II.

For my dear country’s weal,O God to Thee I pray,Graciously hear.Without Thy mighty aidOur land will low be laid.Strengthen Thou this dear land,Most gracious Lord.

Long may our great king live,This is our prayer to-dayWith one accord.His precious body guard,Keep it from every ill.Heavenly Lord and King,Grant him Thy grace.

By Thy almighty power,Our royal emperorHas been enthroned.Thy Holy Spirit grantOur nation never fail.Long live our emperor,Upheld by Thee.

For this Thy gracious gift,Our independence, Lord,Bless we thy name.This never ceasing be,While as a people we,Nobles and commons all,United pray.

To Thee, the only Lord,Maker and King Divine,We offer praise.When all shall worship Thee,Happy our land shall be,Powerful, rich and free,Beneath Thy smile.

Early in the day Christian men and boys were distributing copies of the tract and hymns throughout the whole city, and long before the hour of meeting men of all classes began flocking toward that vicinity, and when the speakers and missionaries arrived it was almost impossible to obtain access. The building was soon packed with a solid mass of standing people, and all the wide exits were thronged, the steps and the immediate vicinity.

The services were opened with prayer, addresses (mainly religious) were made, hymns were sung, and finally were closed by the Lord’s prayer, repeated in concert. It was thrilling to hear those words repeated reverently by so large a number of people.

I will give an interlinear translation of the prayer, so that readers may know just what are the words used by Korean Christians:

HanalauOurKaysinFather,oori abbachi-sin jah yeh,who art in heaven,Ihrahme kerukhallowedhahsimebenatanah opThyse myh,name.narahhe im haopse myh,Thy kingdom come.tutseThyHanalaya-sawwill be donechirumondahaysoh deh iroyohgeita,earth as it is in heaven.onal nalGiveoori aiusgay ilthisyoung haldayyang sikeourul, choodailyapsego,bread.oori gaAndoorigay teukforgivechay hanuscharal, sahourhayahdebtschoonan kotaskatchi, ooriwechayral,forgivesah hayahourchu updebtors,se myh.andOori galeadseeheumayusteul jeenotmal kay hahintoup seego,temptation,tahman, ooriral,butheung ak aydeliversaw, kuusha ap sohfromsoh.evil,Tai kay,fornara wha,Thinequansayis thewha, eingkingdom,guanqhi, chooand the power,kay, eng wani itand the glory,sa-ap-nay-itafor ever.Amen.Amen.

A Korean Christian Starts Work in Haing Ju—Changed Lives of Believers—A Reformed Saloon-keeper—The Conversion of a Sorceress—Best of Friends—A Pleasant Night on the Water—Evidence of Christian Living—Our Visit in Sorai—A Korean Woman’s Work—How a Kang Acts at Times—Applicants for Baptism—Two Tonghaks—In a Strait betwixt Two—Midnight Alarms—Miss Jacobson’s Death.

In the late fall of the same year Mr. Underwood and I started again on a trip to the interior, the first we had made together since our wedding journey, but now we were accompanied by our child, six years old, and a native woman, who acted as cook, nurse and general assistant. She rode in a native “pokyo” or chair with the child, I in another, while Mr. Underwood walked or rode his bicycle, as opportunity permitted. Our first destination was Haing Ju, a dirty little fishing village on the river, about ten miles from the capital. Work had started here just after the cholera in the fall of 1895 through the teaching of a native named Shin Wha Suni, a poor fellow who had, according to his own confession, been hanging around us for some time, pretending to be interested in Christianity, in the hope of getting some lucrative employment in connection with church work.

After the cholera hospital was opened, he was there on several occasions, and was much surprised to find that foreign women would spend whole nights nursing sick Korean coolies. When he chanced to see one weeping over a poor man, whom all her efforts had failed to save, hewent away astonished and impressed with the idea that “there is something in that religion that makes them love us like that, something that forgets self, something that I have never dreamed of before, something mysterious, glorious, oh, that it were mine!”

He hungered and God fed him. He sought and found the Saviour, and when he had found him, he set forth at once to tell the good news to others. Taking a jikay, the frame which Koreans wear on their backs to facilitate the carrying of heavy loads, and which all native carriers use, he started forth to the country to earn his living in this humble way whilechandohaoingor “passing on the Word.” He went as far as Haing Ju, and there on the sand of the river bank he talked to scoffing people all day.

At night, when it was dark, one of the men who had seemed to treat his message lightly, came and asked him to come to his house and talk the matter over at more length. He went, and soon another believer was gained. “Oh, it was good, the taste of a soul saved,” said the new preacher. “Now it seemed to me I could never be satisfied with anything else; could never rest until I had more.” The man who had been converted offered the use of his house as a preaching place. The men gathered in one room, the women in another, and Shin read the gospels and the tracts and taught them the catechism and hymns. The number of Christians grew from week to week, and the little meeting place became too small and had to be enlarged. The whole tone of the village gradually changed, and from being known as one of the hardest and most disreputable places on the river, it now became a model of decency and respectability.

Testimony to this effect was offered by some farmers, who appeared one day in my husband’s study and asked him if he had anything to do with the Christians in HaingJu. He replied in the affirmative, half afraid the people had come with some charge against them. “Well,” the strangers said, “we should like to buy the books which teach the doctrine they are practicing there, we want to learn that doctrine in our village too.”

Their village, Sam Oui, was not quite three miles away, and in former times they had been much troubled by the brawls and bad character of Haing Ju. Their vegetables had been stolen from the fields, their fruit and chestnuts from the trees, “but now,” said they, “the people not only do not climb the trees for the nuts, but the boys leave those on the ground untouched.”

Here was power in a faith which kept hungry boys from carrying off even nuts lying temptingly in reach. This was something the like of which they had never seen or heard; they had been taught not to steal, especially if likely to be discovered, but a power that could prevent men and boys from wishing to steal was miraculous. One of the saloon-keepers of Haing Ju, a man whose only source of livelihood was in this trade, became thoroughly converted, and at once realized that he could no longer sell drink to his neighbors, nor could he conscientiously dispose of his stock in trade at wholesale to other dealers, so he emptied it all on the street. He was able to obtain a little work now and then, but he was not strong enough for coolie labor. He had no trade and no farm, and at times his need was great, and often the family were on the verge of starvation, but the man’s faith never failed, he never gave up his hold on God. Finally sickness attacked him, he became very lame, and hearing of the hospital in Seoul, managed to be conveyed thither, and while there we heard his story, and as I needed just then a caretaker for my dispensary, we engaged him and his wife to live on the place and do the light work necessary. His leg didnot improve much at the hospital, nor did the doctor give him much hope, but this, too, he made a subject of prayer and faith, and erelong rejoiced in a complete recovery.

This is the character of the faith of these hardy fishermen and farmers on the river. As we approached the village we were astonished to hear the strains of a Christian hymn, “Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.” It was a band of little boys whom Shin had been training, and who had come out to meet us. We spent two or three days in this place, women and men crowding into the little building to every meeting. Mr. Underwood baptized thirty-eight people, a young couple were married, one hundred and thirteen catechumens were received, and some babies baptized.

Speaking of babies reminds me of a sad little incident which occurred while I was holding the first meeting there with the women. Hoping to win their interest, knowing how many little dead babies are carried away from Korean homes, I told them of the Saviour’s love for little ones, that he held them in his arms and caressed them when on earth, and had said that the spirits of these little ones do always behold the face of the Father; so that would they only believe and give their hearts to him, they should see their little ones again in heaven.

A great sob broke from one of the women who commenced passionately weeping. As soon as she could speak, she told me, her voice broken with violent emotion, that she had been a sorceress, and in a moment of frenzy had dashed her only child, a baby, to the floor and killed it. She, a mother, had killed her child, and could she ever be happy again, could God forgive such as she, could she ever be permitted to see her murdered child again? She feared she was too wicked. All of us wept with her, andshe was told of the great mercy and pardoning love of God, and found peace in Christ.

Mr. Underwood also visited Sam Oui, the village which had learned of Christ through the example of Haing Ju, and baptized a handful of Christians there, enrolling a number of catechumens. When people do not seem quite ripe for baptism, yet have put away idolatry, keeping the Sabbath, putting away concubines, and living a life of apparent conformity with the ten commandments, they are enrolled in this class of catechumens. While I was engaged during the morning with the women, the “amah” was charged to take care of our little boy, but when the service was over, as he was nowhere to be seen, we started out to find him. As we walked down the lane we saw coming toward us a row of some seven or eight boys of his age (the dirtiest in the town, I am sure), he in the center, an arm around one on either side, all chatting and laughing together in the merriest mood possible. How could we help laughing, how help being half pleased, even while horrified at what such contact might portend, how many varieties of microbes, not to mention other things.

From Haing Ju we took a Korean junk down the river to Pai Chun. We went on board at night, and as it was bitterly cold, we were told we must go down under the deck, as there was absolutely no sheltered place above where we could sleep. The hole to which we were relegated was not attractive. There were odors of fish ages old, the space was not high enough even to sit upright in, and barely wide enough for Mr. Underwood, our child, our “amah” and myself to lie packed side by side (no turning or moving about) in the stern.

A lantern glimmered at the other end, it looked very far. There was water there, and perhaps rats, and certainly great water beetles and cockroaches, and sometimes, hoursand hours after we had been packed in that gruesome place, a boatman came and crawled over us, and dipped out buckets of water. Men were tramping back and forth over our heads all night. I felt sure that some of them would come through, and there seemed to be enough racket to indicate a storm at sea, a collision or a fire—at times I was almost convinced it was all three. If it had been, we certainly could never have made our escape from the trap in which we were wedged like sardines. However, as we were merely sailing down a broad, but not very deep river, and could easily have neared the shore before sinking in most circumstances, things were not so bad as they seemed, and next morning when we emerged into the bright sunlight what had been a night fraught with awful probabilities was now simply an amusing episode.

All day Sunday we sat on the deck in the sun, singing and enjoying the brilliant atmosphere. From Pai Chun we proceeded on foot or in chairs to Hai Ju, and thence to Sorai, where a theological leader’s class was waiting for Mr. Underwood. Everywhere the warm-hearted welcome which awaited us was a delightful surprise to me. People, even women and children, came out miles to meet us, and followed us in crowds when we left, as if they could not bear to let us go.

There were only a few beginnings of work in Hai Ju at that time. It is the capital of the province and rather a demoralized town, even in a heathen country, full of hangers-on of government officials, people accustomed to getting a living out of the people through fraud, bribery, oppression, “squeezing” and all sorts of political dirty work and corruption; evil men and still more evil women spreading the cancerous disease through the little town, until every one appears to be steeped in “the lust ofthe flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” and worshipers of the god of this world.

KOREAN WOMEN AT WORK.PAGE 191

As a special day had been set for the beginning of the class in Sorai, and people were coming from all directions to meet us there, we hastened on to be in time. Walking along the main road thither, Mr. Underwood overtook a young farmer, with whom he opened conversation in a friendly way, and asked if he had heard of the Jesus religion. “Yayso Kyo?” “Oh, yes,” was the reply, “I have heard much of it, many people in this province do that doctrine, it is very good.” “Do you believe also?” said my husband. “Oh, no, I cannot be a believer,” replied the man. “These Christians spend their time and money doing good to others, I must do for myself, I cannot afford to practise this doctrine.” This was unintentional witness borne to the fair fruit of Christianity in the man’s believing friends and neighbors. A little further on, as my chair was set down to rest the coolies, an old woman ran out of a neighboring shanty tokugungthe foreigner. I told her who I was and why I had come, and asked if she knew of this doctrine. “Oh, yes, it was good, very good.” “Then why do you not believe?” “Oh, I sell liquor, that is my business. I cannot do that and be a Christian.” Another involuntary testimony to the lives of the Christians of Whang Hai, and to the sincerity of those who had been taught that the way must be made straight and clean for the coming of the Lord.

When we arrived at Sorai I found the Christian women all gathered to meet me in the house of one whom I had known before in Seoul. They offered refreshments of their best, persimmons, pears, chestnuts and eggs, and expressed their pleasure over our coming in the most cordial and heart-warming way. Most of them I had neverseen before, but we seemed to love each other at first sight, for the bond in Christ is a very strong one.

Mr. Kim Yun O, the wealthy man of the village, one who had been a great sinner but was now one of the strongest and most earnest of the leaders, had invited us to occupy his new sarang or guest room. It was quite a commodious sunny room, and we were pleased to find it was quite new, so we need fear few of our little enemies.

While Mr. Underwood was holding his classes with the men in the church all day, patients of all kinds came to me in the mornings for several hours. Then I taught the girls and boys how to sing the hymns, for they had never known what it means to sing, and though they made a joyful noise to the Lord, it was not joyful to the fleshly ear at all, but a most awful combination of discords, flats and sharps, mixed up in the most hopeless confusion, whole bunches of keys on one string, moanings, groanings, sounds of woe as if all the contents of the pit had come forth before the time, or all the evil spirits exorcised from the village had returned to spoil their praise.

The young people were the most hopeful to begin with, and were soon doing remarkably well. Every afternoon we women had a Bible class together. Most of those who came were baptized Christians or catechumens, though some unbelievers were always present. About twenty-five crowded into Mr. Kim’s anpang each day. It is delightful to be allowed to teach such women, so hungry for truth, so eager to learn, so full of humble loving interest in every word, with such a spirit of childlike faith.

Mrs. Kim, in whose house we were staying, was a busy woman, and her life was not an easy one. She was small and frail, with two children, her husband and old mother to work for, with one servant to help. The preparation of food for her own family and many Korean guests (for aKorean gentleman’s guest house is always well filled at meal time) was in itself no light matter. The rice comes in very rough, only partly husked, and must be pounded a long while in a great wooden vessel, with a heavy club, larger at either end, which is almost all that a woman can lift (a fine exercise for athletic women’s clubs). Water is usually brought in on the head from quite a distance, brass bowls and spoons kept bright, garments must be washed and smoothed, with what pains I have already described, animals cared for, fires made.

But the country women work in the fields, too, helping to sow the cotton, tobacco, rice and barley. When the cotton is ripe they pick and prepare it, and only after much toil is it ready for use. Then they weave their own cloth and make up their own garments, in the dark little rooms in which the women live and work. They prepare and dry certain vegetables for winter’s use, and with much labor, themselves press out the castor oil which they use in their tiny lamps. In the fall they make their kimchi for the whole year.

Timely hints dropped now and then, and the example of a Christian husband’s care for his wife, have done wonders among the native Christian homes, and much lightened the hard lot of the women. Of course we did our own cooking in all these little villages, our personal entertainment adding nothing to the work of the poor house wife. The people at Sorai are extremely generous and were constantly bringing us presents of chickens, eggs, persimmons, etc. We were much embarrassed by all this bounty, for we knew the people were poor and that such gifts cost a large sacrifice on their part.

When one’s wages are not more than ten cents a day a chicken means quite a good deal of money. Yet we could not refuse their offerings, for when we tried to do so theyfelt so hurt we found it was impossible. The people already at that time were paying the running expenses of a Christian day school, which they had endowed, by setting apart the income from certain fields for this purpose, and if the crop was poor and the income insufficient, they made it up to the required amount.

While here in Sorai we had a new and rather unpleasant experience with the working of the Koreankang, which we thought we knew well. In the midst of winter the wind suddenly turned in the wrong direction for our fires. The fire being built at one side of the house and the chimney opening at the other, we made the very chilling discovery, that when the wind blows into the smoke vent a fire cannot be coaxed to light. Our room was bitterly cold, and it is surprising how a floor, which can become intolerably hot, can also under the proper circumstances become so cold and damp. I was obliged to wrap my rheumatic frame in furs and rugs, while they brought in a great bowl or wharrow full of glowing charcoal fire, with which I was comparatively unacquainted. However, that night the room began dancing about in the giddiest kind of way, all grew dark—and my husband spent several hours with me in the cold night air outside our room, in the effort to ward off successive fainting attacks. When our child, too, complained of headache and giddiness, we no longer questioned the cause, and henceforth preferred pure cold air to carbon dioxide.

It was interesting in the cold, sleety, snowy weather to see how the Christians managed to attend church, even from long distances. The women would fold up their clean skirts and put them with their shoes and stockings on their heads, roll up their pajies or divided skirts quite high out of the reach of wet, and with a thin cotton apron, or no outer wrap at all over their heads and shoulders,trudge miles through snow and mud, facing a cutting wind. Quite a number of people were examined for baptism while we were there. One old woman, whose case seemed rather doubtful on account of her ignorance, was asked what was her dearest wish. “That I may be with Jesus always” was the reply. “And how do you know you will always be with him?” “Because I am holding close to him now, and will hold close all the way.” She had at least learned that Jesus supplies the soul’s whole need, that to be in his felt presence is heaven, and that to hold and be held by him is the only way to reach and be kept there. Surely she had the end and aim of all theology in a nutshell.

SCHOOL BOYS.

GIRLS SEWING AND WRITING WITH NATIVE TEACHER.PAGE 191

I will copy a few notes from my diary on the testimony given by some of the people who applied for baptism at this time.

No. 15, Mrs. Kim: Said her relatives and friends had all been trying to induce her to believe, but her heart had grown harder and harder, and she had determined she would not be a Christian; but suddenly one night she saw herself with awful clearness, a great sinner, had that moment yielded her heart, almost involuntarily (so irresistible was the impulse), to Christ, and from that time had had perfect peace and blessedness. Asked if she had spoken on this subject to unbelievers, replied in affirmative. Has now been trusting Christ a year and three months. This woman has done since then much devoted voluntary service for her Master.

Another: At a time when those who wished for prayer were asked to raise their hands, she says she raised hers, and at that moment felt as it were a knife through her heart. From that time she has felt that she belonged to Christ, and since then her mind has been at peace. She prays regularly three times a day, but is praying all thetime in her heart. While she is praying she never falls into sin, but if through some inadvertence and lack of prayer she sins, she asks God to pardon, knowing that he will.

Another, No. 5: “Why do you believe?” “Because Jesus forgave me and died for me.” “How do you know you are forgiven?” “Because the Bible says he will forgive all that come to him.” Said he used to have a wicked heart and worshiped devils, but now his heart and mind were quite changed. Asked what repentance is, replied that it “was mending one’s conduct and eating a new mind.” Asked if he had told the good news to others, said he had, but no one in his neighborhood yet believes. He cannot read, and asked who Jesus is, says he is God’s only son. Asked why he died for us, says he doesn’t know. “Do your neighbors know that you do not sacrifice any more?” “Yes.” “Do you know you cannot have a concubine?” “Yes.” “Have you suffered anything for Christ?” “They abuse me behind my back.” (He was the richest and chief man of his district.) “If you have to suffer severely what will you do?” “I will bear it, God will help me.” He pays the expenses of well-taught Christians to go to his home and preach to his neighbors. He comes a long distance to Sorai to church and seems anxious about his neighbors’ souls. He came to the class bringing his own rice.

No. 6: Says he trusts Jesus because he knows he has forgiven his sins. Knows they are forgiven because his heart is changed, his old covetousness is all gone, it is now easy to do what Jesus commands. “Do you ever forget Jesus?” “How could I forget him? How could I forget my Lord?”

Another: Says that since spring, when Christ came into her heart, all has been at peace. Asked, “Who is Jesus?”Replies, “God’s only son.” “What is he to you?” “We are brethren since we have one Father.” “How is God your Father?” “All believers are now his children.” “Are your sins forgiven?” “Entirely forgiven.” “How do you know it?” “My mind is now at peace. I am entirely happy.” “Are you not sad since your husband died?” “Since after death we shall all live again at God’s right hand I feel no anxiety.” “What if difficulties should arise?” “I don’t know about the future, but God takes care of me now, and I think he will continue to do so.I’ll tell Jesus and ask his help.” “Do you commit sins now?” “On account of the flesh I cannot escape from sin, I cannot say I do no sin.” Her father-in-law is not a believer, but though she lives in his house she keeps the Sabbath and attends worship regularly.

No. 37 was a Tonghak, rebel and robber. Has believed nearly two years. “Who is Jesus?” “He is God’s son.” “What has he done for us?” “He died on the cross, and through his precious blood my sins are forgiven.” “Do you know this?” “I know it.” “How do you know it?” “I cannot read the Bible, but as I was a criminal, and Jesus has made me live, I know I am forgiven.” “Where is Jesus?” “At God’s right hand.” “Anywhere else?” “There is no place where he is not.” “What is Jesus doing for us?” “I don’t know, I only know I am saved.” “Have you told others about Jesus?” “I am always saying, Here was I a criminal, and Jesus forgave me, and saved me from punishment, and gave me peace of mind, how can I help but believe.”

This man comes ten miles to church in all weather. Even when twenty miles away at work, he would come in late Saturday night to be at church, stay all day, without his food, and go back at night over a high mountain pass. He was one of two rebels, who came to the leader and saidthey wanted to be followers of Christ and be baptized. The leader said that if they were sincere Christians they must make restitution by giving themselves up to justice. One of the two then went to the Romanists, and is now one of the most notorious of the gang of robbers and desperados under the lead of Father Wilhelm. The other, this applicant, gave himself up, was thrown into jail and condemned to death. While in jail he astounded the jailers and prisoners by continually singing hymns of joy and praise. The prisoners declared he was mad, as no one could sing like that in such a case. While he was in jail the king escaped to the Russian legation, all prisoners were set free and he was released. He has been a happy, consistent Christian ever since.

Another is a young man of nineteen, has only lately begun to trust in Christ. His father is a believer, his mother and wife are not. Baptism, he says, is a sign of faith in Christ. He thinks it would never do not to be baptized, but insists he is saved now. Says he knows and feels it in his heart. He has destroyed all idols, and keeps the Sabbath. He goes over the mountain three miles to church and allows no laborers to work for him on Sunday, though he is obliged to pay them for the day’s work as though they had. He comes at his own expense to attend the class.

The above are given merely as a few specimens of the kind of questions and replies commonly heard at these examinations. Only those whose changed lives were witnessed to by leading Christians who know them were baptized. After a delightful stay with these simple-hearted Christians, where the world and all its evils seemed far removed, and God very near, we were obliged at the close of the class to start back to the capital. Our three temporarily hired coolies had forsaken us, disliking to wait solong (about three weeks) without work, and it was an impossibility to replace them in that neighborhood, where nobody ever rides in a chair.

So we had to hire an ox-cart ortalgoogy, the most primitive of all possible wheeled conveyances, and in it, with our loads tucked in with all our mattresses, quilts, rugs and pillows, was placed our little treasure, our only child, with the woman servant.

With great difficulty a man was found who consented to help my own servant carry my chair. But soon an unlooked-for difficulty arose. I found the ox-cart had gone by a different road from that on which I had come in my chair, for the former could not cross the narrow bridges (mere footpaths for one) over the rivers, but must take the fords, far too long a distance for the chair coolies. Nor could the cart take the narrow paths over precipitous passes, which the chair must follow to shorten the road for the carriers. I was assured that all would be well, the helpers and Christians were with the child, and was forced to submit to what could not now be helped. Mr. Underwood, after seeing me well started, paced at a flying rate across to the other road to see that all was well with the boy, and then back again to the wife.

At about five o’clock we reached a place where the two roads meet, but no signs of thetalgoogy. It was fast growing dark, a mountain pass lay yet before us, the road was wild and lonely, we wished our little one was with us. At length we went on to the village just beyond the pass and waited. Time passed, but no tidings of the cart and its precious contents. Darkness fell, the cold was bitter. Koreans were sent out with lanterns to light the way for the belated, or render any needed help. Still no word. At length Mr. Underwood himself, unable to wait longer, went out to look for the party. And now with them bothin the lonely mountain, and night upon us, I had double need to trust in God. One always knows that all will be well, will be for the best, but as one cannot see whether thatbestmeans God’s rod or his staff, the heart will flutter in dread of the pain. Just to wait without fear upon him, takes a calm, strong soul, and a full measure of grace.

At last, thank God, they both came back quite unharmed, only hungry and cold, but the thought of tigers, leopards and robbers, that might have met them, only made me realize more fully the mercy which brought them safe to my arms.

That night we slept in a small Korean inn quite like all the rest, only a little smaller and dirtier than most, with domestic animals and fowls of all sorts quartered round us, the paper door of our room only separating between them and us. Suddenly, about two or three in the morning, we were startled out of our sleep by the most terrific roaring, and the sounds of a general panic in the inn; the excited shouts of men, women shrieking, and such a chorus of barking, yelping, cackling, squealing as cannot be described. But the awful roaring, and a stamping and hustling distinguishable above all, made it seem probable that one or more wild animals of some sort had invaded the hostel. Mr. Underwood hastily extinguished our light, which shining through our door, might attract notice, and went out to discover the cause of the uproar. He soon came back, saying that a couple of oxen, usually so meek and tractable, had been fighting, had pulled themselves loose from their stalls, and had now escaped, one chasing the other out of the inn. They are enormous creatures, at times like this as dangerous as any wild beast, and it was remarkable that no one in the inn was seriously hurt, as they could hardly have escaped being, had the oxen remainedfighting in the cramped confines of that little place.

KOREAN STREET.PAGE 18

HORSES IN AN INN YARD.PAGE 198

Nothing worthy of note occurred during the remainder of our return trip, except one night, when camped in the tiniest and most comfortless little room, we were again wakened by an awful roaring. The sort of roar that every mother hears with a quaking heart, and knows right well what it imports. She knows it comes from a wild beast in her child’s throat, and jumps to the rescue. Croup in a hut with paper doors and windows full of cracks and holes, where the wind steals in on all sides, many miles from home, is not too easily defied. But we soon had a wharrow fire and hot water, a croupy child’s mother always has ipecac and flannels close at hand, and while we changed hot applications for an hour or so, we were forced to draw on our benumbed inventive faculties for novel stories to interest the half-suffocated child. The following day we were obliged to continue our journey, for exposure and discomfort there exceeded what must be met on the road, but the child, usually slow in rallying from those attacks, on this occasion made an especially quick and favorable recovery.

In April of this year, 1896, Dr. J. McLeavy Brown, of the English Custom’s Service, was placed in charge of the nation’s finance by a royal decree, a post which he continued to fill for a long time to the benefit of all concerned, except the squeezing officials, who, now that their opportunities in that line were curtailed, proceeded to squeal lustily instead.

In the summer of 1896, Miss Jacobson, an enthusiastic young missionary nurse, who had learned the language with wonderful quickness, and won the hearts of Koreans on all sides, was very ill with dysentery for several weeks. She recovered apparently and returned to her work, butwas soon attacked by violent fever, which refused to yield to the usual remedies, until at length the existence of a local organic disease was developed, which in spite of every effort carried our dear sister away. But her deathbed was a place of rejoicing rather than mourning. More than one exclaimed it was good to be there. Bitterly as we knew we should feel the loss of so helpful and sympathetic a sister later, we could but enter into her joy at that hour. Her bedroom seemed like the ante-room to the throne-room itself. Her face was wreathed in smiles, and a look of unearthly glory lay upon it. Her words were all of joy and hope, and full of the rapture the realized presence of the Lord only can give.

We felt we had no right to make place for selfish mourning there, she was so manifestly happy, and to depart was so far, far better. When her remains were taken to the cemetery, now becoming rich with much precious dust, her casket was carried on the shoulders of the native Christians, who sang joyful songs of the better land all the way. It was like the return of a conqueror, and the country people, as they saw and heard, asked what kind of death or funeral was this, all triumph and joy? Where were the signs and sounds of despair that follow a heathen corpse?

To carry a dead body is looked upon as very degrading. So the fact that the native Christians insisted on doing this, and would not allow hired bearers to touch the dear form, showed how they all loved and honored Miss Jacobson; and I have told it to show the kind of feeling which exists between the people and their foreign teachers, as well as to lay a little tribute to the memory of a noble and devoted fellow-worker.

Our Mission to Japan—Spies—One Korean Summer—The Queen’s Funeral—The Procession—The Burial by Starlight—The Independents—The Pusaings—The Independents Crushed.

In the following spring Mr. Underwood was asked to go to Japan, with instructions to assist his highness, the second prince, to leave for America.

It was thought best that he should there, under Christian tutors, prepare for college, or a military training, and my husband, realizing of what immense importance this plan well carried out might be to Korea in the future, gladly consented to accept the mission. All arrangements were made by the government in Seoul, and Mr. Underwood was instructed exactly as to the wishes of his majesty. To our combined amusement and indignation, we soon discovered we were followed everywhere by spies from the day we left home. Mr. Underwood’s letters to gentlemen in Tokyo, although mailed with care and secrecy, were read by others before they reached the hands of those to whom they were addressed. We were shadowed everywhere, and even had the creepy pleasure of knowing that a detective slept on the landing just below our room.

Thus for the second time in our lives were we honored by being made the special objects of espial, connected in the respectable mind with criminal courts, jails and all sorts of ill odors and combinations of the unutterable.However, as we had nothing on our consciences, I believe we rather enjoyed our detectives, aside from a slight indignant sense of insult. We certainly took a mischievous pleasure in the hunt. There were undoubtedly those who considered it to their interest to keep the prince in Japan, but when the king’s commands were fully understood, no further difficulty was made, and the long-desired end was gained, as far as a departure for America was concerned, but as through influence beyond our control, and without our knowledge till later, a Romanist interpreter was sent with him, the plans and hopes for his royal highness in America were destined to disappointment.

In the following summer sickness entered our home, a debilitating fever which would not yield to treatment kept my husband week after week confined to his bed. His strength of course steadily failed, he became extremely emaciated and unable to retain nourishment in any form. We were at the river Han, in a house on a bluff, where we usually spend the hot and rainy season; but it was several miles distant from the city, advisers and remedies. It was lonely work, not knowing what turn the disease might take, with friends and helpers so far away.

At length, one night my trials seemed to reach a climax. The rain poured down, more like a foe with iron blows besieging a fort than water from the clouds. The wind blew with almost hurricane fury and the lightning was constantly accompanied by terrific claps of thunder. My husband was too ill to notice and in a heavy stupor. Soon, however, the poor thatched roof began leaking like a sieve, while water flowed in around the window and door casements.

The invalid lay in a heavy bed, extremely difficult at any time to move, still more so with his weight and the necessity of moving it as gently as possible. Our cousin, a ladyof no great size or strength, and I managed by exerting all our combined force to shove the lumbering piece of furniture to a place where water did not drip on it and the invalid; and then ran to find pieces of sacking, bath towels, sheets, waterproofs, etc., to soak up the flood that was constantly pouring in everywhere and dripping through from the second floor to the first.

The kitchen was almost emptied of utensils, which were placed under the waterfalls all over the house. While every now and then my husband’s bed must be pushed or dragged to a new place. The frail house rocked as if it must surely fall before the fury of the storm. It was one of those occasions which probably every one experiences, once or twice in a lifetime, when inanimate nature seems to join with untoward circumstance, and even God himself seems to have hidden his face, and all the seen and unseen powers of the universe to have combined against body and soul. But he who has drunk the very dregs of every bitterness we ever taste never forsakes us no matter how dark things look, and I knew on that awful night we were not as desolate as we seemed.

In the morning Dr. Avison came out from the city and kindly invited me to have Mr. Underwood taken there to his home, which was on a hill with plenty of breeze, and where I should have advice and medicines close at hand. So our sick man, placed on a long cane chair with poles attached to each side, covered with waterproofs, blankets and umbrellas, and carried by eight coolies, was taken back to Seoul.

Not more than a week later our little one was stricken with the same fever. Both father and child were desperately sick for another fortnight, but both were spared, and after weeks of prostration moved about like pale skeletons, whom nobody found it easy to recognize.

About this time a great deal of uneasiness was beginning to be felt among certain classes over the king’s long stay in a foreign legation, especially by all pro-Japanese, and in October, 1896, the king was formally requested by a Council of State to change his residence. In the following February, at about the time when Mr. Waeber was leaving the country and another Russian representative coming to take his place, the royal household was removed to the Chong Dong palace, near the English consulate and American legation. Russian officers were in charge of all Korean troops, and Russian influence predominant.

In October of 1897 the king assumed the title of emperor, and immediately after the dead queen’s rank was raised to that of empress. In the following November, her imperial highness’ funeral took place. It is common among people of high rank to keep the honored remains embalmed and sealed for months, or even years, until a suitable time and place for burial has been pronounced by soothsayers, and so two years after decease, after repeated consultations with these costly and ghostly advisers, who repeatedly changed their directions, a grave site was finally decided upon and prepared and a day set.

Two weeks before this, daily sacrifices were offered in Kyeng-won palace, and on the first and fifteenth of each month since her death special sacrifices had been offered. All court officials wore heavy mourning and all citizens wore half mourning.

The grounds selected for the grave site were about three or four miles from the east gate outside the city, and many acres in extent. Money flowed like water, and no pains or expense were spared to make the service and everything connected with it as magnificent and stately as the queen’s rank and the king’s devotion to her memory required. The grave was prepared of solid masonry atthe summit of a mound fifty feet high, a costly temple for the temporary shelter of the remains, where the last rites were to be performed, was erected near its foot, and a number of other buildings were put up for the accommodation of the court, the foreign legations and other invited guests, for the funeral was to be held at night. Refreshments and entertainment was provided for Koreans and foreigners, officials, friends, soldiers and servants to the number of several thousands.

A courteous invitation was sent from the Foreign Office to the legations, inviting the private residents (foreigners) of Seoul to share this hospitality. The casket in a catafalque was carried from the palace at eight o’clock on the morning of the 21st of November, attended by five thousand soldiers, four thousand lantern bearers, six hundred and fifty police, and civil and military dignitaries of innumerable grades. The scene was one of extreme and varied interest. Thousands of people crowded the streets, arches were erected over the road at intervals. There were numberless scrolls recounting the queen’s virtues, magnificent silk banners, beautiful small chairs, wooden horses (for use in the spirit world), which, with all the varied accoutrements of ancient and modern arms, and the immense variety in the dress and livery of court and other officials, retainers, menials, chair coolies and mapoos, made a scene quite beyond description.

The emperor and crown prince did not follow the bier until one o’clock in the afternoon. His majesty had sent us a special invitation to be present and go in the procession, but we preferred to go quietly later, as humble private mourners for a loved and deeply lamented friend, in a spirit which had nothing in common with the brilliant procession.

When we arrived at nearly eight o’clock in the evening,we found the extensive grounds lighted by red and yellow (the royal and imperial colors) native lanterns, not two feet apart, in double rows, along a winding and circling road for a distance of three miles. Brilliant banners streamed forth on the air, and here and there all over the field were brightly blazing fires of fagots, where groups of soldiers stood warming themselves, for it was bitterly cold. It was a starlit night of crystal, sparkling clearness.

There is much that is fitting in this custom of holding funerals in these calm and holy hours of night, when things of time and sense dwindle and look insignificant, when the world’s bustle is all hushed, when the unsympathetic glare of happy day is veiled, and only the soothing balm of the quiet and darkness in harmony with the sorrow-stricken heart is to be felt. In that hour the divine presence seems to be most imminent, or more fully realized, and eternity and the spirit world close around us.

After six sets of prayers and sacrifices, and a final ceremony of farewell, the remains were to be interred. At three o’clockA.M.everything was in readiness. A beautiful yellow silk imperial carrying-chair, for the use of the royal spirit, was first taken up the hill in great state, by the appointed bearers. Then followed another of green silk, and lastly the royal casket on its bier. Long ropes were attached to the latter, held by men standing as closely as possible to each other, along the whole length, in order to insure the greatest steadiness. In addition, of course, were the regular bearers, while one stood on the front of the bier directing and guiding all. Everything was done with beautiful precision, there was not a misstep nor a jar. It is said that on such occasions a bowl filled to the brim with water is placed on the bier, and if a drop overflows severe punishment and disgrace falls upon the carriers.

A solemn and stately procession of soldiers and retainers,bearing banners and lanterns of alternate red and yellow, accompanied and followed the casket, marching in double file on either side and in close ranks, all uttering in unison a low and measured wailing as they advanced. Thus all that remained of our brilliant queen was carried to its rest.

Nothing could be more impressive, solemn and beautiful than this procession, circling up the hill, beneath the clear faithful watch of the stars and the fathomless depths of limitless space, in that dark hour just before day. After the bier followed the king and prince, who personally superintended the lowering of the precious remains into the tomb, even entering the crypt to see that the casket was well rolled back under the great block of granite which covered it.

Sacrifices and prayers were again offered, the gigantic wooden horses were burned, and the mourners retired. An audience given to all the diplomats and invited guests, for the expression of farewells and condolences, ended the ceremonies at about eight o’clock in the morning.

For some time before and after the removal of the king to his own palace in Chong Dong, a growing feeling of anxiety and distrust was felt over the preponderance of Russian influence, which found expression in the formal request made to the king to leave the legation.

While his majesty was still residing there, and before the uneasiness with regard to Russia had arisen, the “Independent Club” had been organized by Mr. So Jay Peel, with the consent of the king, to emphasize Korea’s independence of China. The old columns, where tribute collectors from that nation were received, were pulled down and a new Independence Arch erected, as well as a large building for the official business of the club, called Independence Hall. The crown prince contributed a thousanddollars for this purpose. The club was immensely popular with all classes and many of the nobility as well as the commoners were members. But the real object of the club was to keep Korea independent ofallforeign powers in general, and of Russia and Japan, as well as China, in particular; to protest against, and prevent, if possible, the usurpation of office and influence by foreigners, to stand for the rights of the people, the autonomy of the nation, its gospel being in a word, “Korea for the Koreans.”

So that now, when the menace seemed to shift its quarters from the west to the north, the Independence Club began to make itself heard against Russia.

A word with regard to one or two of its leaders may be of interest. Mr. So Jay Peel had previously belonged to the progressive party, and had been obliged to flee to Japan, where after a short residence he went to America. He was of very high rank and a wealthy family, but his property having been confiscated he worked his own way, graduating from a first-class college with highest honors. Then taking a civil service examination, he had become an American citizen. He obtained a government position, which gave him light work with sufficient salary to enable him to take a course in medicine, after which he received a very fine government medical appointment, on a competitive examination.

But his heart turned to his country, and after the Japanese war and the establishment of Japanese prestige, he returned to Korea, where he became adviser to the king, and soon after started a newspaper called the “Independent,” which was printed half in English and half in the native character. Mr. So proved himself a gifted, brilliant and eloquent man, full of enthusiastic devotion to the emancipation and welfare of his country, perhaps too impatient and precipitate in trying to hasten the accomplishmentof these great ends, a fault common with young and ardent patriots. Mr. So was the first president of the club, and was succeeded by Mr. Yun Chee Ho, a son of General Yun, who had led the attack on the palace for the rescue of the king. Like Mr. So, he had been for some years away from Korea, having been educated partly in China in an American Methodist Mission school, and partly under the same auspices in America. Both he and Mr. So are members of American Protestant churches. Mr. Yun, who, however, still retains his Korean citizenship, is also both a fine writer and speaker, and an enthusiastic patriot and progressionist. He afterwards succeeded Mr. So in the editorship of the “Independent.” Their following consisted quite largely of impulsive, eager young men, many of them Christians, very many of them students, and probably included the majority of the brilliant, energetic, and sincerely patriotic young men of the capital.

As has been said, after Mr. Waeber’s removal and the king’s departure from the Russian legation, and a new Russian minister had arrived, Korea became more than ever subject to Russian influence. Russians swarmed in the palace, the army and the treasury were completely in their hands, and their absolute supremacy seemed only a question of a few brief weeks or months.

At this time, February, 1898, the Independence Club offered a petition to the king asking the removal of all Russians from the army and government offices. The Russian minister requested the king to state his wish in this matter, and soon after, being informed in the affirmative, the Russians were all withdrawn for the time. April 12, 1898, coincident with this, Port Arthur was ceded to the Russians by Japan, a fact which it was thought by many had much to do with the retirement from Korea. Itis most improbable that the action of Russia was in this case out of consideration for the preferences of Koreans.

The Independence Club now grew more and more popular and held frequent loud and clamorous meetings, at which public affairs were discussed with great freedom, the wrong doings of high officials severely censured and held up to public scorn, and unpopular laws sharply criticised and bitterly inveighed against. They were full of hope and patriotism, their aim and expectation seeming to be to have all wrongs righted, all abuses done away with, and Korea remade in a day a free government and people.

The Independence Club held large mass meetings. The shops were closed, the whole population was stirred, and even women held meetings, incredible as it may seem. As a result of which a written petition was sent to the government, asking for seven reforms, abolishing torture and other objectionable customs, and granting more liberties.

The cabinet approved the request, the king added six more new rules for reform, and Yun Chee Ho was made vice-president of the Privy Council. At once another general meeting of the public was held, and a committee appointed by them printed tens of thousands of copies of the new laws, and distributed them everywhere. Among the thirteen new rules, it was suggested and consented to that there should be established a sort of popular congress, a law-making body, with powers advisory (certainly very limited), composed of one hundred people, fifty of whom were to be elected by the popular vote, and fifty to be appointed by the king. But now the government began to take the alarm and to realize that they had opened the sluice gates of a flood which threatened to overwhelm them.

The night before the first election to this body was to have taken place at Independence Hall, seventeen leadingmembers of the club were arrested. It was the intention of the minister of law to put these people to death, but the populace roseen masse, crowded and excited meetings were held everywhere, and so much feeling shown, that the decision was changed, and they were sentenced to banishment instead. But the populace continued to rage. Large masses of people, who, while they did not arm themselves or resort to violence, were angry and threatening, gathered in front of the government offices in all public places, demanding the release of the seventeen or that they themselves should be arrested. At length, after five days’ of threatening demonstrations and angry mobs, the seventeen were released. Now, indeed, the Independents felt they had gained a victory, the government had been defeated, and the people henceforth could accomplish anything.

The demand for the fulfilment of the king’s still unfulfilled promises of thirteen reforms was again renewed. On this the officials in person presented themselves before the crowds, commanding them to disperse and promising everything that was asked if they would do so, as a result of which the people quietly dispersed.

After long and patient waiting, without result, no promises kept or reforms instituted, and on the contrary, the bad officials who had been put out of office again reinstated, the people assembled again one month later at Chong No (the great thoroughfare) to renew their demands. The police were then called up by their chief and told to go to Chong No, and regardless of consequences draw their swords and put to death all of the unarmed multitude who would not disperse. Almost to a man, the police began throwing off their official badges, saying they were one with the people, and absolutely refusing to obey such orders.

The soldiers were then called out, large bodies of troops stationed in the main thoroughfares, and the crowds dispersed at the point of the bayonet.

The Independents then asserted it must be bad officials, and not the king, who were thus oppressing them, and that their petitions could never have reached his majesty. They, therefore, according to long-established custom with petitions for royal favors, all convened in front of the palace. Thousands of men sat there quietly, night and day, for fourteen days waiting to be heard.

It was a thrilling and impressive sight. There was nothing laughable about those rows of silent, patient, determined citizens. Many had their food brought to them, some had little booths or tents where they prepared meals or slept, while others watched and waited, a few went away to take food, only to return as speedily as possible. The people had come to the palace to stay, until an answer could be had from the king.

After the Independents had been camped for some days thus in front of the palace, the “Pusaings,” or “Peddlers Guild,” gathered and camped in another part of the city, with the avowed intention of attacking them.

The “Pusaings” are, as their name indicates, a guild of peddlers, bound together as a secret society for mutual benefit and protection. They have connections and branches all over the country, and are sworn to render each other assistance whenever needed. Like the Masons, they have secret passwords and signs, by which they make themselves known to each other, and any member of this great guild meeting another, even for the first time, is bound to help him to the full extent of his ability. In this way they soon become extremely powerful, and feared by high and low, rich and poor. They could assemble a formidable army at short notice, and their reputation as aruffianly body of men has long been established. During the reign of the Tai Won Kun, that crafty and astute old politician decided to make friends of this dangerous guild, rather than antagonize them, and accordingly granted them a number of special privileges, one of which was the right to collect taxes of certain kinds of merchandise, in return for which they were to be regularly organized by the government and to place themselves under the control of governors of provinces and other officials, holding themselves ready for service at any time. They wear a peculiar straw hat and a somewhat different dress from other Koreans, so that they are easily recognized where ever seen.

On the appearance of this large body of “Pusaings” the king sent word to the people, in order to calm their suspicions, that they need have no fear of the Peddlers, as the police should be ordered to keep them back, and a cordon of police was therefore drawn around the petitioners. At length, however, the “Pusaings” made an attack one day at an early hour in the morning, when some of the Independents, who had retired during the night or had gone to their breakfast, were away, and the number considerably reduced. The police were immediately withdrawn, and the whole assemblage of Independents were driven away, and many of them seriously injured. When they attempted to return the way was barricaded by soldiers, and their enemies, the “Pusaings” were being feasted with food sent out from the palace. The populace then assembled in large numbers, with the determination to drive away the Peddlers, which they did, wounding and killing a few. Shortly after, however, a second battle was fought, in which the people were forced to retreat and one of the Independents was killed.

The people’s party then again assembled at Chong No,when the king again sent, promising he would give all they asked if they would disperse, which they accordingly did once more. Ten days later the king called them to meet before the palace. On that occasion he came out to them, standing on a platform built for the purpose, with his officials around him, and the members of the foreign legations occupying a tent at one side, and a large number of other foreigners also present. This was indeed a new thing in the history of so hoary a nation for the king to come out to confer with the populace on matters of state. The president of the Independents at that time, Kung Yung Kun, and the ex-president, Yun Chee Ho, were called up and presented by the king with a document printed on yellow imperial paper, in which he solemnly promised the establishment of the thirteen reforms.

The meeting then dispersed, and the people waited another thirty days,but nothing came to pass. With wonderful determination and persistence, worthy of success like the widow in our Lord’s parable, who waited long on the unjust judge till by continual coming she wearied him and obtained her desire, they again assembled at Chong No and renewed their demands.

Had they only possessed a Hampton, a Cromwell, a Washington, or a Roland, history might have repeated itself once more. And yet perhaps it was no more the want of leaders of the right fearless stamp, than the need of thousands of such determined dauntless, unconquerable souls as those who stood back of Cromwell and Washington.

They, however, renewed their requests, and insisted they would allow no government business to be done until the king’s promises were fulfilled. Soldiers were sent out from time to time and dispersed them, but they gathered again and again.

At length the government accused them of scheming to establish a republic and elect a president, and bodies of soldiers and police were placed all over the city. Wholesale arrests were made, little groups of even three or four were dispersed by the use of detectives and a very wide system of espionage, meetings were prevented, the Independents crushed, and their buildings and property confiscated. Thus, for the time at least, ended what looked like the beginnings of a revolution, but the people were not ready and the time not ripe.

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