New Womanhood of Korea is Advancing from Slavery to
....
i . 1' - -
KOREAN WOMAN
(Copyright, 1309, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
' -
s
t nee of The Ben.) The empress
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'
streets of Seoul. She was on
her way from one of her pal
aces t- another. She sat beside the em
peror on the back seat The sun shone
bright, her face was unveiled and all .the
world could see. There were thousands
of men upon the street! at the time. They
formed long lines of white against the
bla. k huts. With their big hats and long
gowns, their yellow faces were turned
straight toward her malestv and their al-
mond eyes almost popped out In surprise.
Such an event would mean little in any
Kurupeun country. It marks one of the
most striking changes that are going on
fn I.". -...a,. T k I a i a ai a
jhuic-t. ii lnuiuttipu inai me new
won an is on the ground with both feet,
and that from now on the sex will gradl
rally make It. way upward out of If
present state of degradation. Until now,
no man outside the emoeror and th- ,vl
.....k. - .v.- ..
fe.7.,.. ,, rr V . V
features of Korean female royalty. When
t i. . .
im?rfcr glrl'TaTTmTour
as physician to the queen. She wa. the
first woman doctor ever known In Korea,
and her majesty awaited her coming rather
than have the foreign medical mission-
arles, who were at that time all men,
examine her. When the latter were called
In consultation they were not allowed to
seo the queen, and when they felt her
pulse her hand was thrust out through
a screen and -nothing else wa shown.
Where the T.ndlee "tar at Rome.
Tin- Korean women are not gadabouts.
Until now all those of the high and mid
dle classes have been more secluded than
the females of the Mohammedan harema
Thcy have quarter, of their own. which
are in the backs of the house, or in spe
cial establishments far off from those of
the men. Some of the noblest have never
boen outside their own compounds, and
of the middle classes very few go out
. .
today except in closed chairs. In the
past It has been a crime for a man to
lay his . hand on a woman outside his
own family, and any man who looked
over the wall of a garden to .ee the
women within was sure to be punished.
The husband ha. had absolute power over
his wife and concubine.. They have been
bound to him by fetter, of Iron, and to-
dav hv. nrartinsiiv nn '.hkh k.
h.. . ta-.a k. iftvnn
women who inhabit this country are still
as far a. the law. and the eu.toms which
1 1 .. .,.... .
told that many of them have such
-?L.h :,r..!. .w..-aI fw..h.
homes. Nevertheless, the' fact remain,
that the men can beat and mutilate th.m
with little fear of the law
'
Kfn Woman Anneal.
All this has been so for Ages, and the
arrival of the new woman I. therefore
the more striking. One see. Indication, of
changes everywhere, both In city and
country. When I first came here the
common women and slave girl, working
In the fields carried cloaks with them to
shluld their faces from the men
Some of
them turned their backs and ran away
as 1 approached. On the streets of 8e-
uul those who came out wore green
cloaks over their heads, which they held
clos together in front of their faces,
lsaving only a crack for one eye. These
cloaks hart flat, well Ironed sleeves which
were bordered with white. The sleeve!
were MerOv rested into the garments
and were i 'iMi'vil fur the arms to gu
through. The rlosl . ., rnsclve. weie so
twin as to be of . ain0 for war-nth,
und tiny were used . s veils. Today
the co mmon women the same sort of
cloak, but they a-e not held tightly, and
o:u- i I- . i score of female face, on
mi in" the i. uln streets during any work
ing h ir of the day. These street women
bei.ti.; to I he laboring classes. Many
uf ,h i ae t'.ivoK and they are as a rule
honuly, dirty and frowsy.
s.i f.tr th" i.cv. woman belongs to the
r.oti!l!'y or tlic upper clasps She is usually
the da ii;htcr of o:no yansban who Is pro
Jui 'Ka.i- or is anxious to ape foreign ways.
Many of these gentlemen now dress In
European clothes and not a few are anxious
to havo their wives do likewise. They see
the Japanese and European women going
about unveiled and observe how they are
treated by their husbands as a result and
they allow their wives to copy these for
eign examples. I attended a court garden
party the other day at which many of the
royal family were present. There were
several princes, relative, of the emperor,
all of hi Imperial majesty', cabinet minis
ters, the high Japanese officials and others.
The foreigner, brought their wire, and
they wore, of course, European costume..
The Japanese women were dressed In
beautiful kimonos. There were in addition
about a half dozen Korean women, aome
of whom wore European dres. and the
other. Korean gown. Such women belong
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B ' k . . ft I I J '. I I
ii x. ......... ', -:.,-u: ::,
v. t : r . ..''iJbw:? :
r
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TJr. ess-
-j-v-
:'khi
AND HER CHAIR.
to the advance guaid of the new move-
MK - iii., j iii-j s om vii wtovb wiiu
their husbands, and even ride In carriages
or jmriKisnas, always creating a sensation
among the natives wnen tney ao so. Tne
dder men cannot realise that a good wo-
man who has been raised a Korean would
do such a thing and many of them con
alder the morality of the new woman ques
tionable, to say the least
Girls -with Dlaphonous Skirts.
As to the clothes the new woman wears,
these at the present time are strange to an
efeme. m Koreans have no Idea of
wnat th proper foreign dress Is, and they
aPPar In the most outrageous costumes,
thinking them correct For Instance, the
wife of a high Korean official came to an
a . ...
mwrnuun ie ai an American nniiNA thin
week dressed In a trailing gown of gauze
tissue, the material of which was of about
the consistency of fine mljufto netting
The dres. wa. properly ma but und
!t " ? niale'but und"
41 UW w" "Jmosi notning. ine woman
llad P"icoaU which reached only to her
. th.t , . , , , , .
Knee, so that her pipe-stem legs, clad In
JJf" "f
b?n ,heVT "whld hoe" t
of the vmtae of do,en 'ea . The
1tUr WM of dingy straw, trimmed with
motl-ten rosea, which hung down almost
t0 her Bhulders. The combination was so
grange that the foreign women could
hardly keep their faces straight a. she
moved about among them. Nevertheless,
h M a woman of wealth, and money
h.d been no object to her In securing the
proper dress. I doubt not she considered
herself more fashionably attired than any
other woman present
Such thing, occur from ignorance as to
k i. 0W costume la, and the
IhVfT , m" Uk'n adva,1"l; of
wnat tne foreign costume is, and
" " ji.iw.
They have for sale a miscellaneous outfit
of bygone clothing brought from Shang-
nai ana otner part, of the east The
S'" "J " ha.p" and 8ty,ea and 019
dress roods are of tvtrv niiiniu,,. a.-
b - mmi.bwu ue-
crlptlon. The.e thing, are bought by
Korean parent, for their little children
who are going to school, quite a number
of whom are now wearing foreign dress
and almost all of whom have foreign
haU- 1 attndd athletic exhibition of
the girl, of the public schools the other
day. It wa. held in the grounds of the
Mulberry palace and about COO girl., with
their teachers, were present. They were
a" ar(MM ,n cnooi unirorms, Korean in
cut- but they wore orel"n which
looked as though thev had been flshaxt nut
ft the ash barrel, of the Bowery. They
had flat crown, and broad brim, and
were indeecrlbably ugly.
Olrla Schools. '
The achoola which have been established
for lrl are nerhaD. the moat strlldn
evidence of the new woman movement
There are many of these, some run by
the missionaries, ome by the government
under the' direction of the Japanese, and
in addition many private school.. At this
.thl.tlo exhibition th. girl, ranged in age
from t to 1, and they went through their
exercises in sight of ah invited crowd of
Korean, of both .exes. Many of them
.
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came from well-to-do families, and their she was a (flrl as one of the court worn, tif-r nocessities. Finding that she could not
BlKtpra, ouuslns and aunts were present to en. One story states that she 'started continue the supply for her school from her
see them. The most of these had cloaks in as a hair dresser, but this Is denied, own purse, she made over certain ilea
or veils of some kind or other over their She Is not pretty, but very clever, and lands which hud been given to her from
faces, out the girls themselves had no the queen of Korea, who was assassinated those belonging to the crown, saying that
such covering, and they exercised without by the Japanese, took her up and their revenues would be enough to support
shame. mado much of her. She liked her clever- them. The Japanese, however, considered
In the past the women of Korea have' ness, and she also liked her homely ap- the amount too liberal, and, as I under
been almost entirely uneducated, and to- peaiance, as she thought that would stand It, they have cut down the allow
day those of the higher class are Just be an obstacle to any love for her on ance one-half, end are now devoting the
beginning to send their children to st-hool. the part of the king, who afterward be- remainder to the support of other
The lower and middle-class women have came emperor. schools established by the government. On
sent their children to the mission schools As the story goes, the king appreciated top of all this there was a short rice crop
for a number of years, and for this reason cleverness as well as beauty. He cast last harvest, and, altoKether, the schools
many of the teachers In the girls' schools, sheep'B eyes at Lady Om, notwithstand- are In much need of more money.
which contain the children of the nobility
as well as other girls, are of the lower
ri.i Thl In nnt so of the hlaher school,
founded by La(ly Dm for Bri8 cf the upper
crus it Is composed of daughters ot the
yan(5ban or nobles. There Is also a school
for KrlB established by this same consort
0. ,ne retlred emperor, which has only
tne daughters of the middle class. Both
sehools are giving a foreign education to
their pupils and are doing great good.
About Lady Om.
Just here I wish to say a few
words
about Lady Om. Until the
of the emperor In 11)07 she
abdication
was th3
lending lady of this land, and as such
aia much for her sex.
While not the
empress by actual marriage, she was
practically bo to all intents and pur-
poses. She Is the old emperor's favorite
concubine, or consort, as she is called
a... a i TnnM-.M..A T nniUi-Blo rA Vila
oy jouonrsq, .
majesty Is true to her. and that she al-
low- no other, of the ladh-s-ln-walting
""out the court to come near hlm- Sh
18 the nlo,her of ,h Cr0W" Prl"Ce Wh
ls now belnit educated In Japan, and as
. ,,. kv.i ..i.t.u in.
SUCH Ilia will fivuiuij -
fluence even after that of the old em-
peror has become less than It la now.
Lady Om came Into the 'palace when
Gossip and
A Booth Incident Recalled.
PROPOS of his 74th birthday,
which he has Just celebrated
at his home in Baltimore, Mr.
J. M. Barron, friend and col-
A
'league of Edwin Booth, Joseph
Jefferson, Maggie Mitchell and
many other stage giants of their genera-
tlon sends the New York Telegraph this
reminiscence:
Tnose wno were noi lnumaie wim r.uin
Booth invariably think of -hlm' as a man
0f melancholy, who did nothing but "ruml-
nate all day hi. dreadful fate." Mr. Booth
ad " moments of Jollity and loved to
. v..n.j. .- im.
near me Dauaaa ana stone ui uio nine
of hi. youth. At the Russell house, De-
trolt one afternoon, Mr. Booth sent for
me. I found him alone in his room, smok-
lng a pipe, of course. He said he felt very
blue and had sent Mary, his wife, out for
a walk with her father, Mr. McVleker.
Booth and I being Marylanders and of
long, enduring friendship, we had many
chats of the old times. He asked me if I
remembered any of the old melodies that
wo ""l" lu " u"jui ..., ,unU
of the songs of Stephen Collins Foster and
especially "The. Old Folks at Home." I
told him I though I could resuscitate one
or two chanU that he had not heard for
many yeara.
Booth could not .lng a note and people
who heard me try said I couldn't, either,
Dut 'o's Kllle ,n where operatic angels
fear 0 gurgle, so I sailed in with a
tremuloso andante,, thusly:
BatImora ris Wtn pretty faces
pressed to death and trimmed with lace.,
Ankle, small and waists so slender;
Ha! ha! ha! Good-by, John,
Balt'T?. K'r'"' " 1 yU Cm OUt t0"
Won't you come out tonight
,n1 ,anca,.by the V");.?' ae.m,oonT .
stocking,
I '4
Members of the Nebraska Bankers' Association
GROUP NO. 6 IN IT8
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JUNE
KOREAN GENTLEMAN AND HIS WIFE.
lng the presence of her majesty, and, as
a result, Lady Om had to flee for her
life. She left tho palace and remained
a ay until after the queen was assassin-
aiea, ana uien came oacK 10 ue me con-
sort of his majesty. I do not know that
she herself had anytning to ao witn tne
selection or the crown prince as tne sue-
cesser of the present emperor of Korea,
but I doubt not she aided in the manipu-
latlon. This boy Is only 11 or 12 years
of age, and he was chosen by I'rince Ito cording to the class to which the girl be
over Prince ldilwha, who was an older longs. Korea has a nobility, a middle
son of the empereor by (mother mistress, class, common people and slaves. All of
I'rince Kulwha Is the young fellow who the rich families own hereditary slaves,
ran away from Korea to the United States and a daughter of a slave Is a slave girl
and received somee education there. lie In turn. In the past such slaves have
at llulu i. a va I 1 Q 1 1 (1
"
aiierwara 10 a mne acuucuij ui ouii-iu,
Va. He fully expected to be his father's
successor, but I'rince Ito has set him aside,
and he Is now living quietly here. Tho
little prince, the son of Lady Om, Is ex-
... a j i. ,mi i. ...
The nex enmeror
be the ncxt emperor
A' l B8ch00 'he
T "T V? , T"
porting them out of her private purse. She
had nlontv of money ud to the time the
-
old emperor was retired, but her funds
and those of the emperor were then ro-
duced and she has now barely enough for
Stories About Noted People
And one heel it kept a-rocking.
I dunced with a gal with a hole in her
stocking.
She was Ue prettiest gal in de room.
Mr. Booth laughed heartily and beat
time with his pipe and said:
"John, how did you hold on to that?
I have not heard It for eons of ages. We
had a darky on our Belalr farm who sang
something1 about the River O-ee-o."
jn, baiu x, juu mean xuo puiu ,
Dance.' How does this mix with your
darky minstrel:
The boatmen dance.
The tioatmen sing,
.v. . , . ,.. - .
And wh-n the boatman l-Hs on shore.
He spends his money and works fur more,
H,' !jn. 'don' deTlverOhlo
wl dance 11 "n'ght tnibroad dayllsht,
And so home wld de heifers In de mornln,.
We shoutel, and, Booth slapped the table
and declared he had not enjoyed a concert
so much for many years.
Wait Beau; pause and listen
Just as
ci, ..JU7..,S .
Booth opened the door and in walked Mao
with her.
"What on earth are you two men re-
hearsing?" '
Booth pointed to me as the guilty man
and Mac said:
"Rehearsing! If either of you culprits
utter one more false note 1 11 have you ar-
rested for counterfeiting."
Thta threat broke up the concert
Many Fortanes In "Ben Bolt."
"Various persons have made an aggre
gate of more than a million dollars out of Battle of Buena Vista,' died while at Chllll
the song "Ben Bolt." said Arthur Eng- cothe. Mo., and near that city a monu-
llsh, a lawyer of Charleston, W. Va., quot-
ed by the Washington Post, "but my
father, who composed the verses, never
,,u in mjii in . I
' 1 ' -
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"5
ft
NINTH ANNUAL CONVENTION AT
13, 1909.
Slave Ulrls of Korea.
As I have said, the new woman movo-
ment Is Just at its beginning. I doubt If
iu"a w j
There are certainly lesB than 1,000 who
"e yei iu-"in io mrow on me
siiuciiies oi me oio, customs; ana me re
mainder, numbering millions are In the
same conaition- mat tne sex nas neia tor
many generations. The customs vary oc-
1 .. .1 . I .. Im.j. . I a
" " " '""
mey were sola, wnen tne memDer oi a
family committed a grave offense against
the government, the whole family of the
BUllty one was often reduced to slavary.
T1ls, wa3 tne cae yvith the wife and
...
da"BhtCr , ,,TT I . V,
wnB .WlnaW by the orders of the
of Shanghai some years ago. Quito a
I ,nin lri" ve- d
as such they have been bought and sold.
Todnv almost every Korean ladv has her
-
slaves, who wait upon her and do her
bidding. I understand that the slaves are
usually well treated, and that most of them
realized one penny," '
Mr. English ls a son of Thomas Dunn
English, the poet, who served In congress
as a representallye from New Jersey In
the early '90s.
"Three of the verses of the poem were
written by my father a long time before
the poem's first publication," continued
Mr. English. "In fact he had cast the In-
complete poem aside, when one day a re-
quest came to hlm from N. P. Willis and
George Morris, the latter the author of
'Woodman, Spare That Tree," for1 a con
tribution for their magazine, the New
Mirror, which was then about to make Its
initial appearance In New York. They told
my father they were 'hard up' and that
any contribution he might make would
really be a contribution, as he wa. to ex
pect no pay except their sincere thanks.
"As a consequence of the letter, the poem
was taken up again, two more verse, were
written, and It was sent on to New York,
where in due time it appeared in the New
Mirror. A copy of the paper ls still re
tained by my family.
"Since that time It has been published
and republished throughout the world. It
enjoyed a second life through the medium
of Iu Maurler'. 'Trilby.
"An Itinerant song writer, a brother of
II. R. Kneass, then a district attorney In
Philadelphia, took the poem and adapted
to It an old German tune. He sang it in
Pittsburg and afterward in various parts
of the country, and 'Ben Bolt' became a
popular air. This man, who was then
alnglng between the acts of a theatrical
production of that day, entitled The
ment has been erected over hi. grave
which ls 'to the memory of the author of
"lien Bolt." ' "
y
1 1 r i I .
LEXINGTON MAY 27, 190.
3 I I
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5,. -.! r
ftp
-
1 ,. 4.- ,v. . r . ,
WOMAN WITH CLOAK ON HER HEAD.
would not leave their mlstres.es If they
could.
How the Court Ladle Dress.
Until just now It ha. been impossible
for a foreign man to know anything
about the dress of the high Korean lady
except from hearsay. I attended a garden
party given by the Red Cross society in
the grounds of one of the old palaces this
afternoon at which several of the high
ladles of the empress' court were pres
ent. Among them wa. a sister of her
majesty. They appeared In their court
gowns, with great gold pin. studded with
pearls in their hair and with gold bandages
of their rank over their foreheads. Each
woman had on a short Jacket of white or
light blue silk, which reached only half
way to her waist, and below this a very
full skirt of dark blue silk gau.e, which
was fastened around the body under the
arms and trailed upon the ground. A.
they raised thorn I could sea their stock
ings of padded cotton and their low em
broidered white or lilac .hoes.
They were bareheaded, and their Jet
black locks were put up in a knot which
rested far down on the nape of the neck.
They wore no veil, nor face covering of
any kind, and moved about among the
people, Interested in all the sight, of the
occasion. During the celebration the court
ladle., who heretofore have been abso
lutely secluded, sat upon the platform,
with the leading Korean and Japanese of
ficials, representing her majesty the em
press, and one of them even read a mes
sage from the empress to the assemblage.
No one would have dreamed such a thing
possible five year. ago.
Korean Girl. Costume.
The dress of the new woman wilf1 be
far more comfortable and more beautiful
than that of the present. A Korean friend
of mine has given me some of the details
as to the costume of the present Says
he:
""The first thing a girl puts on 1. a di
vided skirt, consisting of a pair of very
full drawers which fall in folds to her
feet At the top of these is a band about
eight Inches wide, which i. fastened
tightly over the breast by a white ribbon
drawstring, tied at the front The draw
ers are so full that they might be fastened
about the neok instead of the waist if
the girl so wished. The walBtband is
very tight, and it comes high up the
back. Above It and just meeting it I. a
little Jacket with long sleeve.. This is
yellow, green, blue or white, and it Is
tied together with ribbon, of the same
color. The Jacket ls so short that a strip
of bare skin an Inch wide show, out under
the .houlder blade, when the woman
bends over, and If she goes in the sun
he may have a red .tripe there. The
drawer, narrow as they fall to the feet,
and are lost In great stocking, of wad
ded white cotton, which make her .mall
feet look five time, as large as they ase.
They are more like boot, than anything
else, and they take the place of .hoe. and
Uppers at home. The better class houses
are carpeted with matting, and the women
go about In stockings. Out door, they wear
low shoes with soles of ox hide or cloth.
In addition to the divided skirt the
"I
o
t)
! i. J
Freedom
1
Korean woman ha. on a very full pair of
white overpanta, which reaoh from the
arm. to far below the knees, and over the
whole a cloaklike gown tied at the front
with a ribbon. This garment la often
of silk of bright color. The younger
women are fond of red, those ot middle
age like blue and many wear white. Most
of the women have more or lea. Jewelry.
They wear hairpins of gold, .liver or
amber a. thick as one's little finger, and
many have two gold or stiver ring, on
the third finger of the right hand. They
paint and powder, covering the face with
white, except at the Hps, which are red.
They use India Ink to mark out the
line of the eyebrows, and arch these in
conformity with the Chlne.e Idea of -Aslatio
beauty. This Is supposed to be
a ourve like that of a line of swans flying
through the sky, and if the hairs grow
otherwise they are pulled out with tweezer,
until they approach the ideal.
The winter clothes of the better class
Korean women are sometimes of fur and
quilted silk. Padded cotton 1. also used,
the gown, being so made that they can
be rlppped apart for washing. Much paste
and glue are employed in dressmaking,
and many a woman of these high-class
circle, would drop to pieces if she were
left out all night In the rain.
now Korean Women Lire.
The new woman movement mean, that
a great change I. to come tn the dally
life of the Korean.. What with .tudy,
school going and calling, a new world 1.
Just beginning for these benighted mor
tals. The well bred woman of today be
gins her life of seclusion at the age of
7 and from then until her death .he 1.
practically confined to the house of her
husband or parents. She ls lucky, Indeed,
If .he ha. a little garden to walk about
In. If she ls very high class, she does not
go out at all, or only In a closed box
about three feet square, and not more
than four feet in height. Thl. I. slung
between poles. In bringing It to her house
the chair bearer, take it Inside the yard,
and then go away while she crawls in.
The proper signal Is given, they return
and carry her to the home of a friend,
leaving the box and going around the
corner until she crawls out Such visit,
are rare.
The Korean woman rise, with the sun
and after spending perhaps an hour on her
toilet directs her slaves how to attend to
the household. She koep the acontints
of the family and acts as mistress of the
establishment. She may do a little em
broidery or sewing herself, but outside
this she has nothing to occupy her all day
long. She usually sleeps on a mat on the
floor and when she rise., If It Is cold
oi:tside, her feet rest on a warm surface,
for her bed room ha. flue, under It and
straw fire, are started before daybreak.
She sits down on the floor before a looking
glass In mak'ng her toilet and eat. from a
little table eight or ten Inche. high. Her
telle furniture 1. composed of bowl, of
brass and a pair of chop (ticks, and her
ford Is largely rice, meats, fowl, fish and
fruit. After eating .he u.e. her finger.
In place of a tooth brush, washing out her
mouth with .alt which she also rub over
her teeth. She take frequent bath In
the summer and on th whole la reasonably
clean.
New Marrlagre Cnstoraa.
This movement mean that there arc to
come change In all matter of lore and
, marriage. Already the Christian girl., of
whom there are many, are demanding that
they be married In the church after our
ceremony, or as near that a. Korean Ideal
will permit. Today the million odd mar
rlagea which take place yearly are as bar
barous as those of darkest Africa. Chil
dren are often betrothed at birth, and a
7-year-old girl may, be married "to a man
of Z0, or a boy of 9 to a girl of 19. A a
rule the marriages take place before the
children have reached the age of pupil
of the first class In the high schools, And
a girl is an old maid at 18 or SO.
Among the queer wedding customs Is the
gluing the bride' eye shut, so that she
cm seo nothing, and keeping them so for
three day. Another la that th bride will
not speak to the groom for at least a week
after the wedding, and a third that a fight
takes place between her frionds and his on
the way to the ceremony, and the one
represented by the pary defeated I con
sidered unlucky. Neither bride nor groom
sees each other until they are married.
After that the girl Is practically the slave
of her husband and his parents, who may
treat her as they please. As h grow
o!der or when her buxhend Is tired of her
he brings one or more secondary wives Into
the house and she has to submit Divorce
are easy on the part of the husband, but
they ar considered disreputable, and do
mestic trouble usually result In adding a
coneublne or so to the establishment rather
than shoving th old wife out into the cold.
FRANK O. CARPENTER,
