KOREANS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 173, 10 April 1923, Page 8

KOREANS

PEACEFUL AND INDUSTRIOUS AN INTERESTING TALK BY COMMISSIONER HOGGARD

Tlic industry and squalor, the simple courtesy and peaceful aims of the people of Korea, that fruitful butter land between the Japanese island Empire and the wastes of Russia, were described in humorous detail by Commissioner R. Hoggard at the Salvation Army’s Vivian Street Citadel, last night. Hon. W. Downio Stewart presided over a packed audience, and apologised for the absence of the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey), through overwhelming pressure of public business. There were also present:—Sir Heaton Riiodes, Hon. AV. Nosworthv. and Sir Robert Stout.

The chairman said it gave him and his colleagues great pleasure to be present, and they believed tho great social and humanitarian work, as well as. its spirtual efforts, of the Salvation Army, the' scope of whose aims was to be realised by tho subject ol Commissioner Hoggard’s address that night. The Army's work was well known, and appealed to all creeds and communities.

Commissioner Hoggard said that Korea was known as the land of the moving calm, because in all seasons of the year there was scarcely a oroatli of wind until 11 a.m., when the leaves first began to daily rustle. Korea has a peninsula 600 miles long, and 120 wide, and in it were 15,000,000 people, in a heathen darkness, he could hardly hope to convey. In old days Korea wan a separate kingdom, from which strangers were vigorously excluded. Even when he was first there the signposts, If you love your country, then murder the foreigner,” were just removed by tne Japanese. He traced the work of the first missionaries. French priests, who arrived there CO years ago. Their work war brought to an I abrupt close by their massacre, with 30,000 adherents, by a jealous Government. For ’ thirty years nothing more was done. Then Americsn Presbyterian missionar.es camo tu Chemulpo and went into tho interior, where they toiled seven years without a convert, but that was not long for the. East. Then came American women missionaries, and a translation of the Gospel of St. Mark, and the Gospel began to spread. ~, u Twelve years agn he and Mrs. Hoggard commenced their work in Korea. On reaching tho capital city Mrs. Hoggard and her children had returned to him in tears because of the awful stench, and the absence of the common decencies of life in the streets But tho work had gone on.

Queer Ways, The ways of the Koreans were strange. If tho Citadel were Korea there’would be a partition down the centre of tho building, separating the sheep from the goats, the men. from tho women. (Laughter.) In Korean meetings no man may look at a woman, and vice versa. But the women had beeirfknown to lift the curtain and peer at the men. (Laughter.) Sometimes he had been praying at a meeting and bail felt a curious hand examining bis legs to see if they wero the same as other men’s. Koreans had to worship with then* hats on, xnd their shoes off, and amongst some hundreds of shoes at tho door, a man might often get away with a better pair of t»han those in which ho came. But they would not say that was stealing; in the East they sometimes admitted “finding” things. “Good-bye” in Korean stood for “Come, come, come,” and at first it was perplexing to sco an increasing crowd following him when he sought to make his adieux.

A Job for the Statisticians. The burial places wero on the heights. In every funeral were two biers and two coffins, the explanation being to dodge the devil, so that ho would not know in which coffin the body lay. In the road approaching the grave the pall-bearers took six steps forward and four paces hack. The road was frequently five miles long. Perhaps some of the Government statisticians present could tell them how long that would take. (Laughter.) Queer Courtships.

“Everything is done tho backwards way on,” said the Commissioner. “Your girl gives you a toenail instead of a tress of hair. Courtship in Korea is queer. It doesn’t matter what the age. complexion, or figure of the girl, if she has small, dainty feet, the young man is irresistibly attracted. They dip the towel in the water to dry themselves on. There was not a furniture shop in the town, and the Commissioner made his own table. It held all the feed they had, however, for oread, coffee, cheese, jam, flour, and tea were unkmnvn foods to the people. No- ’ ady turner 1 up to his first service, but that was remedied when the singing in the open air commenced. It looked like the resurrection morn as hundreds of white-robed Koreans flocked to the unaccustomed sounds. Their long, flowing white robes (white was the national colour) were not as brilliant a white as that known to tho New Zealand housewife, but rather a subdued white, like a six months’ worn shirt. There were to-day 300 in that centre as tho result of that meeting. ' i Hardships of Travel.

Soon there were requests for countrv work. There were only a few miles of railway, and the only other means of travel "was the Korean pony, a trinity of wickedness —ass, mule, and donkey rolled into or.o. All that was necessary for the journey, water bed, and box. all had to go on its back, with the rider over all. “I have been thrown off four tiines before dinner.” said tlie Commissioner, “and Mrs. Hoggard has spent endless hours in bed through the kicks of these desperate little animals. Sometimes thov stopped, like the Irishman who had reached a conclusion, in the centre of a wide stream; often they fell d.'wn.”

A Hot Floor Service. The Korean house was Mt. x S-it There was no interior heating, but the lieat from the fire that cooked tho lice went in a zigzag under the floor beneath tho house, and warmed it thoroughly. “Tho warmest place is u fidgety one for tho visitor.” The only light was a wick in a tiny oil cup. “With filth corroded on the bodies of tho people, their nair matted in a liorriblo way, eating a decayed species of cabbage (you could tell half a mile away' when the lid was lifted), the air in the crowded house so often got thick that the light went out, yet in such places was tho work carried on with wonderful results. In that room, kept warm night and day, there was a mat, under which you could find all that had life and health, whatever you looked for. A Cape of Good Hope scientist had found seventeen specie® of fleas

U’ere, and there were other insects! Snakes and rats raced and fought in the thatch at night.

Appalling Health Conditions. I entered meetings with lilted trousers, dusting insect powder, and at night the legs of _ our camp bed rested in little heaps of insect powder. The ponies fought all night in the next “room,” and there were other “night attacks,” but it was imperative, nevertheless, to reply courteously to the salutation gravely proffered us in tho morning, “Did you rest in peace?” “What are the Koreans like? They are Mongolian in type, more like tho Chinese than the Japanese, a fine lot of men and women who, given a chance, will rise to great things. I dare not mention to you the persecution under which the Koreans are rising to better things. Korea is a place of disease, cholera, typhus, and smallpox. People with running sores come to shake hands with you. Tho sck are put on a platform on four polos- A friend comes in the morning with a little rice if the sick man is alive, with a coolie, hired for Id., to burv him if he is dead. 1 have seen all the filth of a village draining into the only well.”

Results Achieved. “When we camo out wo left 76 active corps with 4500 members as soldiers, tested first as adherents, then as recruits, and finally as full soldiers, to avoid any back-slidings in case tho missionary had to leave, and so that our soldiers would stand oven pefge; cution. In the eight years 1 was theire 16,000 mew testaments . were sold to the Koreans. Tho Bible is not read from tho platform there, but members of the congtogation read veiso and verse m turn until the chapter is finished. We left behind 60 properties purchased and erected by the Koreans themselves and deeded to me. There were no debts.” The Salvation Army was not mere# seeking to improve the fallen in our big cities, said Sir Robert Stout, but to civilise the whole world. lhe Korean people was part of the great yellow race, infinitely more numerous and much older than ours. It Mould nover be wiped out by any other race. It was a peaceful and industrious race. Knowing nothing of health, they could teach us peace, industry, and thrift, without which we might perish. P the white race spent its time m war and extravagances it might yet go the way of the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Egyptian Empires. On the motion of Sir Robcit Stout, a lioartv vote of thanks was earnid to tho Commissioner by acclamation.