Our Stay in Wewon--We Give a Dinner--Our Guests--Magistrates
Propose that we Travel with a Chain-Gang--Our Trip down
the Yalu--The Rapids--Contrast between Korean and Chinese
Shores--We Enter Weju--The Drunken Magistrate--Presents
and Punishments--Unpleasant Experiences with Insincere
People--Rice Christians--The Scheming Colporter--The Men
Baptized in Weju--The Lost Passport--Another Audience at the
Palace--Queen’s Dress and Ornaments--Korean Summer House--The
Pocket Dictionary--Our Homes.
Here, then, in the hospitable little town of Wewon we rested, made
friends whom we hoped to draw into the friendship of our Leader, and
ministered to sick bodies and souls, as opportunity was given. Here in
a few days were brought our boxes and a few of the men who had attacked
us. Still later, for they were unable to travel for some time, came our
poor attendants, who had twice been cruelly beaten with clubs and left
tied up all night in a painful and agonizing position. The mapoo’s arm
was broken, and our helper never entirely recovered from the injury his
back had suffered. Those of the criminals who were found were sent up
to the provincial capital to be punished by the governor.
Before leaving Wewon we gave a dinner to the magistrate in order to
gratify his curiosity and that of his friends. We wished to show in
some way our appreciation of his kindness and hospitality, and Mr.
Underwood, who had considerable experience and much skill in camp and
bachelor cooking, undertook, in the face of some odds, to manage the
matter; and we found our ingenuity well taxed in evolving a feast from
the now scanty remnants of our larder and the few obtainable native
articles out of which a foreign meal could be manufactured. However,
we prided ourselves that we did quite well, with some six courses,
including soup, fish, a bewitching little roast pig, well decorated
with wreaths and berries, served with apple sauce and stuffed with
potatoes, chestnuts and onions. Our dessert, marmalade spread on
crackers, was sufficiently light to please the most æsthetic, and we
introduced a novelty, coffee sweetened with honey, never whispering
that our sugar was gone. The magistrate came with a huge crowd of
retainers, who filled our tiny room and flowed over into the kitchen,
peered into and fingered everything, and nearly wrecked the courses,
which our overtried servant was attempting under many difficulties to
serve. With nothing but a bowl of charcoal in lieu of a stove, and no
proper kitchen utensils, it was by no means easy to achieve such a feat
of culinary art in the far interior of the hermit kingdom, but we did
not stop to consider a little inconvenience or bother, nor regret a
little extra work where we could thereby make or strengthen friendship
with Koreans. Trifling as it may look for missionaries to be planning
_menus_ and giving dinners to country magistrates, there are more ways
of furthering the cause than preaching only. The hearts of the people
must be won, and he who wins most friends wins the readiest and most
attentive audience, one inclined in advance to favor and accept what he
has to teach, and nothing is trifling which helps.
After the return of our men and belongings, and as soon as the former
were able to travel, we felt we must hurry on to Weju. The magistrate
of Wewon proposed that when we departed, the eight criminals who had
been captured should be chained together, two and two, and led in
advance of our company during the rest of our journey. Thus should we
march through the land like conquerors, instilling awe and terror in
all hearts, and none who looked on this tableau would ever again dare
assail a foreigner. Now this was of course exactly the impression that
we wished to produce as missionaries! We pictured ourselves going about
preaching the cross, with such an object lesson as this, trying to win
the hearts of the people, while driving their compatriots before us in
chains, and we enjoyed the vision hugely. It would hardly have been
possible to have obtained the relief of our Koreans without the arrest
of the criminals, several of whom were identified as notorious men,
whose seizure was necessary to the peace and safety of the community.
But we never would have had them punished on our own account or to
gratify revenge, so we politely thanked the magistrate for his tactful
suggestion, but begged to be excused.
We found the town of Chosan, where we stopped on the evening after
leaving Wewon, quite a unique and interesting little place. It is
situated near the Yalu, or, as the Chinese call it, the Amno River,
which forms the boundary line between Korea and China. Two “_kisus_,”
a sort of soldier police, were sent out three miles to meet us, and
preceded us into the town, blowing trumpets all the way, to our
helpless annoyance and disgust, for they either could not or would not
understand that this sort of demonstration was most distasteful to us
both.
As at Kangai, more and more soldiers met us at intervals. There were
flags, music, crowds, and again we entered the town like a circus. The
crowds, however, were kept well back, the place was much smaller, and
we were undisturbed at the magistracy. As soon as we entered the house
a small tray was brought, with cups of hot ginger tea, most restful and
refreshing, the kind thought of the magistrate, who, unlike others, did
not force himself at once upon us, but considerately waited until we
were a little rested and refreshed. We found here a custom which we had
not met elsewhere, that of sounding a bell every morning at a certain
hour, when all morning fires must be extinguished, not to be relit
until late in the afternoon.
We were compelled to go on some miles farther to obtain a boat for our
short trip down the Yalu. In rainy weather the rapids between this
point and Weju are rather dangerous, but at this time it was only a
swift current, which made the trip the pleasanter. We found a Korean
junk, which served our purpose as well as any that were to be had,
which was flat-bottomed, and thirty feet long by three wide. This would
carry our attendants, our packs, two or three boatmen and ourselves.
Some mats were rigged on bamboo poles above us for an awning, and
others stretched across the middle of the boat for a partition, which
left one half for the use of the natives, while we reserved the other
for ourselves. Here we spent three days and nights; during the latter,
however, we always anchored near the shore. Provisions in plenty were
obtained from the villages we passed, when a great many people came out
to kugung; but here we had the advantage, and while quite able to talk
to them from the boat, were not forced to permit more than we liked to
examine us and our belongings.
One night we were wakened with the cry of “Pull, pull!” “Fire, fire!”
and found the boat was on fire. Some one had fallen asleep while
smoking and dropped hot ashes among combustibles; but we were close to
the shore, there was plenty of water and people to use it. The blaze
was soon out, and nothing thrilling came to pass. Thus was it ever with
our adventures. While danger in one form or another made itself known,
as if to prove beyond a doubt our Father’s care, we were kept as safe
and unharmed as a child in its mother’s arms; and were we not with the
everlasting arms underneath us?
As we drifted down the Amno those lovely spring days, with China
lying on one side of us and Korea on the other, the contrast was
wonderfully marked, almost as much, indeed, as if the two nations had
been separated by oceans rather than a river. This difference too was
almost as marked in the physical features of the country as in national
customs. On the Korean shore the trees were mostly of pine; on the
China side, of oaks and other deciduous varieties. The Korean peasants’
huts were of mud, straw thatched; the Chinese houses of brick or stone,
roofed with tile. Koreans dressed in white were plowing with oxen;
Chinese farmers in blue were plowing with horses. Rhododendrons gave
a lovely roseate tinge to the rocks and hills on either side. It was
easy for the passing traveler to see which country bore the greater
appearance of prosperity and thrift.
On the evening of the 27th of April we reached Weju. Fortunately no
official notice had gone before, and there were no trumpets, drums,
harps, sackbuts, psalteries and all kinds of music at hand to make our
lives a burden. A chair was hired for Mr. Underwood, and in the kindly
protection of the deepening twilight we surreptitiously entered these
conveyances and were carried into the city as quietly and unobtrusively
as happy common folks.
And now, to return a little, soon after leaving Pyeng Yang we had met
a Mr. Yi, of Weju, an agent of the Bible Society, then on his way to
Seoul; but when he heard where we were going he concluded to return
with us. Mr. Underwood was at that time trying to decide whether
Weju or Pyeng Yang would be the better place for a sub-station, with
a half-formed plan to purchase a house, to which we could go when
itinerating, in charge of which we might place a care-taker, who would
also be helper, intending to select from among the converts in that
region, if possible, one of the most capable and earnest. This plan
was in part communicated to Mr. Yi, and seemed to strike him most
favorably. He shortly proposed to precede us to Weju and select such
a place. Mr. Underwood, however, told him plainly that he must on no
account purchase or promise to purchase any such house for us; that, as
our plans were indefinite, we could not buy until we had seen the city
and the Christians, and, in a word, until we had some data by which to
decide whether we needed such a house there at all. And even then the
locality and the house must first be seen by us.
We, however, consented that he should go in advance and arrange at
some inn or Christian home for our entertainment, so that we could be
quietly and quickly housed on entering the town. We also consented
that some inquiries should be made as to what houses in localities
convenient for work were purchasable, and at what price, so that
we might have something definite to consider on reaching there.
Accordingly he left us before we reached Kangai and hurried on to Weju.
When we arrived, therefore, he met us and conducted us with much éclat
to a very commodious and nice bungalow, which he said was his own. Here
we were introduced to his consumptive wife, his aged father, and his
little children.
According to custom, we sent our passport to the magistrate as soon as
we arrived. This scarcely reached his office before an order was sent
out for the arrest of our servants and helper, who were forthwith
dragged off to the yamen, beaten and locked up. We had hardly received
this disconcerting news when it was announced that some messengers had
arrived from his excellency with a very generous present of chickens,
eggs, nuts, fruit and other edibles. These articles again had barely
been received and the messengers not well out of sight when officers
arrived with orders to arrest our host and have him beaten. This very
contradictory conduct was certainly disquieting, and we were at a loss
to conjecture what it meant.
[Illustration: A BUTCHER SHOP]
[Illustration: BASKET SHOP]
However, we had not long to wait. The deputy or vice-magistrate
was shortly afterwards announced, and before he left, he gave Mr.
Underwood to understand that his honor the magistrate had been imbibing
rather freely and was not altogether responsible for his honorable
(?) conduct, and that he, the deputy, hoped, therefore, that we
would overlook his slight playfulness in arresting and beating our
poor innocent people. These little aberrations were, he said, quite
frequent, and of course when once we understood what was to be expected
and the reason, no concern need be felt. We were, of course, immensely
comforted and soothed by this explanation, and rested with quiet minds
in the happy consciousness that it was entirely uncertain what sort of
magisterial and honorable earthquake or cyclone might strike us next;
assured it would be all right, as he intended no harm in his sane
moments. The poor deputy, in a strait betwixt two (the magistrate near
at hand, and the Foreign Office in Seoul, represented by our passport),
had been trying to smooth over the magistrate’s uncivil reception of
the passported foreigners, by offerings of said chickens, eggs, etc.,
and this was the explanation of the strange combination of presents and
punishments.
Drunkenness is, I am sorry to say, very common in Korea. The people
do not, as in Japan and China, raise tea, and even the wealthiest have
apparently only recently learned the use of either tea or coffee, which
the common people are far too poor to buy. Milk, strange to say, they
have never used, and they are therefore without a harmless beverage
which they can offer their friends on convivial occasions. As it is,
they resort only too generally to wines and some very strong alcoholic
drinks, which they make themselves.
We had had Christian workers at Weju for some months, one of whom Mr.
Underwood had appointed and two who had constituted themselves such, of
whom we were doubtful then, and later had cause to be more so, and who
now hoped to prove themselves so useful to us that we would give them
some good-paying position in the mission. Several of our experiences
at Weju were very bitter and disappointing to us, for the insincerity
of men whom we trusted was made clear, and yet at the same time they
were instructive, for they taught us to be very slow and cautious in
investing men with responsibility, and to be very guarded both in
receiving converts and in using money, and helped to strengthen us in
those ideas of rigid self-support which Mr. Underwood had already,
from the study of Dr. Nevius’ book, begun to consider deeply and to
some extent follow. One of the self-appointed begged us to start a
Christian school in a place where as yet there was no opening for it,
and to put him in as teacher with a good salary. “But,” Mr. Underwood
objected, “we are not yet ready for such a school, and I cannot start
a school merely to give you a living.” Such unconcern for his material
interest grieved him sorely. Long he pleaded his need and begged with
great naïveté that we would then inform him how he was to subsist, with
refreshing guilelessness rolling the whole of the responsibility of his
existence upon us. We were obliged to tell him with some emphasis that
we were not here to provide incomes for indolent men, but to further
the gospel.
Another man whom we had trusted had given us altogether exaggerated,
and we feared intentionally false, accounts of the interest in Kangai,
of which we had failed to find any signs. He did not suppose we would
go there to verify the reports which were to accrue to his credit.
But another and still more annoying experience awaited us. The agent
Yi told us that the house we were in belonged to us, that in spite of
our repeated injunctions he had bought it for us, and had sold his own
little home in part payment and installed his family here. This was now
the only shelter of his aged father, his sick wife and his helpless
little ones. The scheming fellow had indeed placed us in a serious
predicament. To turn these weak and helpless people into the street
for the sins of this man was not to be thought of; to allow the man
to profit by his dishonest trick would be to encourage every covetous
hypocrite who sought to make gain out of the church and to misuse
consecrated funds. Fortunately within ten days after a sale the money
or deeds may be demanded back, and so we made him ask back his own
house and return the one we had used, with a slight extra payment, to
the original owner. It is due to the British Bible Society to say that
they were of course deceived in this man, as we are all liable to be at
times, no matter how careful. The distance from his employers at which
he was working made supervision almost impossible.
We were visited by a great many people, mostly men, who seemed deeply
interested in Christianity and eager for baptism. Over one hundred
such applicants presented themselves. Mr. Underwood examined them with
great care, and found that all had studied the Scriptures and tracts
with great assiduity, and nearly all were well informed in the cardinal
truths of the gospel. One man was quite a phenomenon of a rather
useless kind of Biblical erudition. He knew the number of chapters and
verses in the Old and New Testament (Chinese, of course), the number
of characters, the number of times the name of God and Christ occur,
and a variety of similar facts, showing he had an extremely facile
memory, but proving nothing with regard to his conversion. I could not
help regarding the poor man with compassion. It seemed too bad that he
should have taken so much pains and spent so many hours of toil to gain
non-essentials when the sweet bread of life and honey out of the rock
might have been had so simply and easily, had he only really wanted
them, had he learned enough of their wondrous value to desire them.
I am afraid that this man and some of the others that we questioned
had no inkling of what Christianity really is, but supposed it was a
philosophy, fine and good, no doubt, which if adopted would bring them
in touch with rich and influential foreigners, and find them speedy
employment as teachers, helpers and what not.
What we anxiously, longingly sought for in these applicants were the
signs of a sincere change of heart, of a real love for the God who was
crucified to save them, and of the fruit of this belief in a change
of life and character. Out of the hundred applicants we selected
thirty-three, not those who answered most glibly or showed the greatest
information, but those who gave almost unmistakable evidence of
sincerity of heart and true knowledge of Jesus. I say almost, for it is
well-nigh impossible not to make mistakes at times.
We had been forbidden to baptize in Korea, under our passport, and we
all crossed the river into China, and there held a communion service, a
very solemn and deeply felt occasion to us, and Mr. Underwood baptized
these men, the only ones baptized during the whole trip, a larger
number than he ever received before, or after that, for some years.
These numbers, rather large so early in the history of the mission,
were afterward much exaggerated by rumor. No one was able to visit this
little company of newborn souls for two years. No response from the
church at home to urgent pleas for help; exacting demands of work in
Seoul, sickness which took us to America, made it impossible for any
one to go and strengthen, encourage and uphold them. With no pastor,
few books but Chinese, they were sadly neglected, and humanly speaking,
it would hardly be surprising if they were scattered and lost as sheep
without a shepherd. We had hoped to visit them at least once a year,
but had no idea how the work near home would grow and how impossible
it would be to leave. These men were not of the city of Weju, but from
some little hamlets at some distance, some of them fifteen or twenty
miles away. Several of the men were already well known to Mr. Underwood
and had been under instruction for more than a year, and some had been
reported ready for baptism by Mr. Saw, who had been employed by Mr.
Ross when he came to Seoul three years before.
This is to show that a horde of new professors, of whom we knew
nothing, were not rashly baptized in zeal to increase the list of
church-members, as was stated by persons who were ignorant of the real
facts. All were rigidly examined, all had been long prepared, and
although two missionaries who paid a visit to Weju on their way to
China two years later, and one who made a long stay eight or nine years
later, said they found none of these Christians, we believe God was
able to keep his own. It would not be easy, knowing neither the names
of the men nor the villages where they lived, to find them, especially
when we remember the roving, almost nomadic character of the people,
most of whom had probably moved quite away, the Japanese war having
worked marvelous changes. More than half of the population of Weju and
vicinity seemed to melt away during that disastrous war.
When our work in Weju was done we started on our return trip to many
waiting duties in the capital. The magistrate had not restored our
passport, so we sent for it, but it was not forthcoming. We waited some
time, and again meekly requested it; still it was withheld, and at
length we learned that on the night of our arrival the magistrate had
been in such an irresponsible condition that he had no recollection to
whose care he had confided it, and, in fact, _the passport was lost_.
This was indeed a serious state of affairs! To travel without one would
involve great risk, to wait for another from Seoul would take more
time than we could afford to spare. And, indeed, whether we should
believe that it was really lost, or that this was only the excuse of an
inimical magistrate who meant to detain us there for some dark purpose,
was a question. After some annoying delay, however, it was found and
duly returned, and with sad farewells from our friends, but with the
hope and intention of returning soon to feed these lambs of God’s fold
we left Weju, to _which we have never as yet been permitted to go back_.
Mr. Underwood and I discussed long and earnestly on our return trip
the comparative merits of Pyeng Yang and Weju for the establishment
of a sub-station. In the one the opening was more hopeful, the other
held the more advantageous position. We at length concluded to leave
the matter open and allow future events to decide where we should
start our station. We returned to Seoul by the main road, with as few
delays as possible, and had an uneventful trip, troubled by no mobs or
robbers. The season was somewhat advanced and the inns were very hot,
but the country was beautiful, with many varieties of the loveliest
flowers. Lilies of the valley we found growing in masses not ten feet
from the roadside, lilacs, eglantine, sweet violets and quantities of
other sweet-scented flowers filled my chair. We found ourselves safely
at home near the middle of May, having been absent over two months,
traveled more than a thousand miles, treated over six hundred patients,
and talked with many times that number.
We were dismayed to find on our return that one of the too loyal
missionaries had, in supposed obedience to the edict, closed the little
room, where services had been held with the natives, and they were
worshiping secretly in one or another of their own little homes. We at
once threw open our own house and regularly gathered the Christians
there, till all the mission were willing to use the little chapel again.
Shortly after our return the queen invited me to a private audience, in
order to give me a very unique pair of gold bracelets, which she had
ordered made for a wedding present, and which had not been ready before
we went to the country. She also gave a ring set with a beautiful
pearl for my husband. She kindly asked about our trip, and was, as
usual, all that was friendly and considerate. I wish I could give the
public a true picture of the queen as she appeared at her best, but
this would be impossible, even had she permitted a photograph to be
taken, for her charming play of expression while in conversation, the
character and intellect which were then revealed, were only half seen
when the face was in repose. She wore her hair like all Korean ladies,
parted in the center, drawn tightly and very smoothly away from the
face and knotted rather low at the back of the head. A small ornament
(indicating her rank, I suppose, as I have never seen any other woman
wear one) was worn on the top of the head; fastened by a narrow black
band. One or two very ornamental long hairpins of gold filigree set
with coral, pearls or jewels were stuck through the knot of hair at the
back. She usually wore a yellow silk _chogerie_, or jacket waist, like
those worn by all Korean women, fastened with a pearl or amber button
and a very long flowing blue silk skirt. All her garments were of silk,
exquisitely dainty.
Her majesty seemed to care little for ornaments, and wore very few. No
Korean women wear earrings (except young girls in the north, who wear
a large silver hoop), and the queen was no exception, nor have I ever
seen her wear a necklace, a brooch, or a bracelet. She must have had
many rings, but I never saw her wear more than one or two of European
manufacture, set with not so many nor so large diamonds as numbers of
American women of moderate means and station often display. She had any
number of beautiful watches, which she never wore. According to Korean
custom, she carried a number of filigree gold ornaments decorated
with long silk tassels fastened at her side. So simple, so perfectly
refined were all her tastes in dress, it is difficult to think of her
as belonging to a nation called half civilized.
On the occasion of this visit she gave me a fresh proof of her
thoughtful kindness. I was wearing my wedding dress and very thin satin
slippers, and as I was leaving it suddenly began to rain. My chair
was nearly half a mile distant, waiting outside the gate, according
to rule. The queen, whom nothing escaped, noted the rain, and my
difficulty. She came in person to the window and imperatively ordered
word to be sent to the gate for my chair to be brought to the waiting
room.
[Illustration: PLEASURE HOUSE. PAGE 22]
But this was too much. The officials who attended me there said that
such an exception as this in my favor would awaken bitter criticism
and jealousy, that one of the highest officials in the land was at
that moment waiting at the gate for the shower to pass so that he
could attend at an audience, and would be obliged to walk through the
rain. They therefore begged that I would wave the fulfilment of the
queen’s order and walk to my chair. I saw the reason and the good sense
in their protest, and of course at once consented, as much comforted
by the queen’s kind intention as if my slippers and silk gown had
been well protected. This rule for the exclusion of chair coolies
was changed soon after, and my chair was brought close to the royal
apartments.
That summer was passed on a high bluff on the banks of the river, in a
Korean summer house, which belonged to the king, which their majesties
had allowed our mission to use a previous year, and which favor was
now extended to us. It was situated on the rocks about fifty feet
above the water, and was one of those charming, cool and picturesque
summer refuges which Koreans understand building to perfection. Its
roof, with artistically upward curving corners, was supported on
several stout pillars, but its walls were all windows of light wood,
in fancy open-work designs, which were covered with paper on one side,
and which, being made to swing out and hook to the roof, formed a
very effective awning. Here with a breeze always sweeping through,
effectively screened from the sun, with a perfect view of the mountains
and the Han River, with its lovely green valley, Mr. Underwood worked
nearly all summer on his small dictionary, Mr. Gale or Mr. Hulbert
giving him much useful help at times. My husband had been at work on a
larger dictionary, which he planned to make a very full and complete
one, for nearly three years, and had already many thousands of
definitions of words with synonyms. It was to be both Korean-English
and English-Korean, not like the French, merely the Korean into the
foreign tongue. It was a darling scheme of his heart, on which he was
putting all the time that could be spared from direct mission work; but
persuaded by his brethren that something was sorely needed immediately
by missionaries now beginning to arrive, he laid his _magnum opus_
aside for the present, not without regret, but without a backward look,
and working without cessation from early dawn into the night hours all
that long summer, prepared and finished the small dictionary, for the
convenience at the present indigent moment of those who were struggling
with the language.
The following fall, the loved secretary, Dr. Mitchell, and Mrs.
Mitchell visited our mission and gave us all much advice and help, for
which we were most grateful. We were not then quite so well housed as
now. Our homes were mud-walled and rather damp, often leaking badly in
rainy season and admitting much frosty air through numerous cracks in
the winter. Many of our windows were not glazed, but merely covered
with paper. During the doctor’s visit there came one night a heavy
storm of wind and rain, which beat against the window near our bed,
and thoroughly demolished it, the rain pouring in on the floor. The
roof leaked over us, but with umbrellas and waterproofs we kept quite
dry. In the morning, however, at the sight of the flooded floor and
the paper windows hanging in shreds, Dr. Mitchell gave us a severe
reprimand for our carelessness, warning us that missionaries are far
too expensive commodities to be so ill protected. A lesson it were well
for all young missionaries to learn, but which, as a rule, alas! they
are too slow to heed.