ABOUT KOREA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3609, 15 May 1923, Page 5

ABOUT KOREA.

A SALVATIONIST’S STORY. ADDRESS BY COMMISSIONER HOGGARD. Commissioner Hoggard, of the Salvation Army, who is on his second visit to Dunedin, last week delivered to a large audience in the Citadel a highly interesting address on Korea and the Koreans. The Commissioner, who, with Airs Hoggard, spent eight years “in the land of the Morning Calm,” carrying on the work of the Salvation Army, had a story to tell that was probably among the most diverting of tales of foreign experiences ever unfolded to a Dunedin audience. A large part of the lecture centred round the early work of the Army in Korea, but that does not quite mean that it was of deepest interest to Salvationists, for the recital could not fail to appeal to a much wider public. The chairman was the Mayor (Air H. L. Tapley), who, in introducing the speaker, after being loudly applauded, said that the city appreciated greatly the good work being carried out by the Army. During the recent flood it had been his privilege to come into contact with the Army officers, who were administering relief to the sufferers, and he had been greatly impressed by the loving work that was being done by those officers. Work of that kind was typical of the Army the world over. —(Applause.) The Commissioner, who received a rousing reception, explained that Korea was 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 was a separate kingdom from which strangers were vigorously excluded. Even while he was there the signposts, “If you love your country then murder the foreigner,” were removed by the Japanese. He traced the work of the first missionaries, French priests who arrived there 60 years ago. Their work was brought to an abrupt close by their massacre, with 20,000 adherents, by a jealous Government. For 30 years nothing more was done. Then American Presbyterian missionaries went to Chemulpo and went into the interior, and then into Seoul, the capital, 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. Twelve years ago he and Mrs Hoggard commenced their work in Korea. On reaching, the capital city Airs 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 the work had gone on among houses in front of which inevitably lay at least 2ft of human filth. “ FOR WAYS THAT ARE STRANGE.” The ways of the Koreans were strange. If the citadel were Korean there would be a partition down the centre of the building separating the sheep from the goats —the men from the women. —(Laughter.) In Korean meetings no man may look at a woman, and vice versa. But the women had been known to lift the curtain and peer at the men. —-(Laughter.) Sometimes ho had been praying at a meeting and had felt a curious man examining his legs to see if they were the same as other men’s. Koreans had to worship with their hats on and their shoes off, and amongst some hundreds of shoes at the door a man might got away with a better pair of shoes than those in which he came. But they would not say that was stealing; in the East they sometimes admit finding things. “Goodbye” in Korean stood for “Come, come, come,” and at first it was perplexing to see an increasing crowd following him when he sought to make his adieu.

The burial places were on the heights. 11l every funeral were two biers and two coffins, the explanation being to dodge the devil, so that he 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 back. The road was frequently five miles long. Perhaps some statisticians could tell them how long that would take. —(Laughter.) THE FIRST MEETING. The Commissioner told an ’ interesting story about his first meeting in Seoul. There was not a furniture shop in the town, and the Commissioner made his own table. It held all the food they had, however, for bread, coffee, cheese, ham, flour, and tea was unknown food to the people, and he had to import his supplies. Nobody turned up to his first service, but that was remedied when the singing in the open air was commenced. It looked like the resur reation 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 the New Zealand housewife, but rather a subdued white, like a six-months’ worn shirt. In all houses there were rejoicings when a son was born, but a girl was despised. Therefore, the story of Jesus had appealed and the first meeting he had held indoors the next day in the presence of 120 men had resulted in the conversion of 25 souls. “THE TRINITY.” Soon there were requests for country 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 one. All that was necessary for the journey—water, bed, and box —had to go on jts back, with the rider over all. “I have been thrown off four times before dinner,” said the Commissioner, “and Airs Hoggard has spent endless hours in bed through kicks from these desperate little animals.” THE KOREAN HOUSE. The Korean house was six feet by eight feet. There was no interior heating, but the heat from the fire that cooked their rice wont in a zigzag under the floor beneath the house and warmed it thoroughly. “The warmest place is a fidgety one for the visitor.” said the Commissioner The only light was a wick in a tiny oil cup. “With filth corroded on the bodies of the people, their hair matted in a horrible way, eating a decayed speoies of cabbage (you could tell half a mile away when the lid was lifted), the air in the crowded house often got so thick that, the light went out; yet in such pla.ees was the 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 Capo of Good Hope scientist had found 17 species of fleas there, and there were other insects. Snakes and rats raced and fought in the thatch at night.” AN INSANITARY LAND. Tlie Commissioner said that he entered meetings with lifted trousers, dusting insect powder, and at night the legs of the camp hod rested in little heaps of insect powder. The ponies fought all night in the next “room,” and there were other night attacks; hut it was imperative, nevertheless, to reply courteously to the salutation gravely proffered them in the morning, “Did you rest in peace?” What were the Koreans like? They were Mongolian in type, more like the Chinese than the Japanese; a fine lot of men and women who, given a chance, will rise to great things. Korea was a place for diseases — cholera, typhus, and smallpox. People with running sores came to shake hands with you. The sick were put on the platform on four polos. A friend came in the morning with a little rice if the sick man was alive; with a coolie, hired for a penny, to bury him if he were dead. He had "seen all the filth of a village draining into the only well.” A GREAT WORK. “When we came out we left 76 active corps, with 4500 members as soldiers, tested lirst as adherents, then as recruits, and finally as full soldiers to avoid any backslidings in case the missionary had to leave, and so that, our soldiers would stand even persecution,” said the Commissioner. “In the eight, years that I was there 16,000 New Testaments were sold to the Koreans. Ho went on to refer in stirring terms to the enthusiasm of the converts. It did his heart good to think of the wonderful way they responded to the teaching. It was no rare thing for 2000 of them to attend an open-air service. In conclusion the Commissioner bespoke sympalhy and prayer for those who were being lifted from the depth of night into the glory of day.—(Loud applause.) On the motion of Mr F. G. Gumming a hearty vote of thanks was passed to the Commissioner for his able address. A vote, of thanks to the Mayor brought the meeting to a close.