The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 13

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

13

than anything else possibly can. About five hun-
dred years ago the capital of Korea was changed
from Songdo to Seoul, which then was not a walled
city. The emperor, before bringing down the royal
family, determined to have a wall built about the
city of Seoul. Consequently the soldiers of the
national army were put to work to build the wall
as quickly as possible. The work was completed
in about ninety days.

This wall, as it crawls over mountain heights
and across the valleys, encloses the city within a
circle of about ten miles in cireumference. ‘To this
wall are four principal gates and several smaller
ones; each of these gates displays the handicraft
and skill of the men of that age.

Until a few years ago the gates of the city were
closed at eight o’clock at night, and under no con-
sideration would they be opened until morning.
Many missionaries can tell quite interesting stories
of scaling the wall to get into the city, having ar-
rived at the gate after the hour of closing. -At the
present time, however, they are never closed.

Independence Arch marks an epoch in the his-
tory of this little nation. Tor years it was tributary
to China, and each year ambassadors came over to
collect tribute-money. These ambassadors were met
at a certain place marked by a large archway, and
there the money was paid to them. But when Korea
gained her independence, the old Tribute Arch was

destroyed, and a new one, Independence Arch, was -

built. This arch is situated outside of West Gate,
on the road which goes out toward Pekin Pass;
this is the road over which the ambassadors had to
travel in coming from China.

The city of Seoul has many canals running
through it, and over these canals are beautiful stone
bridges. One of them, near our compound, the only
arched bridge in the city, is over seven hundred
years old.

The people have a custom called Bridge Walk-
ing. At midnight on the fifteenth day of the new
year the people walk across the bridge, thus assur-
ing a year of good luck and happiness. On this
same night straw dolls, such queer-looking affairs,
are made, a small coin being put in each one. These

curious-looking objects are thrown into the streets, .

and whoever picks one up carries away with him
all the bad luck of the family who threw the doll
into the street; for in some mysterious way the bad
luck of the family is supposed to be vali the’ queer
little straw doll.

The methods of performing manual labor form
quite an interesting study. The heavy drays and

carts so familiar to American eyes are entirely lack-
ing. The ox-cart is the principal means of trans-
porting heavy burdens. Pack ponies are always in
evidence, but the most common method is the
“jiggy,” on the backs of men. The size of some
of the “jiggy” loads is almost incredible, and the
burden is piled high above the man’s head. Each
man carries a stick which is used to prop the “jiggy”
up when it is on the ground and also to enable the
man to rise to a standing posture with the load,
which has been adjusted while the “jiggy” was on
the ground.

Some of the methods of work are quite prim-
itive and make us think of what we have read of
olden days in other lands. It sometimes takes three
men to do one man’s work; one man holds the
handle of the shovel and places it in the right posi-
tion, while the other two, by means of ropes at-
tached to the shovel itself, pull it up and throw the
dirt in the proper place. Why should one man have
to work hard when he can get two men to help him
and thus make the work easy for all?

I had often heard of the Korean sawmill, but
I had been here several months before I saw one,
and I think it impressed me as the queerest and
most primitive of all methods of work I had yet
seen. With a big log perched at an angle of about
forty-five degrees and one man on top and one
under the log, the saw is manipulated, and slowly ~
and — shall I say surely ? — the work goes on. The
wells of Korea at once remind you of Bible stories,
of Jesus as He.sat on the well near Sychar; of the
women as we read of them coming to the well to
draw water; however, in this land the men are
usually the water-carriers. They come with two
buckets to be filled, bringing a smaller one and a
rope with which to draw the water. Here in our
home all the water we use is brought in this
same way. ;

Of all the customs of which I have heard; but
have not seen, I think I would rather witness the
burial rites than any other. So many interesting
things are told of their.customs in the burial of
their dead. I have seen the funeral’ bier on two
different occasions as it stood outside the house’
awaiting the body, but have never seen the funeral.
The coloring of the bier largely makes it what it is,
and the Oriental combination” of colors beggars. de-

scription.

Sometimes, on the top of the bier, a man who
has been employed’ to give direction ‘to’the hired
mourners, sits ‘and gives his orders. ‘He will im-"
Err a stanza of doleful sentiment}-and' all will’