191 "Things Korean 



fish commissions as well — everything wholly admi- 

 rable in all but one respect. Far too many soldiers 

 were employed and order was kept by military force, 

 leaving the people with no apparent stake in their 

 own affairs. 



Meanwhile the Yang Ban, deprived of their chief 

 means of support, had no function save to walk the 

 streets by day and conspire at night. For centuries ne 

 they had lived as parasites, with the right to extort "-^J"^'^^" 

 from the peasantry all money or portable goods; con- 

 cealment of property by the common man was re- 

 garded as a crime. One who had money hidden wore 

 dirty clothes in self-defense. As a matter of fact, 

 the cheap white cotton garments ^ universal among 

 the common people were rarely clean. A farmer who 

 allowed a pine or oak to grow about his place — or 

 any tree other than the indispensable chestnut and 

 persimmon — was subject to penalty. For it was 

 argued that without money hidden away he would 

 have been obliged to cut the tree for firewood. The 

 children were kept busy gathering weeds, bushes, 

 and hay to serve as fuel. The native mouse-colored 

 cattle were used, like the ponies, mainly as beasts 

 of burden. 



On the way to Suigen, passing through Gondoro, a Korean 

 a village located in a region of fertile soil but abject ^'^^°°^ 

 poverty, I went into the native school. This was held 

 in a room eight feet square. On the floor, at noon, 

 stretched diagonally across, lay the owner of the 

 house fast asleep. On one side of him squatted six 

 children reading their lessons in chorus. On the 

 other sat the schoolmaster writing the task on a 



' Seldom stitched, but usually completed by sticking the various parts 

 together with paste. 



C 393 3 



