Show t 1 i COREA REFORMS I to I I t Tho King nncl the Queen and Their Fights Oven tho Itoynl llarotii TAt a c aii Lose nvm Ills iwfi Ares SMile rind Auit in Rights t I AW Cbtnn Matrhft iMi A Ctaxti for the IUtieiT > mlto thee the-e Ihhttmn lies Chute Otrtt TfU llttttr 7 inQnr Ottmn Ckilemt III s Sold by IAt StltAvg Meal Jlht tknl Look tltkl tkrHll 1 Corn Ironl and Cbrttx ni Mll Qxtir AitlHntry a Wars Kl ii 1 sources of Itit Onmliy and III PnMIe llamt i I dreetf C IrrUpaedmft arte Naws + itoplrtertad br leash o Carpealer t IM I I HAVE JtST v receivodlelters tl from Seoul s I ly Hating that lire III Japanese have I ° Inaugurated I their reforms i It anil lira the Corean govern mends I rapidly dunning Ilnes c of railroad have I been planned arnl the greedy and barous offici ware taint lie I prhedol their offices Salaries are lobe lo-be fixed by Iw l and runic It to a certain I extent to be done away whir The queen family which embraces the worst ol I the t nobility Is twine driven into In-to the background and the king Is I takIng tak-Ing all matters Into trio own hands It Is I an open iccret In Seoul that for year the king has been a henpecked husband and I heard many Holies of the queen Jealous disposition Ill I majesty had a number of beautiful dancing girl who were now and then all Is the ciiitom called Into dance before the court The king who U a rather lively man of about fortyodd has now and then singled out one of these and paid her pedal attention much to the dltguit of the queen lie I ha alto carried on tome Intrigue of this kind unknown to her majesty and the quarrels between the two on tills account have been frequent Just before 1 left Seoul one ol the high officials connected with the court Has caught by the queen carrying note from the king to one of his favorite and the at once lent him on a long million southern Corea lie wa connected with Important public wotks and 1 all of these had to Hop on Hill account ThaI latest news U that the king liai cut entirely loose from ht I < wiles i apron string and that be Is now going to esUblUh a harem In I thu palace I as was the custom In h Corea In the pair and as Is the custom still In nearly all eastern countries line emperor ol r China lias hundreds ol beautiful women and he IMS the right to any of the noble 1 artar stills over twelve > ears of age He takes the pick of Ihe country between the ages of twelve and eighteen and he replenishes his tock every three years The King of Slam has the most wives t erhaps of any Asiatic monsrchlhough the queen Is his on hall sister tie also has line right lo any and all of the girls of the kingdom though the Iso I provide pro-vide that he cannot marry his I mother or hit mutlierln law The Emperor of Japan has I a number of noble ladles In aide of II I his palace I grounds and s he has a I sort ol I a harem though the Japanese Ik I ft 3e try lo keep lie matter secret and no gossip concerning it ever gets Into the I newspapers It is I the same with other Asiatic and Indian rulers and the action of the King of Core Is not surprising especially as almost alt of the Coiean nobles have their concubines NEW CORHAN LAW AS TO MARIUAOK The kings Intended reforms Include a number ol new laws regarding marriage and this In the favor ol the women One provision is that men shall not be married under twenty and girls under ilnleen Heretofore 1 boys could I be married fourteen and I saw boys who were under this wearing the hats which en the married ol matrimony Girls are now married at thirteen and are olten engaged at seven The custom 01 the country is such that wilows cannot can-not marry again and pretty widows are carefully watched l and II there Is anything any-thing forward or bad ldI In I their r actions they are sometimes kidnaped by the fI officials and held as concubine The new laws which are now proposed will II like away this restriction and all marriages t whether of maids or widows are to fIe c to the volition of the parties par-ties concerned They also provide that there shall be no more bu > lng and selling sell-ing of human beings and lathers wilt not be able to sell their daughters The ld customs of mourning I are loan modified and other change wMch tend to the leveling of the classes are tube enacted In the meantime there ion I decided up wsltlon lo all reform and a great many of the people think the country Is going I IIlnil straight I lo ruin There li a woeluflack of confidence in the apaneae and the pro Cldnae eating Is I strong Till HAlT COAST liP COHKA I want to tell l you something about the n il N lw coast of Corea This is hut I little known and most traveler have con lined their lslts to lire IKIHS nearest China rue peninsula l hrl In I the neighborhood neigh-borhood of non miles wife and In crossing cross-ing It 1 traveled northwest through the mountains and came out at llrnughton bay or the harbor of Gensan Tins Is a magnificent harbor and It is much coveted cove-ted by the Kusslans because III Is opened nil the year round litnr liarbor on the Pacific is l that of Vladivostok on the lower edge of Siberia which Hi I lied after leaving Curia and ol which I fill write In my next letter Vladivostok Is I froten up for about sis months of the year and the Russians waht a winter outlet to the sea They are watching Gensan and the TransSiberian railroad will l probably have a branch running down to it The Russian trading houses have agents at GenII and both the Russian and the Japanese ships Hop uN ore r there enroute I to Siberia There is already a thrifty Japanese city there ol dJ IYI r th r several thousand people and these I are engaged In shipping and trading Their houses are of wood with heavy tiled ioifsend their loon is I clean and well kepi The Coresn town Is I perhaps twice as large but It Is a dirty settlement made up of little onestory thatched huts The people are poor and > h fi less I and queer and they are like their kind all over Core Till OLD coal The old Cnrea will probably soon pass away and the curious things ol I hai I have written may become a matter of history The whole of the country la I so strange that I have only been able to partla Ir describe It On this trip I scenes the country I saw all 1 sorts of I queer customs XrI etgs I remember we bought by the stick and In Lore ecu are slacked up like cordwood cord-wood or rather kindling wood Ten eggs are laid end to end and they ale then wrapped about with straw 10 tint they aland I out straight and sliir and lIfInI It 1 look more like a club than eggs In the stores these sticks of eggs are piled up crosswise and the price la I about three cents stick or about three tenths of a rent per egg Chickens are peddled about In crates or baskets made of I suing and woodand Ash are often eaten raw I saw many black hogs on the I trip and these were usually bed by strings or ropes of the site of clothesline clothes-line which I ran through holes In he tops Iheir I ol ears The cattle we saw were very fine large animals but they are used almost entirely ns beasts ol burden They pull v elru k ld tJ rude bullock carts and carry packs on heavy wooden saddles I Ine lAildln g lh are badly made and they rub off the shin and my heart was sickened again and again by a bull as stately as any worshiped In India with two great raw spots as big as your hand on each side of his back A MBIT TO A JOG HUTCHHR There are dogs all over Cores They ae of a snowy while variety and are always snarling and barking at foreigners foreign-ers The poorer claHes sometimes eat dog meat as mod and during the hot days I was told that the llesh Will a pre vrnllve against ague malaria and other sickness At this time thousands ol dogs are killed so General 1ak told me all over Cure In ordinary limes only the poorest of the poor eat the llesh III l docs I visited a dug 1 butcher one diy In the Cnrean capital and watched him kill and dress one of al the curs for the market llecaughllilmas I he ran through the door of the house by throwing slip noose about Ins neck fire dog was rather a nice am nal ol about the site of t an Irish seller I and his fur was as gray as that of the wolf He JS iseemed I lobe aware of the danger and he tugged at Ilia rope whlcn soon tightened on his throat And then Die bare armed butcher swung him oil of hits feel and had him about In the street at the end of the strict till life was extinct lie next laid the dog down on the ground and stabbed him m as we stick a pig He then hung him el IP f le Fmh on the wall ol his hut und cut him up Into dug steaks < o ip in alt and roasts lie asked me If I did n1 want a tenderloin tender-loin and dished up a bawl from a pot i t1on gha Qt Ju of clog soup which was cooking outside out-side his hut and asked me to taste It I It did not look it all appetising and 1 I thanked him and left I HOW COR IAN woMan IRON CLOTIIBS i Among many queer Corean customs there la none stranger than that of IronIng Iron-Ing There are no better dressed people peo-ple In the world than the Coreans They wear Immaculate gowns and the prevailing pre-vailing custom Is whit The I common diess of tho men Is I ma le up ol a long full cotton cow full white pantaloons and wadded while stockings These I are as clean as the best work of a Chinese laundry and alter they are washed In cold water and Ironed w III a cold club The women do all line washing and toning ol the land They wrap the grament round a stick which Is I laid on the floor and then one or two women squat down beside it and pound on the cloth with round smooth wooden I clubs till every fiber has the polish ad gloss I of our best laundries This I does not seem to hurt the cloth and the clothes trans a wonderlul whiteness It takes a long time lo iron a garment and the rattattat of llfhln clubs nf lo be heard all over Core You hear It morning nojn and evening and at nearly I all the hours of Ie I night and It I maybe called feO National i Song ol Corea or the Corona Song of the Shir llie women tap out a tune ns they play and the most ol their time is i taken up In washing Ironing and sewing IJlHK COXAI AKTICI OT All things In Cora are strange to foreigners The thimbles used are ol cloth and paper beautifully embroidered embroid-ered There steno buttons or pros and the garments arc tied on with riu I boas Soap Is sold In lie tonne of a powder and the only matches are sliav Ingt tipped whir sulphur Thrse Mve loon nut Into the Ire I 10 light them and the Hint Is I used to strike alight Ibo markets of Cure are lull nit t strange things There are regular market days over the country and the diferent towns of a dlstikthave markets In rotation ro-tation and the reople for miles around come lo buy nSe sell i Die markets ol Seoul are very good and all kinds offish of-fish tegeUlles and meat are peddled Iel out by Ihene I queer people Game Is plenty and Inili the beef and venison are good The peop earn early risers and I the best time fr market in Seoul M between Sand a a in Two hours later the stands are all cleared away and you have to rely on the retail alores or little shops scattered all over the clU the market scenes are Interesting You sea I pompous swells In long gowns and high l hats poor women by hundreds with Qroe cliuks over their heads and I boys green earning all kinds of vegetables vege-tables anti wares There are servints In livery and coolies with I hats as I 11 umbrellas There are bullock carls and porters merchants and I slates all pushing push-ing and fighting over the things they are buying The market u near the big south gate ol the ell and 1 there are thousands tier every market morning Among the curious article I which I noted found a ready sale was Corean ginseng the root ol whkh Is good Ion all kinds ol diseases red pepier which was sold In paper parcels about the sue of a cigarette I for about one cent apiece I and tobarct which was dried and ped died out by the leaf The grain market wan c u ily queer and the chicken and bird markets were full ol Interest I lORKAN MACIIINKKV I lire and there over the country I saw rude machinery of one kind l and another There were waters mills for the pounding pound-ing out of rice and the crushing of grain along many of the streams The I mills were all on the principle of the old seesaw or teeter board A long beam o wood was swung on a pivot and on one end ol this was a heavy hammer or mallet I mal-let This felt Into a mortar In which the rice or grain was placed At the other end of the beam was a square box holding perhaps a barrel of water and Ills box hung right under a pipe which was led by the stream As soon as the box was full the I water end of the beam auk down the wot r rushed out and the mallet I which had been raised high In the air fell on the grain This is the patent roller process mill of Core I saw other mills and those In Seoul were like the ones of the Scripture and were turned by hand 1 saw some millstones one on the top ol another which wre turned by mules which went about like a horse In a tannery The mOt ol the millers In the capital were Chinamen mid they were by no means polite The brass works which I made the cooking utensils for these 11000000 Coresns are of the rudest nature The furnaces are ride ovens of lay and little crucibles about the l sloe I ol a tin I JI leC used tine bass Is first cast and then polished by means of a lathe which the workman manipulate k klarrem kl 11 111r wuh hh Icel sitting In the end of a trench as he does so The brass shhes like gold and It takes on a beautiful polish I boutht a dinner set and It cost mn fj It consisted of about a duien bras bowls from tine sue of a wuh basin down to that of an egg cup The slUersmllhs work the same way and some of their work Is I very artistic In the past the 1 Coreans were la fact the greatest artists of the far east I and 1 Japanese art Is said to have had Its birth in Corea Within the past half doteit rnturies hoaever the C eau have t an going backward and the I Japanese have greatly Improved rat every way over then Corean Instructors Till FLTUHIt Or colon The Indications no A aa tIt Corea will steadily Improve ami forunes will I certainly I dila nude by sons ol the foreigners who net In at the hght time and who have the proper Influence The Asiatic market Is I one of the biggest In the world and Cores has many natural resources which vlll command a ready 1 sale all over he east The matter of coal Is a most Impoitnnt one The Chinese have plenty but the most of their mines are In the Interior and they are undeveloped Die temper of the Chinese Is I such that foreigners cannot can-not get at them and today the chief coal merchants of the Western Iaciflc are the Japanese J They have mines ol vast extent and In the I western part of Japan there are grout mines f ch have tiny miles of tunnels running il I Jit out mm and under the sea these are at Nagasaki and the mining mutt be ery expensive Tim mines about Imyang Cored lie right I on the surface and the coal can be dug out mill a pick The river Is i at hind for carrying the coal to the sea and a great Industry ou into prn up here The gull minus are I am told fabulously nth I was told there were great mines on the tan donor t-an f gulls 1 Ue found all over Cora Teae mlaa will be upcned mill the sclliemeht of this war Tire 1 railroad aeosssiou will be extremely valuable and this country win surely I form the outlet lor the lrant Siberian road This already bcun at Vadisrn < i Js t i7 fi stock and is being bnnilt at different i roots between batpoint and Europe f A branch line runninf down through Corea whit bnne II IIhlll a daya sale 01 apan In addition to these things there are other valuable concessions and enterprises enter-prises which will spring up The situ I avian Is i such that the nflnui has to have money and he can gel it only by bar rowing from outsiders He owes both Chin and Japan large sums of money tcltao Jn IJ i ant and a foreign loan Is an Immediate and absolute necessity Ills majesty has no available assets outside ol his mines and concessions and Japn will Insist upon an Immediate settlement of his Chinese obligations or that links freed In someway entirely from Chnl The result Is I that the country will be explored ex-plored and It will probably have a boom A most Interesting scientific expedition could now be organlied logo through It and Its I geology Its flora and Its other natural resources will pay Investigation In-vestigation The king would undoubtedly undoubt-edly permit It awl the explorer would el r We tuunts r have some exciting tiger bunts and at the same time might get some valuable concessions F gps + l = CM It |