Chapter II: Preface

The chapters which are here given to the public are simply reminiscent, a brief story of a few years of the writer’s life in one of the most unique and interesting of all the Eastern countries, among a people who are singularly winning and lovable.

I beg that in reading these pages it may be remembered that this book makes no pretense whatever to being a text or reference book on Korea, or in any respect a history of Korean missions. The writer has simply strung together a few events which have fallen under her own personal observation during the last fifteen years. If more frequent reference is made to the work carried on by my husband and myself than to others, it is simply because it is only with regard to that which has been woven into the web of my own experience that I can speak with exactness and authority. All it is hoped to accomplish is, that sufficient insight into the customs and character of the people, and their moral and political atmosphere, with the results, opportunities and possible limitations of mission work, may be given to induce the reader to study further, and perchance to question what his relation to it all is.

I must acknowledge my great indebtedness to Dr. H. N. Allen’s chronological index, by which I have been able to verify many dates.

I am also indebted to the “Korean Repository,” and to the “Life of Dr. James Hall,” for part of the story of the events connected with his work in Pyeng Yang, both before and after the war, and for the official report of the trial of the queen’s murderers at Hiroshima. More than all, I am obliged to my husband, by whose assistance I have obtained from Koreans the particulars relating to the Emeute of 1884, the Tonghaks, the Pusaings, the Independents, and the Romanists. He has also given me many of the anecdotes of native Christian life, and as we lived it all out ourselves, this volume is as much his as mine.

LILLIAS H. UNDERWOOD.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

First Arrival--First Impressions--The City of Seoul--Korean
Houses--Mission Homes--Personnel of Mission
in 1888--Beginnings of Work--Difficulties in Attaining the
Language--Korean Religions--Palace Women--First Interview
with Palace Women--Entertainment Given in my
Honor by President of Foreign Office--The Interdict--Confidence
Exhibited by Government in Protestant Missionaries--The
“Baby Riots”--Babies Reported to Have Been Eaten
at Foreign Legations--Restoring Confidence--The Signal--First
Invitation to Palace 1

CHAPTER II

The Palaces--The Stone Dogs--The Fire God’s Defeat--The
Summer Pleasure House--Royal Reception Hall--Court
Dress of Noblemen--First Impression of the King--Appearance
of the Queen--The Queen’s Troubles--The
Queen’s Coup d’État--The Verb Endings--The Queen’s
Generosity--Stone Fight--Gifts--The Quaga--Poukhan--Its
Impregnability--Picturesque Surroundings of Seoul--Pioneer
Work--Progress of Work--The Queen’s Wedding
Gift--Our Wedding--Opposition to my Going to the Interior--My
Chair--The Chair Coolies 20

CHAPTER III

We Start on our Wedding Journey--Songdo--Guards at
our Gates--Crossing the Tai-tong--Difficulties in Finding an
Inn--Korean Launderings--An Old Man Seeks to be Rid of
Sin--Mob at an Inn--A Ruffian Bursts Open my Door--Fight
in the Inn Yard--Pat Defies the Crowd--Convenience
of Top-Knots--A Magistrate Refuses to Shelter Us--The
“Captain” to the Rescue--Pack-ponies--We Lay a Deep
Scheme--Torch Bearers--A Mountain Hamlet--Tiger
Traps--Tigers--A Band of Thirty Conspire to Attack us--Guns
Used by Native Hunters--A Tiger Story 38

CHAPTER IV

Leaving Kangai--We Choose a Short Cut--Much Goitre
in the Mountains--A Deserted Village--The Jericho Road--We
are Attacked by Robbers--A Struggle in the Inn Yard--Odds
too Great--Our Attendants are Seized and Carried
Off--The Kind Inn-Keeper--Inopportune Patients--A Race
for Life--A City of Refuge--A Beautiful Custom--Safe at
Last--The Magistrate Turns Out to be an Old Friend--The
Charge to the Hunters 60

CHAPTER V

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 77

CHAPTER VI

An Audience at the Palace--Dancing Girls--Entertainment
Given after the Audience--Printing the Dictionary and
Grammar--A Korean in Japan--Fasting to Feast--Death of
Mr. Davies--Dr. Heron’s Sickness--Mrs. Heron’s Midnight
Ride--Dr. Heron’s Death--Difficulty in Getting a Cemetery
Concession--Forced Return to America--Compensations--Chemulpo
in Summer--The “Term Question” in China,
Korea and Japan--Difficulties in the Work 93

CHAPTER VII

The Mission in 1893--“The Shelter”--Opening of Japanese
War--Seoul Populace Panic Stricken--Dr. and Mrs. Hall in
Pyeng Yang--Heroic Conduct of Native Christians--Condition
of Pyeng Yang after the War--Dr. Hall’s Death--Preaching
the Gospel at the Palace--The Queen Seeks to
Strengthen Friendly Relations with Europeans--Her
Majesty’s Generosity--A Little Child at the Palace--The
Slaves of the Ring--A Christmas Tree at the Palace--The
Queen’s Beneficent Plans--The Post-office Emeute of 1884--A
Haunted Palace--The Murder of Kim Oh Kiun 106

CHAPTER VIII

Mr. McKenzie--The First Church Built by Natives--Mr.
McKenzie’s Sickness--His Death--Warning to New Missionaries--The
Tonghaks--Mr. Underwood’s Trip to Sorai in
Summer--Native Churches--Our Use of Helpers--Christians
in Seoul Build their Own Church--Epidemic of Cholera--Unhygienic
Practices--Unsanitary Condition of City 123

CHAPTER IX

Difficulty of Enforcing Quarantine Regulations--Greedy
Officials “Eat” Relief Funds--Americans Stand Alone to
Face the Foe--The Emergency Cholera Hospital--The Inspection
Officers--We Decide to Use the “Shelter”--A
Pathetic Case--The Jesus Man--Gratitude of the Koreans--The
New Church--The Murder of the Queen--Testimony of
Foreigners--The Official Report 136

CHAPTER X

The Palace after the Murder--Panic--Attitude of Foreign
Legations--The King’s Life in Hourly Danger--Noble
Refugees--Americans on Guard--Mistakes of the New Government--Objectionable
Sumptuary Laws--A Plan to Rescue
the King--One Night at the Palace--Forcing an Entrance--Our
Little Drama--Escape of General Yun 153

CHAPTER XI

Customs Centering around the Top-Knot--Christians
Sacrificing Their Top-Knots--A Cruel Blow--Beginning of
Christian Work in Koksan--A Pathetic Appeal--People Baptize
Themselves--Hard-Hearted Cho--The King’s Escape--People
Rally Round Him--Two Americans in the Interior--In
the Midst of a Mob--Mob Fury--Korea in the Arms of
Russia--Celebrating the King’s Birthday--Patriotic Hymns--Lord’s
Prayer in Korean 167

CHAPTER XII

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 King Acts at
Times--Applicants for Baptism--Two Tonghaks--In a Strait
betwixt Two--Midnight Alarms--Miss Jacobson’s Death 183

CHAPTER XIII

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 201

CHAPTER XIV

Itineration Incidents--Kaiwha--Christian Evidences--Buying
Christian Books instead of an Office--Seed Sowing--Moxa’s
Boy in the Well--Kugungers Again--Pung Chung--Pyeng
Yang--The Needs of the Women 216

CHAPTER XV

Another Itineration--Christians in Eul Yul--A Ride in an
Ox-Cart--Keeping the Cow in the Kitchen--Ox-Carts and
Mountain Roads--The Island of White Wing--A Midnight
Meeting--Thanksgiving Day in Sorai--The Circular Orders--New
Testament Finished--All in the Day’s Work--The
Korean Noble--Meetings of the Nobility 237

CHAPTER XVI

Furloughs--Chong Dong Church--Romanists in Whang
Hai--Missionaries to the Rescue--Romanists Annoy and Hinder
the Judge--Results--Interview between Governor and
Priest--The Inspector’s Report--Women’s Work in Hai Ju--Death
of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Miller 254

CHAPTER XVII

Historical Review--Korean Characteristics--Football between
Japan, China and Russia--Ill-advised Movements--Unrest
and Excitement--Korea Allied to Japan--Japanese in
Korea--Po an Whai--Kaiwha--Railroad Extension--Japanese
Protectorate--Petition to President Roosevelt--Removal
of American Legation--Education in Korea--Righteous
Army--True Civilization 272

CHAPTER XVIII

Present Status of Missions--Wonderful Progress--Education
for Girls--Medical Missions--Denominational Comity--Christianity
Spreading--Individuals at Work--Christian
Heroes--Character of Korean Christians--How the Work
Grows--Christian Influence--Training Classes--Circuit Work--Statistics--Rapid
Extension--Evangelistic Work--Joy and
Triumph--The Nation being Evangelized 300