with ar-
rangementsand her shareof the teaching.

Last week I had the privilege of a four
days’ trip in the country, holding six
services with the women of five groups
and treating about thirty patients. It
is the familiar story of need and oppor-
tunity everywhere, a beginning of
knowledge and an eagerness to be taught,
and yet the experience of it is ever new.
It one group abut sixty women gathered
for the Sabbath service : they are study-
ing Romans and are ready for thorough
teaching. In the other four places the
Christian women, numbering abut 30,
8, 5, and 17 respectively, formed the
central circle of each group, while many
others gathered about the doors and
listened quietly. I am eager togo again,
and shall do so if possible about a month
from now.

A YEAR OF BEGINNINGS.
Personal Report of Rev. C. E. Kearns,
September, 1903.

go far as actual achievement goes the
first year of a new missionary’s ex-
perience on the field is necessarily rather
barren of any remarkable results. But
in the fulfillment of long cherished
hopes and in the dawning vision of a life
work hitherto only vaguely realized,
perhaps the first year of life on the field
may be counted the most notable year in
the life of a missionary.

Our record since landing at Chemulpo
September 22nd of last year is soon told.
Ten days in Seoul during the last An-
nual Meeting afforded an excellent op-
portunity to meet the men and women

February 1904.

who compose the Korea Mission and to
gain an idea of the workings of the Mis-
sion as a bod}r. The new missionaries
who come too late for the Annual Meet-
ing certainly miss something that will
be of the greatest value to them during
the next year at least, if not during the
whole experience on the field. Nothing
could have served so effectively to put
us in touch with the life and hopes and
plans of the Mission and make us feel
our own identification with that life, as
did those ten days of reports, delibera-
tions, decisions, and plans for the future.
And nothing could have quicker put us
in sympathy with our future fellow
workers than the ten days of social kind-
ness at their hands, softening the harsh-
ness of transition from a highly favored
laud to a land neglected for ages.

Two days and two nightsof purgator-
ial torment in the little coast steamer
gave us an added sense of fellow->hip
with the o’der missionaries, for there is
nothing like common misery for draw-
ing people together. A week in Pyeng
Yang gave a glimpse into the larger
work and an inspiration for future effort.
Pyeng Yang is a demonstration of what
can be done, and the thought that we
were going still farther north, where the
people must of necessity be even more
wide awake, more, sturdy and more cap-
able of development, filled our hearts
with large hopes for the future of the
infant station of Syen Chyun.

The journey to Syen Chyun was the
first experience with the conventional
mode of travelling in Korea and was not
entirely unpleasant in spite of the un-
inviting descriptions found in so many
books at home. The feature of the whole
trip was the royal welcome we received
as we approached our destination, about
a hundred men and boys meeting us 20
or 30 li out as we were travelling late by
moonlight on the last night of the
journey, and escorting us the rest of the
way in. It was worth all the long journey
from America, begun two months before,
to feel that we had come to a people that
cared as much as that and realized their
ueed of teaching. On the following
Sunday the return of the foreigners was
welcomed by an audience of some 400
people, and the communion service with
the baptism of fifteen made a deeper im-
pression on the minds of the newcomers

February 1904

THE KOREA FIELD.

155

than many much more elaborate services
in the home land had ever done.

We Kearnses began our study in Mr.
Whittemore’s house in real earnest,
though we had been able to study a little
in Seoul and a little more in Pveng
Yang through the kindness of others
who loaned us their teachers. The lan-
guage work has been the first and main
tiling all through the past months. Our
teachers have done very saiisfactorj^
work and we feel that good progress has
been made, though nothing like what
we could wish for when we think of the
urgency of the work that is waiting to
be doue.

TAIKU HOSPITAL.

From Annual Report of Dr. IV. O.

Johnson , September , iqoj .

In April Chinese bricklayers and
masons arrived from Seoul and began
work upon the new hospital. This hos-
pital is the gift of a lady, a member of
the second Presbyterian Church of
Philadelphia, a church which has, from
the station’s opening, interested itself
most generously in the work at Taiku.
The building has progressed during the
spring and summer, until at this writing
it is being tiled, and by the Annual
Meeting will have been completed. It
has had more than its share of the vicis-
situdes of building operations in Korea.
The location of Taiku in the interior,
the absence of any local timber market,
the necessity of hiring men and burning
one's own brick and tile, the anxiety of
having to entrust the preparation of the
timbers to an irresponsible Japanese
agent one hundred miles away at Fusan
and being obliged to personally make
several trips that distance to.see to it,
&c. , &c., have all combined to make it
a very trying undertaking. The build-
ing is the handsomest one yet erected in
Taiku, and its location, as far as we
know, could not be improved upon. It
faces one of the main travelled roads
into the city, is only two hundred yards
from the large market place, and yet on
high ground and isolated enough to
escape the disagreeable consequences of
having Korean neighbors next door. It
will offer wonderful advantages over the
small crowded quarters inside the city
wall, and we look forward to work in its

convenient and commodious wards with
a pleasure which can be understood only
bjr those of the profession who have
labored to practice medicine and surgery
in unsanitary overcrowded Korean
buildings.

PYENG YANG ACADEMY.

From Annual Report of Dr. W. M.

Baird, September, 1903.

'T'he Academy opened October 8th rvith
an attendance of sixty-five pupils.
The total enrollment for the year is
seventy-two. Most of the pupils of
the previous year were in attendance.
The representative character of the
school is shown by the fact that .pupils
came from all sections of the Pyeng
Yang and Syen Chun stations, forty-
seven being from beyond the city and
vicinity of Pyeng Yang.

Last year’s classes being each
advanced one grade, there have been
five classes to teach, the highest class
only being wanting of the full quota
of classes.

As in the past, the constant teaching’
force has consisted of the principal,
the Korean teacher of Chinese charac-
ter, Pak Cha Choong, and two pupil
teachers. They have all been well and
their work has been uninterrupted
during the year. Beside myself, most
of the other members of the station
have heartily cooperated in teaching,
as their other duties permitted. Though
the number of names is large, the
aggregate number of hours taught per
week seldom amoubted to as much as
one person could have taught if teach-
ing continuously, and at times almost
all were absent from Pyeng Yang.
On account of the need for more in-
struction, and by station appointment,
Mr. Swallen gave a part of May to
teaching in the Academy, changing
his plans for itinerating in order to be
able to do so. The assistance of the
station, though seldom continuous or
regular, was essential to the existence
of the school, and its continuance in
the future is earnestly bespoken. It
is especially valuable, not only for the
instruction given, but for the fact that
each missionary is thus enabled to

THR KOREA FIELD.

156

come in contact with and to influence
the character of the students. It is
apparent however that the duties of
itineration and other assigned work of
missionaries already overburdened in
other directions must sadly interfere
with that regularity which is so essen-
tial in a school.

The task of providing daily instruc-
tion for five classes, requiring an
average of twenty-five daily recitations
to fill up the curriculum, was mani-
festly a physical impossibility. No
amount of effort .has enabled the
teaching force to provide enough in-
struction to supply all the classes. It
is, so far as my knowledge extends,
a unique experiment for one resident
missionary to try to conduct a school,
having a number of classes of some-
what advanced grade and an indust-
rial department to be looked after, and
to have as his staff of regular assistants
only pupil teachers still pursuing their
course and missionaries absorbingly
engaged in itinerant or other forms of
work. Though we attempted to do
this in the early stages of the work,
the school now demands the time of
one more fully equipped missionary
worker as essential not only to its
development but to its continuance.
What was said last year is doubly true
this year, “With every advancing
class the work becomes more specialized
and technical and requires more time
for preparation. The great and im-
mediate need is for another foreign
teacher in constant connection with
the school.’’

The increase in pupils and in classes,
while taxing the teachers more, resulted
in each several pupil and each class get-
ting less instruction. Pupils complain-
ed because subjects put down in the
schedule were not taught. This, to-
gether with the increased cost of living
and the ordinary temptations to sin and
worldliness, caused more pupils to leave
the school than in any previous year.
Two pupils went to America. At one
time, when a manufacturing company
offered to transport Koreans free of
charge to Hawaii as laborers, several of
the pupils, hoping by this means to
ultimately reach America, were on the
point of leaving school. Much excite-
ment prevailed, not only among the

February 1904..

pupils of the schools, but among all
other classes. Some weak ones were
known to steal, to lie, and to break faith
under the powerful inducement of get-
ting to those Elysiau fields so far away,
and yet apparently so near. The excite-
ment among the Academy boys was
much increased by representations from
those of their number who had formerly
been to America to the effect that benev-
olent people there were only waiting
for them to number twenty before
establishing a school for them.

The opportunity to go to Hawaii being
withdrawn under pressure from the
American Government, the agitation
among the students subsided without
the loss of any. The chief damage done
was a decrease of interest on the part of
several, a spirit of discontent with all
their surroundings, and consequent
failure to profit by their present oppor
tunities.

In spite of various waves of unrest
among the pupils there has been much
to encourage and much of promise.
They are eager to study, the average
academic work done is good, and their
speaking shows ability. All are Christ-
ians, and their participation in religious
work shows that many of them are
heartily in earnest for Christ’s sake.
Their school prayer-meeting is full of
life. They take part as teachers in five
county Sabbath-schools beside the two
in connection with the city church, in
one of which they number six out of
fourteen teachers. They go out into the
streets on Sabbath and invite strangers
to church and for the purpose of street
distribution they have had printed at
their own expense five thousand copies
of a tract written by one of their number,
which exhorts to forsake idols, repent
of sins, and believe in Christ, and these
they are rising freely in doing personal
work. They visit the aged and sick,
reading and praying with them, and
teaching some to read, and in various
ways they show their love to Christ.
They joined in observing February 8th.
as a day of universal prayer for schools
and colleges.

During the year there was much sick-
ness. In Januarjr one promising pupil
in next to the upper class, Cheung
Chang Yuni, died. His body was car-
ried to the Christian cemetery, about a

February

THE KOREA FIELD.

157

mile distant, by his schoolmates as a last
tribute of affection. This menial labor,
usually performed by hired men, is an-
other indication that the Gospel is chang-
ing habits of thought.

In the manual labor department,
which is not designed to teach trades,
but to assist pupils to support them-
selves while in school, thirty-three
pupils were given employment. They
worked the half of each day, in return
for which they were given their food,
tuition, with heated and lighted rooms.
They furnished their own books and
clothing. The work given them has
been in the press room, school fields,
contract labor, map drawing, copying,
making straw shoes, and assisting in
janitor work. Most raw student labor
is necessarily unskilled and more or less
unremuuerative, yet the proceeds of
their labor has amounted on the aggre-
gate to almost half of what it has cost to
board them.

CHUNJU NOTES.

Bv Rev. W. B. Harrison.

growth and development of the
local church is slow as compared
with other places in Korea, yet there is
much to be thankful for in connection
with it. The attendance at the Sun-
day morning service continues about
th$ same, but the attendants are
more regular. There is less of the
doubtful element in the congregation.
The contributions on the first Sunday
of each month are used for evangelistic
purposes. It is the largest collection
of the month. Several of the members
have agreed to walk ten miles out, one
each Sunday, to Whachuuni, where
ten or fifteen men have begun to meet
but have no leader. These men receive
no remuneration. The market is still
utilized to reach the masses by one or
more of the Christians preaching and
distributing literature there every fifth
day.

The week of prayer was a profitable
season. During it examinations were
held. Of thirty who applied ; eight
w'ere received and baptized, six were
received as catechumens, eight were
retained as catechumens, and eight for
prudential reasons were not received,
Two of those baptized were ignorant
old women who could not be expected

to kuow much theology, but their
examination on their religious experi-
ence w’as good. One of them said with
emphasis that whether she received
baptism or not she believed on Jesus
and she was going to heaven when she
died. There are now7 53 baptized and
49 catechumens in the local church.

Yongmot in Iksau County has become
a fixed meeting place, w'ith an at-
tendance of 15 or 20. The women are
said to be meeting also, but as no house
has been obtained for combined meet-
ings they meet in their living rooms.
About seven miles beyond Yongmot
is a group of men w7ho heard the Gospel
several years ago -and are anxious to
have a meeting place in their locality.
Such a place will doubtless be establish-
ed there soon. The schools for Christ-
ian boys and girls are open and are
doing good work. The numbers are
small but they are the hope of the
church. The section of country ex-
tending 80 miles to the east we are
also responsible for, but since last
spring wje have not been able to do any
thing towards reaching it.

That the prejudice against us is
giving away to some extent is shown
b}7 an experience of the helper. At a
shoe shop of a heathen w7here entrance
is denied to ordinary callers, the helper
w7as cordially • received by the ow'ner
and told to preach to the 14 workmen
as much as he liked ; that they were all
rogues stealing thread and leather con-
tinually and that the owrner would be
glad if he would come and preach to
them tw'ice every day. But as most of
the middle and upper classes refuse to
give the Gospel any hearing what-
ever, how long it w'ill take to convince
them of its excellency it is hard to say.
This is an ideal place for a male medical
missionary. For several years the
Mission has been calling for one. The
call is imperative. The work of the
woman’s hospital and among the women
generally is hindered by the lack of
work among the men, for often the
women are favorably impressed by the
Gospel and would identity themselves
w'ith the Christians, but the men w’ill
not allow7 them to do so. It is an
unspeakable pity that there is to this
day no male doctor in Chunju. How7
much longer shall the cry be unheeded ?

158

THE KOREA FIELD.

February IQ04.

THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.
Report of Dr. E. H. Field , February,
1904.

E caching Taiku October 9th., work
was begun the following Sunday,
when I taught the women’s class in the
Sunday School. This class formed a
regular part of the work. The attend-
ance has varied, but has averaged about
twenty-five. At times there have been
many more. The women meet for the
Wednesday prayer-meeting in the after-
noon and at this meeting we have
studied some topical Bible lessens. At
the first meeting there' were twenty
present, and while the attendance was
not always large, the women were in-
terested and anxious to study.

The mornings were given to calling
in the homes of the Christians and
others who asked us. Notice was given
to the woman of the house the day be-
fore we were to call, in order that she
might invite her neighbors in, and
sometimes as'mauy as ten would gather
from outside. I was usually accom-
panied by the old Bible woman regu-
larly employed here in Taiku, also by my
woman, Changsie Omini. We took
turns preaching. In the Christian
homes 1 usually read a passage and ex-
plained it, but in the ndn-Christian
homes left the management to the two
women, who used various w’ays, of intro-
ducing the subject. Wherever we went
the people were glad to see us, listened
to the message, and asked us to come
again. We canuot see all of the results
of these visits, but have been permitted
to see some. We went one day at his
request to see the wife of a shoemaker.
She was glad to listen and the women
made several visits to her afterwards.
We also talked with the husband and
suggested to him the wisdom of alter-
nating with his wife in attendance upon
the church services, with the result that
she is quite regularly attending the
morning services, while he stays at home
until afternoon. Other women from
unbelieving homes have attended church
several times, and could the work, in-
stead of being dropped for lack of some
one to do it, be pushed, we have reason
to believe that man}7 of these interested
women would come out of their dark-
ness into the light of the Gospel.

A number of afternoons I spent re-
ceiving callers at the house and in a
room prepared for the purpose iu the
new hospital building. The women will
come in large numbers to see the foreign
house, and when they have come will
usually listen well to the preaching; but
it needs an earnest Christian woman to
preach to them, for a stranger does not
well understand an American. One
afternoon about 1 50 to 200 women gather-
ed during the afternoon, coming and
going. I preached to about 50 of them
until tired, and then Changsie Omini
talked a long time after I left. One
woman promised to become a Christian.

One word has been in my mind more
than any other since coming here, and
it is “opportunity. ” Unlimited oppor-
tunity.to work for the Master. During
the time spent here in North Xyetig Sang
Do I have met hundreds of women who
had never heard the Gospel before, and
among these hundreds but one woman
did not wish to listen and even she took
a- tract before she left. I have but just
now returned from the Wednesday
prayer-meeting. The women realized
that it was the last and were sad, for
they said “Who will teach us.’’ And
they are praying most earnestly that
God will send them some one from
America right away. One woman said
“I arn just beginning to understand a
little now; why do you go away?’’ It
maktes me think of the words of the
hymn, “Had I a thousand hearts to give,
Lord, they should all be thine.’’ May I
not change it to read “Had I a thousand
lives to give, Lord, they should all be
thine.’’ And to be used in some of
these dark parts of the earth among
women whose lives are so void of all
that makes us happy.

Two country trips were made, one to
the east and one to the west. On my
way to Fusan I hope to visit two groups
to the south of Taiku. The first day
we went 90 li and stopped at Iu Dong,
Yang Won, a large village of 300 houses
right beside the upnai. The group is a
new one, so there are but few Christian
women ; but the sight seers were more
than numerous. They packed them-
selves in like sardines and crowded in
front of doors and windows. One wo-
man came saying that she had decided

February igoj..

THE KOREA FIELD.

r59

to believe, and many others were more
than usually interested. Changsie
Omini talked for about an hour, then,
as they wanted to hear more, I had the
boy who went with us from Taiku come
iu and talk a while, and I took my turn.
But they thought they could not under-
stand me. Two women and one girl
from this group attended the Taiku
class. We saw crowds of women all the
next morning, and after an early lunch
went across the liver to Pyeug Chon. 20
li distant. At this place the only believ-
ing woman had died but a short time
before our visit, but at least one woman
here promised to believe The evening
spent here will not soon be forgotten
We had a one kan room and tnaru. and
they were packed as full as the}7 could
hold The women listeued w7ell too, but
their main object was to have a sight-
see, and after we were all through v'-ere
unwilling to go. The courtyard was
filled with men, and it was only after
calling the man of the house to help us
that we were able to get the rest we
needed. •

The next morning was also spent in
seeing and preaching to the women and
in the afternoon we went twenty li fur-
ther on Kai Ryong, Song Nai. Here
there is a large new group and we re-
ceived a warm welcome. Saturday
evening I was very tired and we did
not have a meeting. Mr.,Bruen was
here, and the Sabbath service was held
iu the new church, the walls of which
were up, the blue sky furnishing the
roof. There were about 200 present
and the place was crowded and people
standing at the doors and windows. A
number of catechumens were received.
In the afternoon I met about 50 women
on the porch of the house where we
were staying, and in the evening not
quite so many. As this group has a
number of feeders five teu, fifteen, and
twenty li distant, it seems to me an
especially good place for a country
class to be held. I think it would be
best to have a class of 30 or 40 to begin
with. Three women and one girl walk-
ed from here, 120 li, to attend the Taiku
class.

We stayed at Song Nai until Wednes-
day, when we went on to Sung San, Mo
F.ap Sil, 20 or 30 li nearer Taiku. This
group seems in many respects like the

one at Song Nai, in that, while the vil-
lage is not large, the people come from
many surrounding villages to attend
church. There are about 30 men in
the village who are Christians, but only
six women. These six women were at
each of the four services held and one
of them said “It seems to me that I can
hardly wait until I can learn to read my
Bible.” Our room was filled, as usual,
with sight seers, many of whom were
the wives of Christian men, and I hope
the services were helpful to them.
Three women from here attended the
class at Taiku.

On the second trip we went but 30 li
the first day and stopped at Kyeng San,
Oo Mai, where we met with a warm re-
ception, one old man coming out quite a
distance from the village to meet us.
We had a meeting as soon as we reached
there, and another one at night. The
next day was Sunday, and the women
came at 8:30, when we read some Scrip-
ture passages and had prayers together,
and then some more of the same until
10:30, when the men gathered iu the
next room and we had the regular morn-
ing service together. After this the men
dispersed, but the women stayed until
12:30. This made four consecutive
hours. I managed to get my lunch after
this, but at two ibey came again and I
talked to them as long as I could, and as
they were not satisfied Changsie Omini
preached until four o’clock. In the
evening we met them for another two
hours, and it seemed that they could not
get enough. Two women we know of
decided to become Christians. In the
village where the church is located
there are but two families Christians,
but the people come in from all points
of the compass and it seems to me a very
promising group. Ten women from here
came to the class at Taiku This is
another group where a country class
Seems to me a necessity.

We left early Monday morning for
Yung Chun,Cho Kok.and reached there
in time for a late lunch, which I had dif
ficulty in eating because of the crowds
of people. They had just bought a
church building and freshly papered the
doors and windows, but before we left
the paper had hundreds of holes in it
where curious people had attempted to
see us after the crowd was supposed to

i6o

THK KOREA FIELD.

have dispersed. Here one woman that
we know of decided to be a Christian.,
and she is a woman who can read and
will be useful among the others, all of
whom are just beginning to learn. She
seemed so anxious to be helpful. She
wanted us to teach her what tc ask for,
how to pray, and how • to study, and
really seemed to have just turned
around. Four women came from Cho
Kok to the class. This was the last place
visited, but at the woman’s class there
were two women from Kyong Ju and
one other from a village near by. These
women walked a good long fifty miles
to come* to the class, and one of them so
blistered her feet that they were not yet
healed when she started for home. The
wife of the leader of the Kyeng Ju group
interested me by her earnest faGe and
desire to preach the Gospel to others.
For some time after her husband became
a Christian she persecuted him like a
veritable old shrew, but he continued
believing and continued praying until
she was converted, and, as is so often the
case, she at once began serving the Lord
with the same fervor that she had form-
erly served the devil.

On December i (th.theTaiku Woman’s
Class begun. The first class was held in
1901 and seven women were in from the
country. In 1902 the number wasdoubled
and fourteen came. This year we hoped
for a doubling of last year’s numbers, and
it lacked but three of trebling it, thirty-
nine country women being enrolled.
This, with 11 women from Taiku, gave
us an enrollment of fifty, which number
was frequently increased by Taiku wo-
men, who, while coming occasionally,
could not find time to attend regularly.

The women all met together at io for
devotional exercises, when we took up
each day one .of the petitions of the
Lord’s Prayer. At 10:30 they divided
into three sections for study, Mr. Bruen
taking the first in topical studies, and I '
the second in John’s Gospel. We ad-
journed at 12 for an hour and a half and
met again at 1:30, Mr. Bruen taking the
second division in topical studies and I
the first in the Bible Catechism. At
three Mrs. Brnen met the entire class
for half an hour in singing.

Both Saturday afternoons the women

February /pof.

divided into twos and threes and went
out preaching, with the result that on
Sunday several came, saying “This is
a woman to whom I preached yesterday
and she has come to church.’’ As the
women slept in the new women’s building,
which is not far from the mission houses,
I went down and had a short Bible study
and prayers with them several evenings,
gave them one long talk on “How to
prevent sickness,’’ and gave some les-
sons to Changsie Omini, who went several
evenings for me. Several of the Christ-
ian young men spent some time in help-
ing them sing, and one evening these
same young men treated all the women
with some kind of Korean food.

The attendance at the class was very
good, but few absent marks being noted.
During the noon hour those women
who could read spent some time teach-
ing those who could not. The women
brought their rice, or the money to buy
it, and the Taiku Christians took them
into their homes for meals, putting the
rice with their own and furnishing the
kimchi and other side dishes free. They
brought a scant allowance in most in-
stances, aud, as the Taiku church is not
large, it wasquitea burden. Theydid not
eat a noon meal, saying thedays were short
and if they ate three meals a day they
could not stay until the class was over, as
the rice would give out. How many of
us would go without lunch in order to
prolong our stay at a Bible study class?

Yesterday, after we left the class,
Changsie Omini said “It makes me feel so
sad to leave these women: it would have
been better not to have known them.”
Not so: probably one reason we were
sent here was that we might know the
women and their needs and be the better
able to sympathize with them and pray
for^hem. With such a band of women
daily at the same time uniting in prayer
that God will give them some one to
teach them His Word, surely they will
not have to wait long until some one of
His servants in the home land hears aud
answers the call.

N. B. Dr. Field was temporarily loan-
ed by Seoul Station to Taiku Station for
this limited amount of work among wo-
men. As she goes soon on furlough,
the loan caftuot be repeated.

METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, SEOUL.