LIFE IN KOREA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18566, 26 November 1923, Page 11

LIFE IN KOREA.

SOME QUAINT CUSTOMS.

EVADING THE EVIL ONE.

" Korea, the Land of the Morning Calm," was the subject of an address delivered in the Baptist Tabernacle by Commissioner R. Hoggard, of the Salvation Army, on Saturday evening. The Rev. J. W. Kemp presided. The commissioner described the characteristics and modes of life of the inhabitants of that denselypopulated section of the Manchurian Peninsula, and dealt with the progress of ( Christianity there. When he was there some 12 years ago to start the work of th« Salvation Army, the conditions were appalling. Nothing was known of sanitation or drainage, and epidemics of cholera and smallpox were frequent. Hampered by the natural antipathy and distrust of the Korean for a stranger, the commissioner and Mrs. Hoggard worked on and soon their efforts were rewarded by a growing band of adherents to the , Christian Church. Their first hall was built in the capital, Seul. When it was decided to extend the work to the country, real difficulties, presented themselves. There were no proper roads and no bridges, and, to add to their discomforts, no good drinking water. The Koreans had more in common with the Chinese than the Japanese, said the commissioner, although they did not seem to share the former's reputation for honesty. Among the quaint customs of the Korean was the practice of having two coffins, and two biers at a funeral. The idea was that the Evil One would not know which coffin the body was in, and while he was deciding, the spirit would reach "the flowery land." But with all their faults and peculiarities, the Koreans, once converted to Christianity, displayed a simple faith, and a wholehearted devotion, which was often lacking in their Western brothers.