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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1904)
,bul, Queerest of All Cities CHILDREN OP SEOUli ON (Copyright, 1904. by A. B. Hulbert.) T In difficult to tell how muny Seouls, or capitals, Corea has had. It is a peculiar custom which no nation him except llttlo, war-ravaged Corea, to have each Hew dynasty found a new capital. Tim present Seoul was founded In IMi, ly tho OyiKiKly of which Krnporor Yl Hlunjf Is the present representative. A ple.'utlngr legend lingers yot with refer ence to tho fonnrllti of t'orea's capital. .W'lii'n the prenent dynasty was eBtablli'hed the new kin sent out three wlso men to locate a proper nlte for the new capital. I.Ike all wine men they quarreled as thoy traveled, each dlHpullnft the opinion of tho thcr. Ouo morning, after a long, wordy .wranKle, they arose and started on their Way, when they paw In a vnllcy a great ting of snow nine miles In circumference. Heaven had Intervened to locate the cap. Ital, and It was Instantly decided that tha grails must follow tho snow line near the river I lan, where the walls of Seoul were, later built. Uko so many ancient capitals Roma, Xjondon, Tarls, Athens, Peking, Jeruso lem Corea's capital was located Inland, to escape the ravages of pirates and ene. role. A good many Corean towns accord Ing to Coreana are located on the backs f animals, or In some equally strange sit uation, but I have nevery heurd that Seoul was so located. It Is a native belief that l'lng Yang, a city of ao.000 people, Is lt Riated in the middle of a boat and If a well Is dug the hole may pierce the bot tom and muttlo tho boat. As a result not a well Is allowed In the town, and water Is carried , from wells without the Walls. While this Is, of course, a draw back, It cumpvlH the people, to use purer Water than would otherwise be the case. Bomo of tho ttrnlio scourge that have wept Seoul have come from the Impure water of the city wells, which receive much Of the surface drainage of the crowded city. American engineering tklll, which has done much for Corea. Is now bcin Cirected toward alleviating the distress and Ickncss caused by pojr water. The Amer ican promoters of 'he Sooul-Chemulpo rail way have signed a contract with tha Co rean government, involving a sum greater than the cost of tho railway, which calls for a system of waterworks which will upply tho capital with water pumped from the river Han, three miles distant. If not situated In some animal's oack or tn a boat, the Corean capital la certainly beautifully located, like an eiglea nest Iiung between mountain peaks On nil ides, except on the eaM, are mountain ranges, resembling somewhat tho peculiar harp-pointed hills to be founu in tho upper Ohio valley, If only those hills lan tralght up 2.000 feet iind were of solid, bare rock. Hefore tho days of modern warfare tho mountains were wills of protection, and the city wall, thirty feet high, must have made them almost Impregnable. The tld wall still surrounds the city, keeping guard ever the sea of roofs it Inrloses. iind. though tottering in some ppoU it is sllll thirty feet high In tiiiny places. From ny part of the city it can be seen crawling over the mountain or down the slopes like shiiKgy worm. Nine gates, surmounted by Chinese reofs 1ve uceess from without Into Seoul. Oil the roofs of the gates sit the rows of clay monkeys, life-size, which are supposed to keep the devils out of the city. Tho K.itt rate Is the terminus of the Seoul-Chemulpo railway and the S.oul Kleetrlc rnllway lo tullt by Americans and which runs three mil, through the capital and thence three milts farther lo the tomb of Queen Win. who was murdered In 1S9R. No sooner win her majesty safely burled -only her little finger was left after tho mitllatM body was set afire than tho royal soothsayers were troubled with a rumor that the grave site was an unlucky one. and that the tomb oUKht to be re moved elsewhere. And tho American com- i TOP OP CITY WAIX. r FAT, SLEEK BULLS WHICH DO THE pany which had built the electric railway to the grave a Mecca for Coreans were likewise at sea over the possibility of a re moval and bent their energies to have the site declared "lucky." Tho tomb was not moved. With the exception of Its remarkable situation amid mountain peaks and its an cient wall, there Is nothing of great Inter est in Seoul, though the curious may tlnd much that will attract anl hold the atten tion. There are no native buildings that are worth mentioning. Even the palaces are poor shacks of buildings, one story high and of no special beauty. The aban doned Kyung-Pok palace. In which Qucon Mln whs murdered, exhibits In a small way Corean ornamentation of woodwork and marble, but It was nothing worth going far out of the way to see. The one building in Seoul which, In point of prominence, overshadows till others as Washington's monument would tower above the headstones In a country grave yardIs the new Catholic cathedral re cently completed. The Methodist Episcopal church Is a fine brick structure In the for eign quarter of the city near the East gate. The legation buildings are modest brick or wooden structures. The American minister has been housed In a Corean one story house with a tiled roof. Most of the streets of Seoul ore narrow little Isles, the low mud and stone houses, about 35.000 In number, abutting on the gutters Into which tho "chimneys" pour their smoke, tho "stoves" In each housu be ing under thd stone floors. Several fine, wido avenues through Seoul have been opened by tho customs department, which Is In the hands of foreign financiers. So far aa there U any system to the streets, they converge ut the Hell Place, which is nominally the center of the city. Here stands the Pell bouse, one of the strange "sights" of this strange old city. Within a low latticed building hangs the famed bell of Seoul; the building measures lflx:t feet, and Is slightly over twelve feet hlKh. The bell Is eieht feet in diameter and ten fwt high. These measurements are exclusive of the dragon casting at the top and the heavy hangings Tho legend of the bell of Seoul, as told by the American minister, Dr. Allen, states that when the excavation for the walls of Seoul was going forward five centuries ngo a workman unearthed an Iron liell. The king, Tal Jo. founder of the present dynasty, determined to caat a great bell according to the model of the little hell. Metal was gathered from all portions of tho kingdom, but wheu tho boll waa caat MS- IF - -- t, , - t fi. i IN TTTTT T.rcATION QUARTER TUB THE TREES. .a. WORK OF HORSES ARE SEOUL'S PRIDE. It broke as It was cooling. Again it waa cast and again It broke. When all the soollisayers were attempt ing to ascertain the reason for the un klndness of the gods, one of the men who gathered metal told them that at a certain place he made a request of an old woman for metal for the king's new bell. "I have no metal," cried the old hag, "but lake this," and she reached to her back to unfasten a baby she carried there. The man hurried away without her gift. All agreed that the woman was a witch, and she was sent for. Again the metal was poured in tho cauldron, but before the bell was cast the witch threw Into tho molten mass the child Fhe had promised. When tho babe fell headlong It cried: "Enmllle, Enmlllo." ("Oh, my mother! oh, my mother!") The bell ruled tho city for centuries. It was struck with a great beam, which hangs on chains beside It, at 8 o'clock every night. At that signal, which could be heard for miles, all men had to return to their homes, and every man found on the streets was considered a thief and treated as such. Then the women of tho capital were allowed to come forth and have the freedom of the city. The name of the bell la "In Jung." which means "Man Decides" (to go to bed). When tho bell was sounded the city gates were closed nnd many of the first foreigners In Seoul had tho delicious experience of scal ing the wall. If caught without the walls nt that hour. Nowadays, the curfew at 8 does not ring, Corean women do not have the old-time privilege, and consequently only the old hags are seen on the stre.-ts unveiled. The bell is sounded now ut mid night, and the mothers that are wakeful press their babes more closely for they be lieve the sound Is the cry of tho murdered child "Oh, mother mine!" Comparatively speaking, Seoul Is a well governed city. Tho head of the municipal government Is a governor. The city U fairly well policed by uniformed policemen. A royal bodyguard and several thousand Corean troops are maintained on call In case of danger. The shors of S'yul are un interesting and tho trade of V, city un important. Fires are very destructive, as many of the stores and houses are straw-thatched. Hundreds burn at one fire, if the day or night is windy. The only method of head ing off a big fire Is by pulling houses down. It 'a believed that "tire Imps" live in tho mountains around the city and now and then descend to feast on the houses of the people. A great fixe once ravaged Seoul, By Archer Butler Uulbert, Formerly Editor of the Corean Independent "-"PL?-" i - U t v V ' - JAP.NIK LEGATION IS SHOWN AMONQ and Its path Included the Kyung-Puk pal ace. After that it was decided that the "fire imps" must be restrained from in sulting royalty in the future. The homes of the chief Imp are in the mountains just north and south of Seoul, and as he pasBed from one home to the other lie left ruin la his train. "The trouble," writes Minister Allen, "was overcome by a clever expedient. Two immense stone animals were erected in tho street in front of the palace gate, with their fierce, angry faces pointed toward tha south, the quarter from which the fire waa supposed to come. The presence of these grout and terribly fierce looking linages has been ample protection for the palace, while tho fire god has been diverted from his course over the South gate by building a pond In front of it, which is kept filled with water, the thing of all others that the fire god most abhors." The marblo pagoda of Seoul Is one of the must striking monuments in all the far east. It Is of white marble and comprises thir teen stories from top to bottom. It stands sear the center of the city, but is hidden by houses that have crept cloto up about It. The pagoda was sent by an emperor of China at Nanking to his daughter, the Queen of Corea, about 700 years ago. It rests on four Hat stones six feet square and two feet thick. Some of the atoiles are only a foot In height; others are twice aa high. All are covered with DuddhUtic sym bols and inscriptions. When the Japanese invaded Corea ? years ago they appreciated this beautiful monument and attempted to take it to Japan. Finding the task much greater than, at first supposed, after removing the three upper stories they gavo up the attempt, and in anger built a great fire about It. Beyond blackening the sides and cracking a few corners, no great harm was done. Tho three upper stories still Lie at the base of the pagoda. The population of Seoul Is estimated at from a quarter of a million to half a mil lion. It is probably about 00.000. A large Japanese settlement bus grown up In one quarter where the-Japanese legation is lo cated. A largo number of Chinese live la Seoul. The European colony numbers near 200 souls. The Presbyterian and Methodist Episcopal missionaries and teachers form a large proportion of this number. While the eyes of tho world are directed to Seoul, It la wholly probable that the foreigners there know exceedingly little of the war In tho midst of which they are quietly living. The slow affairs of the strange city move on as they did through out tho centuries passed. The fine, sleek bulls waddle under their great loads of wood. The shopkeepers stand by their little stores smoking their two-foot pipes. The multi-colored children race up and down la their wooden shoes. The women peer out from the black interiors of their homes, a word for which there is no- synonym in the Corean language. The policemen loaf back and forth, avoiding all appearance of evil. The coolies chant at their work. The don keys bray at the palace gates. The ras cally "statesmen" scheme fresh mc-thoJs of plunder, and the spring famines will bring the annual spring riots, as has been true since tho time of Christ. Side Light on History It was during the hot days in July. Praxiteles was walking along Main street, Athens, when he met Phidias. "Isn't It hot?" said Praxiteles. "Yes," responded Phidias; "let us cool ourselves by the frieze of the Parthenon. Now," ho added, as they arrived there and were gazing at it, "don't you feel better?" "Yes," answered rhldlas, "this Is a great relief." This shows that even the Greeks knew the art of tho double entendre. Chicago Journal. v . .-f-O I