* t Mrs. Anabel Major Nisbet Rev. John Samuel Nisbet ©aj> 3n ani) ©aj> (Out in Itorea Being some account of the mission work that has been carried on in Korea since 1892 by the Presby- terian Church in the United States. By Mrs. Anabel Major Nisbet FOR TWELVE YEARS A MISSIONARY TO KOREA LIBRARY OF PRINCETON r ~ * f FEB y 2008 .THEOLOGICAL seminary PUBLISHED BY Presbyterian Committee of Publication RICHMOND, VA.— TEXARKANA, ARK. -TEXAS WHITTET a SHEPPERSON. PRINTERS RICHMOND, VA. Uebtcation Some have the Enthusiasm to Begin Great Things. Others have the Faith and Courage both to Begin and to Carry On. TO )t Jfattfjful pioneer Jilanb of gbebert (KSfjo J^abe 3£ot jfaltcreb This Book is Affectionately Inscribed by GTfje gutfjor The Pioneers Miss Linnie Davis (Mrs. Y/. B. Harrison) Rev. Wm. M. Junkin Mrs. Wm. M. Junkin Rev. W. D. Reynolds, D. D. Mrs. W. D. Reynolds, Miss Mattie S. Tate Rev. L. B. Tate. QTfje Pioneers;* Mrs. Mattie Ingold Tate. We tell of the Band that first crossed the wide waters, To bring the glad tidings to the land of Chosen, The message of love to those lost sons and daughters, Who knew not redemption’s sweet story till then. The Band was of seven — the perfect in number — And bright were their hopes as they came to this shore. They prayed and they planned and no ground did they cumber, But sowed by all waters the good seed from their store. Miss Davis, the first one to reach Chemulpo, Was first, too, in every good labor of love; The first on errands of mercy to go, And first to be called to His service above. Mr.„Junkin, the saintly, abundant in labors, And happy in speech, with a heart full of love, Let many blind souls to light and the Savior, Before he was taken for service above. Mrs. Junkin was with him, so dear and devoted, So helpful to all and a mother so true; Though now in the homeland, we know she still loves us, And prays for our work unceasingly, too. Then too, Dr. Reynolds, the learned translator, Has labored to publish the life-giving Word, By lip and by page, with noble devotion, Has he given the message which thousands have heard. Mrs. Reynolds, so ready with love and devotion, To help in the work which they came out to do, Has well done her part, and with little commotion, Has made herself useful, and well beloved, too. Mr. Tate is well known to our friends of today, And his locks have grown grey, but not aged his heart. He’s up early and off o’er the hills far away, Ever faithful and ready to do his full part. Miss Tate, though named last, is not least in endeavor, But all through the years has done her full share,. With visits and classes and journeys wherever There were souls she could win for the Mansions up there. Still with us are four, and two are in heaven, And one in the home-land our pathway still cheers, We love and we honor this first Band of seven, And pray God’s rich blessing attend our pioneers. * Composed for the 25th anniversary of our Korea Mission, Contents Page “The Pioneers” 6 Preface 11 I. The Preparation (1892-1899) 13 II. The Seed Sowing (1899-1905) 43 III. The Great Ingathering (1905-1912) 75 IV. Sifting the Wheat (1912-1919) 109 V. Korean Faith in Action 137 VI. The Outlook (1919) 165 Our Missionaries to Korea 191 Index 194 ( 7 ) 0S& Korea, our Mission in lower left-hand corner. Mu$trattong Page 1. Rev. and Mrs. John S. Nisbet Frontispiece 2. Korea Missions, Map 8 3. Our Korea Mission, Chart 10 4. The Pioneers: Rev. William Davis Reynolds, Mrs. Patsy Bolling Reynolds, Miss Mattie S. Tate, Mrs. Mary Leyburn Junkin, Rev. William McCleery Junkin, Rev. Lewis Boyd Tate, Miss Linnie Davis 12 5. Three Scenes at Chunju 22 6. Mrs. Yu 28 7. Rev. C. G. Kim 28 8. John-Abelle Apartments 37 9. Heathen Family — Christian Family 46 10. Market Scene in Korea 50 11. Three Views of Mokpo 56 12. Theological Students, Pyeng Yang 81 13. Women’s Mid-Winter Bible Class, Chunju 87 14. Three Views of Soonchun 96 15. Bible Study, A Chart 98 16. Three More Views of Soonchun 108 17. Four Views of Kwangju 122 18. Korean General Assembly, 1918 130 19. Bible Conference, Quelpart Island 132 20. Teachers, Mary Baldwin School, Kunsan 136 21. Rev. and Mrs. K. P. Yi and Family 140 22. Rev. C. I. Yi 140 23. McCutchen Memorial Bible School, Chunju, 1919 143 24. Going to Market 153 25. Our Korea Mission, 1919, Picture 159 26. Country School, Chunju 169 27. Two Kunsan Views 176 28. Korean Medical Assistants, Kunsan 180 ( 9 ) OUR CHOSEN (KOREA) MISSION 1892— TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS— 1920 CHUNJU, 1896 REV. AND MRS. L. B. TATE MISS MATTIES. TATE REV. AND MRS. L. O. McCUTClIEN REV. AND MRS. W. M. CLARK REV. AND MRS. YV. D. REYNOLDS MISS SUSANNA A. COLTON REV. S. D. WINN MISS EMILY WINN MISSE. E. KESTLER MISS LILLIAN AUSTIN MR. AND MRS. F. M. EVERSOLE MISS SADIE BUCK,LAND KUNSAN, 1896 REV. AND MRS. WM. F. BULL M ISS J ULIA DYSART DR. AND MRS. J. B. PATTERSON REV. JOHN McEACHERN MR. WM. A. LINTON MISS LAVALETTE DUPUY REV. AND MRS. W. B. HARRISON MISS LILLIE O. LATHROP REV. D. JAS. CUMMING MISS WILLIE B. GREEN SOONCHUN, 1913 REV. AND MRS. J. F. PRESTON REV. AND MRS. R. T. COIT MISS META L. BIGGAR MISS ANNA L. GREER REV. AND MRS. J. C. CRANE DR. AND MRS. J. McL. ROGERS KWANGJU, 1898 REV. EUGENE BELL REV. S. K. DODSON MISS MARY DODSON MRS. C. C. OWEN MISS ELLA GRAHAM DR. AND MRS. R. M. WILSON MISS ANNA McQUEEN REV. AND MRS. J. V. N. TALMACK REV. AND MRS. ROBERT KNOX MR. AND MRS. M. L. SWINEIIART MISS ESTHER B. MATTHEWS MISS ELIZABETH WALKER MOKPO, 1898 REV. AND MRS. H. D. McCALLIE MISS JULIA MARTIN REV. AND MRS. J. S. NISBET MISS ADA McMURPHY DR. AND MRS. R. S. LEADINGHAM REV. AND MRS. L. T. NEWLAND UNION WORK MISS ELISE J. SHEPPING SEOUL MR. AND MRS. WM. P. PARKER MR. J. B. REYNOLDS PYENG YANG Our Fields 2,651,000 Souls OUR FORCE— FOREIGN WORKERS 70 NATIVE WORKERS 304 CHURCH MEMBERS 7,073 SCHOOLS 79 STUDENTS 1,864 SUNDAY SCHOOLS 241 SCHOLARS 8,612 OUR EQUIPMENT- HOSPITAL plants 5 SCHOOL PLANTS 10 MISSIONARIES’ RESIDENCES .32 A NUMBER OF MISCELLANEOUS BUILDINGS USED IN THE WORK. TOTAL ESTIMATED VALUE OF PROPERTY IN GOLD $233,978 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES Executive committee of foreign missions NASHVILLE. TENNESSEE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT preface S OME are born to authorship, some achieve authorship, and some have it thrust upon them, and the writer of this book belongs to the last class. When the Executive Com- mittee asked me to undertake the history of the Korean work for the last twenty-five years, I felt my inability so keenly, that I tried vainly to pass the task on to some of our Pioneer workers. But I want to tel! each reader of the book, how much I have enjoyed writing it. I forgot I was writing a book, as I thought how you had held the ropes for us all these years in love and faith and prayer, and made possible our going down into the dark mines of superstition and demon worship. Forgive me if I forgot the editorial “We” and just talked out my heart to you, for indeed you seemed very near to me. I want to express my thanks for the generous help received from many members of our own Mission, in furnishing pictures and incidents for the book. I give grateful acknowledgment for the material used from the Quarter Centennial papers of both the Presbyterian Churches U. S. A. and U. S. ANABEL MAJOR NISBET. Mokpo, Korea, November, 1919. Note. On account of Mrs. Nisbet’s being in Korea, and thus making it impossible to confer with her, special appreciation is due to the following informal committee who have carefully read the manuscript, and made helpful suggestions: Mrs. W. B. Ram- say, North Carolina; Miss Mamie McElwee, North Carolina; Mrs. Chris G. Dullnig, Texas; Miss Carrie Lee Campbell, Virginia; Miss Aline McKenzie, North Carolina; Mrs. A. D. Mason, Ten- nessee; Mrs. J. W. Bruce, Alabama; Mrs. Alma Sydenstricker, Georgia; Mrs. M. D. Irvine, Kentucky; Miss Eva M. Cavers, Mis- souri; Rev. Eugene Bell, D. D., Rev. and Mrs. F. M. Eversole, Rev. and Mrs. J. F. Preston, at home from Korea on furlough; and Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Venable, Asheville, N. C. J. I. A. THE PIONEERS Rev. William Davis Reynolds Mrs. Patsy Bolling Reynolds Miss Mattie S. Tate Mrs. Mary Leyburn Junkin Rev. William McCleery Junkin, Rev. Lewis Boyd Tate Miss Linnie Davis CHAPTER I. ®f)e preparation ( 1892 - 1899 ) CHAPTER I. ®be preparation 1. The Beginning: (1) First Scripture Distributed, (2) First Presbyterian Missionary, (3) Our Pioneer Band of Seven. 2. First Two Years: (1) Spent in Seoul, (2) Presbyterian Council, (3) First Visit to Chunju, (4) Miss Tate’s Trip to Chunju, ( 5) Tong-Hak Rebellion, (6) Southern Exploring Trip. 3. Chunju Station Opened. 4. Kunsan Station Opened. 5. First Chunju Baptisms: (1) C. G. Kim, (2) Mrs. Yu, 6. Bible Translation. 7. House-Building: (1) Korean Houses, (2) An-pang, (3) Seclusion of Women, (4) Missionary Homes, (5) Chunju Houses, (6) Manual Labor. 8. Occidental versus Oriental. CHAPTER I. ®1 ]t preparation (1892-1899) “In the beginning God.” — Gen. 1 : 1 . In our work in Korea, we tried to put God where His Book puts Him, “In the beginning.” First Seed Sowing. — Korea has been called the “Land of the Morning Calm,” but I have often thought a better name would be, “The Land of the Midnight Storm.” Twice in the last twenty-five years Korean hills have re- sounded with the shots of hostile armies, as great nations contended for supremacy. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” and the first Protestant mission- ary to enter Korea, gave his life on the banks of the Taidong River. A Scotch Presbyterian, Rev. Mr. Thomas, was a colporteur of the Scotch Bible Society, and in 1865, he came to Pyengyang on the “General Sherman.” This ill-fated vessel approached the Korean shores in Septem- ber, and despite numerous warnings sailed up the Taidong River as far as Pyengyang. This was possible only because the river was swollen by heavy rains. It looked to the people of the then Hermit Nation that the Americans had come to take forcible possession of their country, and or- ders were given for the destruction of all on board. She was burned and her crew and passengers were massacred as they came on shore. The anchor chains of the ill-fated General Sherman were taken as trophies of victory and hung in triumph over the East Gate of Pyengyang. They hang there, mementos of America’s first and only attempt to enter Korea by the sword of steel. But on this same ship Mr. Thomas brought another sword, “The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,” and while he gave his life for the Master, he gave the Master’s life to Korea; for we find that in Pyengyang, the place of miracles in i6 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA modern missions, one of the first men received into the catechumenate had in his home a New Testament received from Mr. Thomas. Though Americans may blush when they see the emblems of the defeat of the sword of steel ; the sword of the Spirit has won many a victory and brought great joy to the American missionary and his home church. Presbyterian Pioneer. — In 1884 Dr. and Mrs. Horace N. Allen, of the Northern Presbyterian Board, came to Korea as the first Protestant missionaries to take up work. Owing to certain foreign complications which Ko- rea had experienced because of the presence of the French Catholic priests, some of whom had suffered martyrdom, Dr. Allen came ostensibly as a physician to the foreigners. Three months after their arrival in Seoul, at a banquet given in honor of the opening of the new post-office, an attempt was made to assassinate Prince Min Yong Ik, who had recently returned from a mission to America. A man who had travelled across the Pacific Ocean might be supposed to be in favor of anything as wildly pro- gressive as a post-office; so this assassination was a de- termined attempt of the conservative party to blot out ail new thought. But fortunately just as the native doctors were preparing to pour black pitch into the wounds, Dr. Allen arrived, having been summoned by the Secretary of our Legation. Dr. Allen treated the Prince so successfully that he was made physician to the Royal Household, and two months later, in February, 1885, the Royal Korean Hospital in Seoul was opened by the King’s Decree, with Dr. Allen in charge. And so God’s Word, which brought light to those who sat in darkness, came to the Land of the Morning Calm first through the martyred Scotch col- porteur on the banks of the Taidong River ; and Protestant Christianity found its entering wedge when Dr. Allen, in the midst of a scene of bloodshed and terror, came with his surgical skill and knowledge of the Great Physician. THE PREPARATION 17 Rev. Horace G. Underwood came to reinforce Dr. Allen in 1885, and that same year the Northern Methodists sent their pioneer band to begin work in the Hermit Nation. Southern Presbyterian Mission. — Whether true or not that “Matches are made in Heaven,” surely it is no mis- take to say that missions originate in the mind of the Master Missionary. But humanly speaking, the origin of the Southern Presbyterian Mission in Korea can be traced back to two sources, one in the McCormick Seminary of Chicago, and one in the Union Theological Seminary of Virginia. Probably these two sources again find a com- mon fountain head in Dr. Horace G. Underwood, who vis- ited both institutions and with telling eloquence and tire- less enthusiasm, presented the claims of Korea as a vir- gin, or should I say “hermit?,” mission field. In the fall of 1891, Mr. L. B. Tate, of McCormick, and Messrs. Wm. M. Junkin, W. D. Reynolds and Cameron Johnson, of Union, were all four volunteers from the Senior class for the Foreign Mission field. Mr. Tate was the first of the four to apply to our Executive Committee to be sent to Korea. The committee asked him to select some other field, as they had neither money, men nor mind to open a new work in an unknown land. The other three students, who were intimate friends, were looking forward to China as their chosen field of work. There were at the same time four elect ladies greatlp interested in Missions, — two of them especially interested in missionaries elected by themselves. These four ladies had never seen each other. Their names were Miss Mattie S. Tate, of Fulton, Mo.; Miss Linnie Davis, of Abingdon, Va. ; Miss Mary Leyburn, of Lexington, Va., and Miss Patsy Bolling, of Richmond, Va. Miss Tate naturally wanted to go to the field with her brother; Miss Leyburn and Miss Bolling had said to Messrs. Junkin and Reynolds, respectively, “Where thou goest I will go,” and Miss Davis was hoping to go to Africa. i8 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA The story of how an unwilling and moneyless Execu- tive Committee was brought to the point of starting a work in Korea, composed of seven persons widely scat- tered, for the most part unacquainted, and with prefer- ences for three different fields, is told briefly in three words — Opportunity, Importunity, Contributions. Opportunity. — The first opportunity brought about by the providence of God, was the meeting of the Inter-Semi- nary Missionary Alliance in Nashville, Tennessee, in Octo- ber, 1891. Here Messrs. Tate and Reynolds, being dele- gates from their respective seminaries, met for the first time. Here, too, they heard two noted men from Korea; one, the Rev. H. G. Underwood, D. D., on his first fur- lough after seven years of wonderful experience as the pioneer ordained missionary of Korea; and the other, Prince Yun Chi Ho, an exiled young Korean Progressive, at that time a student in the University of Tennessee. A short time after their meeting, Messrs. Reynolds, Junkin and Cameron Johnson sent in their applications, asking to be sent to Korea, but received the same answer that Mr. Tate had received, that it was impossible at that time to open up new work. Their enthusiasm was not quenched, however, and through their initiative, it was arranged for Dr. Underwood to visit some of the churches of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, telling them of the work in the Hermit Nation. Importunity. — Prayer began in 1891, but is unfinished still. Deeply impressed with the fact that God was call- ing them personally to go to Korea, although seemingly the way was blocked, Messrs. Junkin and Reynolds made it a habit to meet daily for united prayer. With door shut and locked they poured out their hearts in importunate petition that God would open the door to them into the Hermit Nation. They had faith to believe that in due time, perhaps two years, God would answer their prayer and permit them to go. Imagine the rebuke to their little THE PREPARATION 19 faith, when one day, about two months after their applica- tion had been pigeon-holed, the two friends received a tele- gram saying, “Prepare to sail in August.” Again was the promise of Matt. 18:19 fulfilled, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” Contributions. — These were two kinds, literary and fi- nancial. Through articles published in our church pa pers, an effort had been made to create a strong sentiment in favor of opening work in Korea, because of the open mind of the Korean people. Then, too, our Church had just withdrawn from Greece, a little country. Why not enter Korea instead, another little country. But the contribution which added most was a generous gift of $2,000.00 from Mr. John Under- wood, of Brooklyn, New York, brother of Dr. Horace G. Underwood. Dr. Underwood added his personal check for $500.00. This was the large beginning of numberless acts of kindness shown our Mission by workers from our sister Presbyterian Church. Although Mr. Cameron Johnson did not become one of the Pioneer Band of Seven, no account of the Mission would be just or complete that failed to record his active interest not only in the initial stages, but up to the pres- ent moment; for by stereopticon and facile pen Mr. John- son is rendering valuable aid to the common cause. Although not among the seven, Mr. Johnson was a pioneer among the pioneers, landing in Korea a month in advance of the party. Dixie. — It was thought best to spend the first two years in Seoul, studying the language and customs of these strange people among whom they had come to work, so Christmas of 1892 found our Pioneer Band in Seoul. The Mission purchased a remodelled, tile-roofed Korean house inside the West Gate, for $1,500.00, and here the Junkin and Reynolds families kept house together, Miss Davis 20 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA boarding with them ; while the Tates lived in a small house in the yard. This place was called “Dixie,” as it was the home of the Southerners. Yang-ban. — In those early days of helpless ignorance of language and customs many a funny blunder was made ; as for instance, Mr. Junkin’s exulting over getting a load carried cheap because he was a “Yang-ban,” (gentleman), when what the coolie had really said was that he wanted a Nyang-ban, or six sen as hire ; and Mr. Reynolds polite- ly asked his teacher to eat some ashes, when he meant to offer him some tea. Our Field. — In company with Northern Presbyterian Missionaries our workers made several trips to the coun- try, while the ladies gathered the children into their homes and taught them, and made visits in the Korean homes. In February, 1893, the Presbyterian Council was re-or- ganized, consisting of all Presbyterian workers in Korea, and it was decided to allot to the Southern Presbyterians for evangelization the three southern provinces of North and South Chulla, and South Choong-chung. Owing to a subsequent lack of re-inforcements, the Mission surrend- ered all of the latter province, except six counties, to other Missions. These provinces border on the Yellow Sea. North and South Chulla have about two and a half million people in them, and are called the “Granary of Korea.” The land consists of fertile rice plains, although you are never out of sight of the mountains. One of the first questions that a Korean asks you is, “Do the mountains in your honorable country sit together as closely as in ours?”; and truly “Zion stands with hills surrounded,” for while some might disdain to call these hills mountains, in many places there are steep mountain passes, and every- where there are ranges of hills. There is always distance, openness, sweep to a Korean view which is quite a con- trast to the picturesque coziness of almost all Japanese scenes. THE PREPARATION 21 First Visit to Chunju. — In September, 1893, Messrs. Junkin and Tate visited Chunju, the capital of North Chulla. They made the trip from Seoul on Korean ponies. In true eastern fashion their bedding and baggage had been made into a pack and first put on the pony and then they mounted on top of the pack. A ride of this kind has all the charms of a sea voyage, for you sway at the will of your steed. Much has been written of the Korean pony, but justice will never be fully done him by words. He must be ridden to be rightly understood. He is a little larger than the Shetland pony, has a will all his own, is wiry, and there is no limit to his endurance. He wiil carry more than half his own weight, week in and week out, thirty-five miles a day. He differs widely from the Japanese horse or the Manchurian pony and appears to be a native of Korea, — unless you accept the old Korean legend that when three sages arose from a hole in the ground in the island of Quelpart three thousand years ago, each of them found a chest floating in from the south containing a colt, a calf, a dog, and a wife. Messrs. Tate and Junkin found Chunju, which was to be one of our larger centers of work, a beautiful walled city. It is even to the present day a very conservative place, as it was once the home of some members of the royal family, and has old aristocratic standards. In their walks about the city Messrs. Junkin and Tate were often followed by crowds of small boys hooting and yelling and throwing stones at them. In November of the same year, Mr. Tate returned^and spent two weeks in Chunju. First Woman to Visit North Chulla. — The curiosity and antagonism of the people seemed to have calmed down enough for Miss Tate to come down with Mr. Tate in the spring of 1894. She made the trip from Seoul to Chunju in a Korean chair. This consists of a little four- posted canopy about three feet square by four feet high, (i) Graduating Class, Women’s Bible Institute, Chunju; (2) First Students, Women’s Bible School, Chunju; (3) Baseball Team, Boys’ School, Chunju. THE PREPARATION 23 carried on two poles. The passenger sits on the floor of the box-like chair, and there are curtains to screen him from view and keep out the fresh air. Each of the four carriers has a pair of suspenders over his shoulders, and through loops on either side of his body the ends of the poles pass. If you can sit cross-legged like a Turk and dispense with fresh air, and don’t object to your coolies putting you down in the middle of the road every three miles, while they go to get a drink and take a smoke, it is not a disagreeable way to travel, and you can make thirty-five miles in a day. When I came to Korea twelve years ago, it was still the way most of the women traveled over the country. But the last ten years have seen won- derful changes in the building of railroads, the introduc- tion of the automobile and the bringing in of the Japanese “one-man buggy,” the jinriksha. It is little wonder that Miss Tate grew so cramped that, on getting out of her chair, she could not walk for a while. A little Korean house had been bought in the city of Chunju, and when it was noised abroad that there was a foreign woman in that home, the yard, which was a good sized one, and the wall in front of the home were filled with sight-seers. Day after day the crowd continued to come just to stare at that woman with the blue eyes and fair hair, so different from anything they had ever seen before. One day Miss Tate arose to walk across the floor, and with one accord they cried, “Look, she has two feet just like we have, we thought she had only one!” She had been sitting on the floor so that only one foot showed. Korean Curiosity. — I myself have several times, on trips to new country places, had the Koreans, seeing my black hose, comment on the fact that while my feet were black, my face was white. I can well understand why no foreign missionary ever wants to go to a zoological garden to see the animals. We all know just exactly how the monkeys feel at the staring, gaping, chattering crowd of 24 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA sight-seers ; and while none of us are believers in the Dar- winian theory, still, “A touch of pity makes the whole world kin.” I have often thought, as I would try to write or study, endeavoring to ignore the faces pressed close to the window pane, intent on every movement 1 made, that I understood what the Saviour meant by the multitudes pressing upon Him. How He must have longed for the freedom of solitude ! And that is one of the hard- ships of the mission field, the multitude presses on us. We cannot get away from their curiosity, their questions, their burdens, their misery or their sins. Even in dreams we are pursued by their anguished faces. I think that fact in itself accounts for many of the nervous break-downs on the Korean field. Tong-hak. — During a stay of nearly three months in Chunju, Miss Tate did not once venture out on the street, but many women were seen in her home, tracts were dis- tributed, and Mr. Tate and his Korean teacher did con- stant preaching and personal work; and so the first seed was sown. After they had been in Chunju about two months there arose talk of a new doctrine, by which men could get supernatural gifts. These people were called the Tong-haks; and their rebellion against the Govern- ment was known as the Tong-hak Rebellion. Their desire was to drive all foreigners out of Korea, and keep the Chosen land for the Chosen people. One day Mr. Tate heard a great noise on the hill above where they lived and was told that a crowd had gathered there and were crying, “Let us break the gate down,” “We will fire the house,” “Let us take sticks and drive the foreign rascals out.” In Danger. — Day by day the news came that the rebels were coming nearer to Chunju, and Mr. Tate’s teacher insisted that they leave for Seoul, for he said if they reached Chunju the missionaries would be killed, and he too, because of his association with them. Just as a THE PREPARATION 25 runner came saying that they were actually within ten miles of Chunju, Mr. Tate received a communication from our Legation advising him to return to Seoul. The Ko- rean teacher fairly danced for joy. Thus the seed sowing was interrupted. Exploring South. — The month of May of that same year, 1894, had been spent by Mr. Reynolds and Dr. Drew, who with his wife had come from America to join the original seven, on a long exploring and preaching trip from Seoul to Fusan, via Kunsan, Chunju, Mokpo, and Soonchun, and many other points. They touched at many places that were later to become centers of our work. Kunsan. — The tiny ponies were loaded so heavily with the copper cash and tinned provisions necessary for the long journey that the foreigners had not the heart to ride on top of the load. The immaculately dressed native, who accompanied them, as guide and language teacher, forti- fied by custom, had no such scruples, but climbed atop the bedding and rode in comfort, while the missionaries walked. But one day in crossing a muddy ditch, the pony made a sudden jump, and the dignified teacher lost his equilibrium, turned a somersault backwards and land- ed on his tall hat in the rear of the pony. The undignified missionaries gave way to unconcealed mirth, but it was no joke to the Korean. Dr. Drew’s feet became so badly blistered with walking, that to relieve them, he literally “shod them with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace,” in the form of tracts inserted in the inner soles of his shoes. One direct result of this sore experience, too, was Dr. Drew’s determination to begin work at Kunsan Port instead of in the interior; so that he could itinerate by boat and not have to tramp over the country. The Tong-hak Rebellion and the Chino-Japanese war kept all our workers in Seoul for a year now, it not being wise for them to go South while things were so unsettled, but they continued active work in the city of Seoul. In 26 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA the cholera epidemic, that swept the country, they ren- dered heroic service, ministering to the dying and com- forting the panic stricken people. Return to Chunju. — Chunju lay in the path of destruc- tion of the Tong-haks, so in the fall of 1895, when Messrs. Tate and Reynolds re-visited Chunju, they found that about one-third of the city had been destroyed in a battle between the Government troops and Tong-haks. On mar- ket day prisoners would be led out by a squad of soldiers and shot in full view of the crowd as a warning against rebellion. Of the six who had attended services and ex- pressed a desire to follow Christ, all had been scattered, and a new beginning was made. Callers thronged to see the foreigners, and hundreds of Christian books and tracts were sold. Leaving Seoul after Christmas, 1895, Mr. and Miss Tate came to Chunju to live, where Mr. Har- rison joined them in 1896, and Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, in 1897. Kunsan Station Opened. — In 1896 the Junkin and Drew families moved to Kunsan and shortly after Miss Linnie Davis joined them there ; so a new centre of Gospel influence was started. Kunsan is on Basil’s Bay, at the mouth of Keum Kang, “Gold River,” 120 miles from Chemulpo, and thirty-five miles from Chunju. In 1896 it had no wharf, nor post-office, nor telegraph. The streets were narrow, crooked, and filthy. The only medium of exchange was the old copper coin with a hole in it. It took a string of 100 of these to make ten cents. So a purse in which to carry your money was an impossibility. Twen- ty dollars was a coolie load. Rice, chickens, and eggs could be bought at the Ko- rean market, which was held every five days, but other supplies had to come from San Francisco, pass the cus- toms at Chemulpo, and wait an indefinite time for a steamer to Kunsan. Even after I came to Korea, I have waited sixteen months for a grocery order and we always THE PREPARATION 27 count on waiting four months. For several years all cooking was done on a charcoal brazier, for stoves were thought to be dangerous to the straw thatched roofs of the Korean houses in which the missionaries were forced to live. Mrs. Junkin eventually got a stove, but Mrs. Drew never owned a stove in Kunsan. For three years our workers in Kunsan lived in little thatched Korean houses, built of mud, with paper doors and windows. In 1899 Mr. Junkin built the first foreign residence there. Ready Soil. — The response to the preaching of the Gospel at this station was, perhaps, more prompt than in any other section. Mr. Junkin preached regularly to good congregations, many of whom had to leave home on Saturday in order to get to the Sunday morning ser- vice. Miss Davis held meetings for women and children. The sick came readily to Dr. Drew’s guest quarters, where he had opened a dispensary, and thus furnished an im- portant point of contact between the missionary and the people. Rev. W. F. Bull joined Kunsan Station in 1899. In the following spring came Miss Libby Alby, who in the course of Cupid’s activities became Mrs. W. F. Bull. First Chunju Baptisms. — When Rev. and Mrs. W. D. Reynolds reached Chunju in the summer of 1897, they found that Mr. Tate had prepared a class of five for bap- tism, and so the first five converts in our Chunju field were baptized that summer by Mr. Reynolds. These five are all typical of our Korean converts, so I shall tell a little of their after growth and develop- ment. Two of them were men, and because there was no depth, when the day of persecution and testing came, they both fell away. They are both in Hawaii now and, while nominal Christians, their fruit-bearing has been small. 28 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA C. G. Kim. — There was a mother and her little son who lived in a mud hut near the Tates. Mrs. Kim had nar- rowly watched her strange neighbors to be sure they did not make offerings to the household gods, or do honor to their ancestral spirits. First through curiosity and later through real interest, she attended the weekly meetings held by Miss Tate for the women, where the Gospel story was told in its simplicity and power. With her she. took her son, a boy of twelve. Chang Gooky was a long, list- less, timid boy, whose underlip seemed to lack a pucker- ing string; and his hair hung in a dirty plait down his back, but he early learned to love to sing those wonderful Gospel songs; and the story of the Cross took hold of his imagination. His father aspired to practice medicine in old Korean style, and Mr. Harrison’s first meeting with the father was very characteristic. A Korean had come Mrs. Yu Rev. C. G. Kim THE PREPARATION 2 9 to Mr. Harrison’s home in intense pain. To relieve him Mr. Harrison gave him a slight opiate and told him to wait on the porch while he got his medicine ready. When Mr. Harrison returned, a strange man was sitting beside the patient holding a big needle at his elbow just ready to stick it in and let the evil spirit out. It proved to he the father of Chang Gooky. Mrs. Kim and Chang Gooky were baptized, and to her death the mother was a faith- ful Christian. In these early days of seed sowing, Chang Gooky gathered the neighborhood boys in and acted as Sunday School Superintendent, while Mrs. Keynolds taught them. In 1898 Mr. Harrison persuaded Miss Linnie Davis to come to Chunju as Mrs. Harrison, and they took Chang Gooky as servant in the new home. Drawn nearer to the Master through Mrs. Harrison’s teaching, he ex- pressed a desire to become a preacher of the Word, so he studied first in our Mission school, then in Pyeng Yang and is now one of our ordained Missionaries to Chayju, (Quelparte), an eloquent and effective preacher of the Gospel. Mrs. Yu. — Among that original five was one of a dif- ferent type, Mrs. Yu. Her husband was a well-to-do man, but alas, she had failed to do her duty, — she had only two little girls. As yet no son had been born to keep up the ancestral worship ; and in the Orient a woman is worse than useless, who does not give her husband a son. Heartsick and discouraged Mrs. Yu was ready for the message, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Almost from the first, she believed in Him who had compassion on even the woman of Samaria. At first she did not tell her husband she was going to Miss Tate’s meetings to learn about the Jesus doctrine, but pretended that she went only for a sight-see of the strange things in the home. But little by little a new thought came to her, this Jesus would not lie even to save His own life, so next time her 30 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA husband asked her where she had been, she told him, “to study the Jesus doctrine.’ ’ He beat her until the blood came and forbade her under penalty of death to go again, but she went. Often she was beaten, always abused. “It is the husband’s business to think. How can a stupid thing like a woman learn anything? An intelligent beast like a cow can’t learn, so why should a stupid thing like a woman think of studying?” Nameless Girls. — One of the first fruits of Mrs. Yu’s new attitude of mind was to give her little girls names. Korean women have no names of their own. The way they are designated often sounds to us very funny. I have a friend who is known to us as “The woman with the broken tooth.” Another is, “The woman with a wart on her nose.” After they have a son they are known as “So and So’s mother.” I have known little girls called No. 1 and No. 2. I have one little friend called “Enough” because she was the third girl, and her father thought girls should stop in his family. So Mrs. Yu, learning from the Gracious Book that the life of Jairus’ little daughter was precious in His sight, named her first little girl, “Big Treasure” (Keun Pobai), and her second little girl, “Little Treasure” (Chagun Pobai). Odd Baby Bed. — Not long after her baptism a son was born. He was the first boy and, of course, very precious. One day when a hurry call for Dr. Ingold came, she .went to the home. Not seeing the baby anywhere, she asked where he was. In reply they took her to the back yard and there was a large pig that had been killed and the little boy placed inside. He had “Red Poison,” (erysipelas) and the Koreans thought the best remedy for this was to put him inside of the hog. Dr. Ingold quickly had the child out of his strange cradle, and with difficulty saved his life. Mrs. Yu thought, surely now Mr. Yu will see God is blessing us. But, no ; he wanted that boy trained to taki THE PREPARATION 3t , part in the Ancestral Worship, and he had already begun to fear his wife’s son would drink in the Jesus doctrine with his mother’s milk. Mrs. Yu, however had made another step heavenward. She had decided she would not herself prepare the food for sacrifice. Up to this time she had contented herself with the thought that she did not sin if she simply did not take part in the sacrificial rites ; but she had superintended the killing of the chicken, the cooking of the rice, the setting of the table to be placed before the “ Honorable Spirit.” Now she had reached higher ground. She told her husband, when the time came that the servants and food were there, he could do as he pleased, but she had de- cided that she would serve Jesus her Lord, and would have nothing to do from that time on with the Ances- tral Worship. Faces Death. — Mr. Yu could not believe his ears. A woman refuse to obey her husband! It was open rebel- lion! He seized the large kitchen knife that was lying near and ordered her to prepare the sacrifice or die. But to his utter amazement he met the calm reply, “Kill me if you will! You can kill my body, but not my soul; but never again will I prepare the sacrificial feast.” He stood several minutes with knife poised above her, but he saw no flinching in those calm eyes. Her face was lit by a steady purpose, to witness truly for her Lord, though it cost her her life; so dropping the knife he fled from the house. That is some twelve years ago. It happened soon after I came to Korea, and I do not think he has ever beaten her since. He is still not a Christian, and often abuses her, but he has allowed the daughters and son to be educated in our Christian schools, and the oldest daughter was sent in marriage to a Christian man. Mrs. Yu stands a type of the Christian woman who endures, never able to visit or preach much, but witness- 32 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA ing for Christ in her home, and rearing her children to rise and call her blessed. In the last day, many such an oriental woman will hear the “ Well done,” of the Master. South Chulla. — The beginning of the work in South Chulla will always be linked with the name of Rev. Eugene Bell. Coming out with Mrs. Bell in 1895, they too spent their first two years in Seoul, studying the language, learning the customs and working with the missionaries there. Mr. Bell made several trips south and it was thought at first that the South Chulla work should be opened at Naju, a large walled town twenty miles west of Kwangju, and once the capital of the prov- ince. The people there however, seemed very hostile, and as the Government had indicated the plan to make Mokpo a treaty port, it was decided to locate there. Mokpo, 1898.— Dr. Chester was then on a visit to the Orient and having made an overland pony trip from Seoul with Mr. Bell, he concurred in this decision. In the fall of 1£98 Mr. and Mrs. Bell moved to Mokpo. They were soon afterwards reinforced by the arrival of Dr. C. C. - Owen, and Miss F. R. Straeffer joined them the following year. |t Translation. — Rev. W. D. Reynolds, having shown a wonderful gift for learning this strange and difficult lan- guage, w&s elected in 1895 as a member of the Board of Bible Translators, and from that time on much of his strength was given to that important work. For many years he served as Secretary of the Board of Translators, Dr. Underwood being Chairman and Messrs. Appenzeller and Gale the other two members. A provisional version of the New Testament was published by the Board in 1904 and two years later a revised and corrected edition printed. The Board then published Genesis and Psalms, but had not completed either when Drs. Gale and Underwood THE PREPARATION 33 left on furlough, and never resumed continuous sessions after their return, as their time was taken up with other pressing work. The task of completing the Old Testa- ment thus devolved on Mr. Reynolds, who with the as- sistance of two Koreans, Kim Chung Sam and Yi Sung Doo worked steadily on through book after hook, until April 2, 1910, when he had the joy of seeing a completed work. Missionary croakers had grumbled at the slowness of the Board and said, “At this rate it will take fifty years to give the people the Bible in their own vernacular.” As a matter of record it took five years and four months from the time Mr. Reynolds and the two Koreans began work on the Old Testament until the last verse was done. The only book untouched by them was Jeremiah, which was handed in by Dr. Underwood. It is a sonrce of great pleasure to us that one of out workers had so great a share in giving the Word of Life in the vernacular to Korea. In June, 1908, -in recognition of his services as translator of the Scriptures, Mr. Reynolds was accorded the degree of D. D. by his alma mater, Hampden Sidney College, Virginia. Korean Houses. — Much of the strength of the mission- ary in these first days had to go into the house that Jack did not build. Korean houses are all one story and eeb ifeotoing ( 1899 - 1905 ) CHAPTER II. ®fje i£>eeb ^otntng Method: (1) Personal Work: a. Mr. Chay, b. The Church Starl (2) Country Itinerating: a. Modes of Travel, b. Food, c. Preaching, d. Tracts. Gospel Aids: (1) Village Life, (2) Markets, (3) Sight-seers. 3. Station Work: (1) Chunju Medical Work, (2) Mokpo, (3) New Missionaries, (4) Korean Language. 4. Medical Work: (1) Dr. Oh, (2) Kunsan Medical Work, (3) Korean Diagnosis, (4) Korean Pharmacopoeia, (5) The “Honorable Guest,” (6) Lepers. 5. Opening Kwangju. 6. Country Churches: (1) Leaders, (2) Catechumenate, (3) Membership. 7. Close of Russo-Japanese War: (1) Japanese Immigration, (2) Railroads, (3) Missionary By-Products from War. CHAPTER II. ®{ )t i5>eeb H>otomg ( 1899 - 1905 ) “In the morning soiv thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand ; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good .” — Eccl. 11:6. “The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the Kingdom” is what the Master Teacher taught by the seaside nearly two thousand years ago. So this seed sowing in the land of Chosen has been the planting of in- dividual Christians here and there in the land until by his influence and life, the one seed man often multiplied a hundred fold. Street preaching to crowds has not been as great a factor in the work in Korea as elsewhere, but the work has been done more by a personal presentation of the Gospel to the individual in the inn, on the street, in the country village, in the “sarang” or guest room, where Korean men gather to discuss all questions of busi- ness, politics, gossip and ethics. Thus the majority of Korean converts have been hand-picked, gathered by per- sonal work with the individual. Merchant Preaching. — Mr. Pak is a silk merchant and his friend Mr. Chay is an oil merchant. They go from market to market selling their wares, often travelling to- gether. One day Mr. Chay had a strange tale to tell. At the market at Somni last week, there was the strangest sight, — a man with a big nose and tight pants, telling a strange story, the Jesus Doctrine. The Koreans, like the Athenians, are ever eager to hear new things. So Mr. Chay not only listened to what this man said but bought 46 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA one of his books. Every time he sees Mr. Pak he has some- thing to tell of this new doctrine, and at last he announces that it is a good Word and he intends to “Do the Doc- trine,” and he wants his friend Mr. Pak to start the Christian journey with him, and so perchance in two vil- lages, the Christian seed is planted. Kim, The Church Starter. — We have a man in the Mok- po field we call “Kim, The Church Starter.” He is not an educated man, his business is making wooden shoes. The ordinary Korean shoe is a rather graceful sandal, made of rice straw, but for rainy weather, they have a wooden shoe made of pine. One day when Mr. Kim was at market selling his shoes, he met the colporteur, Mr. Chay Kyeng Wha, who gave him a tract and sold him a Heathen Family. Christian Family. THE SEED SOWING 47 Gospel and told him that Jesus the Son of God was call- ing for all who were thirsty to come to Him and take of the water of life freely. The story gripped him, and on his way home he thought the matter over, stopped in to worship with the people at Pai-kho-dong, and decided to accept the offer. Then in pursuit of his business, he went to the island of Wando, because he heard wood was cheap there, and renting himself a little room, proceeded to ‘make wooden shoes, and incidentally to tell about his Saviour. Soon word came to the missionary to come to Wando. There were people there desiring to know the way of life. This work has developed into a good church, ready to elect an elder and join the ranks of the “or- ganized churches.” In the course of time Mr. Kim moved to Hainam and the story was repeated. “The good seed are the children of the Kingdom.” Itineration. — By 1899 in our three centers of work, Kunsan, Chunju, and Mokpo, we had comfortable homes for our workers, and a few believers in each place, and the missionaries began to take longer trips to the coun- try. Our work has always been characterized by exten- sive itineration. Workers leave home to be gone three and four weeks, visiting small groups of believers, visit- ing and establishing churches ; always reaching out to points not yet touched by the Gospel. The preparation for these trips is even at the present time something like getting ready to go on an extensive camping trip. You carry a camp cot, sleeping pad, blankets, a food box, con- taining canned goods, bread, coffee, or cocoa, and other necessary eatables, and vessels with which to cook what you don’t cook before leaving home, a valise with clothes and books and tracts, and always insect powder. The Jik-y. — All these are placed on a jik-y, the Korean carrying frame, which is almost ideal in its construction. The “jik-y” is as peculiarly Korean as “hot-tamales” 48 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA are Mexican, or “ jinrikisha” Japanese. It is a wooden frame that fits on the back, with arms that project back- ward to hold the load, and padded loops into which the coolie slips his arms and fits the jik-y over his shoulders. It is so constructed that the weight is distributed over his hips, back and shoulders, and a man can carry three hun- dred pounds for a considerable distance. The average coolie will carry one hundred pounds thirty miles a day on his jik-y. If man has to be the beast of burden, the- jik-y is certainly an ideal equipment. Mode of Living. — The missionary, while in the coun- try, cooks on a charcoal brazier, and usually his load coolie is also his cook. This “ brazier” is usually made out of one-half of a five-gallon oil can that John D. Rocke- feller has made ready for use. But I hear some say, “Why not eat with the Koreans?” “Why does he have to carry bedding and food?” A few missionaries have tried to live like the Koreans. I visited the grave of one not long ago, who did, and his memory is still kept green by the Koreans, but he did not live to preach the Gospel very long. A few, like Paul, with frail body and little strength, may, notwithstanding, be able to found a Galatian church and preach the Gospel to utmost parts, but most will be invalided home. Speaking of Pillows. — Korean homes are inhabited, not only by women and children and men and babies, but also by things that creep and crawl and sting and bite. Ko- reans themselves sleep on a stone floor, with a high wooden pillow. Now we might get accustomed to sleeping on a stone floor, but I am afraid we might perhaps be like that farmer’s horse, whose master had just gotten him edu- cated to the point of doing without food when he died. A bachelor missionary friend, who was doing light house- keeping in a house with the heated Korean floor, had some fine cans of fruit, that he had imported at special expense. THE SEED SOWING 49 He was called to Seoul on business and left his Korean boy in charge of the home. Returning one night unex- pectedly to the boy, imagine his feelings when he looked in and saw on the floor a half dozen boys, sound asleep, each greasy head reposing peacefully on a can of that special fruit. Fruit was not the only thing that got hot that night. Food. — As for Korean food, the chief thing of course is rice. The Koreans have as many names for rice as the Arabian has for horse, and rice means to Koreans what baked beans mean to Bostonians or hot biscuit to South- erners. But with rice he must have “kim-chi,” a kind of pickled sauer-kraut, very hot with red pepper. You do not have to see a dish of kimchi to know it is there. One of my friends had a part of a closet torn out searching for the rodent she was sure had died in the wall, before she traced the odor to the girl’s school supply of kimchi for the winter, which she had allowed to be stored in her cellar.' Koreans also eat a quantity of dried fish, and some beans and pickled turnips # and a kind of water-cress. Usually at a Korean feast I tell my friends that I like hard boiled eggs best, served with the shells still on them. Mistaken Identity. — Koreans also eat dog meat. Here we tell a joke on one of our hospitable North Caro- linians. They had an English traveler as guest in the home, and the mistress of the manse was proud of her new dish for supper, a meat loaf seasoned with celery. We missionaries get into the habit of using Korean words in our English conversation. “Pup” in Korean means “Law,” “rule” or “recipe”; so the head of the home, seeing this new dish, jokingly inquired of his wife, “Dear, where did you get this pup?” She replied that a neigh- bor had given it to her. The guest declined, under plea of headache, to partake of much dinner. Market Scene in Korea. THE SEED SOWING 51 Country Trip. — So our itinerator, and coolie loaded with bedding and food, .accompanied also by a Korean Christian, who is to act as partner and helper, starts for the country. Some travel a-foot, some on donkeys, some on horses, some on bicycles and some have a “Smith Pusher.” In the early days a bicycle was a great asset. The village boys would cry, “Here comes a man riding his spectacles.” Soon a crowd would collect and the mis- sionary and his helper would tell the simple story of the Cross, sell copies of the Gospels and distribute tracts. Dr. S. A. Moffett had prepared a tract in which Mr. Wun wants to tell Mr. Chang the Plan of Salvation. Mr. Chang does not understand such terms as “Holy Spirit,” “Pray- er,” “Salvation by Faith,” and “Trinity;” so Mr. Wun in “The Two Friends” simply but plainly explains their meaning. This and other tracts by Drs. Underwood and Reynolds were widely used. Gospel Aids. — Three things helped to sow the seed so widely. One was that Korea is an agricultural country and the people live in villages. You will rarely see a farm house, off to itself, but all over the country are clusters of little straw thatched houses, making a village of some fifty or more families, with their rice fields, or “nones”, near enough to cultivate. Factories, as they are known in the West, have been, up to the present time, unknown in Korea, but we now hear rumors of cotton factories, and in a few places large plants have been erected for silk culture, and hundreds of girls are employed. Cotton, linen and silk weaving have been carried on by individuals in the home. The Koreans make beautiful soft white silk and a fine grade of linen that wears well. Market. — Their system of markets also has helped to spread the Good Tidings. The traveler passing through the interior of Korea, wonders where the people get their various wares, for the shops are few and the assortment of goods not varied. If he happens along on “Chang 52 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA nal”, market day, he will understand. Every five days the artisan, merchant, farmer, and others, for miles around will gather there, bringing their wares and produce to barter or sell. Straw covered booths are erected and to the uninitiated it looks almost like a riot was in progress as pigs squeal, cows low, chickens squawk, and men grow excited in the scramble to be the first to sell their wares. It is like a hundred exciting auction sales going on at once. These market days gave fine opportunities for preaching, distributing tracts and selling the Gospels. Many a Korean first heard of Christ on market day. Mr. Harrison induced the little band of Christians in Chunju to contribute to the erection and support of two sheds at market for preaching to the great crowds that assembled there every fifth day. Sight-seers. — Another means by which the Gospel has spread has been the curiosity of the Koreans. There is hardly a day that you do not hear some one coughing or clearing his throat on your front porch. This is the way a Korean announces his arrival. Of course the homes have no door bells and they could not knock on paper doors, so they stand and clear their throats at intervals till you come, and then frequently you hear the words, “Koo-gyung harra wasso,” we have come for a sight-see. Anything will be a sight-see. My work basket with its silver thimble and thread on wooden spools is very inter- esting. Korean thimbles are pretty little embroidered caps that sit on your front finger and remind you that the German name of thimble, “finger-hat,” is a good one. Their thread comes in hanks. They dearly love to see me send up our window shades, only I often have to explain to country women that there is no spirit living in the shade that enables it to travel that way, that it is just a machine. After you have given them a short sight-see, they will sit contentedly around on the floor and listen to you tell them about Christ. Often THE SEED SOWING 53 they will ask questions, and I have spent three hours with a group of eager, interested sight-seers. It is a wonder- ful chance to reach the women. Tracts are given as they leave, and the itinerator often meets these tracts in far off country villages. Mischievous Girl. — One of my school girls played a trick on some sight-seers, that was worthy of an American college girl. Her father was the wealthiest man in his village, and he was the first man to send his daughter Ingyung, off to boarding school. When he came to take Ingyung home, Mr. Kim bought a clock that would strike, a new thing also in his section. The morning after they reached home, the heathen neighbors crowded in to see Ingyung. They spied the clock and asked what it was. The girl mischievously informed them that it was the house where the new Guardian Spirit lived, and that this spirit possessed great power. It would come out and call and as often as it called they must bow down to it. Soon the clock struck nine. All counted anxiously, and, then in true Korean fashion, proceeded to “chul-how,” bend until the head touches the floor, nine times to this honorable spirit, which surely had new and wonderful power. Ingyung had just moved the clock’s hands to strike ten and had her guests prostrated on the floor, when her horrified father came in, and explanations were in order. Elder. — This same Mr. Kim is now an elder in our church. He is just a plain country farmer. He was asked, “What is the real ground of your salvation? Are you saved because you decided to believe, or are you saved because God chose you to salvation?” Now Mr. Kim has had no theological training, but has attended some of our Bible Study Classes, and so the question was asked more that the missionary might explain our Church’s stand on this question to a prospective elder, than with any idea that Mr. Kim would answer. But he paused and 54 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA thought and then replied, “I am saved because God chose me to salvation, otherwise I would have something of which to boast. ” Our Korean Christians are good, clear thinkers. Medical Work. — In September, 1897, Dr. Mattie In- gold, now Mrs. L, B. Tate, joined the workers in Chunju and opened up medical work in a little native house. Her treatment of the women and children was of incalculable help in removing prejudice and misconceptions, and in securing a hearing for the Gospel. “A medical mission- ary is” indeed “a missionary and a half.” When suffering has been relieved, it is easy to listen to the words of the one who has brought healing. One poor woman, to whom Dr. Ingold had brought relief from intense pain, said to her, ‘ ‘ Can you not give my husband some medicine to make him stop drinking? He drinks a great deal and beats me and the children so much that it is hard to live.” “Yes,” said Dr. Ingold, “I have come to Korea to bring your husband that medicine, the Gospel. If he will only eat its teachings he will never again beat you or the children.” So the poor woman went home comforted, to try to per- suade her husband to go to the services in the little church and learn of the Great Physician. The little dispensary, with its tender, consecrated doc- tor, was soon “A light set on a hill,” and many who sat in darkness saw its gleam from afar and were led to the Savior. Village Work. — Chunju and Kunsan now had good local congregations, and many farmers came in from the outlying villages. Often men would walk in fifteen or twenty miles to attend services, starting Saturday and returning Monday to their villages. It was natural for them to talk to their fellow villagers about what they had seen and heard and also to invite the missionary to visit their community. THE SEED SOWING 55 Great Personal Worker. — Mr. Junkin accompanied by Dr. Drew made itinerating trips among the islands in Kun- san territory. Mr. Junkin was perhaps the greatest per- sonal worker of his day. He combined with great elo- quence and a fluent command of the language, a warm and sympathetic disposition and a most engaging manner with the Koreans. It was his delight, from the first, to visit and talk with them in their sarangs (guest-rooms). I was a new missionary when the Great Captain of our forces called this consecrated soldier to lay down his armor, and I shall never forget the impression made upon me by one remark. The question was raised as to whether Koreans indiscriminately should be allowed to go into the room and look at Mr. Junkin ’s body before his burial. It was feared by some that a crowd might come from idle curiosity, but a pioneer missionary promptly answered, “Mr. Junkin was never so tired or busy that he refused to see a Korean in life, so why should he be denied them now?”; and as I saw the Koreans stand gazing with tear- dimmed eyes at his beloved form, I realized something of what he meant in the letter written only a few weeks before, when he vehemently protested against any one call- ing the missionary life one of sacrifice, “It is the life of greatest love and greatest happiness.” Mokpo. — The Mokpo work was strengthened in 1900 by the marriage of Dr. C. C. Owen to Miss Georgiana Whiting, M. D., a most experienced and efficient worker in the North- ern Presbyterian Mission. Here too our local congrega- tion was growing, and the country villages were being visited, when God in His strange providence called Home Mrs. Lottie Witherspoon Bell. Mr. Bell returned to Amer- ica with his two little motherless children, and soon after, Dr. Owen, on account of business and health reasons, was obliged to return home. Mokpo Station was on the point of being closed, but the Reynolds moved there in 1902, where they remained until Mr. Bell’s return the same (1) Self-Help Students, Girls’ School, Mokpo. (2) Girls’ School, Mokpo, 114 Students, September, 1919. (3) French Memorial Hospital and Dispensary, Mokpo. THE SEED SOWING 57 fall, when they moved' to Seoul, in order that Mr. Rey- nolds could be in better touch with the other members of the Bible Translation Board. The New Missionary. — Rev. L. 0 . McCutchen, who had just arrived on the field, spent that winter with Mr. Bell, wrestling with the Korean language. The first two years a missionary spends on the field are given over largely to the language, for we do our work with the people di- rectly and not through interpreters. The new man soon learns to pronounce the benediction and lead the sing- ing, but few can really preach till they have been on the field two full years, although nearly all do some kind of teaching the second year. The first year men always get the pleasant job, too, of Station Secretaryship, fence mending, teaching English in schools, etc. I am sorry for the new-comer who is not willing to suffer all things for the Master, for these first two years. Distance has ceased to lend enchantment to the mission scene. The streets are dirty and the smells many and dreadful, the heathen un- attractive in their sin and filth, fellow workers are not the saints he thought all missionaries were, forgetting that if sanctification were a necessity for the mission life he himself would not be numbered among the missionary family. Loneliness. — The missionary in the initial years of ser- vice cannot too often be remembered by the home church in prayer. The strain of life in the Orient in a lonely station, where there are only one or two families, and no mental diversions; where you seem to have sounded the height and depth of your companion’s mental and spiritual nature, has been vividly and repeatedly described by Kip- ling in his tales of army life in India. The same is true of any life in a lonely Oriental place. There is always danger of “grooviness” in work and in spirit. There is a stale- ness in daily associations when you meet only the same 58 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA few people day in and day out for several years. We do indeed need to say, “For this thing only do I pray, Oh God, let not my soul grow gray.” Language Study. — We see so much around us to be done that it is hard to spend those necessary days in lan- guage study with a so-called “teacher,” for in reality no Korean knows anything of pedagogy, and our teachers are often kept awake with difficulty. All educated Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans understand the written Chinese ideograph. For instance the character for “man” conveys the idea to any educated person of the three races, but the Chinese will call it “nin”, the Japanese “Hito” and the Korean “Saram.” It is funny to see a Korean and Japanese communicate with each other through the medium of the written Chinese characters and not able to understand a word of each other’s language when spoken ; but I have often seen it done. Chinese. — Chinese bears the same relationship to Ko- rean that Latin does to English, for China has furnished the philosophical, technical, scientific, and religious ter- minology. Native Vernacular. — Korea has an alphabet of her own consisting of twenty-five letters, fourteen consonants and eleven vowels, which is extremely simple and very easily learned. I have taught several Korean women to read their Bibles in a week in “eunmun,” or native script. But for a foreigner to learn to speak the Korean language is another thing. It has no pronouns, gender, number, or abstract terms as we understand them ; and yet it is a most definite language. You can’t have just a brother, the word used shows whether he is older or younger than you are. When you tell about the Prodigal Son we Ameri- cans “put” his new clothes on him, but the Korean “ip-u” THE SEED SOWING 59 the best robe, “ki-u” the ring, “sin-kiu” the shoes; and if he were going to put a hat on him, he would “seu-u” it. Grades of Talk. — We have “honorable talk” to use to your superior, “middle talk"' for your equals, and “low talk” to children and servants. Not only are these dif- ferent endings, but often different words; and nothing ,’s more absurd to an Oriental than for you to use wrong kind of talk. For instance when you eat, you “musko” but your guest “chop-su-o.” Death, said to be that great leveller of all, does not come to all alike, for the child “Chook-so,” while the father “Say-sang-du-nas-so.” Still let no one be discouraged, for hard work and prayer will conquer even the Korean language. Dr. Alexander. — Kunsan Station suffered a great loss in 1901, when Dr. Drew was forced by ill health to re- turn to the homeland. They were nearly two years with- out a doctor, so it was with great joy they welcomed the coming of Dr. A. J. A. Alexander; but the day he landed there was a cable awaiting him telling of the sudden death of his father. This necessitated his return to America. Again Kunsan was left without a doctor, although Dr. Mattie Ingold was ever ready, and often did make the tiresome thirty-five mile trip to Kunsan, to attend the sick and suffering there. Dr. Alexander has never lost his interest in the Korean work, and at many times has strengthened it through his love, prayer and interest. Dr. Oh. — One direct result of his stay in Korea, was the going of Mr. K. S. Oh to America to study medicine. Mr. Oh was a very bright, young man and for some time the longing of his heart had been to study medicine, that he might relieve the sufferings of his people and glorify his Master. He spent five years in America, and while there the burden of his letters home was always the same, “Teach the children, teach the children.” He graduated in Louisville, Ky., in 1907, and returned to Korea that 6o DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA fall. He has given our mission twelve years of faithful, efficient service, first in Kunsan associated with Dr. Dan- iel and later in charge of our work in Mokpo, and since 1913, he has been one of our representatives in the Union Medical College at Seoul. No man on the staff at Sever- ance is more useful, or is of greater service to the student body that Dr. Oh. Dr. T. H. Daniel and his wife arrived in Kunsan in 1904, and subsequently built the dispensary and part of the present hospital . Kunsan Medical Work. — In 1904 Rev. A. M. Earle also joined the Kunsan force, and in 1905 Miss Ethel Kestler, a trained nurse, came to help Dr. Daniel. Of course, both Dr. Daniel and Miss Kestler were advised to spend their first year in language study. However to tell the Koreans that a doctor has come, but that he is not to practice, is very much like the old nursery rhyme, “Mother dear, may I go swim? Yes, my darling daughter; Hang your clothes on a hickory limb, But don’t go near the water.” It is impossible to turn a deaf ear to the entreaties of the sick, especially as each one is certain he will surely die, if not treated at once. Diagnosis. — Koreans have implicit faith in medicine, and there are a great many native doctors and medicine venders. Their belief in evil spirits is seen in the causes to which sickness is attributed. Mrs. Su said her child’s blindness was caused by an evil spirit ; that she had moved into a new house and failed to propitiate the guardian spirit, so it entered her child’s eyes, though she acknowl- edged that for three months the child’s eyes had been sore, and she was afraid to wash them for fear of offend- ing the spirit. The number of children blind from measles THE SEED SOWING 6l and smallpox is appalling; Mothers will not infrequently bind tobacco or cow dung over the poor weak eyes, so that inflammation sets up, and the child becomes blind. Go-Between. — The Eastern use of a “Go-between/’ not doing anything directly, but always through someone else, leads often to funny complications. Several poor, unfor- tunate “Go-betweens” have had perfectly good teeth pulled, because they seated themselves in the doctor’s chair and indicated the location of the aching tooth. The doctor had failed to grasp the fact that the owner of the aching tooth was thirty miles away, and this was the go- between. Dr. Eli B. Landis compiled, in 1898, a most in- teresting pharmacopoeia of native Korean medicines. I wish I could quote at length from this very interesting book, but I will only give a few examples. Korean Pharmacopoeia. — 1. Spider’s Web. — If this web be gathered on the seventh day of the seventh moon and hung from the collar of the coat, dangerous illness will be avoided. If it be tied around a wart or wen, such ex- crescence will dry up and disappear. 2. Lice. — These insects leave the body of a dying man. To tell whether an invalid will recover or not, place some lice on a table before him. If they go to the chest of the invalid, he will recover, but if they go to his back, he will die. If three or four hundred black lice be pounded up into a mass and applied to scalp wounds, such wounds will heal rapidly. This will also cure ulcers or abscesses. 3. Scorpions. — The scorpion’s entire body is good for medicine, but the tail, which contains the sting, is best of all. Before being used the body should be roasted. It is good for all kinds of paralysis and convulsions. Donkey Cough. — The Korean calls Whooping Cough “Donkey cough,” and they think that if you tie the hair from a donkey’s tail around the child’s throat, it will be much relieved. That is the most literal application of 62 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA “The hair of the dog being good for the bite” that 1 have ever known. But the great Korean remedy is the “chim” or lancet, a long villianous looking needle. The Korean will come and affirm that you have an evil spirit and he will stick the lancet in to let out this spirit. It is often stuck in the knee or elbow, resulting in the joint’s becoming stiff. The Honorable Guest. — They dread measles much more than they do smallpox, although they have a saying that they never count their children till they have all had smallpox. One of the common names for smallpox is “The Honorable Guest,” for they think a spirit has en- tered the patient. If they treat him well, pretend that it is a joy to have him, he will probably not molest any other member of the family. So they make a little straw horse and put it out at the door, hoping to entice the smallpox guest to ride away. A systematic canvass for vaccination has, however, lessened the smallpox menace. Leprosy. — Lepers we have always with us; they come to our churches, they are on the streets, in the market places, and the hotels and restaurants. The Chinese have a saying, “Sleep with a leper, but don’t go within forty feet of the itch,” and seemingly the Koreans also have but little fear of this dread disease. Up to the present time there have been almost no attempts at segregation. Mrs. Reynolds had a cook, We-Ud-y, who was one of the sweetest spirited people I have ever known. One day when Dr. Ingold was taking dinner with the Reynolds family, We-Ud-y dropped a dish and broke it. Mrs. Rey- nolds remarked that he seemed to have grown careless, he so often dropped things. After dinner Dr. Ingold told We-Ud-y to show her his hands, and the tale was told. We- Ud-y was a leper. It was the numbness creeping on him that made him drop the dishes. He thought he grasped them, when he did not. We-Ud-y lived several years, an humble, sweet spirited Christian, — one of the truest Chris- THE SEED SOWING ^3 tians I have ever known. I speak of him to show that even in our homes, we are exposed sometimes to this dread disease, but we know that, “Behind the dim unknown Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above His own.” and we have been protected in a wonderful way. Mrs. Harrison. — In the summer of 1903 the Chunju work suffered an irreparable loss in the death from typhus fever, of Mrs. Harrison, who contracted the disease visit- ing a sick Korean woman. From the day she went to Chunju and found it a city given over to idolatry, her heart had been stirred within her, and she had labored un- ceasingly for the women and children. Chunju Personnel Changed. — In 1904 there was a no- table change in the personnel of Chunju. Mr. Junkin, who was threatened with a return of his old enemy, dysen- tery, was taken out of the strenuous itinerating at Kun- san and sent to Chunju to take charge of the city work, while Mr. Harrison took Mr. Junkin ’s place in Kunsan. Dr. Forsythe. — This same year there came to Chunju a personal worker to whom even Mr. Junkin had to yield precedence, Dr. W. H. Forsythe, the most unique, pic- turesque and withal one of the most lovable workers the Mission has ever possessed. There immediately sprang up between these two men a devotion that was beautiful to behold, for the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and they labored mightily together for souls. Dr. Forsythe, though a skillful physician and devoted to his profession, was never so happy as when he was out in the market places and inn preaching to the people. He was essentially “a man with a message,” and a consuming de- sire to deliver that message, and both in Chunju and 64 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Mokpo, where he afterwards labored, the stimulus which he imparted to the evangelistic work is felt to this day. Attacked by Robbers. — After eighteen months’ work in Chunju, Dr. Forsythe was called to the country one day to see a man who had been badly injured by robbers. After treating the case, it was too late for him to return home that night. While he was asleep the robbers re- turned, and mistaking his foreign clothes for those of a policeman, they cut him up badly and left him for dead. There is little doubt that he would have been killed, had not the Korean mistress of the home protected his sup- posedly dead body with her own. It was found that he had received a laceration through the ear and head that was slow in healing, and he had to return to America to regain his health. So Chunju after waiting ten years for a physician, who could work among the men and boys, again had to make a fresh start with Dr. Ingold, who had decided she could work best by helping Mr. Tate, and had become Mrs. Tate. Mokpo. — The fall of 1903 saw Mokpo reinforced by the arrival of Rev. J. F. Preston and wife. In 1904 Mr. Bell was married to Miss Margaret W. Bull, of Norfolk, Virginia, who joined the workers at Mokpo. It was not long before the consciousness of this Station became aroused to the importance of opening a Station in the in- terior. The work was spreading rapidly sixty miles to the northeast, near Kwangju, and it was evident that Mokpo could never be the center of the entire South Cliulla work. After much discussion, it was decided by the Mission to purchase land at Kwangju, the capital of South Chulla Province, and move the workers to this centre, temporarily closing Mokpo Station, till we could get enough workers from the homeland to man both Kwangju and Mokpo. Thus, for four years, Mokpo had no resident missionary, although Mr. Preston visited there and superintended the work from Kwangju. THE SEED SOWING 65 Kwangju. — In buying land and making preparations for the new Station, Drs. Owen and Bell had valuable as- sistance in the person of Mr. Y. S. Kim. As early as 1900 he had asked for church membership, but was refused ad- mission into the catechumenate class because he made and sold wine. Y. S. Kim. — His aged mother had a thorn in her fin- ger; it festered and gave her a great deal of trouble, so her son hearing of Dr. Owen’s work in Mokpo, went with his mother to have the thorn removed. We cannot but think of the great Apostle Paul, whose “thorn in the flesh” was such a means of grace, for this time, the re- moving of the thorn led to Mr. Kim’s hearing of the Great Physician and deciding to trust Him. He was then a man of about forty, a vigorous thinker, and one not easily turned from his purpose ; so he went home, read his Bible, sold his wine shop, taught not only his wife but his mother-in-law to read; and again appeared for church membership. This time he was received as a catechumen, and some six months later he was baptized. Mr. Kim readily arranged his business so that he could give a large part of his time to preaching to others and to the work of the church without remuneration. He was enthusias- tic over opening work at Kwangju, and moved there with Dr. Owen and Mr. Bell, and for a number of years was invaluable as business manager for the missionaries in their dealings with the Koreans. He was elected church “Leader,” then “Temporary Deacon” and later elder in the Kwangju church. He was one of the first men to catch a vision of education for his daughters, and even before our school was opened, he was constantly urging us to start a school for girls. He educated both his daughters, and for twenty years his home has been a beacon light. In March, 1919, he went Home, trusting his Savior to the last. It was his pleasure to see the Kwangju congregation grow from nothing to three hundred, many of whom he himself had led to the Savior. 66 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Ten Years, Then What? — In the fall of 1903, about ten years after we had commenced work in the Land of the Morning Calm, we had in Kunsan field five missionaries, eight places where people were meeting to worship and 162 baptized members. In Mokpo there were three workers, five meeting places and twenty-seven baptized members. Chunju statistics read as follows : Missionaries . 5 Churches, imperfectly organized : 3 Average Sunday attendance 250 Communicants received during the year 30 Total communicants 79 Catechumens received during the year 40 Total catechumens 90 Contributions, 642 “Nyang,” about $50.00 This may seem but a small beginning, but when we re- member that Carey waited seven years before lie had the joy of baptizing the first convert, we cannot but be grate- ful to the Lord of the Harvest for these first fruits. As these country groups grew they found it necessary to secure a larger house, either by purchase or gift of some well-to-do man, or by building a little chapel. In the course of time examinations were held twice a year by the missionary on his preaching trips at each meeting place. Church Leader. — A leader of each group would be chosen, too, by the missionary, in consultation with the Christians at each place. This was a local man and he in a way looked after that little band of Christians; he served without pay, and it was his duty to see that ser- vices were held every Sabbath, and every prayer-meeting night. He did not always lead himself ; he often asked THE SEED SOWING 67 some other man in the community, but his was the re- sponsibility. The Catechumenate. — The experience of the workers in the Northern Presbyterian Church has been of great benefit to us, and they had found the Catechumenate a helpful feature in their work, so from the first, we adopted it. Catechumen Examination.— Anyone who had given up his heathen practices and had attended church three months might be received into the catechumenate upon examination. The Leader of the church is present to as- sist the missionary with his knowledge of the candidate’s character. The church roll showing the candidate’s church attendance, is frequently consulted, and no one is ex- amined who has not been attending regularly for at least three months. After some preliminary questions as to age, family, and occupation, questions to discover his knowledge of and faith in his Savior are asked, such as the following: Why do you want to become a Christian? What were some of the sins you needed to have forgiven ? Have you been forgiven, and what proof have you that you have been forgiven? Through whom? Who is Jesus? Where was He born? Who was His mother? Who was His father? (Ans. “God” is required.) Who is Jesus in His relation to you? How did He become your Savior? Was He a sinner? Why did He die as one guilty? Did He absolutely perish ? Where is He now? Will He return to the world? 68 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA When, and for what? Where does the Christian go at death ? Where does the non-Christian go at death? If you were to die to-night, where would you go and why? Can you recite the ten commandments and the Lord’s Prayer ? Do you pray daily? How often each day? In whose name do you pray? Have you given up all worship of spirits ? Do you read your Bible daily? How much have you read consecutively? Have you done any personal work, told anyone about Jesus? The Catechumenate system has been found to encour- age new believers and secure better oversight and more thorough instruction before reception into the church. If the answers are satisfactory both as to character and knowledge, then the candidate is enrolled as a pro- bationer (catechumen), and six months later he can take the examination for baptism, which will probably be some- thing like the following : Baptismal Examination. — Since you became a catechumen, have you found joy in believing ? Why ? Have you kept the Sabbath? Tell how you have ob- served it. Do you have family worship ? Do you drink sool (beer) and have it in the home? Do you give it to the day laborers who work for you? Is it right for a man to have two wives? Is it right to marry an unbeliever? Are you a sinner? Can anything sinful enter Heaven ? THE SEED SOWING 69 Then how do you expect -to get there? Is there any other way than by the Cross of Christ? Are the spirits to be feared? Why not? What are the ordinances of the church? What is the meaning of baptism? Who administers it and in whose name? With what does he administer it? Is baptism necessary for salvation? Then why do you seek baptism ? What is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper? What does the bread signify? The wine? Who should partake of the sacrament? In what spirit should one partake of the Lord’s Supper? Have you led anyone to Christ ? Personal Work as Evidence of Faith. — The Korean Christians themselves set the standard that those who are not doing personal work in trying to bring others to Christ, do not show sufficient evidence of their faith to warrant their admission to the church. This has helped to de- velop a church all on fire with evangelistic zeal, volun- tarily going forth to spread the news and to win people to Christ. It is no uncommon thing for a man to arrange his busi- ness affairs so as to give a stated part of his time to preaching without remuneration. Mr. Sin. — Mr. Tate passed through the village of Kwang-dong preaching. After the services, Mr. Sin a fine looking young man lingered to ask questions. Mr. Sin had the long tapering finger nails so dear to the Ko- rean, who toils not but is arrayed in all the glory of spotless white linen coat and trousers, made spotless by the unceasing toil of that lower being, his wife. Mr. Sin was so interested that he bought a Bible and the next spring, when Mr. Tate visited Kwang-dong Mr. Sin and two others were admitted into the catechumenate. 7 O DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA When he came up for the baptismal examination, the missionary noticed that his hands were rough, his nails stubby and ugly; he had every appearance of having broken away from the class of the idle rich. Mr. Tate inquired if there had been a change in Mr. Sin’s circum- stances. The answer was no. But in the Bible he had bought and had been studying so diligently was God’s command, “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work,” and Mr. Sin had taken it to mean that no Chris- tian could be an idler. If he would be obedient to the Great Captain of his Salvation, he must labor six days and keep the seventh holy for the Lord his God. Voluntary Preaching. — Mr. Sin gave one-fourth of his time to preaching without pay. He started work in a vil- lage twelve miles away. Before the missionary even visited them there was a small church building there, and thirty-five people meeting for worship. Mr. Sin is still an earnest, devoted Christian, and honored elder in his church. Early Seed Sown. — Of course many of these seed sow- ers were ignorant and unlearned men. Their knowledge even of the Bible was limited. They had no theological training and often made mistakes. One of our women missionaries heard an earnest but ignorant brother talk- ing to a country congregation about the literal fulfillment of God’s promises. Now in Korean the word for “Com- forter” (Poh-ay-sa) and “Dr. Forsythe” (Po-eui-sa), are almost identical in sound. So Mr. Kim explained that in John 14, God had promised to send the “Comforter” and there he was at the hospital doing wonderful things. It is needless to say that after services Mr. Kim was taught the difference between “Comforter” and “Physi- cian Forsythe.” But while mistakes were made, these workers were in earnest, on fire for souls ; for the most part Spirit taught men and women, who had studied in the school of prayer THE SEED SOWING 71 and there were almost no isms or heresies taught by these early disciples. It was a simple plain Gospel story. Boy Leader. — At one of Mr. Junkin ’s country churches he found the boys holding a prayer-meeting. Some of the boys had been attending the school which they had started at Chunju. One little boy about eight years old was a great friend of Mr. Junkin. So the “Moksa” (mission- ary), remarked to him, “And I suppose you will be lead- ing when you get a little bigger.” The little fellow straightened up and said, “I led last Sunday.” “You did! What did you talk about?” asked Mr. Junkin. “Well, I read that passage about straight is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it.” “And what does that mean?” asked Mr. Junkin. The boy answered, “That bothered me just a little; I did not know just exactly all it means, but I did know that be- yond the straight gate are Heaven and Jesus; and be- yond the broad gate are Hell and the devil ; so I told that and that we had better all go the straight way.” But God’s promise to His people of old that as the rain and dew from heaven watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, so shall His word be, it shall not return unto Him void, held true in the Hermit Nation; and often was the missionary’s heart gladdened by find- ing in some unexpected place a harvest from the seed sown by the wayside. Russo-Japanese War. — The Russo-Japanese war was now at an end, and with it, of course, came an end to strong Russian influence in Korea. One result of this war, of course, was the strengthening of Japanese influ- ence in Korea and immediately on the close of it, there was a great immigration from Japan to Korea. I will quote from Dr. Horace N. Allen’s “Things Korean”: “It is not surprising that the Koreans should now resent be- ing absorbed by a race they had long despised, the history of whose intercourse with their land is written in blood, 72 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA and whose subjects care not for Korean customs, and but little for native rights, while respect for age and rank is quite neglected. “Poor Koreans! You have waited too long. Perhaps had your land been tossed and riven by earthquakes and volcanoes, you might have been shaken out of your con- tented sleep. But while you slept and dreamed and cared for naught but to be let alone, your ancient enemy has been busy learning the arts of those strange folks you see even now, wending their way up your ancient path to yon fortress of your ancient kings. “Having learned these arts she has even vanquished one of her teachers, and you, once a teacher, but now a decrepit old ex-officio, what can you hope for when your land is wanted by your energetic, erstwhile pupil ¥ The sleep is o’er, the dream is done, and now comes the strug- gle for existence amidst competition keen and sharp.” Fusan-Seoul Railway. — Another result of the war was the rapid completion of the Seoul-Fusan railroad. It had been begun in 1901 and the war caused it to be rapidlv pushed to completion. It adds materially to the wealth of the country, both by forming a means of rapid com- munication and by enhancing the value of all the territory through which it runs. Standard Gauge. — Owing to the fact that the first rail- road in Korea was built by Americans, the standard gauge was used and the ears are very much like those we have at home. I think it is a great regret to the Japanese that they have narrow gauge roads in Japan. Trains were a great education. The Koreans soon learned that trains would not wait even for officials. Trains have been known to pull out on time even when some rich man’s servant was coming on the run, yelling, “ Cho-kumikura, yang ban o” (wait awhile, gentleman is coming). THE SEED SOWING 73 Another result of the 'Russo-Japanese war was that it seemed to have vastly stimulated missionary effort and increased its rewards. The country and the people were brought to the notice of the church at home. The mis- sionaries themselves had shown a calm courage, and stead- fast purpose that gained them the confidence of the people as the tide of battle rolled around them, and the Koreans themselves seemed to realize that old things were passing away, and in their trouble and distress they cried unto the Lord and He heard them. CHAPTER III. )t (great Sngatfjering ( 1905 - 1912 ) CHAPTER III. ® t)c #reat Htngatfjering 4 1. Preparing for the Harvest: (1) Federal Council of Missions, (2) Division of Territory, (3) Ordination of First Korean Ministers, (4) Organization of Presbytery, (5) Sending Korean Missionary to Quelparte. 2. Our First Ministers: (1) Yun Sik Myung, (2) Kim Pil Soo, (3) Chay Choon Jin. 3. The Harvest: (1) New Missionaries, (2) Report of 1903-1909 Contrasted, (3) Mokpo Re-Opened, (4) Million Soul Movement. 4. Reasons for Ingathering: (1) Worldly: a. Individual Fear, b. Disturbed Condition of Country, c. Love of Organization. (2) Spiritual: a. Prayer, b. Holy Spirit, c. Bible Study: (a) Country Class One Week, (b) Station Class Ten Days, (c) Bible Institute, One Month, (d) Bible School, Three Months. CHAPTER III. ®be (great Sngatfjering (1905-1912) “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed , shall doubtless come again with rejoicing , bringing his sheaves with him.” — Psa. 126:6. During the next eight years the growth and develop- ment of Christianity all over Korea form one of the most inspiring chapters of mission history. Some one said of that time, it seemed like “a nation on the run to God.” God was moving mightily on the hearts of the Korean people, and also on the minds of His representatives. Union. — In August, 1905, at a conference of the mis- sionaries for Bible study, held in Seoul, there was a re- markable sense of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. A deep feeling of our union with Christ, and through Him with each other seemed to control each one present. Denominational differences did not seem very important. When souls are being won from heathenism and idolatry, Calvinism and Arminianism do not seem to be, after all, such important distinctions. Protestant Council. — At the close of the Bible confer- ence, it was decided to form a general council of all the Protestant Evangelical Missions, which council would strive to promote unity in the missionary bodies, especial- ly as this relation bore directly upon the native church; and to economize time, money and labor as far as pos- sible in mission work in hospitals, schools, publication and Bible work. Federal Council. — The Protestant Council existed for several years and out of it gradually evolved the Korean “Federal Council,” a delegated body, with the same end and aims in view. The six Protestant bodies working in 78 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Korea, Canadian and Australian Presbyterian, Northern and Southern Presbyterian, Northern and Southern Meth- odist, send delegates yearly to the Federal Council, which directs and decides union work. The delegates edit the Sunday School literature and publish a Union Church Hymnal and direct a Union Medical College, a Union Bi- ble Institute for men and women and several Union Hos- pitals. Division of Territory. — The year 1905 also saw the agreement about the final division of territory among the six denominations working in Korea. The Canadian, Australian, Southern Presbyterian and Southern Methodist Missions had fairly well marked boundary lines, but the Northern Presbyterian and Northern Methodist Missions overlapped. As the work had grown, groups of believers, who called themselves Methodists, because they were first led to Christ by a Methodist worker, were located near Presbyterian churches, and vice versa. It seemed that it would lead greatly to economy of workers, time and money, as well as to a unity of the whole work, if the entire country could be divided among the missions, each one to have his own undisputed terri- tory. The division was finally made in 1909, after much prayer and consultation, the basis of the division being made on the principle that each should have a territory proportionate to the number of the missionaries that their Board could reasonably be expected to send out. Whose Ox? — The story has been told before, but it has so much genuine human nature in it, that it bears repeat- ing: An enthusiastic lady was explaining to a dear old Presbyterian friend about the Korean division of terri- tory, and she said, “Of course there were a few Methodist churches in the new Presbyterian boundaries, and they automatically became Presbyterians, but when the object of the division was explained, not a one of them objected.” “How lovely!” breathed the sweet Presbyterian mother THE GREAT INGATHERING 79 in Israel. “Then,” continued her friend, “there were Presbyterian churches in Methodist bounds, and in the same way they became Methodists. ” “ But, oh, how- could they?” ejaculated the astonished old lady. Confession of Sin. — In 1907 Mr. Kil the blind preacher of Pyeng Yang preached in that city a sermon on, “Con- fess your sins one to another,” and the scenes at the day of Pentecost seemed almost repeated. A great revival began then which swept all over the country until thou- sands were brought to Christ. The Spirit of God mani- fested Himself in wonderful ways, bringing about a cleansing of the church, and a new consecration, a new power and joy in the hearts of many. The meetings were marked by a deep realization of the awful consequences of sin, of the deep sufferings that their own sins had brought on “The Holy One of Israel,” and of His dying love for them. Many, with tears and with deep agony of soul, confessed to lying, theft, envy, and malice; while many made restitution. Several missionaries had their house- hold foundations shaken, when a much trusted servant came with tears bringing a little sum of money he had taken some five years before. Peace came only when they felt they could go before Him with pure hands and a clean heart. North and South. — This great revival was not so in- tense in the South as it was in the North, but its influence was felt greatly there too. There is a marked difference between the Koreans in the North and in the South. I am a Southern woman, even now my heart turns back t.o Dixie, and that is perhaps one reason I am so loyal to the Southern Korean; for many of his faults and weaknesses remind me of ye olde tyme Southern gentleman, of ante- bellum days. He has all the hospitality of our famed Southland. He will crowd out his own to take in the stranger. As we came home from prayer meeting, we found a little Korean girl about six years old, crying on the street. She had lost her way, she was dirty; but our 8o DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA “One Eyed Deacon” cheerfully lifted her on his back, to take her to his home to spend the night, until he could hunt for her people the next day. Now I personally knew there were already seven sleeping in their one room and they had hardly enough for their own breakfast, but here he was gladly taking in “One of His Little Ones.” Generosity. — They are like the old-time Southerner in their generosity. I have never known a Korean not to divide anything you gave him to eat. I have given a child a stick of American candy, a wonderful treat, but he always broke it into pieces and divided it with the crowd. It is true they will always rob Peter to pay Paul. They will borrow of me to make a handsome present to my next door neighbor. I helped the church here to bury an old man, who left a destitute widow. His son arrived too late for the funeral, but took the money he had brought for the funeral, baked meats, to furnish a feast for me and the church officers who “had so lovingly buried his father.” “But,” I asked, “why didn’t he provide for his mother, she has nothing to eat?” He was too grateful to us to use the money for his mother’s necessities. It is a false standard. Yes, and my heart often feels faint as they come with a gift of eggs or chickens when I know they can so ill afford it. In our early married life, my husband served a very lovable people in the homeland, but some of them did not like their pastor to be seen carrying a bundle down the street. That prejudice has died out, but although that was twenty years ago, when I was a bride, I remember the shock still. Now that is a Korean prejudice also. They are a nation of Col. Sellars. There are always “millions in it” just ahead of them. Debt has no terrors for them, for of course, like Mr. Micawber, “Something will turn up.” THE GREAT INGATHERING 8l They are the most affectionate, lovable, generous, pro- voking, credulous, shrewd, gullible people in the world. The Northern people are much more frugal and inde- pendent than are their Southern neighbors. Presbyterian Seminary. — The Presbyterian Missions had united on a Seminary in 1902 at Pyengyang with Dr. Moffett in charge. We had sent Mr. Junkin and Dr. Rev- (1) Undergraduate Class, Presbyterian Theological Seminary of all Korea, Pyeng Yang. This Seminary has the largest enrollment of students of any Presbyterian Theological Seminary in the world. (2) Postgraduate Class, All Pastors of Self-Supporting Korean Churches, Presbyterian Theological Seminary of all Korea, Pyeng Yang. 82 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA nolds to teach in it each spring, and June, 1907, saw the first graduates from the seminary. Thus an advance step in the whole work in Korea was made when in September, 1907, in Pyengyang our first Presbytery was organized to take charge of all the Presbyterian churches. First Presbytery. — Let me quote from a letter from Dr. Moffett, who was chosen moderator of the first Pres- bytery : ‘ ‘ This is a great year in the history of the church in Korea. The Council decided to go ahead with the or- ganization of the Korean Presbyterian Church, and on September 17, 1907, just at noon, the moderator’s gavel announced that the Presbytery had been constituted in accordance with the authority given by the General As- semblies of the four Presbyterian churches whose missions were united in the Council.” “The Presbytery had at its organization, representa- tives from thirty-six organized churches, at least two other churches with elders not being represented. The Pres- bytery then elected its officers and as its first work, began the examination of the seven men who had finished the theological course of five years, and proceeded to their ordination. At the night meeting in a very impressive service, the seven men were ordained — the first Presby- terian ministers of the Korean Church.” “The Presbytery, in its first meeting, consisted, after the ordination of these men, of thirty-two foreign mis- sionaries, seven Korean ministers and thirty-three Korean elders. Presbytery had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over a church with 17,890 communicants. One of the most sig- nificant actions of Presbytery was the setting aside of Yi Ki Poong, one of the seven men ordained to go as a mis- sionary to Quelparte, and the whole church is asked to provide means to send him and his wife there to proclaim the Gospel and establish the church.” THE GREAT INGATHERING 83 “Sixteen years ago he stoned me on the streets of Pyengyang, and now he goes as the First Missionary of the church in Korea.” A Missionary Church. — Thus from its very beginning the Korean church has been a missionary church, for from their first seven ordained men they sent one to Quelparte. This is a large island south of Mokpo, about twelve hours trip by steamer. The first French navigators, not knowing where they were when they reached it, cried, “Quel parte” (What place?), and so it gained its name. Our First Graduates. — We Southern Presbyterians did not have any men to graduate from the Seminary till two years later, and it is interesting to note that one of our first three graduates is now laboring as a missionary of our South Chulla Presbytery, on the island of Quelparte. Our first three ordained men were : Yun Sik Myung, Kim Pil Soo, and Chay Choon Jin. As their careers are typical of the men whom God is calling into the work, I shall give a little sketch of each. Yun Sik Myung. — Mr. Yun comes from that plain class of people whom God must love, because He makes so many of them. One night the family ate of a fish, called Poke-jangie. If this fish is not properly cleaned, it is poisonous. That night five members of the family died, Mr. Yun’s father, mother, young wife, and two others, and he was violently ill ; but God spared his life, and he resolved to give it to His service. He came south to cook, but Mr. Bell soon saw that he was too good a man for that. Mr. Tate made him first a colporteur, and later an evangelistic helper in his field. On the long itinerating trips they took together, Mr. Tate taught him of God as revealed not only in the Bible but also in the history of nations and the work of the universe. After graduation Mr. Yun took charge of the Mokoo church at a salary of eighteen yen ($9.00) a month and a 8 4 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA manse. He served this church most faithfully for five years and left it to go to Quelparte as a missionary from Chulla Presbytery. Kim Pil Soo. — Kim Pil Soo was a man of education, who came from Seoul as Miss Tate’s language teacher. It has been said of the personal helpers in Korea, that they grow so like the missionary, under whom they are trained, that they even walk like them. Be that as it may, many of us can see traces of Mr. Junkin’s eloquence and ready wit in Mr. Kim, who worked for years as Mr. Junkin’s per- sonal helper. He is now the honored editor of the Korean “Christian Messenger,” a man of power and influence in the entire church. Chay Choon Jin. — Chay Choon Jin, our third grad- uate, was a man of great organizing ability. He too had been Mr. Tate’s trusted helper and had shared with Mr. Yun in those talks and teachings about the Master, but he also possessed unlimited ambition and a desire for self-aggrandizement, and like Lucifer, he fell. Independent Church. — After graduation he took charge of some country churches in the field where he had been helper. Here he decided to establish an independent church, admitting to membership men who drank and who had two wives, a letting down of the standards of our church that would be most acceptable to some who would like the name of Christian but are not willing to pay the cost. He led off more than twenty groups and split a number of others, not only in that field, but in Kunsan and Kwang- ju territories. Mr. Tate, on his return from his furlough, made heroic efforts to repair the damage and reconstruct the work, in which he met with marked success; but the Japanese Congregational Church now came in and took over the remnants of Mr. Chay’s work, putting him on a good salary; this just after he had been released from THE GREAT INGATHERING 85 prison where he had served two years for obtaining money under false pretenses. So the tares grew beside the wheat but we are not discouraged for the Master taught us that it would be so. Missionaries Members of Korean Presbytery. — The missionary’s relationship to Presbytery has grown out of circumstances. While still holding full membership in the home presbytery, he is a member with full powers in the Korean Presbytery. When Presbytery was organized in 1907, both Koreans and missionaries thought it best for the missionaries to have full rights of a presbyter for there were only seven Korean ministers and the field was large, the men scattered and absolutely inexperienced in ecclesiastical work. The relation has been continued. Sometimes a missionary is moderator and sometimes a Korean is moderator and a vote never divides along lines of nationality. Missionaries and Koreans serve together on committees and the relation has seemed to be helpful. From the beginning, it has been the purpose of the mis- sionaries to retire from this position, but the Koreans have seemed to think that the time has not yet (1919) come for that step to be taken. 1907 Recruits. — 1907 was also to be the banner year for new missionaries, for within twelve months there were thirteen of us who came out. In the spring, Miss Nellie Rankin and Mr. and Mrs. Nisbet came. That fall we welcomed Rev. H. D. McCallie, Rev. and Mrs. Robert Knox, Misses Emily Cordell, Julia Dysart, Ella Graham, Bessie Knox and Eunice Fisher; Miss Fisher, however, became Mrs. Earle before she left Kobe. Rev. A. M. Earle had reached Kunsan two years before. The next spring brought Drs. R. M. Wilson and F. H. Birdman. Miss Rankin came in February, but Mr. Nisbet and I were unfortunate enough to take passage on the beautiful, but ill starred “Dakota,” which just six hours before she 86 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA would have anchored in Yokohama harbor struck on Osano reef. Shipwreck. — There were Japanese fishing vessels near- by. So the passengers were easily carried to the fishing village nearby, but practically all lost their baggage. We came off with a small hand satchel and a typewriter which we had chosen when told by the stewardess that each passenger would be allowed only one piece of baggage. An Average That Won’t Work. — The good friends in Seoul, hearing that there were two Korean missionaries, who had lost all their baggage in the shipwreck, decided to make us some clothes. “But what size people are they?'’ someone asked. “Oh,” the reply, “we will just make the clothes average size.” Now as my husband goes down the street, we constantly hear the cry, “chun-tai,” tele- graph pole, for he is six feet four, and has no surplus flesh. As for his wife, it is no difference whether you measure her horizontally or perpendicularly, it is the same, so you can easily see why “clothes average size” became a joke. But if 1907 brought new recruits, it' also brought losses, for Miss Straeffer went home not to return, and Dr. Nolan left us to take a fine salary at the gold mines. That is a subtle temptation to the missionary. The physi- cian always has fine business offers from corporations working in the Orient, and the evangelist can get more for teaching in a Government school. Mr. Junkin.— On January 2, 1908, that prince of mis- sionaries, William McCleery Junkin, died of acute typhoid pneumonia. For him “death was swallowed up in victory.” He said to one sitting by his bedside, “If this be dying, it is good to die,” but what a loss he was to the Korean church, just starting on its mission. THE GREAT INGATHERING 87 Mrs. Junkin thought it wise to take her little children to the homeland, and from there her prayers and love have followed every step of our work. The Bible Translation work was thought far enough advanced for Dr. Keynolds to move his family from Seoul to Chunju. While still giving his time to Bible Transla- tion, he could help in Chunju local work. That same year Miss Josephine Hounshell became Mrs. Luther McCutchen. Women’s Mid-Winter Bible Class, Chunju. Method of Work. — The mission now entered upon a period of rapid and extensive growth, when people seemed hungry and thirsty for the Gospel. The Bible Study classes were crowded, Sunday congregations were large, and it did indeed seem that Korea would be evangelized in this gen- eration. Let us listen to some of the missionary reports which will show the method of our evangelistic work and the rapid growth of the church. 88 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Mr. Tate writes in 1903: “Here is what has been our usual method of procedure ; I would take my teacher and the British and Foreign Bible Society’s colporteur with me to help in preaching and selling the books; also two coolies, one to carry the books and one for the food and bedding. In the morning we would decide where we would eat dinner, and at dinner time, where we would spend the night and send our loads on there. Then I, on my wheel, and the two natives, walking, would go from village to village. As we entered a village, I would usual- ly go ahead to draw a crowd, then when the Korean help- ers came up, we would usually preach about an hour.” “After having simply and plainly presented the plan of salvation, while one of us would continue to preach to the people, the others would be selling scriptures and tracts, — selling at each village from one to thirty books. At night we had a more formal service, singing, reading, preaching and personal talks with all who would stay to ask questions.” “I have now three regular meeting places, and two other places where they meet occasionally. I have at these three places a baptized membership of thirty, with an average attendance of one hundred and fifteen.” Contrast this with the report from Mr. Tate’s field six years later, in 1909 : “Mr. Tate’s patient, faithful work in the Southwest Circuit during past years is bringing a rich harvest info the Lord’s garner. He held 1,109 examinations this year; of whom 316 adults were baptized and 400 catechumens enrolled. He now has on his church roll 1,203 communi- cants and 600 catechumens.” In Mr. McCutchen’s field the following figures show the growth : In 1905, 14 were baptized in 4 churches. In 1906, 50 were baptized in 17 churches. In 1907, 201 were baptized in 21 churches. In 1908, 273 were baptized in 37 churches. THE GREAT INGATHERING 89 In 1909, in the Chunju City Church, under the charge of Dr. Reynolds, there were 335 examined, of whom 75 were baptized and 120 were enrolled as catechumens. Kunsan Station had its share in the wonderful develop- ment of this period figures : as may be seen from the following Meeting Total Date. Places. Communicants. Adherents. Baptized. 1903 8 162 400 51 1910 58 1,165 3,200 255 Mokpo Re-opened, 1907. — At Mission Meeting in 1907 it seemed that the time had now come when we could man both Mokpo and Kwangju Stations, so it was decided to re- open Mokpo that fall, assigning Rev. and Mrs. J. F. Pres- ton, Rev. and Mrs. Robert Knox, Rev. H. D. McCallie, Miss Bessie Knox, and Dr. Birdman to this station. Here too the work felt the impetus that all Korea seemed to be having to seek the living God, while He was near, as witness the following figures: Country Communi- Groups. cants. Catechumens Attendants. 2 0 3 60 40 273 380 1,400 Dr. C. C. Owen. — But just a little more than a year after Mr. Junkin was called Home, God, whose ways are not our ways, saw fit to summon that most consecrated leader Rev. C. C. Owen, M. D. Taken ill while on a preach- ing trip, seventy miles from home, with only Koreans to minister to him, it was given to him to suffer as few have suffered for the Master. For three days the natives car- ried him in a sedan chair; and, as Dr. Owen was a tail man, the cramped position must have been very painful. Dr. Owen was a tireless itinerator. He had oversight of Date. 1904 1909 90 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA the work in thirteen counties, and was often gone a month at a time. The pathetic question of his little girl, only a few days before his death, “Why don’t papa stay to we house?” was an eloquent testimony to his faithful efforts to carry the Gospel to the thousands, who had only him to look to for the bread of life. During the last year of his life there were over 200 baptisms in his field and 430 catechumens received. Dr. Owen’s Home-going left Kwangju facing one of the greatest crises in its history. Mr. Bell was left the only evangelistic worker having the language in a territory comprising twenty-five counties. It seemed imperative for Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Preston to return to Kwangju to take up the work that Dr. Owen had laid down. While this was necessary because of the scarcity of workers with the language, it was still unfortunate for Mokpo, as it left that a Station of new missionaries. Million Souls. — The Revival in Korea had its climax in the so-called “Million Souls Movement” launched first in the General Council of all the Korean Missions, then in the Presbytery and other bodies in the fall of 1910. Fired by the wonderful spread of the Gospel, it seemed that what might be accomplished was to be measured only by the faith to set the goal. Accordingly it was resolved to work definitely for a million conversions for all Korea in one year. The very audacity of the idea profoundly impressed many, and Mr. Harkness, of the Chapman- Alexander party composed a hymn, “A Million Souls for Jesus,” which was translated and sung all over Korea. Half Cent Gospel. — The British and Foreign Bible So- ciety, whose consecrated secretary, Mr. Hugh Miller, is ever on the qui vive for ways and means to help the missionary, got a cheap edition of a Gospel at cost of one sen each, so the Koreans could buy and distribute them. Over 500,000 of these Gospels were- distributed within six months. THE GREAT INGATHERING 91 Days Pledged to Soul Winning. — Monster meetings were held in the great centers and throughout the field. A marked feature of this campaign was the way in which the Christians gave a stated number of days to work for souls. These pledges were over and above Sunday for that belonged to God anyhow. In the Kunsan Bible class 850 days were pledged. One man who promised a month was a carpenter, who had already shown his zeal by building, with his own hands, a church in his village, after he and his mother had given most of the material. On the last night of the men’s Bible Class in Chunju 3349 days of voluntary preaching were promised by in-, dividuals, that is equivalent to more than nine years of preaching by one man. Fruits.— As for permanent results, much good was done, seed was sown that was reaped in after years. The “Sunrise Prayer-Meeting” and the giving of a definite time to preaching the Word, seem to have come to stay; but the church learned afresh the lesson that definite numbers are not for man to determine, but are ordered alone by Him, who worketh when and where and how He pleaseth. Opportunity. — In reading over the records of this re- markable period, three things stand out prominently: 1. The unparalleled opportunity. Perhaps at no time in the history of missions did the church have a greater opportunity to evangelize a whole people. Every report, personal, station or mission, submitted during this time emphasized the greatness of the opportunity. The extent to which the church in Korea could be expanded seems to have been measured humanly speaking only by the number of workers available. For these “babes in Christ” have to be nourished. There is no doubt that we lost many be- cause we had not the force to properly train those who 92 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA were just coming out of centuries of superstition and ig- norance. 2. The totally inadequate number of workers for the task. At the beginning of the period, our mission had only six evangelists, distributed among three stations, ready equipped with the language, and two others partly equipped. For the first seven years of the period, the in- crease of evangelistic workers over losses was for the whole mission just two men and two single lady workers. 3. Notwithstanding inadequate provision, note the wonderful growth everywhere. Compare these statistics for the whole mission : Meeting Baptized Date Places Communicants Adherents That Year 1903 13 267 1,100 84 1912 336 7,173 15,268 1,381 In trying to sum up the reasons for the popular move- ment toward Christianity at this period, one is confronted with a complex question. There is no doubt that in many cases, worldly motives entered in, and no one felt this more keenly than the missionary. To this consciousness is due the elaboration of such strict rules for admission to the church as prevail in Korea. Worldly Motives. — Among the worldly motives which attracted the people to the church may be mentioned the following : Individual Fear: Fear of creditors, fear of rapacity of officials. It was commonly thought that membership in an organization in common with foreigners who enjoyed extra territorial rights, would secure immunity from many ills that threatened. The missionaries, however, have always been very careful to be a “separate and peculiar people/’ never mixing with the politics or private quar- rels of the people themselves. THE GREAT INGATHERING 93 Disturbed condition of the country: The Russo-Jap- anese war had just closed and Japan had assumed suze- rainty over Korea. There arose a kind of guerrilla war- fare. A band calling themselves “The Righteous Army,” were trying to resist the Japanese authority. Many Ko- reans, moved by vague forebodings for the future sought to allay their fears by friendly alliances with the foreign missionary. They intuitively felt that the church was in the limelight, and things suffered by the church would not be allowed to remain hidden in a corner. Love of Organization as such: I have heard in the U. S. A. of a man who was “a jiner” because he loved to be- long to societies. Now the Koreans are “jiners.” The great objection to the church had always been the un- pleasant insistance upon repentance and putting away certain sinful habits; but a new condition arose. The Y. M. C. A. had been founded in Seoul, and soon after, the Epworth League, in the Methodist Church, both of which had the customary provision for associate membership. The report now spread rapidly that one could belong to the church without the objectionable features, such as be- lieving on Jesus and forsaking sin. As a result the Y. M. C. A. and Epworth League spread like wild fire among non-Christian villages, using their names, constitution, and by-laws until prohibited by the respective organiza- tions. Spiritual Motives: However, after giving these rea- sons their due weight, I would say that God honors His Word, and that the one great God-given means of evan- gelizing a people is the Bible, and that to this more than to any other one thing was due the turning of the hearts of the people unto God. The Revival began in a Bible Class; then promises of days given in preaching the Word were all made at Bible Classes, and so I would place the reasons for the great ingathering as largely due to Great emphasis placed on God’s Word. — For He Him- self has said, “My word shall not return unto Me void,” 94 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA and the one great commanding feature of the work in Korea has been the position, the supreme position, the almost unexampled position given to instruction in the Scriptures as the very Word of God — the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Prayer. — The Korean has a simple childlike faith that simply takes God at His word and thinks He means what He says. I could give example after example of the won- derful, overcoming faith in prayer. Mrs. Kim hears her only boy now studying in Seoul is running with bad companions; she goes off to the lonely mountains and then until daybreak, she wrestles in prayer, but with sunrise comes victory. As she comes down the mountain side her face shines and she says to her mission- ary friend, “It is all right. God will straighten out my boy,” and a few days later comes the letter from Severance Medical College, saying her boy has “eaten a new mind” and settled down to fine, steady work. The Holy Spirit. — Let any people forsake their evil ways, make restitution for their wrong doing, and humbly ask Him to come and possess their home and loved ones, and He will not disappoint them. It was remarkable at this time how many wives brought their husbands, chil- dren their parents, — the fallow ground was broken up. The Pioneer Workers in Korea realize that when men are breaking away from old faiths and adopting new forms of worship, Satan uses all his wiles to direct their minds into false ways. It is a fruitful time for false faiths, and it is necessary to have the Word to show the right way, and to be a lamp unto the faltering feet that are learning to walk anew. First Bible Class. — The Sabbath ministrations of the Word were not sufficient and schools of extended duration were not practical for the whole church, and thus out of the exigencies of the case and out of a conference with Dr. Nevius of China, the Bible Study Class system of Ko- THE GREAT INGATHERING 95 rea was born. Dr. Moffett says, “I remember onr first Bible Training Class ; one of seven men held in a little room in the southwest corner of Dr. Underwood’s com- pound. Two men came from the north, two from Whang- hai province and three from Seoul. The burden of the teaching rested upon Mr. Gifford and after two weeks of study these helpers went forth to their work. From that day to this, these classes have gradually developed into our “ Bible Training Class System.” 1. The Country Class. — Sometimes we are led to think that the Koreans are just longing to search the Scriptures for in them they think they have eternal life, but such is not the case. Conditions must be made conducive to his studying. Therefore a time is chosen when farm work is not pressing, good teachers are secured, and classes in the country churches lasting from four days to a week are held. The morning is given to studying and usually part of the afternoon, but in the evening a house to house can- vass is made and those not in attendance are urged to come. The afternoons are sometimes given over entirely to personal work. At night popular services are held to which all in the community, both Christian and non-Christian are urged to come. If the class is in a small young church there will be one grade only ; if in a more developed church, two grades will be taught. These classes are held, if possible, in all the country churches or in groups of churches so situated that all can attend without difficulty. The coun- try women have been reached to a wonderful extent in this way. All honor is due to the lady itinerators, who all alone, except for a Korean Bible woman, have climbed steep mountain passes, crossed raging torrents on narrow foot bridges, waded swollen streams, braved snow and ice and storm to carry the Bible to the women of the remote country churches. Misses Tate in Chunju, Dysart in Kunsan, Graham in Kwangju, and Martin in Mokpo have travelled so widely over the field carrying the Gospel (1) A Country Church and Congregation, Soonchun; (2) Heathen Sunday School Christmas Celebration, Soonchun; (3) Women’s Mid-Winter Bible Class, Soonchun. THE GREAT INGATHERING 97 to the women and children in their homes, that they are now known and loved everywhere. But many and varied were their first experiences. Big Babies. — According to old Korean custom, a Ko- rean girl always marries before she is twenty and an unmarried girl is called “a big baby.” It was no unusual thing for our early lady itinerators to have a large crowd gather for a sight see of the “Big American Baby.” 2. The Station Class. — An appetite whetted by a few days study in the country should not be neglected, there- fore once a year a great Bible class is held for ten days study in each station, where the missionaries live. Special effort is made to get students from every group of believers to attend this class, for out of it will be developed the leadership, upon which the life and growth of the group will depend. The class will furnish the spiritual food for a large part of the year. The men and women come at their own expense and study earnestly for ten days, and go home with something new to tell their friends, a new vision of Jesus, new light on life ’s way. The best attendance yet reached by any of our stations was when Chunju, in 1909, enrolled 623 men. The class for women is always held at a different date from that for the men. 3. The Bible Institute. — These short classes were felt to be insufficient, and classes of picked students for longer terms were established. In 1908 Miss Tate gathered a few women for a three- weeks class. This was kept up. until Mrs. McCutchen took charge of this work and developed it still further into a regular school with curriculum and diploma after the completion of the fifth grade. This institute is held a month each fall, and has been a power in training women for work and has raised the Christian intelligence very much. The North Chulla In- 98 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA stitute is held in Chunju for all North Chulla field and the South Chulla Institute is held in Kwangju for all South Chulla. 4. The Bible School. — But it was still found insuffi- cient to furnish trained Sunday School teachers and Bi- ble women, so we now have one Bible School for both North and South Chulla fields, and this is taught for three months in the spring in Chunju. This system of Bible Classes is the same for the men and the women, except that the men have no three months Bible School, the Union Seminary, Pyengyang, taking the place of that as a training school. Our system might be diagrammed this way, the aim being to get the Bible into the heart of each member of THE GREAT INGATHERING 99 The students bear their own expenses, often bringing their rice with them, because unable to pay board. The mission furnishes a building in which to study ; also sleep- ing quarters, with light and heat. By this system of Bible Study a sturdy Christian faith is developed, a praying, working, spiritual body is sent forth to tell the story of a Savior seeking the lost. From this sturdy force trained in the simple truths of the Word, with their eyes open to see Jesus, we find our best defence against Russellism, and various forms of the devil’s de- lusions. Open to the Gospel. — In his “Passing of Korea” Mr. Hulburt in a most interesting way discusses why the Ko- reans are so open to the Gospel, while their neighbors on either side, the Japanese and Chinese, have been much slower to respond. Temperament. — He makes it a case of temperamental balance. He says, “The Chinese while very superstitious is comparatively phlegmatic. He sees no rainbow, and pursues no ignis fatuus ; he has none of the martial spirit which impels the Japanese to deeds of patriotic daring, but he is the best business man in the world. But he is devoid of imagination, and is therefore satisfied with Con- fucianism. Buddhism stands at the opposite pole from Confucianism. It is the most mystical of all cults outside the religion of the Nazarene. That is why it has become so strongly entrenched in Japan. While Confucianism leaves nothing for the imagination, Buddhism leaves everything. The idealism of the Japanese surrendered to it, and we may well believe that when Buddhism is driven to bay, it will not be in Lhasa, the home of the Lama, but at Nara orNikko.” Mr. Hulburt thinks the Koreans are temperamentally between the Chinese and the Japanese, not so idealistic as the one nor so utilitarian as the other ; therefore nearer the Westerner. It seems easier for us to get close to the IOO DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Korean than either of the other nations. Christianity, the most rational and at the same time the most mystical of all religions, finds in the Korean a like combination of rationality and idealism. The Bible an Eastern Book. — The imagery, similes, and life of the Bible are all Oriental. The scene of the Book of all books is laid in the East and is much nearer the daily life of the Oriental than of the Occidental. The child at home who reads of “a lodge in a garden of cu- cumbers” thinks of the “lodge” as a kind of bungalow; while the Korean at once knows that it is a little platform, raised on four poles and covered with straw thatch, where the farmer sits by day and sleeps by night to watch over such crops as melons and cucumbers and similar ready-to- eat vegetables. Village Well . — For one commentary on life in a heathen land is that they cannot trust each other. The home is never left empty. Always some one stays “to watch the house,” else the large jars of pickled cabbage and turnips and other things would be stolen. I notice the women coming to the village well below me, and each woman brings her own little bucket and rope to draw water to fill her jar, for if she left a rope and bucket at the well for common use it would soon be gone. But if Abraham were seeking a bride for Isaac tomor- row, his servant would find all the women of the village coming to the well about sunset, and as they went slowly on to Laban’s home they would see at many a door two women grinding at the mill. Modern Trading. — When Abraham goes to buy the cave of Machpelah from Ephron, the Hittite, as a burying place for Sarah, it is such an Eastern transaction, that I can just close my eyes and think I am there. Hear Eph- ron ’s word, “Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the THE GREAT INGATHERING IOI presence of the sons of my people give I it thee : bnry thy dead. ’ ’ He gives it to Abraham and in reference to money, he asks, “What is that betwixt thee and me?” and then expects and accepts a good round sum of silver for that same cave. And in Genesis 23:17, Abraham “made sure of the trees” that were in the field. In America, when we buy a field, we also buy the trees, unless stipulated other- wise; but in the Orient unless you “make sure” of your trees, they are not yours. The parable built around the wedding feast means so much more to the Easterner than to us, for after bidding you to the feast, they too send a servant to tell you that it is ready. Miracles.— The miraculous, whether in making the blind see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, or in casting out devils or quelling the storm-tossed waves, — that is what is to be expected by a people trained in a firm belief in supernatural intervention. Tangnn. — The Immaculate Conception, that has been so hard for so many philosophical minds to accept, offers no difficulty to the average Korean, for does he not know the history of Tangun the first king of Korea? Four thousand years ago a tiger and a bear met on the mountain side and wished they might become human beings. And then they heard a voice saying through the wind, “Retire to the mountain cave, and fast twenty-one days and you shall become as you desire.” They did as they were told, but the tiger wearied of the restraint and soon came forth to roam the mountains fiercer than ever. But the bear pa- tiently waited the required time, and then came forth a perfect woman. Hanung the son of Hanin, the Creator, asked for an earthly kingdom. The father acceded to his request and the spirit came as the wind to the earth, and finding this beautiful woman, it breathed upon her, and Tangun, first king of Korea was born. He ruled Korea about a thousand years and brought many reforms, but 102 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA finally tiring of earth, he resumed his spirit shape and again ascended into Heaven. Confucianism. — Though Korea has three religions of her own, she has often been said to have none, for while Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shamanism have all left their imprint on Korean customs and character, still no one of the three could be said to be THE religion of Korea. The Korean scholar must know the Chinese classics, there- fore he will study the writings of the followers of Con- fucius. But this is more a system of ethics than a religion. Perhaps its greatest influence on the Korean has come through ancestral worship as a necessary part of filial piety. Ancestral worship is universal among the Koreans, and it is so interwoven with the daily life and thought that it is very hard to give it up. It is generally thought that a man has three souls, which on death separate; one goes to Hades, one to the grave and one enters the ances- tral tablet. Their burial service takes cognizance of the future comfort of all three. First Soul. — Just as soon as a man dies, three small tables of food each with a little money and a pair of shoes are put outside the door of the home. These are to placate the jailors, or guards of Hades, who will shortly come to escort the soul of the deceased to the ten judges in Hades. If they are well fed and shod and have a little money to spend on the way, they will naturally be more pleasant travelling companions. Second Soul. — The grave site, the abode of the second soul is chosen with much care. If possible a southern exposure on the mountain side is selected so that the soul may be warm and comfortable. If you are at all well-to-do, a geomancer has to be consulted, for it is very important to know the wishes of the mountain spirit. If he is inhospitable, the soul will probably be uncomfort- able. THE GREAT INGATHERING IO3 In Korea it is a pleasant mark of respect to present a loved one with a coffin several years in advance of his death. I have often slept in a Korean room with my host’s future coffin swinging to the rafters just over my head. The hearse is a gaudy red and yellow affair, fol- lowed by the male members of the family wearing hats about the size of a bushel basket and ropes around the waists to show they are the prisoners of the Heavens. They also wear the hats to hide them from view because they are under the displeasure of the spirits. The hired mourners dance and scream and make the most horrible noise. After the interment comes the sacrifice. Tables are placed before the grave on which are rice, fish, wine, and often vermicelli soup. The relatives prostrate them- selves, and invocations are made, asking for peace to the spirit, who rests in the grave. They then make offerings and do obeisance to the mountain spirit, begging that it will allow the soul to rest there in peace. After this the crowd proceeds to have a jolly good time, disposing of the food and wine. Third Soul. — The third and last soul of the man comes back from the grave with the family to take up his abode in the ancestral tablet, and another sacrificial offering is made. Ancestral Tablet. — The ancestral tablet is made of two pieces of wood, put face to face, on the inner surface of which is written in Chinese characters the name of the spirit, and the promise of his son to keep up the ancestral worship. A small hole is left at the top for the spirit to come and go. A well-to-do man has a special house in which to keep his ancestral tablets, but the poor man has to keep them in a box in a corner of the room. They only go back from three to five generations. Ancestral wor- ship has a very strong hold on the Korean. It has been ingrained for centuries, and it is hard for them to break away. It brings in its train also the idea that a man must 104 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA have a son to keep up the ancestral sacrifice. So we have, as a natural consequence, concubinage, divorcing some- times a wife who does not bear sons, and many other evils. On all sacrificial occasions, the eldest son is chief mourner and high priest. In his care is the ancestral tablet, and the cost of the sacrifice is the first charge on the estate; so you can see what an important position the oldest son holds in his clan, for clan feeling is very strong in Korea. It often works havoc in an entire family when the oldest son decides to become a Christian, for it means that he will have to surrender all the honor, emoluments, authority, and privileges of the head of his home, and in the East that is not a little. Just last week Dr. Nisbet found that the humble coolie who carries his country load was the head of his branch of the Cho clan. Because he would not take charge of the ancestral sacrifice, he had surrendered the use of the family ricefields to other members of the clan. Now the use of these fields would make him independent; and yet for Christ’s sake he became poor and was carrying a heavy load twenty miles a day for food and sixty-five sen, about 32 Yz cents. Spirits. — Buddhism once took strong hold on the Koreans, and there are temples scattered over the land, and traces of its influence are found in their reluctance to kill animals and in their belief in the transmigration of the soul. But, “Little Orphant Annie” must have come to the Hermit Nation long before James Whitcomb Riley ever met her, for every Korean knows that, “The Goble-uns 31 git you, ef you don’t watch out,” for they are waiting everywhere for you. Shamanism peoples the world with spirits, demons, gods, both good and evil, but mostly evil. I asked one of my Korean friends, “Why don’t you make offerings to the good spirits, too?” “Why,” he answered, THE GREAT INGATHERING 105 “what is the use? They are not going to bring us any harm anyhow,” which is proof positive that virtue does not always bring its own reward. In every Korean home there are three spirit nests or homes for fetiches. In the kitchen it is perhaps a small bowl, where offerings are made to the kitchen demon; back of the home is a little nest of straw rope or paper, where the spirit of the home site dwells; while the spirit cf the ridge pole abides in a bundle of paper fastened to a great beam in the ceiling. If any of these are offended, then there will certainly be great misfortune to that home. They also believe in other spirits whose special duty is to watch over contagious diseases, the mountains, the springs, the weather, the river, all phases of life. Almost anywhere you go in Korea, you will see some tree by it- self, hung with scraps of bright cloth or a little rice in a bag. That is a demon tree and if you wait long enough you will see some poor mother come and prostrate her- self, and hang a little rice or food to the tree, asking the spirit to bring cooling to the fever spirit that is killing her child. Devil Posts. — The roads to many villages have devil posts set up at the entrance to the village to keep out sickness and trouble. One interesting thing about them is that the male post has such a hilarious expression as though he were saying, “Everybody works but father,” while the female post is the last thing in piousity of ex- pression. Red Clay. — The first two weeks of the Korean new year are practically given over to feasting and worship- ping the spirits. In addition to the regular ancestral wor- ship at this time there are some very interesting things done. If you want to be very sure no demon will come near your home, you hunt until you get very red clay and sprinkle it upon the path. I was out preaching last New Year’s Day with a Korean friend and we saw two 1 06 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA places where the red of the clay had been increased by the addition of red ink. This is to imitate blood soaked earth, which is a sure preventive for demons of every kind. There is food for thought in that a nation, which has known nothing of the power of His Blood, should trust to this symbol. On the fifteenth of the new year, they have another custom that reminds you of the scape goat of the Old Testament. They make a little straw man, and put a few sen in him, and carry him and throw him where two roads cross. Whoever picks him up will carry away all the ills that would have come to that home that year. The beg- gar boys already have so many ills, that a few more or less won’t make any difference; so they go around next day and gather them for the sake of the few cents inside. Pansoo. — Nearly all heathen people believe the blind have the power to see into the unseen world ; so the Pan- soo, or blind “decider of destiny,” is a distinct business in Korea. He is a kind of fortune teller and grows almost as expert as the oracle at Delphi in ambiguous answers. Moo-tang. — Altogether different the moo-tang, who is always a woman. The word “moo-tang” means deceiv- ing the crowd, and is certainly a good name, although it is given her because she is supposed to possess power over the crowd of spirits. It is the moo-tang who is called in to drive out the smallpox spirit, to calm the sea spirit in time of storm, to appease the great Dragon so the crops may not suffer. Cost of Demon Worship. — It is estimated that in Seoul alone there are 4,000 sorceresses, and that demon worship costs the people $2,500,000 a year. Even as Paul found the sorcerer at Paphos a determined opponent of the gos- pel, so they as a class are still hard to reach. The only time I have ever had stones thrown at me in Korea was THE GREAT INGATHERING 107 when, in trying to preach the gospel in every home in a certain part of the city, a Korean friend and I visited the home of a sorceress. Let none laugh at these superstitions. I can think of no more fearful curse than to live in a world peopled with demons and evil spirits, always waiting to destroy your loved ones and to overthrow your happiness. Let us haste with the tidings of Him, the knowledge of Whom makes free indeed. (i) Men’s Mid-Winter Bible Class, Soonchun; (2) Alexander Hospital, Soonchun; (3) Missionary Helpers, Soonchun. CHAPTER IV. lifting tfce JKSJfjeat (191C-1919) CHAPTER IV. lifting tlje aSHfjcat 1. Japanese Annexation, 1910. 2. Korea’s Equipment. 3. Opening Soonchun Station: (1) Baptism of Fire, (2) Mother Koo, (3) Mr. Y. J. Kim. 4. Development of Hospital Work: (1) Hospitals, (2) Repair Work, (3) Lepers. 5. Development of School Work: (1) Beginning, (2) Academies, (3) Self-help, (4) Manual Training, (5) Japanese Law, (6) Severance Medical College. 6. Development of the Church: (1) General Assembly, (2) Presbyteries, (3) Quelpart, (4) Mission to Chinese in Lai Yang. 7. Other Organizations: (1) Salvation Army, (2) Y. M. C. A. I CHAPTER IV. lifting H)c IBSfjeat 1910-1919. “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath de- sired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art con- verted, strengthen thy brethren ” — Luke 22:31, 32. The next nine years might be said to be a period of intensive growth and development of the Korean Church. While a steady increase continued, the movement of the masses toward the church had gradually ceased with the establishment of stable conditions in the country, and with the adoption of a changed attitude by the new Govern- ment toward Christianity. “ Chosen/ ’ — In August 1910 Japan formally annexed Korea, restoring the former name “ Chosen” as against the more pretentious name “Taihan” (Great Han) adopted by King Yi twenty-five years before, when he assumed the title of “Emperor.” “Chosen,” often trans- lated “Land of Morning Calm,” probably means “Land of Morning Radiance,” — referring to its position as lying towards the sun-rising from China. This name has been in constant use from the beginning of the Yi dynasty 250 years ago, at which time this ancient name was restored in place of the name “Ko-ku-tyu” (Chinese pronuncia- tion, “Koriko”), from which we derive our English name “Korea.” The land was called “Chosen” as early as in the days of Emperor Tangun, 2000 years B. C., and the name was revived by the illustrious Kija, who with 5,000 followers fled from China to Korea 1122 B. C. 1 1 2 •DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Kija is the Columbus, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln of Korea all in one. The stories that are told of his goodness and wisdom would fill volumes. He and his followers ruled Chosen for over a thousand years. He eventually ascended into heaven, but like Cinderella, dropped a slipper in passing and this is buried near Pyengyang. Call for Reinforcements. — It was in 1910 that first the Ad Interim Committee and afterwards the mission at its regular meeting sent out the famous call for reinforce- ments to man the entire Chosen work. The laymen at home took up the work with enthusiasm and the Church responded to the call in a wonderful way. Not only was money given for building hospitals, homes, schools for different stations ; but one generous layman agreed to take over the entire support and maintenance of the new and last station, Soonchun, which was to be opened in the southern part of South Chulla. In three years we also received thirty-two new missionaries. We felt with this splendid equipment and force that we could organize and carry on our work to completion ; but alas ! out of that thirty-two, ten have been forced to go home, eight of whom were invalided and two returned for other reasons. The Great Lord of the Harvest would have us learn that not by strength nor by might is His work done, but by humble reliance on Him. What lesson we are to learn we know not, but the Chosen Mission’s losses for health reasons have been terrific. Since 1910 twenty-one male missionaries have come to Chosen, and during that time we have lost twelve, an average gain of just one a year. Soonchun Personnel. — At Mission meeting in 1912, it was decided to assign Rev. and Mrs. J. F. Preston, Rev. and Mrs. R. T. Coit, Rev. and Mrs. Charles Pratt, Dr. and Mrs. H. L. Timmons, Miss Meta Biggar, Miss Lavalette Dupuy, and Miss Anna Lou Greer to Soonchun Station. SIFTING THE WHEAT 113 Messrs. Preston and Pratt had worked indefatigably in the homeland with the laymen for the Korea equip- ment, and much of the success was due to their energy and enthusiasm. Land had been bought at Soonchun, a beautiful walled city seventy miles southeast of Kwangju, and homes for the missionaries were rapidly pushed to completion. These were all built of stone, which was near in abund- ance, and of a beautiful and fine quality. In April of 1913, the homes were far enough advanced to warrant moving, and Messrs. Preston and Coit with their families moved down. One week later the Coit children were at- tacked with malignant dysentery and after a short illness, transplanted to bloom in the Father’s Home. Mrs. Coit, too, contracted the disease, but in answer to fervent, united prayer, God spared her to us. Soonchun Station, having thus been opened with a baptism of fire, began its work with more than the ordinary sense of the reality of unseen things and the glorious hope of the Resurrection, to proclaim to those around them Him who has come with the healing touch. This station is noted as being the first and only one in Chosen which opened with all its workers and equipment in hand. Dr. C. C. Owen had faithfully visited the Soonchun territory from Kwangju, and so it was not like opening up a virgin field. Many villages had been visited, tracts distributed, and here and there were groups of believers and a church. Old Mother Koo. — At Kwangju, near Soonchun, lived old mother Koo, indeed a mother in Israel, who for sev- eral years before opening the work at Soonchun, in her desire to know more of her Savior, had walked through the snow and ice seventy-five miles to the ten days’ Bible class in Kwangju. Each time she came, she pleaded for someone to come to her village to teach the women; so, great was her delight and that of other women when work was opened at Soonchun. 1 14 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Some twenty years ago Mrs. Koo was a resident of Seoul, and employed with a host of others in the service of Queen Min. At that time she was a devout Buddhist, never ate any meat, and would not kill even a fly. In passing a butcher shop she always made special prayer. But she had no peace of heart. Her late majesty, the Queen, gave her faithful servant some of the crown lands in the south of Chosen and put her son in charge of col- lecting the revenue from others. Thus it was that Mother Koo moved to South Chulla near Soonchun with her oldest son and his two wives. One day she had gone to a village some five miles dis- tant on business, and passing a building she heard strange sounds, “Peace, peace, wonderful peace, gift of God’s love.” Now peace was the one thing that Mother Koo had never had, but had always desired. Like a will-o-the- wisp it seemed always just within her grasp, but still eluding her. With one of her village friends who hap- pened to be a Christian, she went in for a “sight see” of the services. Just As I Am. — The words of the speaker, a Korean, were strongly convicting in their power, and mother Koo, who had worked for seventy years to obtain merit, that she might not go empty handed to the Buddhist paradise now heard that, “Just as I am without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me,” she could go to her Savior. Before the service was ended Mother Koo decided that was the kind of religion she wanted, and in all the trials that followed that first de- cision her faith never wavered. Returning home she told her son that he too must go and believe. Now, he was a drinking man, and had no desire to go, but filial obedience made it necessary for him SIFTING THE WHEAT 115 to listen to the oft repeated urgings, so he too went over the mountain to the little church. At first he was not much impressed, for he had no desire to give up his wine ; besides he had two wives. But his mother never ceased her admonitions and at the end of the month he, too, decided to put off the old man, and he and his household were enrolled as inquirers. Mother Koo was instant in season and out of season in preaching to her neighbors, and great was her joy when her son was finally baptized and became leader of his village group, his wife number two having died. Year after year Mother Koo’s hair grows whiter, but her natural strength is little abated, and from village to vil- lage she goes telling the gospel story. Rev. R. T. Coit her “Moksa, ” missionary pastor, says: “Last year in crossing over a very high mountain pass, I heard someone call me, and looking back, saw Mother Koo climbing the mountain pass almost as fast as I had done. She had heard that I was going to a nearby church, so she had risen early to go with me; hungry herself to hear the Word and carry some crumbs to others.” She is now nearly eighty, and her hoary head is a crown of glory, but her one desire is still to usher in the reign of the Prince of Peace. The Church Curtain. — She reminds me of grandmother Chay, of Pun-doo-dy in Kunsan territory, a good old saint in Israel, who having heard the gospel accepted it with joy and forthwith exhorted her sons and grandsons and daughters and granddaughters to believe and be at peace as she was. She was a widow and her oldest son was the oldest man of the Chay clan and therefore ruled the clan, but grandmother Chay ruled him. Mr. Chay was called Church Leader, but they just called him that, for Mrs. Chay was the real leader. The Korean church has a cur- tain down the middle of the auditorium, dividing the men from the women. No man is allowed on the women's ii6 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA side and no woman is allowed on the men’s side, but grandmother Chay did not hesitate to go into the pulpit, from which vantage point she could see both her sons and her daughters, and call even the “Church Leader” to order if she questioned his conduct. But we long for a host of such grandmothers, for of her descendants some seventy are members of this country church, and two of her sons are elders and one is a candidate for the minis- try. Grandmother Chay has gone on to her reward to await a mighty host of children and children’s children as they come on later to be with their Lord. Y. J. Kim. — No story of how the Gospel came to Soon- chun territory would be complete without some mention of Mr. Y. J. Kim. Now I am sure you will think the Kim family has done a great deal of good work in Chosen, and and so they have ; for Kim is more common in Korea than Smith is in America. Mr. Kim was a Seoul man, and had a wife and three daughters there, but his wife had given him no son; therefore in true oriental fashion, there was for him no pleasure in his home or children. Found Jesus at the Hospital. — When he moved to Mokpo, he left his wife and daughters in Seoul, and took a very sweet attractive young woman as second wife. To her was born a son and a daughter, and being a very lovable, bright woman, Mr. Kim was very happy in his new home. Like many another he was won through our medical work. Though he had heard the Gospel many times before, after an operation he attended church out of courtesy and pure gratitude. Mr. Kim did not want to believe this new doctrine, for it meant to him the up- setting of his mode of life. Our church in Chosen does not allow a man any choice as to which wife he will re- tain, holding that the first wife is the legal one and that all others must be put away before a man can enter the church. Mr. Kim loved his second wife, whom he himself had chosen. She was beautiful, a good house- SIFTING THE WHEAT II 7 keeper, — then, they had two lovely children, one a son, the desire of his heart. His first wife older than he, was chosen for him by his parents while he was still a boy, and naturally his affection for her was not so great. The struggle was long and fierce, but the Man of Galilee conquered. Mr. Kim had a long talk with the wife of his heart, made over to her his tile roof house, with all its furniture and even allowed her personally to keep the son; which was a wonderful concession for an Eastern man to make. He then sent for his first wife and daughters to come down from Seoul, and live with him, as he had decided to be a Christian. Doing Right Endangers Life. — They could hardly be- lieve the good news, but Mr. Kim’s decision, so hard for him personally, almost cost him his life. The brother and mother of his young wife, enraged at his decision, beat him and tore his clothes off. The brother seized a knife and pursued Mr. Kim to the home of the missionary, but he finally escaped without serious bodily injury. For six years, until she entered one of our hospitals as trained nurse, he faithfully provided for the mother of his boy, and had the pleasure of seeing her and her mother both become earnest Christians. Mr. Kim went with Mr. Preston to Soonchun as evan- gelistic helper and secretary, and is now one of the strongest powers in that field. He was installed as an elder in the local Soonchun church in 1918. Which Is the Real Wife? — -This question of two wives is one of the most difficult that confronts the Korean Church. According to Korean custom, a man has abso- lutely no say so as to whom he marries. He does not even see her. The arrangements are made by his parents with a “go-between.” Often the girl is older than he is. Later in life if he is rich enough, and desires, he will take a concubine, whom he himself chooses ; and if left to him- Il8 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA self as to which wife he would keep I suppose he would always choose number two; but our church holds that Leah and not Rachel was the true wife, and Korean cus- tom strongly supports that view, for the real heathen mar- riage rite is not in the feast, nor in bowing seven times to a wooden goose, the emblem of conjugal fidelity, but in the bride and groom’s exchanging papers. Hers has his seal on it and she puts, the print of her thumb in red wax on his, if. she has no seal. Now a man can exchange mar- riage papers with only one woman and that is his first wife. The only divorce recognized is when they re-ex- change papers ; and a Korean girl guards her marriage cer- tificate as her life. If there are sons by the first wife, the children of a concubine, strictly speaking, have no rights at all. They may not become heirs nor sacrifice to the father after his death. But if the first wife is barren, then the father can either adopt a son or allow the second wife’s child to become heir as he chooses. But the stand a man takes on this question has every- thing to do with his influence as a Christian in his com- munity. Avoiding the Appearance of Evil. — Now, Mr. Kim continued to live in Mokpo some five years after he be- came a Christian, but he lived in one part of the city and his son’s mother in another. Never did he even enter her home. If they had to exchange messages about their two younger children, he sent his oldest daughter. They were most careful never to be seen speaking even on the street. Since he moved to Soonchun he has never been back here for fear some one would think he came to see his second wife. About the same time Mr. Mang, a well-to-do man, became a Christian. He too had a second wife, so he gave her a little home about four miles from where he and his first wife live. She and her children live there SIFTING THE WHEAT 119 and Mr. Mang helps support them. As he supports her and as she is a good seamstress, he often takes over sew- ing for her to do. He is careful not to go too often and says he has to see her sometime to talk over the welfare of their children; but Mr. Mang’s influence as a Christian in his community is null and void. His heathen neighbors do not believe that he is a real Christian. Island Work. — Although Mokpo is a harbor, even from the seven hundred foot hill that stands sentinel over it, the open sea is not visible. North, west and south there is the appearance of some mighty inundation with valleys submerged, and only hills and mountains rearing themselves above the universal flood. So thick in every direction do the islands lie that they cannot be distin- guished from the mainland. Our Islands. — In the territory for which the Southern Presbyterian Church agreed to be responsible, there are more . than two hundred inhabited islands, large and small ; some with many villages and thousands of houses ; others merely great rocks rising precipitously out of the sea, and with a few houses clinging precariously to the sunny side. Altogether the island inhabitants in our field number over 200,000 people, who, in spite of their isola- tion, differ very little from the people of the mainland. The people live largely by fishing and gathering sea products, although on the larger islands there are good farm lands too. Island Travel. — Among the islands, tides are swift and run in every direction, according to the contour of the land. Winds are liable to blow with hurricane force any month in the year, but they are especially preva- lent in the winter, while the wet summers are subject to constant fogs. Even to-day in spite of greatly increased facilities for travel, itinerating among the islands is no sinecure, 120 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA and in the early days they were so difficult of access and the workers so few, that, necessarily, they were left almost virgin soil. Rev. H. D. McCallie. — However, a number of the larger islands connected with the mainland by ferries were faith- fully visited by Dr. Owen and Mr. Preston, and the fruit of their labors remains in some of our largest and best churches, but it was not until the coming of Rev. H. D. McCallie in 1907 that the Mission could set a man apart definitely for island work. I’ll let Mr. McCallie tell in his own words of how he began and carried on the work of preaching the Good News to these isolated people : “The first thing was to spy out the land and make the general proclamation of the Gospel as broad as pos- sible to be followed up later by more intensive work ac- cording to developments. The usual method was to char- ter an open sail boat, load it down with gospels at one cent each, tracts by the thousand, . cook and food, lan- guage teacher, and several colporteurs and sail away ac- cording to wind and tide on trips varying from two to six weeks. We had neither chart nor compass but just went from island to island, visiting village by village, house by house, proclaiming the glad news that Jesus had come to seek and to save the lost.” Reception. — Everywhere they met a kind and hospi- table reception and often they preached to attentive crowds of people. Mr. McCallie had all the sensations of an explorer, as in a vast majority of cases he was the first white man as well as the first herald of the Gospel, to visit these islands. Often at his approach, the children went scurrying home, and women working in the fields scurried away like frightened rabbits to shelter. Money in those days was very scarce on the islands, so often the boat would return to Mokpo empty of gospels but full of sea weed, dried SIFTING THE WHEAT 121 fish, eggs, and chickens that had been received in ex- change. The Gospel to Kum-mu-do. — Mr. McCallie tells us himself how they brought the Gospel to Kum-mu-do. “One bright September day in 1909 the Gospel boat was sailing along the precipitous coast of a large island about one hundred and fifty miles east of Mokpo. It was grow- ing late, so it was necessary to find somewhere to spend the night. We did not even know the name of the island, but God was leading and a break in the lonely cliff dis- closed a lovely little bay with a village of some sixty homes nestling on its shores. That night a large crowd assembled as usual for a ‘Sight-see’ of the strange white man with his queer clothes; but they were well behaved and seemed to be above the average in culture and intel- ligence.” How the Good News Spread. — “Our message received a most respectful hearing and quite a number lingered till after midnight asking questions. We explained what day was the Christian Sabbath, and just how God was to be worshipped on that day, and a large number signified their desire to believe. I had no teacher to leave behind, but they showed their earnestness by sending, after we left, to the mainland for a Christian to come and teach them. The following winter, nine attended the ten days’ Bible class at Kwangju, requiring a walk of about three hundred miles for the trip. After this they made rapid progress and on my visit in May, I found over two hun- dred meeting regularly. From that time on I tried to send a helper there regularly; and just two years after my first visit to Kum-mu Island, I baptized twenty-three in the little church they had built with their own hands. Twice since then I have baptized more than forty at a time.” “Mr. Preston is authority for the statement that the people of this island had previously heard the Gospel (i) Home for Lepers; (2) Lepers; (3) Owen Memorial Bible School; (4) Ellen Lavine Graham Hospital and Dispensary; all at Kwangju. SIFTING THE WHEAT 123 from a Church on the mainland established by Dr. Owen, and had for some months been desirous of a visit from a missionary.” In his ten years among the islands, Mr. McCallie has developed a most wonderful and interesting work, but it is easy to see how difficult it is to look after a parish scat- tered so widely and so difficult to reach. This has been especially true of the women’s work on the islands; and Miss Martin and Miss McMurphy could write of wind and wave and typhoon encountered in their efforts to tell their island sisters of the Savior. Development of Medical Work. — This period also saw a wonderful development in our medical work. In four of our stations up-to-date hospitals were built, and in Kunsan Dr. J. B. Patterson enlarged and improved the buildings erected by Dr. Daniel in 1906. He can now accommodate seventy in-patients. It is a far cry from the little native dispensary for women in a small Korean home in Chunju, where Dr. Mattie Ingold began her work, using Smith Cash Store boxes for shelves and Eagle con- densed milk boxes for drawers, to the present modern hospital where Dr. Robertson and Miss Kestler have all they can do. In Mokpo Dr. R. S. Leadingham is in charge of the French Memorial Hospital. In Soonchun Dr. Rogers and Miss Greer, in the Alexander Hospital, dispense the only medical aid in reach of the people of that whole dis- trict. The 'Ellen Lavine Graham Hospital was erected in Kwangju in 1908 by Dr. R. M. Wilson, and accommo- dates fifty in-patients. Medical Practice. — Dr. Wilson says of his work, “It seems that about half of my work is repairing, where some native doctor has torn down. They have a great system of putting a needle into a joint or some other aching part of the body to let out the evil spirit, which they believe has caused the trouble. Of course infections of every kind follow and amputations become necessary. There is 124 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA now in the hospital a young woman dying as the result of the use of one of those needles or “chims.” She was suffering from some cause so the Korean doctor put a needle into her jaw, necrosis of the bone followed, and after months and months of pain, she came to us. We removed the larger part of the dead bone but the drain on her system had been so prolonged that kidney trouble resulted and she is dying. The one bright side to the picture is that these patients listen with joy to the Gospel ; they seem more ready to believe than others.” New Place to Wear Silk. — “One form of repair that I have had to do recently was to remove foreign bodies from the stomach. A woman came in not long ago saying she had a mop in her stomach. She described it by saying it was as long as her forearm, and said it had been there for five months. We operated, opening the stomach and taking out a bamboo stick with a bunch of silk in the end. It measured exactly ten inches in length. She was soon well and sent away happy.” “When the Koreans come to the native doctor with acute indigestion or a similar ailment, she (for this kind of practitioner is usually a woman), tells them that they have a bone in the throat. Then this old public mop is forced down their throat. As the patient vomits, the doctor slips a bone from out her sleeve, which she tri- umphantly displays as having been the source of all the trouble. Last year I removed one of these mops from a man’s stomach but he died later. We found that the sharp end of the stick had pierced the wall of the stomach and injured the liver. Then a great abscess had formed which had killed him.” Boy or Girl. — “Last year a mother came with her baby with a miserable crab’s leg in its throat. A small saw done up in a bundle and put down its throat couldn’t have been more horrible. After we finally removed it I asked the mother whether it was a boy or a girl, and she SIFTING THE WHEAT 125 quickly replied, ‘You don’t think I would bring a girl baby thirty-five miles for treatment do you?’ That is the real expression of how they feel about a girl baby; it is a sad day for the mother and household when one is born.” With all the horrors and misery and sufferings caused by this war, it is but a small thing in comparison with what is caused by superstition, ignorance and heathen methods of treatment in mission lands. You remember it was said of the woman who came to Christ, that she had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all she had and was nothing bettered, but she rather grew worse. This is true of the people living in Chosen; and so our five hospitals with their consecrated physicians and nurses are as lighthouses, pointing not only to better ways of living and freedom from suffering, but to the Christ, who came not to be ministered unto but to min- ister. Medical Work Entering Wedge. — The medical work is not only the means of bringing many to Christ, but even as Dr. Allen first opened up the work here through his visit of healing in the palace of the king, so we often find an entrance for the King of kings into an entire vil- lage through some patient who has been to one of our hospitals. Mr. McCallie says, “We often have great dif- ficulty making a start on some of the new islands. Last summer we visited the island of Ka-gu-do for the first time. This place is little more than an island peak, jutting out of the sea one hundred miles from the mainland. To our great surprise, we were met by a man with one leg, who gave us a warm welcome, and his beaming face showed that he was a Christian. On inquiry we found that at the French Memorial Hospital, Mokpo, he had lost a leg but found Christ. He soon had a crowd gathered to hear us preach and we had a good service.” 126 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Leper Work. — There are about 20,000 lepers in Korea, largely in the south. Of these about 600 are segregated in leper hospitals. The rest roam at will over the country. The Government is just beginning to take up leper work and now has a plant in which they care for about eighty. The Leper Mission, which cares for lepers all over the world has three plants in Korea ; one in Taiku, one in Fusan, and one in our own Mission at Kwangju. This is supported and controlled by the Leper Mis- sion but supervised by a committee of three from our Mission, with Dr. R. M. Wilson in charge. There are about two hundred and eighty in the Kwangju hospital, and there is an organized church there with two elders and a deacon. One of the most strik- ing things about them is their intelligent Bible study. Through the revelation of the Gospel as seen in the car- ing for the leper, the outcast of society, several churches have been founded. Paijin in the Mokpo field is one of these, and the father of one of the inmates of the Kwangju hospital is the leader of the church. Schools a Necessity. — ‘People differ about what is a real necessity. I once visited a home, where, in the midst of December snows, there was no coal, nor overshoes, nor winter flannels for a family of eight, but when asked to name their immediate necessities, a sixteen-year-old girl said she could do without shoes or flannels but a feather boa was an absolute necessity. Missionaries may differ about other things necessary for the work, but I am sure we will all agree that, if we are to have trained workers, men and women skilled in the use of God’s Word, we must have schools. Kunsan School. — Early in the days of Korean Mission work this truth was recognized by far-sighted pioneers, and in Kunsan, Mrs. Junkin gathered the boys in Mr. Junkin’s study and taught them. When the boys had lost their fear of a foreigner and become a little accustomed SIFTING THE WHEAT 127 to the school, Mr. Junkin secured a native teacher and moved them to a little Korean house. Mrs. Junkin then turned her attention to the girls, getting a native Christian woman to help her. There was laid the foundation of our two fine schools in Kunsan. When Mr. and Mrs. Junkin were moved to Chunju in 1902, Messrs. Earle and Harrison carried on the boys’ school until reinforced by the coming of Mr. Venable and later by Mr. Linton. Mrs. Junkin ’s mantle fell on Mrs. Bull and to her leadership do we large- ly owe the wise foundation of the Mary Baldwin School in Kunsan. In Chunju Miss Tate began a little girls’ school in 1901, teaching them at first three days a week and later securing a native teacher for a day school, while Mr. and Mrs. Harrison began a small school for boys. Mr. and Mrs. Bell began a school for boys and one for girls in Dr. Owen’s and Mr. Bell’s Korean guest rooms as soon as Kwangju Station was opened. And Miss Straef- fer left an undying monument in Mokpo in the character of the young girls whom she gathered together and trained in lessons of love, forbearance and cleanliness. First School Workers. — But all this early school work was done by missionary evangelists, who had large country fields, “white unto the harvest” calling to them constant- ly, so the schools were necessarily of secondary considera- tion, and it was not until 1907 that the first missionaries were sent out for strictly educational work. The death of Miss Rankin in 1911 and the forced return of Mr. Ven- able in 1917, were both great blows to our educational work. We now have at each of our four stations, Chunju, Kunsan, Kwangju and Mokpo, an eight grade girls’ school with boarding school attached so that country girls can have the advantages of these schools. In each school we have from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five 128 BAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA pupils, and one lady missionary gives most of her time to each of these schools. At Kunsan and Mokpo we have primary schools for boys with a missionary giving part time to each school, but we plan to send our grammar school boys to Chunju and Kwangju, where we have academies for North Chnlla and South Chulla. All over our field we have small church schools, which act as feeders to our Station Schools. One of our early problems was how to secure competent teachers for these country church schools. We had the old Chinese scholar but wisdom died with him, before it reached geography or arithmetic ; so twice a year the teachers were all gathered together for a month’s normal class, where they were in- structed in what they were to teach for the next five months. Let us hope they did not get dry before the next shower of knowledge fell. As we cannot make bricks without straw neither can we have a school without boys and girls. Poor as the Ko- reans are, how to feed and clothe these country girls when they come into our station schools is a puzzling question, but in 1910, through Mrs. M. L. Swinehart’s initiative, the crochet needle and embroidery frame were introduced into nearly all our Station girls’ schools, and many a girl has been enabled to learn lessons of cleanliness and industry and at the same time partly pay her way through school. In the boys’ academies at Chunju and Kwangju and in our school at Kunsan, carpentry, tinning, shoemaking, etc., have been taught to a certain extent; but our work has been more or less hampered because of our need of men for educational work. Japan Excludes the Bible. — Soon after the annexation of Chosen by Japan, the Government announced that all schools not then possessing Government permits would either have to close or else conform to Government re- quirements. Schools possessing permits could continue ten SIFTING THE WHEAT 129 years according to former custom; but at the end of that time, they too would have to conform to Government regulations. Now our four older stations all had permits for their schools, but while application had been made for permits more than two years before for the two flour- ishing schools we had opened at Soonchun, the permits had not been granted, and the Soonchun schools were closed down. In complying with Government regulations it is impossible to make the Bible a part of the curriculum. Union School Work. — : ¥e unite in three kinds of higher educational work with the other three Presbyterian Missions, while the Severance Medical School is a union school of both Presbyterians and Methodists. It is to edu- cate Christian doctors and nurses for Korea, and is a magnificent plant located in Seoul. We are represented in it by Dr. K. S. Oh, and Miss Elise J. Shepping. Miss Shepping is at the head of the nurses’ training depart- ment. We also have a representative, Mr. Wm. P. Parker, in the Union College at Pyengyang, where our men go for further training after graduating from our own academies. Here too, we get our teachers for our best schools. The fact has been mentioned before that we also unite in our seminary for the training of our Presbyterian min- istry and this is located at Pyengyang with Dr. S. A. Moffett as President. Railroads. — In 1913 a railroad was completed link- ing Kunsan with the main line from Fusan to Mukden, and the following year the road was finished from the main line to Mokpo. This road passes within ten miles of Kwangju and within twenty miles of Chunju. Some en- terprising capitalists built a narrow gauge road from Chunju connecting with this line. There is good automo- bile service between the railroad and Kwangju. Thus our stations are all much easier to reach than formerly. Soon- chun is still somewhat isolated, but good roads are being 130 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA completed and we will soon cease to sing, “It is a long, long way to Soonchun.” General Assembly. — We have characterized this as the Period of Intensive Growth in Korea because there was a marked development along all lines of the Church’s ac- tivities. Up to 1911 there was only one presbytery for all Korea, but it grew to be so large that in 1911, at Taiku, it seemed best to organize a General Assembly. Chulla Presbytery. — In September, 1911, following the action of the mother Presbytery, now growing into a General Assembly, Rev. P. S. Kim called together for organization at Chunju all the Chulla presbyters. Presbytery Divided. — Chulla Presbytery continued to grow and as the difficulty of travel made it seem wise to have one presbytery for North Chulla and one for South Chulla, permission was secured from the General Assem- bly in 1917 to form North Chulla and South Chulla Pres- Korean General Assembly, 1918 SIFTING THE WHEAT I3I byteries out of the old Chulla Presbytery. Carrying out the order of the General Assembly, Rev. J. S. Nisbet, D. D., called the South Chulla presbyters to meet in Mokpo, September 19, 1917. There were present six mission- aries, four Korean pastors and nine elders. On October 10, 1917, North Chulla Presbytery was convened by Rev. W. P. Yi in Chunju where the undivided presbytery of Chulla had been formed. Thus we now have the presby- teries of North Chulla and South Chulla, consisting en- tirely of our Southern Presbyterian constituency, being two of the eleven presbyteries which constitute the Gen- eral Assembly of Korea. Home Missions. — These two presbyteries together with Whang Hai-do Presbytery have taken over entirely the work in Quelpart. Our two presbyteries have a budget for the Quelpart work of yen 2,000 or about $1,000.00, besides contributing to the mission work of the Korean Assembly. They have two ordained men, Rev. S. M. Yun and Rev. C. G. Kim, with their families and helpers at work there. Mr. Kim was one of the first five baptized in the Chunju field, and Mr. Yun is one of our first Seminary graduates, both fine strong men, who are doing good work among the sturdy, peculiar race on Quelpart. For some years the Church had felt that Quelpart was not really foreign missions. The people on this island are really Korean, although their customs and habits are very different from those on the mainland. For example, there is no seclusion of the women, and the two sexes have perfect equality, the women being indeed almost Amazons, since they develop great strength and perfect muscles in diving for seaweed. Foreign Missions. — In 1912 just twenty-eight years after the first Western missionaries landed in Chosen, the General Assembly decided to answer the Macedonian call from the Chinese brethren of the Presbyterian church in 132 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Bible Conference, Quelpart Island the Shantung Province of China, and enter Lai Yang dis- trict. So three native ordained evangelists were chosen by the General Assembly to help carry out the last command of their Master by giving their lives for the evangeliza- tion of China. The three men and their families settled in Lai Yang city, about eighty miles from Chefoo, and began their work. To quote from their first report: “The Lai Yang district contains a few schools, which teach the old education, but most of the people are igno- rant and of low class. It is hard to influence the low class people in any country, but one hindrance to gospel preaching was done away with in Lai Yang after the mag- istrate of the district called on us. From that time on the people listened with interest and heeded our message.” “It was the guidance of God our Father that brought the magistrate to our house. He gave us all a big feast at his home, but being poor missionaries, we were in a great state of anxiety that these social duties would take time from our preaching. Then too we had not the money to give a feast back. In praying about it, we decided we SIFTING THE WHEAT 133 would do according to our own custom, send some poetry instead of an invitation, when one has not money to prop- erly entertain in return.’ ’ Poetry Instead of a Feast. — '“One of our number, Pastor Kim Yung Hoon, is well educated in classical poetry, so in very learned Chinese characters, he compiled a poem, and we sent it to the magistrate’s home instead of an invitation to our home.” “The outline of the poem was: In the first stanza the virtue of the magistrate was stated; the second stanza elaborated on the friendship between the Chosen mission- aries and the magistrate ; the third told of the coming of these missionaries to China, and the fourth stanza was a persuasive appeal to the magistrate to become a Christian, for only by so doing could he really have good govern- ment.” Strange to say the first convert our workers had was an old and influential scholar, Chang Soo Myung, who read the poem sent to the magistrate, felt an interest in the author and called on him. They were able to converse through the Chinese written characters. When admon- ished to believe on Christ he opposed them through his learning, but continued his visits in order to exchange views about the classics. Finally he was persuaded to read the Bible and his pride yielded to its power and he came asking, “What must I do to be saved?” He was then seventy years old and among the scholars of Lai Yang district, all over forty years old were his students, so the conversion of this influential teacher did a great deal to put our work on a firm basis. In last report we had fifty-six baptized members and a little sum of money contributed to the building of a church. The prayers of two hundred thousand Korean Christians behind these men should make them powerful in doing their small por- tion towards the evangelization of China. 134 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Other Organizations. — Happily Chosen has been rather free from isms. At one time the country was flooded with tracts proclaiming “Russellism” and they very insidiously took a name that would appeal to the Koreans, for they claimed to be published by “The World’s United Young Peoples’ Bible Society.” They obtained no grip on the people as a whole; for the best preventive to any poisonous doctrine is good, prayerful Bible Study, and the Korean Christian is a Bible-loving man. The English Salvation Army has a small work in North Chulla, with Ensign Lord and his wife living in the city of Chunju. They make pleasant and helpful neighbors and they and our own force are the only white people preaching in these two rich provinces of Chulla, except some French Catholics. The Y. M. C. A. in Seoul is located on Chong-no, or Bell Street, the principal thoroughfare of the city. Two things no stranger can pass without seeing, the Y. M. C. A., a monument to the effort to bring the best into the lives of the young men, and the Big Bell, which has an interesting story. Story of Big Bell. — An old bellmaker with a heart of loyalty, wanted to present a notable gift to his king. He thought long and hard and at last decided that the best gift possible would be a bell made with his own hands, sweeter and richer in tone than any other bell that had ever been made. So he gathered at great cost all the materials necessary, poured them into the melting pot and watched till the mass was melted and assumed the proper glow and then he poured it into the mold. In time he swung it, drew back the great pole clapper and struck the bell and listened, all expectant, the hope of a lifetime to be realized or his great effort to go for naught. But the sound that came forth was harsh and absolutely devoid of richness. The poor old man was broken-hearted. SIFTING THE WHEAT 135 But having spent his all on the bell, he must make it a success, so he borrowed of his friends, secured additional materials, broke up the bell and placed it all in the melt- ing pot to try once more. Again when the bell was fin- ished and hung, he drew back the long pole, in hope and fear let it go and again the harsh unmusical sound came forth, and again the old bellmaker was broken-hearted. He thought, and almost in despair he sought help from his friends to make one last effort. This time his only daughter had a dream, “Only by human sacrifice could the sweet and tender tone be secured.” “How can this be secured?” thought she, and while her father was watching the metal, intent to see if it had reached the proper heat, he saw something leap past him and quickly lifting his eyes he saw his loved daughter sink into the molten metal. She had sacrificed herself to secure the wish of her father, and make an offering worthy of her king. The father’s heart was sad, but the daughter was gone beyond recall, so he once more poured the metai, hung the bell, drew back the pole, let it go and in all in- tensity listened. Will the tone be sweet? Will this that carries the life-blood of my daughter be worthy of the king ? And lo ! tones came forth of such sweetness and richness as he had not even imagined. This bell now hangs on the main street of Seoul and is worth while seeing. This is but a legend of the bell perchance, but does it not speak out for loyalty? Give the best to our King! Forget self for the good of others ! Teachers, Mary Baldwin School, Kunsan. CHAPTER V. Korean Jfattfj in Action CHAPTER V. Korean Jfaitf) in Action L. Faith Under Persecution: Mrs. K. P. Yi. 2. Faith Casting Off Old Customs and Ideas: Mr. U. 3. Faith Sowing Seed: Mrs. Yi. 4. Faith Under Temptation: Rev. C. I. Yi. 5. Faith Dealing With Little Things of Daily Life Chassubby Umini. 6. Faith Through Prayer: Mr. Su. CHAPTER V. is ocean Jfattf) in Action 1. Faith under persecution: Mrs. K. P. Yi. “ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beldeveth ; to the Jew first , and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith” — Rom. 1:16-17. Girl’s Position. — Kaundi Agi was a happy little girl playing around the streams near her home in the northern mountains of Chosen, until one day when she was nearly fifteen her mother said, “Kaundi Agi, you must help me some now with the sewing; the go-between has been here and we have arranged to marry you to Mr. Yang’s son . away over in Kolson ; and so you must help me get ready.” In vain Kaundi Agi said that she did not want to leave her mother; she disliked the idea of going among people whom she had never seen, — please wait just one more year until she was a little larger. The mother sighed but answered firmly, “You are a Korean girl and you cannot do what you want to do ; you must do what the Lord of the House says, and since you are not very strong we are fortunate indeed in getting so good a price for you as Mr. Yang offers.” Marriage. — -Kaundi Agi had no real name ; she was the second daughter, so they called her “Kaundi Agi,” the Middle One. Despite her tears and protestations she was sent thirty miles from home to the house of the pros- perous farmer, Mr. Yang. There her place as wife to his son was entirely secondary in all their minds to her posi- tion as daughter-in-law in the home. It was not a question DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA I4O of “Will her husband find pleasure in her?” but rather, “Will she lighten her mother-in-law’s work?” The poor little fifteen-year-old girl had to stifle her sobs and conceal her longing for her mother and for her childhood home, for those were all dead to her now. She belonged abso- lutely to her new family. The New Enemy. — The Yang home was down in the valley and the mountain reared girl soon became the vic- tim of malaria. Added to her natural homesickness she now heard on all sides regrets for the bad bargain that the family had made in getting such a weakly girl. But as the mother-in-law frankly remarked, “She won’t last long, and we shall be more careful next time. I won’t trust any go-between, I shall go myself and pick out a strong husky girl, one who can lift heavy jars of water.” Poor little Middle One, is there no eye that sees and pities your loneliness and misery? Many a night when the Rev. and Mrs. K. P. Yi. Rev. C. I. Yi. KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 141 rest of the family was asleep, she crept out of doors, and gazing up at the stars that seemed to her poor tear-blind- ed vision like the eyes of guardian spirits, she would lift her heart and voice in a cry for help. No one had ever told her of God, she knew nothing of His Son and the wonderful Home He had prepared ; but she felt that somewhere there must be Someone who could help her. And so in her ignorance and sorrow she stood night after night out in the starlight with arms out- stretched, calling on the unknown God to show her the way. The New Friend. — No one ever cries to Him in vain. One day her father-in-law came home from market with two books and a wonderful story. There had been at market a blue-eyed Westerner, his nose was as large as a house, and his ears stood out like fans. Yes, he was cu- rious looking, and very ill-mannered as all those crude Westerners are, but he was teaching a new religion called “The Jesus Doctrine.” Mr. Yang had bought two books and he thought he would see what this Jesus taught. Thus His Word found entrance into that home; but among ail its inmates only the father and the little despised 1 ‘ Middle One’’ were ready to let Him into their hearts. The son was uninterested, the mother was “too old to learn”; but the Middle One, though she could not leave home to attend any of the meetings, found that there was a new bond between her and her father-in-law. He taught her to read and to sing the Christian songs and bought her copies of the Gospels and finally of the whole Bible. How she devoured its contents ! Life, everything, had a new meaning to her after that. Ownerless Thing. — When she was twenty-two a fear- ful scourge of fever swept through that province, and both Mr. Yang and his son died. Middle One now became “An Ownerless Thing”; her husband, her real owner, was dead, and her own family had no claim on her. There is 142 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA nothing more pitiful than a young Korean widow. But soon Middle One learned that her brother-in-law had ar- ranged to send her as a concubine to a rich man in a dis- tant village. Flight. — She refused to go, put on her old torn clothes, and covering her head with ashes declared that if taken it would be as a beggar and not as a bride. Her brother- in-law shrugged his shoulders and replied that there were ways of making a hard-headed Korean girl mind ; he had received her purchase price and go she must. She saw that there was nothing to save her, and so at night, clad in her oldest clothes, with her head and face covered from view according to Korean custom, she fled, hoping to gain shelter in some missionary’s home. Capture. — For three days she trudged through the De- cember snow, footsore and weary; on the fourth night she was caught. Her brother-in-law had accepted thirty dollars for her and he must deliver the goods. And so she was taken to her new owner’s home. It was a rich home; at first they tried to deceive her by telling her that if she would only stay quietly there and teach them of Jesus they would all believe. She told them that she would gladly stay as a servant, but she could never be a concu- bine, nor could she have anything to do with spirit wor- ship. “My God Can Deliver.’’ — She told them of how powerful God was, and how He always cared for His own. Thousands of years ago some of His chosen people were captives in Egypt and He delivered them just as He was going to deliver her. Bridegroom Sick. — That night the bridegroom was taken suddenly ill, and they prepared a dummy man to take out to the mountain to deceive the spirits that they might think this was the one whom they wanted to afflict, and so leave the real man in peace. In the confusion, KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 1 43 Middle One made her escape to the home of a Christian in a nearby village. But the next day when the bridegroom was better they found her place of refuge and she was again carried captive to an alarmed and frightened house- hold. What kind of a Korean girl was she? She feared neither her mother-in-law nor the tigers of the mountain. Middle One did not give them much comfort. She told them how that her God had in one night slain 185,000 men because they had dared to oppress His people, she pictured with vivid picturesqueness the dying horrors of the Chaldeans who thrust the Hebrew children into the fiery furnace, she lingered over the destruction of Pha- raoh’s host in the Red Sea, and she added, “My God’s arm is not shortened, He is able and He will deliver me, just as He has delivered His children in the past.” McCutchen Memorial Bible School and Students, Chunju, February, 1919 144 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA God’s Promise Fulfilled. — That evening they came to the women’s quarters with fearful faces; the bridegroom had had a relapse. Despite all their offerings to the spirits he was again very ill. Middle One calmly remarked to her would-be mother-in-law, “I am afraid that he will be much sicker if you don’t let me go. I don’t know how God intends to save me from your son, but save me He will. Remember what I told you of the first born of Egypt.” Go in Peace. — About midnight Middle One was awak- ened by her new mother-in-law, who commanded her to arise and dress and go in peace. She added, “I have a servant here who will escort you to the home of a church leader who lives about fifty miles from here. I have pre- pared food, money, and clothing, and I shall see that you are not followed or molested. I do not know your God, but I do know that He is more powerful than our spirits, and I want you to go in peace, — then perhaps my son will recover.” Thus in the home of the Korean church leader Middle One found a home, and for five months she lived there helping in the village and family life. Then one day Mr. Lee, of Pyeng Yang, came through the village hunting for a sewing woman and nurse for his children and Middle One gladly went with him. She spent five years in the Lee home, learning lessons of thrift and neat- ness, and growing daily in her love of the Bible and in knowledge of its power. Rev. K. P. Yi was ready to graduate from the Semi- nary in our first class. Years before he had thrown stones at Dr. Moffett on the streets of Pyeng Yang, but now he was known as one of the most consecrated and able men in our church. And so when he asked Middle One to join her life with his in an effort to bring their people to Christ, she gave a glad assent. Missionaries to Quelpart. — When Mr. Yi graduated in 1907, he and his wife were sent as the first missionaries of the Korean Church to the island of Quelpart. There KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 145 for eight years they did a wonderful work. Mrs. Yi taught the Quelpart women the Way of Life, and along with it, lessons of hygiene and homemaking. In 1915 Mr. Yi’s throat gave out, so they spent a year in Mokpo. Then he became pastor of the Kwangju church. In all his work Mrs. Yi has been in every sense a helpmeet. When she was baptized she was given the name of Hamna, “ Brought into Harmony,” for had not all her hopes, de- sires, and thoughts been brought into harmony with God’s great plan for those who truly love and serve Him? 2. Faith Casting Off Old Customs and Ideas : Mr. U. Six Misfortunes. — “What makes Mr. U such a mel- ancholy looking man?” asked the Moksa on one of his first visits to the island of Pekum. “Oh,” was the reply, “Mr. U has had a very great misfortune, enough to make any man look sad. All of his neighbors sympathize with him greatly.” The missionary’s kind heart was touched and he inquired, “What is his trouble?” Prom their reply he learned the distressing fact that Mr. U had six daughters and no sons. Any Oriental will feel that his lot is indeed hard if he is denied the summum bonum of life, a son ; and it is much worse if he is burdened with a lot of foolish, useless girls. Changed Spectacles. — But as Mr. U grew in Christian knowledge and faith, his face brightened, he had a new light on life’s pathway. God had given him these little girls and they were precious in their heavenly Father’s sight, therefore he also must love and cherish them. And so he named them all using the Chinese character “So” which means “Little” as the first syllable of each one’s name. Then Mr. U caught another vision, a strange one for an uneducated Korean farmer to catch. He saw some- thing of what educated Christian womanhood would mean 146 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA to his people, and he determined to give each of his girls at least three years in a Christian school. A New World. — One day soon after, I heard much clearing of throat and coughing at the front door; there stood Mr. U with an old rooster and a string of eggs as a propitiatory offering to the president of the school, and with him were two wild looking little girls. Their eyes were so bright and their whole air so untamed that I was afraid they would fly away before I could get them tagged. But no, “Little Daughter” and “Little Strength” (Soapi and Soyup), had come for an education. They brought a large bag of barley with them, for that was what they raised on their own island farm. They proposed to bring their own food from home and cook it at the school. I agreed to give them a brazier to cook on as the other girls were then eating rice. It takes grit for a school child of any race to live in a dormitory and daily prepare and eat inferior food while all around are other pupils enjoying better food, and the Korean child is no exception. At the close of the second year typhus fever swept the island and Soapi was one of the victims. And so Sojin, “Little Truth,” came to take her place at school in the fall, and the stricken father said that “Little Daughter” had gone singing to her Heavenly Father’s Home. I11 time, So-ai “Little Love,” took up Soyup ’s place, and Soyup was married to a well-to-do but illiterate farmer living on Udol mountain, about a mile from the school. These new relatives of Little Strength were pros- perous people, but they knew nothing of the value of an education. They were amazed when Little Strength begged permission to take her small niece to school. For almost a week she patiently took that long walk each day with the little seven-year-old girl, until the child learned the way for herself and was not afraid to come alone. KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 147 A Happy (Marriage. — She taught her husband to read ; and so well did she fill her mission in the home, that when her older sister-in-law died, Mr. Chay sent to our school, asking for an educated girl for his wife. He said that he had watched Little Strength for over a year, and he too wanted a cleaner home, and a wife who would be a com- panion to him. A Victory for God. — Last year there was a mighty victory won for God out in Mr. U’s island home. That strange epidemic, called the “Flu,” which swept the world, sparing neither palace nor hut, visited the little island of Pekum, and every member of Mr. U’s family was stricken at once. There was no one to build fires, bring water, cook food, or help in any way. At last his heathen neighbors came, but, before they would cross the thresh- hold, they must first make a sacrifice to the evil spirit that was thus afflicting the family. But Mr. U could not give his consent to demon worship in his home. “Then we cannot come in the house to help you,” was the verdict of the village, “for the foul spirit will certainly be angered and attack us.” Day after day they came with offers of help if Mr. U would permit even a little offering to this fierce demon. He saw his wife and his now dearly loved girls sick and helpless, but he felt that to yield would be to acknowledge that the devil still held power over him and his. He knew that he had been bought with the precious blood of Christ and was free from the power of Satan. And so he claimed victory through the Lamb, and obtained it; for, while many of his heathen neighbors died, he and his entire family came unscathed through the scourge. And the neighbors look at him and wonder if after all the demons are as powerful as they are believed to be. 148 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA 3. Faith Sowing Seed: Mrs. Yi. In a country village in Korea lived a family by the name of Won. There was a little girl whom they called Arun Yuni and she spent a part of each day with her lit- tle friends putting together bright little scraps of cloth to make the pieced jackets that Korean children love so well. The sleeves of the jackets are often made of twenty different colors, sewed together to simulate stripes, and we wonder if Joseph’s coat of many colors was half so pretty. Marriage. — One day her mother called Arun Yuni and informed her that she had been betrothed to the eld- est son of the noted Yi family. This alliance, she added, was eminently fitting inasmuch as the relatives in con- ference had discovered that there existed an affinity be- tween the eight ideographs that composed Arun Yuni’s name and those that occurred in the young man’s name. An exorcist would forthwith be called to select a propitious day for the wedding. The Wedding Chest. — Arun Yuni did not want to be married, but she was interested, childlike, in all the new clothes and pretty bright cloth that the bridegroom sent for her trousseau. The shiny new chest held silk for waists, linen for skirts, fine domestic for underwear, lovely silver ornaments for her hair, shoes, a comb, a small mirror, and even charcoal to be used as an offering to the spirits when Arun Yuni’s first son was born. Eight Characters Are Unfortunate. — The marriage was as happy as most Eastern marriages are, for the Oriental woman is always taught self-abnegation. She expects little of her liege lord. Arun Yuni did her full duty in presenting the Yi family with a beautiful baby boy, and for a while it seemed that her eight characters were certainly meant for happiness. But, alas, the young husband and the much loved baby boy were taken from KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 149 her, and as a most unwelcome baby girl was born soon after the boy’s death, everyone knew that Arun Yuni must have displeased the spirits greatly. This useless, undesired baby girl became a sight almost unbearable to the poor widowed mother, for she constantly reminded her of the anger of the gods and of her present forlorn condition. How the poor, ignorant child-mother hated that baby and how she wished it would die ! Flight. — A woman, whose business it is to locate un- attached women, began to frequent Arun Yuni’s home and to pity her because of her sad condition, for none of her family cared for her now since they saw her cast off by the spirits. This woman told her that she knew of a very fine wealthy desirable man who would gladly welcome her to his home and make her mistress of it. Arun Yuni finally consented to go, but what should she do with the unwanted baby girl? The go-between met her out in the back of the village, where she had planned to drown the baby and leave a suit of her own clothes, as proof that she herself was drowned ; for that would be less of a dis- grace than for them to know that she had “mended her eight characters,” or married in the only way that a widow could. But when the time came she could not kill the little girl, and so she decided to take her with her. A Prisoner. — When the coolies put her chair down in the yard of her new home she stepped out from the curtains to find that the go-between, the chair coolies, all, had disappeared; and although she already bitterly regretted the step that she had taken, she was virtually a prisoner in the household of the new lord of her life. Looking upon him she knew that he was a drunkard and a man to be feared, but according to Korean custom she was tied securely to him ; there was no place to which she could flee. Henceforth abuse and beatings and drudgery were to be her portion. 150 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Let us pass over the years of starvation and suffering through which she lived as the practical slave of that ill- tempered, drinking, Korean man. At last she decided that she could stand it no longer; she would take her child and escape to Seoul and become a Buddhist nun. It was a long, hard trip, but they made it. Meeting With Miss Tate. — Mrs. Yi had a very bad sore of some three years standing, and it would not heal though she had continued to use on it the strongest native medicine, manure and dried salt fish. After she had been in Seoul for some time she heard of an American doctor who did most wonderful things. She went to see him, and at the hospital she heard of another most wonderful thing, a school for girls! Well, this was the place to get rid of her undesirable daughter. She succeeded in placing her girl in the school. There she met Miss Mattie Tate, who had only recently come to Korea and who was then in Seoul studying the language in preparation for her wonderful work among the country women of Korea. No one would have thought of this poor, ignorant, sad, Korean woman as a Helper but she went to Miss Tate as a servant and later she developed into a wonderful Bible student, a seed-sower who was instant in season and out of season. Chief of Sinners. — At first it was difficult for her to study and she did not seem to care for the hours of Bible work; but one day she came home from the Bible class with her face beaming, and said, “I am so glad to know what my sins are and that Jesus has died for all of them, ’ ’ then breaking down and crying the cry of an awakened sinner, “Yes, He died for others, but surely not for me, for I have committed all the sins known.” But after reading God’s word on the subject and hearing a talk on Christ’s healing the blind, she became very happy that He had opened her eyes spiritually and made her to know that, though she were the chief of sinners, Jesus’ blood was sufficient to make even her scarlet life white as snow. KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 1 51 Her Message. — Her great desire was to tell others of the cleansing blood of Calvary, and first she must take the message to her own home people. And this she wanted to do even though she knew that they would rather believe her dead than to know that she had disgraced her name by the life which she had led since she left them. She realized that she might be denied recognition, beaten, even killed by her father’s family, but she bravely took the long, hard journey, and later had the joy of bringing several of her own family to Christ. When Miss Tate prepared to make her first trip co Chunju, Mrs. Yi went with her as companion, friend, helper; and later when Miss Tate moved permanently to Chunju, Mrs. Yi declined an offer of a much larger salary in Seoul, saying that she was glad God gave her a chance to sacrifice a little for Him and to go a long way from home to tell the women of Chulla Province of God’s love and His Son who had come to save. Two Partners. — For many years the “Woman from America” and the “Woman from Seoul” worked together in this southern country, and their souls were knit in a wonderful love and purpose to bring the message to the Korean women. Even as the Bible speaks of the “Sa- maritan Woman” who so “published the tidings” that crowds came to hear Him, so the Koreans called Mrs. Yi the “Seoul Woman,” and she too published the glad news far and near for many years. She was a great help to Miss Tate by her love and constant unselfish thought for her comfort during those early years of seed sowing. Once she walked thirty miles to send chair coolies for Miss Tate when she was in the country, and having taken no money for her own dinner, she drank water “often and often.” Once in speaking of the wounds and abuses which she had received at the hands of her second husband, she 152 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA said, “Oh, never call them hardships any more, but just God driving me to where I could learn of Him and His Son. I had thought that I would never see my beautiful boy again, but now I know that God took him that I might not teach my baby to worship evil spirits and idols. Oh, He is keeping my boy safe for me, and I know that it was God who kept me from drowning my baby girl that time, although I did not know Him then. He has led me all the way.” The despised little daughter was one of the first Ko- rean teachers in the Chunju Girls’ School. The heathen Koreans are terribly afraid of death, but even yet the women of her village speak of Mrs. Yi’s triumphant Home-going. Thank God for such seed sowers ! 4. Faith Under Temptation: Rev. C. I. Yi. When Yi Cha Ik first heard the gospel story he was a merchant. He learned that a Christian must be a man of clean hands and pure heart, and must pay his debts. Now up to this time Yi Cha Ik’s debts had not worried him much ; he expected to pay them when it was conven- ient. But as a Christian he had to settle with his creditors, and that left him without funds with which to carry on his merchandizing. He and his young wife were reduced to such straits that they had only two scant meals a day. The Test. — His father-in-law was well-to-do and he sent for Yi, saying, “If you will give up doing the Jesus doctrine I will give you money to go into business. ’ ’ But the answer was, “I cannot sell my Master.” From the first Mr. Yi was eager to tell others both publicly and pri- vately about Jesus. He often led the church meetings in his own village, walked twelve miles to conduct services in another town, and then came back in time to lead ser- vices in his own church at night. KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 1 53 ' The Second Temptation. — Again his father-in-law sent for him. “You say that doing that doctrine is believing in Jesus and leading a straight life. Well, I am willing for you to do all that quietly at home. If you will only give up preaching I will give you money enough to open up a good store.” But Yi Cha Ik had felt within his soul, Going to Market “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel.” And so he re- plied that he could not promise that he would not tell others of Jesus. His father-in-law was very indignant and with a stick drove him away from home, and said : “Though you and your family starve you must never come to me again for help. Henceforth you are aliens to me.” When Mr. Yi reached home he found his wife on the floor in a faint from lack of food. A kind neighbor, know- ing their condition, sent in a table of dinner. After she had revived somewhat, Mr. Yi told his wife of her father’s offer and asked what she thought they ought to do about it. She replied that it was for him to decide. Decision Made. — He then answered, “It is true per- haps that I could believe and do right quietly here at home ; but I feel that God is calling me to preach, and I am afraid that this is just the Devil trying to silence me. If I make a compromise with the enemy then I myself may become a useless servant.” The wife at once replied, 154 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA “You are right. Go on preaching. If we live, we live, and if we die, we die.” Consequences. — Years afterwards Mr. Tate asked Mr, Yi what he now thought of that early decision, and he answered, “I still think that if I had not done what the Lord gave me to do, I would have been a castaway. I am sure of one thing. If I had decided differently I would never have had the joy of leading my father-in-law to Christ. Last year when he was dying he called all of us to his side and told us of his joy in Christ, and exhorted us all to meet him in Heaven.” Mr. Yi is now an ordained minister in charge of a group of churches in Mr. Tate’s field. He is gifted as a personal worker and his colleagues bear testimony to his unselfishness in anything, that has to do with himself or his family. “Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” 5. Faith Dealing With Little Things of Daily Life: Chassubby Umini. Some one has rightly said, “No one is a hero to his valet,” and many a hero has lost some of his glamor when seen too close, but I have always said if I ever wrote a book, it would be the life of my cook ; for in that humble, ignorant, Korean woman, for twelve years I have daily seen the miracle of a new life, a beautiful, unselfish life growing out of the mires of the old superstitions and teachings of ages of heathenism. First Meeting. — Chassubby Umini has no other name that I ever heard, but that given her as a recognition that her oldest son was named Chassubby, and so she was called Chassubby ’s mother. We met five weeks after I landed in Chosen, and our household goods having ar- rived, we decided to begin housekeeping, and kind neigh- KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 155 bors called Chassubby’s mother to cook for ns. She had never seen a stove, a biscuit, a chair, any of the things we use. I knew no Korean and she no English. Thus we began partnership. I had learned to say keu-ruk-ky ha-si- 0, “do it that way.” So I would make up a bed or pre- pare a cup of coffee and tell her to do it as I did. Housekeeping. — But oh ! I thought she was so stupid and hard to teach. I knew I had come to Korea because the people needed help, but I used to look at my cook and think surely the Lord might have sent me somebody brighter and cleaner than she was to start with. Outwitting the Mountain Spirits. — Just a short time before she came to me, they had a terrible drought in Chunju, and Chassubby’s mother and some other village women got the entrails of a hog and dragged them all over the sacred mountain to make it so filthy that the spiiits that lived there would send rain to cleanse their sacred home, and of course the village gardens beneath the mountain would get the benefit of the showers. I knew she was noisy and high-tempered and slovenly, but you can imagine my feelings when one day she came up drunk. I would have sent her away but I just felt that I would not give up the first person God had put under my in- fluence in Korea. I talked to her, I prayed with her, I cried over her. I remember the last time she was drunk was on our wed- ding anniversary, and I had made a little feast and in- vited all the missionaries, and she had taken so much wine she could hardly wait on the table. She knew how the Moksa and I had planned and decorated for that little entertainment, for I had told her of that wedding day back in my Tennessee home. When she saw our grief was not for our ruined dinner but for her, because she had fallen short of her own knowledge of true woman- hood, I think that night the old, hard, sinful heart re- ceived its first vision of the light, DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA 156 Born Again. — From that night there was a change. 1 never saw her drunk again. The growth was slow, but day by day Satan had less and less power over her. Little by little her surrender to Christ was more complete. Gradually I saw the miracle of a new woman, sweet-spir- ited, unselfish, born from that erstwhile Korean virago. Of course, at first many even of her religious ideas were wrong. She had an idea that once baptized she would lose all desire to sin. I tried to teach her differently but all in vain. The day after she was baptized, she came to me discouraged and disheartened, to confess that she and her husband had had a fuss, and she had lost her temper, even though she had just been baptized. Then she to#* learned that “the devil was too strong for young Melancthon.” Loyalty. — Her loyalty and love for her “Moksa and Poo-een” caused her to do some funny things. If we were not always invited to tea at a neighbor’s home when others were invited, it was all I could do to keep her from going up and demanding an invitation for us. Dr. Nisbet had no white linen suits like the other missionaries were wear- ing, and she insisted on stiffly starching his underwear so he “could wear it on the outside.” The Narrow Way. — At prayers one morning we spoke of how easy the plan of salvation had been made. God had not asked a hard thing of us; all we had to do was just to believe. Chassubby’s mother has a great respect for the Moksa, but that was more than she could stand. She interrupted,. “Moksa, do you think it is easy to be- lieve ? It is easy to say you believe with your lips, but to believe down in the middle of your insides, and to show your belief with your hands and feet and tongue, that is the very hardest thing in the world. And I think Jesus means for you to believe with all there is in you.” After living with her for twelve years, I know that she believes “down in the middle of her insides,” for I have seen her tested. KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 157 Faith and Works. — Mr. Parker had been very ill with typhus fever ; all over our mission we had united in asking God to spare him to the work, and our prayers had been granted. When he was convalescent, Mr. McEachern was taking him to Kunsan to recuperate. They reached our home in Mokpo about nine at night, and as their telegram had failed to reach us, the kitchen fire was out and there was nothing for the hungry men to eat. But eat they must for they had had a scant lunch. Chassubby’s mother had done a hard day’s washing and I knew she ached; but when I called her, she answered gladly, “Cook sup- per for Mr. Parker ? Of course, I would like to do it. Did I not pray him well when he was sick, and what kind of a Christian would I be, if, after praying him well, I was not glad any hour of the night to get up and cook supper for him?” That is her idea of faith and works, and they make a good combination. A Dragon. — She lost several little girls before she was a Christian, so in order to deceive the spirits when her third girl came, she called her “Yongie” (a dragon), so the spirits would not know there was a girl in the home but think it was a dragon. Grace. — Several years after she became a Christian a beautiful little girl was born and named “Unhay” (Grace) ; for was it not of God’s grace that this baby girl had come for the mother to show what a child would be like, who never saw spirit worship, and who with her mother’s milk drank in the spirit of love and service? Unhay was a beautiful child and each day the proud mother told me some new plan for Unhay’s education. The Laughing Baby. — There hangs by our bureau, the picture of a little three-year-old nephew. He is holding out his arms to catch a ball, and his face is all alight with smiles. He laughed his way into our hearts, and then he laughed his way into Heaven, but because of his short bright life, all babies are just a little dearer to me. My 158 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA cook has always called him “The Laughing Baby,” and loved to hear me tell how he sang, “The old time religion, ’Tis good enough for me,” in his sweet baby voice. Suddenly Unhay was stricken and in a week the idol of that humble Korean home was laid to rest in the little Korean church cemetery. The Test. — How my heart ached for the poor mother, and I could but wonder how her faith would stand this test. The next day she was back in the kitchen, saddened but cheerful and efficient, and as she went about her work of making the Moksa and Poo-een comfortable, she asked, “Poo-een, who do you think was the first one to meet Unhay in Heaven?” I replied that I did not know, and she answered, “Well, I think it was your Laughing Baby. At first I was afraid Unhay would he lonesome up in heaven, and then I thought, no, the Laughing Baby will meet her and take her by the hand and lead her right to Jesus’ feet, and say, ‘Jesus, here is a little girl from Korea, and she has no friends here for the Koreans have not heard about Jesus long, so we are going to play here at your feet till her mother comes.’ ” And in humble faith and love the mother is waiting until Jesus calls her to see her child again, happy in the thought that Unhay and the Laughing Baby are together playing at His feet. 6. Faith Through Prayer: Mr. Su. Half Way House. — Nestling at the foot of Chunnun pass, is the little village of Chunnun, with perhaps a hun- dred little straw-thatched mud houses. One house is a little larger than the others, and if the traveller asks why, perchance some village man will reply with pride, “That is our church,” and add with still greater pride pointing to a small two-roomed house, “And yonder is our schoolhouse,” for the two-score Christians in that little village of Chunnun had caught a vision of what a Christian education meant to their young people and had KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 159 built them a neat schoolhouse. This building was a great convenience to the missionaries, for Chunnun was just half way between Kwangju and Chunju, and so the little building became the Rest Home. Before the days of rail- roads, when the seventy mile trip had to be made on horse- back or in a sedan chair, we would send food and bedding ahead and prepare to sleep at Chunnun and make the dis- tance in two days. An Unfinished Ride.— On February 13, 1911, Miss Laura May Pitts and I left Chunju at six in the morning for the long horseback ride to Kwangju. I was going to help them in their mid- winter Bible class; Miss Pitts wanted to pay a little visit to friends there. She had been in Korea only six months, but in the hospital (she was a trained nurse), and in the Korean homes, she had already won her title of “One who loves to help.” About nine o’clock it began to rain, and for about six hours we rode on through a heavy downpour. We could not stop, for our bedding, food, etc., were ahead of us at the little village of Chunnun. We got off the road at one place and lost about two hours finding the right Our Korea Mission, 1919 l60 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA path again. About four o’clock the rain turned into a driving snow, but neither of us was easily discouraged; so with jest and laughter we rode on. Welcome. — Bad as the weather was, a crowd had gathered at Chunnun to welcome us. A few came out some distance to meet us. They had good fires and a warm room, and soon we were comfortable. I know of few things sweeter than the welcome these lonely Christians give to their Moksa and Poo-een, especially if there hap- pens to be one in the crowd whom you have been privileged to lead to Christ. I do not believe there is any joy on earth like that of looking into the face of a man or a woman who first learned the name of Jesus from you. Talk of missionary sacrifice! The missionary’s joy at such a time so outweighs all else that he would not change places with any man on earth. Elder Su. — After we had somewhat dried our clothes and had supper, we had a short service with the women. The leader of the Chunnun group was Elder Su. In youth he had been a drunkard and a gambler, and he had sown his wild oats; but with the entrance of the Gospel, all that had been changed. He had the same personal mag- netism and genial manners that had made him “such a hearty good fellow,” but coupled with it was a deep realization of the personal leadership of his Master. A heathen woman once heard Mr. Tate preach on, “Ye must be born again,” and she remarked to a friend: “I don’t know anything about that Book, but I know the man he was talking about, who was born again ; his name is Su and he lives in our village. He is a new man since he became a Jesus believer.” Miss Pitt’s Home-Going. — Dr. Nisbet had sent a trust- ed Korean man with us on this trip, so Mr. Su promised to find a lodging place for him, and about ten o’clock all the Koreans went home. After they had gone we realized our KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION l6l matches were wet, but we would not call them back to get fresh ones. Some time in the night, I left my narrow army cot to get a drink of water, and in the tiny con- fines of the Korean room, I touched my friend’s hand ly- ing outside her cot. It was cold with that peculiar cold- ness that strikes terror to the heart. I called her, I knelt beside her and felt her face, her throat; I could not be- lieve it, but I knew I must have light and aid. It was still snowing, but out into the night, bare- footed, I plunged. The first house where I called for aid, the man told me he had no dealings with the Christians ; the second home the man was deaf ; and at the third they could not understand my Korean language ; but the fourth was a Christian home, and they called Elder Su and other Christian friends, who brought lamps, and hot water and Korean restoratives. We worked for a half hour, but ail in vain. Long before I awoke, in the quiet little Korean room, God had called Laura May Pitts to enter into the glory He had prepared for those who love and serve Him. Jas. 1 :5. — I then prepared to send a telegram to Chun- ju for my husband and Dr. Daniel to come to me. There was no telegraph office nearer than Kobu, the county seat, seven miles away, and the telegram had to be written in Korean and sent there. I breathed a prayer for help and wrote: “The trained nurse died last night. Mr. Nisbet and Dr. Daniel come at once. ’ ’ After the man had mount- ed a horse and started to Kobu, a voice seemed to whisper to me, “You have left out a necessary word in that tele- gram, you ought to have inserted Chunnun, for if they receive it from Kobu, they will go to Kobu. I called the man back and rewrote the telegram, “The trained nurse died at Chunnun last night. Mr. Nisbet and Dr. Daniel come to Chunnun at once.” Later I asked my husband what he would have done if the word Chunnun had been left out, and he answered, “We would have gone to 1 62 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Kobu, the place from which the message was sent, for we would have thought you girls had lost your way and were there. And so I know His Spirit leads in our hour of need. Availing Prayer. — After the man had gone with the telegram, Elder Su said, “We have done everything that human wisdom can do, let us ask the Father of all wisdom and help to show us the way.” And I have never heard such a prayer as followed. It seemed as though the very gates of heaven were opened, and we stood in the presence of the ever-loving, ever-helpful Father. He prayed for the loved ones in the homeland, that they might realize that Heaven was as near Miss Pitts in Korea as in Ameri- ca, and that they might be comforted; for me, that the barriers of race and language and customs might be swept away, and I might understand them and they me, and that we might indeed be as one family; for them, that they might know how to help and comfort me, and lastly that in her Home-going God might be glorified and souls saved. He ended with a glorious thanksgiving for God’s help to His servants in ages past, with full assur- ance claiming present help. Coroner’s Inquest. — Through the long eighteen hours before my husband and the doctor reached me, there was nothing that love and thought could do for me that was not done by those Korean Christians. About nine o’clock, the Japanese officials came from the county seat for the coroner’s inquest. For four hours there was a long grill- ing examination. Of course they read the events accord- ing to their light, — we were wives of the same man, I was the older and uglier wife, therefore jealous, and so had murdered the younger woman. They examined our food, our luggage, my pen knife. They asked all kinds of ques- tions, but no more than our police would ask a Japanese woman if her companion was suddenly found dead in a lonely place. KOREAN FAITH IN ACTION 1 63 At last they told me they were going to perform an autopsy. I had submitted so far to all questioning, and searching, but there is a limit, and it had been reached. I told them they could not do that. I had sent for an Ameri- can physician and until he came they could not touch that dear body. When they looked a little uncertain, I placed myself in front of the door and told them I was an Ameri- can woman and I claimed the protection of the American flag. If they entered that room they would do it over my body, and if they knew anything of Americans, they knew they protected their women. They withdrew for consulta- tion and that was the last I ever heard of an autopsy. The Koreans are afraid of a Japanese official, but through it all, Mr. Su was right by my side, interpreting, helping, suggesting. That day I saw the promise in Jas. 1 :5 literally fulfilled. My Korean is far from perfect now. I am provoked when I tell the boy to bring me a hoe (Quangie) and he chases the cat (Kwangie). But that day I could speak Korean as well as I could English. I never lacked a word, I could understand and be under- stood. To this day, whenever I hear “Blest be the tie that binds/ ’ all else fades, and again I am in that little narrow Korean room kneeling beside my dead friend while that humble Korean farmer leads me straight into the pres- ence of the Father. Prayer Answered. — I would like to tell how I have lived to see every request of that wonderful prayer grant- ed, but I have time for only one. There was a wealthy woman in Chunju that we had tried to bring to Christ, but the old, old story was un- heeded. Several years after I moved to Mokpo, I went back to Chunju on a visit and found her an earnest Chris- tian. I asked her what finally moved her, and she replied, “Do you remember the trained nurse, who died at Chun- nun? Once I was sick at the hospital and she was so 164 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA beautiful and clean and so kind. I could not but wonder why she left her home to come to minister to a people she did not know. I asked one of the Koreans and she told the trained nurse. With a smile she said to me, ‘Jesus’ Love.’ She could not talk much Korean, but I knew she meant that Jesus’ love called her here to help us who did not know how to help ourselves. And after her death I just could not get away from her Jesus. Night and day He called me through her message of a surrend- ered life, and so at last I just had to come to Him.” CHAPTER VI. ®fje ©utloofe ( 1919 ) CHAPTER VI. )t ©utloofe 1. A Changed Country. 2. Ten Principles of Work in Chosen: (1) Wide Itineration: a. Method of Travel. b. Scattered Territory. c. Church Leaders. (2) Distribution of Scriptures: a. Bible Society. b. Tract Society. c. Christian Literature. d. Present Need. (3) Bible Study: a. Bible Reading. b. Heathen Sunday School Work. c. Church Sunday School Work. (4) Self Propagation: a. Threefold Standard. b. New Methods. (5) Self Support: a. Dr. Nevius’ Visit. b. Four Rules Adopted. c. Native Ordained Pastors. (6) Self Government. (7) Foreign Missions: a. Pastor Kil’s Vision. b. Women’s Missionary Societies. (8) Schools: a. Educational Aim. b. New Problems. c. Manual Training. d. Oriental versus Occidental Ideals. (9) Medical Work: a. Hygienic Conditions. b. Village Life. c. Medical Situation. (10) Bible Standards: a. Sabbath Keeping. b. Wine. c. Marriage. d. Business Honesty. 3. Chosen Life Line: (1) The Korea Campaign. (2) Sprue. (3) Death of Mrs. Bell and Mr. Crane. (4) Present Outlook. 4. The Three Beasts. 5. Victory Through the “Blood of the Lamb.” CHAPTER VI. ®[)e ©utloofe ( 1919 ) “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we unll walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem .” — Isaiah 2:3. A New World. — Some time ago, one of our women itinerators returning from a trip to one of the distant country churches, boarded an old style Korean row boat. There was already in the boat “Ye Olde Tyme Korean Gentleman,’ ’ who knew Korea as the Hermit Nation and had not yet come in touch with the life of the new Chosen. His venerable beard flowed down to his waist and his pipe was over a yard long. He stood in absolute amaze- ment at this barbarian woman who travelled with her face uncovered. Finding that she was so immodest that she did not turn her back to him, he at last considerately turned his back on her, muttering to himself, “It is a strange world.” Changes. — At the next stop they brought on a Jap- anese cart, very different from the old lumbering ox-cart of the Koreans. The old man got up and walked around this marvelous contraption, and ejaculated, “It is a strange world.” But wonders did not cease. At the next landing was a motorcycle, an old style that made much noise and caused much smell, but this made it all the more wonderful to the Korean Rip Van Winkle. He looked at it and finally went to the farthermost edge of the boat, seated himself, and pulling out his yard long pipe, began to puff complacently, saying, “It is a strange new world 1 68 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA but what of it?” So long as he had his tobacco and pipe he could turn his back on these disconcerting changes. But so many and so far reaching have been the changes in Chosen in the last ten years that it is growing increasingly hard for anyone to turn his back on them and ignore them. Bicycles, foreign clothes, especially for- eign shoes, books, street-cars, Japanese good roads, all are helping to make a new world out of the land of Chosen. Ten Principles. — Through it all the Church has gone steadily forward, not making perhaps the spectacular gains which it did a few years ago, but steadily building. There are ten principles according to which the Presby- terian Church has conducted its work in Chosen for a quar- ter of a century; and it might be well to mention them, with some comment as to how the great world changes are affecting them. I shall follow the outline given in the “Digest of the Presbyterian Church/’ prepared by Rev. Charles Allen Clark, D. D., of Seoul. (1) Wide Itineration. — This is done by almost the whole missionary body, women as well as men. This method of work was instituted at the very first, originally for exploration purposes, but because it yielded such a rich harvest it was soon adopted as the regular method of work. With the years, however, its problems have changed. Where we used to have mere pig tracks we now have good roads; there having recently been com- pleted some twenty-five hundred and thirty-live miles of first-class roads, fit for fast motor traffic. Thus our mode of travel has greatly changed. One missionary has thought of collecting all the machines of travel used by members of his station and exhibiting them in his front yard to see what an interesting show they would make. Itineration Cake. — He gave in the following recipe for “Itineration Cake:” “First get your old clothes on. THE OUTLOOK 169 Then bring one braying donkey and tie near him one Korean pack pony of small stature and mean disposition. Do not stir nor beat, it will injure the leaven. Then drag in one flat-bottom boat and put in one Montgomery Ward bicycle, the Hawthorne De Luxe model. Add, to suit the taste of the ladies, one seasicky sedan chair and one jolt- ing jinriksha. Put in one pair of shoes, for the walking is always good. Flavor with one stale tobacco filled coach, third-class, of the Chosen railway. Shake thoroughly over rough roads in a little two-wheeled road cart. It is only in the last three months that it has been discovered that this cake is not complete without frosting. For frosting take one small Henry Ford, model 1917.” But no matter how he goes, one of the evangelist’s greatest problems is how to get to his churches often enough and on time. With the growth of the churches in numbers this has become increasingly difficult. Suppose that you had twenty-five churches scattered over three or four counties, and that there were mountain passes to cross and rivers to ford in reaching them. If he could Country School, Chunju. 170 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA only remove the mountains, dry up the rivers, and draw his constituency into one big congregation, each mission- ary would have a great spiritual body to train and lead. Church Leaders. — With our parish and forces scatter- tered as they are, the training of these babes of Christ has become more and more a problem, especially as with the influx of newspapers, public schools, and the spread of new ideas, the Koreans themselves have become more critical of their church leaders. They are more and more demand- ing trained, educated men, who can arrest their attention and hold their interest. In consequence, many of our old- time, earnest, but unlearned men, have had to be laid aside. And so the missionary’s time has had to go more into Bible class and training work. However, we cannot but notice that the fields are developing best where the widest itinerating is being done. (2) Distribution of the Scriptures. — On the back cover of the latest* copy of “The Korean Mission Field” is the heading, “Unhasting-yet-unresting, ” emphasizing the fact that the Bible Society never takes a holiday. The need for the Word of God is greater now than ever before. And so, in winter or summer, in peace or war, the outflow of copies of the Scriptures goes on unceasingly. At dif- ferent times both the American and the British Bible So- cieties have had work in Chosen, but by a happy agree- ment last year, the American organization took over all the work in the Philippine Islands, leaving the work in Chosen entirely to the British Society, thus in both coun- tries making for comity and economy in administration Bible Society- -There is no man in Korea more truly loved and admired than Mr. Hugh Miller, the genial Scotchman who is Secretary of the Bible Society. Foi nearly twenty years he has stood at the helm, ready al- ways to send a colporteur into a new field or to rush an order for Bibles. He says in the 1918 report, “We count THE OUTLOOK 171 the volumes circulated and are happy to have put 751,961 copies of the Bible into the hands of the people this year. Who can reckon the influence of the gospel message in the lives of many in these mountains and villages, for to quote the African proverb: “You can count the apples on the tree, but you cannot count the trees in the apple.” Tract Society. — In 1890 the Korean Religious Book and Tract Society was organized to promote the produc- tion and the circulation of religious books in Korea. All of the missions in Korea co-operate in the work of this Society. It publishes in Korean the “Christian Messen- ger,” weekly; the “Bible Magazine,” bi-monthly; the Theological Review,” quarterly; the “Sunday School Lessons,” annually, and in English, “The Korean Mission Field,” monthly. Literature Neglected. — Korean Christian literature is very much needed. We have school books, Bible Com- mentaries, some books of devotional reading, a few vol- umes on general subjects, and such books as “Pilgrim’s Progress,” Fosdick’s “The Manhood of the Master,” Torrey’s “How to Lead Men to Christ,” Murray’s “Secret Prayer Life,” etc., have been translated; but the fields of history, geography, science, etc., are practically untouched. Perhaps one reason why the literary work has been so neg- lected in Chosen is because of the way the evangelistic work pushed in on the workers. When people were plead- ing with you to come and tell them of Christ, you could not shut yourself up in your study to translate a book, no matter how good it was; but now that the country is be- ing flooded with Japanese literature, much of it filled with materialism and immorality, it is imperative that we have a broader Christian literature to counteract this. To this end the mission has considered setting a missionary apart definitely for translation work, and Rev. W. M. Clark has been chosen for that task. As yet, however, lack of funds DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA and a worker to take Mr. Clark ’s large country field have blocked the plan. Drs. Bell and Reynolds have each prepared several theological books and Dr. Reynolds’ monumental work on Bible translation has already been mentioned. Mrs. Tate translated the “Child’s Catechism” which has been mem- orized all over Korea. Miss Tate also wrote a sketch of her Korean Bible woman, In Mo Kim To, as an inspiration to her Chosen sisters. Several have written hymns and tracts and helped edit the Sunday School Lessons. Children’s Books Needed. — We need books for chil- dren very much. Our Christian literature is almost bar- ren of children’s books, and we all realize that a larger force and more time and money are needed in these days to help the children of Korea; for the anchor chains of the past have been broken, the nation is at sea mentally, morally, and spiritually, trying desperately to make fast by their strands of modern education, modern thought, and modern ideals. The “Christian Messenger,” published weekly and edited by Rev. P. S. Kim, one of our first Seminary graduates, reaches many of the country churches; but one of its greatest handicaps is that as a church paper it is prohibited by law from publishing any of the news of the day. It must confine itself to church news. Mrs. Tate edits the Women’s Column in this paper. The missionary translator’s work is not only very im- portant and much needed now, but these books will speak the gospel message after he is gone. (3) Bible Study. — Anyone, even a woman who is not accustomed to study, can learn to read the Korean native script in a month; and so while there has been no fixed rule on the subject, a number of missionaries have refused to baptize a person under twenty-five years of age, until he has learned to read the Bible for himself. A husband has often been refused baptism because he did not take enough interest to teach his wife to read the Bible. The THE OUTLOOK 173 Koreans themselves took the position that unless one cared enough for the gospel to learn to read it, he had not the root of the matter in his heart. This has helped to make the Church a Bible-reading and a Bible-loving Church. Every Christian carries his own Bible and song book to every service. They open their books and follow the reading when the leader announces his Scripture. Thus it has been natural for the Bible-carrying, Bible- studying Church to make an advance step in its Sunday School work. Heathen Sunday Schools. — In 1910 Miss Nellie Ran- kin, of Chunju, became concerned because there was no special work being done for the children of the heathen homes around her. She and Dr. Daniel of the same sta- tion organized an afternoon Sunday School for the non- Christian children, the first of its kind, I think, in Korea. But just one year later God called Miss Rankin to higher service, and while Miss Sadie Buckland nobly took up her work in the Chunju Girl’s School, the Sunday School work was dropped. The next year Mr. M. L. Swinehart came to the Mission and with broad vision he has attempted to or- ganize these schools all over Chosen. They are held at different hours from the regular Sunday Schools, a special effort being made to reach non-Christian children. The colloquial name for them is “Heathen Sunday Schools,” which, though it sounds like a paradox, expresses just what they are, evangelistic agencies for reaching the heathen children. They are doing a wonderful work. Many parents have been converted through them, for we must never forget that if the world is to be saved the children must be reached. In many of these schools in the country districts the leaders have reverted to the plan of the original Sunday School of Robert Raikes, teaching their pupils first to read their letters that they may be able to read the gospel message. 174 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA The regular church Sunday School has one feature that the church at home might emulate — that everyone in the congregation from grandpa down to the babies, (N. B. We can all testify to the presence of the babies), at- tends as a matter of course. (4) Self Propagation. — There is one formula that is known all over the Chosen church: “Chadong, chadang, chachi,” “ Self -propagating, self-supporting, and self- governing.” Some of our leaders have always insisted that there is a Biblical reason why these should be placed in just that order. It is the Christian’s first duty to preach, to tell the story to his neighbors and friends, to the uttermost parts of the world. In many places it has become the custom to utilize the Korean New Year as a time for special personal work, for the first two weeks of the New Year is a holiday with them. Tents have been used extensively in the last few years in special evangel- istic campaigns. (5) Self-support. — In 1890 Dr. Nevius, of China, vis- ited Korea and laid before the Korean workers the prin- ciples for which he was contending in his own China work. I shall quote from Dr. Underwood’s “Call to Korea” the rules then adopted and still in force : First, to let each man abide in the calling where he was found, teaching that each was to be an individual worker for Christ and to live Christ in his own neighbor- hood, supporting himself by his trade. Second, to develop church methods and machinery only so far as the native church was able to take care of and manage the same. Third, as far as the church itself was able to provide the men and means, to set aside those who seemed best qualified to do evangelistic work among their neighbors. Fourth, to let the Koreans provide their own church buildings, which were to be in the native style of architeo- THE OUTLOOK 175 ture and of such quality as the native church could afford to put up. In the stations in which the missionaries live the church buildings must be larger as they are often used for Bible Class Work. For this reason Mission aid is often given in building them. But each group of believers pays the full expenses of its meetings and builds its own church. Ordained Korean pastors must receive all their salary from the churches. (6) Self-Government. — Each itinerating missionary has under his charge from ten to fiftj^ churches, and since he cannot visit them more than three or four times a year he endeavors through the local group leaders and helpers to keep in touch with them. They have the right, in con- sultation with the missionary, to select their own leader, and when they join with a group of churches in support- ing a helper, they can elect their own helper, although the missionary holds the right of veto. Of course our Presby- teries and the General Assembly are self-governing. (7) Foreign Missions. — The Korean Church realizes its duty to “regions beyond.” In 1906 Mr. Kil, the blind preacher of Pyeng Yang, put before his people this mis- sionary vision: “May we soon carry the Gospel to all parts of our land, and then may it be granted to us to do for China’s millions still in darkness, what the American Christians have done for us, — send missionaries to tell them the way of salvation through Christ.” We now have work in Quelpart, in Yladivostock, and in Shantung, China, all supported by the Korean Church. Women’s Missionary Societies. — There are a number of Women’s Missionary Societies among our churches. I am amused to find the same bashful member, the same tardy one, the same enthusiastic one here that I used ':o meet at home. There is one difference however, they all lead in prayer. One must say, “We shall be glad to have 176 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA three short prayers,” if one does not want to be led in prayer through all the evening. One Missionary Society has supported a Bible Woman on Quelpart for a number of years ; another divides its offerings between Home and Foreign Missions ; still another supports a city Bible Woman. We have been hampered in the past in all of our women’s work by the fact that we could use only middle- aged women as Bible women, helpers, and Sunday School teachers. According to Korean custom a young woman must indeed be neither ‘‘seen nor heard;” but this is fast changing so that at our Woman’s Missionary Society (1) Primary Class, Mary Baldwin School, Kunsan; (2) Mary Baldwin School, Kunsan. THE OUTLOOK 1 77 it is beautiful to see a mother and her daughter serving on the same committee. There is nothing brighter for the fu- ture of Chosen than the awakening of the women to their potential force in Christian service. (8) Schools. — Educational work with the motive of Nurture rather than Evangelism. It has never been the idea of the Presbyterian missionary to bring Western Civilization to these people. We have wanted to train the children of the Church so that they could be men and women equipped with ‘ ‘The Sword of the Spirit,” a pre- pared people for a prepared work. We have never lacked for the children of the Church that needed to be edu- cated, but unfortunately our means and forces have often been inadequate to care for them. We have taken chil- dren from non-Christian homes into our schools in small numbers, but the majority of our pupils have always been from Christian homes. Non-Christian teachers have never been used at all as they would be utterly out of sympathy with the purpose of the schools. Hundreds of people have been won to Christ through the schools, either directly or indirectly, but their main purpose has been for the nurture of the children of the Church. School Problems. — But new and grave problems are now facing our schools. Under the government regula- tions all educational institutions of certain standards must have a fixed income up to a certain amount. For instance, a school of the grade called a “lower common school” must have a budget of yen 1,200 or more. The increased expense of running our schools is a great difficulty. Also we must now have a Japanese teacher and within a few years all of our teachers must be good Japanese scholars. Manual Training. — One of our greatest problems is that connected with manual training. If the Korean is to compete with his neighbor he must be trained to use both his head and his hands, and now our Mission is much con- i 7 8 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA cerned over the manual training department in our boys’ academies. But all of our problems are not from without. It is a truism to say that the present is an age of transition but the problem of the Chosen boy and girl takes on indi- vidual color from the fact that the people are now in the midst of a struggle between the old ideals of the family control of the individual and the new ideal of the indi- vidual’s rights of choice for himself. Family Control. — For instance, for centuries the pa- rents have chosen the wife for the son. He did not see her until several days after the wedding, for when the ceremony was performed she was covered with a cloak- like garment, that made it indeed impossible to tell Leah from Rachel. Even our Christian parents still choose the wife for their son, and until a few years ago it was un- heard of for the young couple to live apart from their parents, that is the parents of the groom. It was a pa- triarchal arrangement. But now the educated boys are demanding the right of choice. You say, ‘‘Fine, let the good work go on.” But is it not Elizabeth Browning who says, “The birth pangs of nations will wring us at length into a wail?” It is cer- tain that the birth pangs of a new social order among any people are accompanied by aching hearts and wrecked lives, unless great care is taken by those who have the guiding hand. Girls from non-Christian homes often enter our schools, and while there, become sincere consecrated Christians. Then comes the marriage question ; shall they defy the custom of ages and refuse to marry when their parents command? They are thus deciding to stand out against the past, but their decision is bringing in its train many questions. Ser Susin’s Crime. — The masses of the Koreans still look askance at any decided break from former practice, THE OUTLOOK 179 When I came home from a brief summer vacation several years ago, I was greeted by several Korean friends with, ‘ ‘ Oh Pouin, Ser Susin has done something very dreadful ; you must not take her back into the school; she will con- taminate the other girls.” Ser Susin was a tall girl, with face marked from smallpox, who was then in her grad- uating year. Her father had betrothed her to a young carpenter who had already paid for her by adding a room to Mr. Ser’s house. So Ser Susin was his property and they were to be married as soon as she graduated. After betrothal it is no uncommon thing for the man to pay for the girl’s clothes and schooling for does she not belong '.o him? I inquired into Ser Susin ’s dark deed, and I found that she had written a letter to her fiance asking him to give her a pair of new shoes and a tablet and pencil, and promising him if he did this for her she would be a very obedient wife to him, and never, oh never, let the rice scorch. The letter writing was the dreadful deed. An unmarried Korean girl writing to a man, — it was a fearful thing, she was not fit to associate with the other school girls. The girl was brought before me and I asked her how she had come to violate the rules of her country in this way. She replied, “But Pouin, did not you write to the Moksa before you married him? We girls once asked Miss M. and she answered that you did, and if it was right for you to do it why could not I?” I answered, “Because I am an American and you are a Korean. Ac- cording to the custom of my land it was all right for me to write to the Moksa before I married him, but it would have been all wrong for me to have asked him for a pair of shoes. It would have been considered not refined for me to ask him to buy me something to wear. Now you are a Korean. It was all right for him to give you a pair of shoes, but all wrong for you to write the letter. You must not mix the customs of the two lands.” l80 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Trained Nurse. — The sequel to Ser Susin’s story, showing the attitude of mind of the ordinary Korean man, is also interesting. The young carpenter was not so sure that he wanted a wife who would do so bold a thing, and so a compassionate missionary paid for the new room and Ser Susin was released from her bond. She went to the Severance Hospital in Seoul, took the nurses’ training course, graduated there last April, and is now one of the most efficient helpers that they have. One question that confronts the young people of Chosen today, and one that w.e shall have to in a measure (i) Native Staff, Kunsan Hospital; (2) Nurses’ Training Class, Kunsan Hospital. THE OUTLOOK 181 help them answer, is how to strike the balance between the individualism that has surged in on them from the West and the inherited -and forceful doctrine of family control. (9) Medical Work. — Our doctors and nurses are do- ing a wonderful hygienic work. They have published leaf tracts and pamphlets about flies, good water, chil- dren’s diseases, contagious diseases, etc., that have been of inestimable value in educating the Koreans. ‘ ‘ Swat the fly” is still far from being a watchword in Chosen. When one of the missionaries was cautioning the cook to kill all of the flies in the kitchen, he calmly replied, “Please don’t worry. They do not eat more than ten sen worth a day. ’ ’ Village Life. — Chosen is still a country of villages. The traveller passing through Korea from the railroad train sees a few large cities with their modern buildings, wide streets, and hurrying motor cars, and. he does not realize that a scant five per cent of the people live in the cities while the rest of the seventeen million live today as their ancestors lived centuries ago, and as most of their descendants will live for many years to come, that is in villages which range from those of two thousand homes to the mountain hamlet of five houses. Wild Animals. — To know how really close to na- ture’s heart Chosen is we may read from the “Seoul Press” for March, 1918. “According to official investiga- tion the total number of Koreans killed and injured dur- ing the past year by wild beasts in Chosen was eighty-eight and one hundred and sixty-four respectively. In addi- tion 163 cattle and 2,890 other domestic animals were killed by the ravages of tigers or leopards. During the year 29 tigers, 73 leopards, 332 bears, 199 wolves, 244 wild boar, and 4,421 deer were bagged by the gendarmes. This takes no account of the number killed by private hunters. It brings home the fact that this is still a country where the people live close to nature.” 1 82 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Medical Practice. — There is hardly a hamlet or vil- lage through the community where the names of our doc- tors and hospitals and their work have not gone, prepar- ing a way for the entrance of the Gospel Message. Removing a cataract, while not the most difficult op- eration, may be a very spectacular one ; and when a man who has been blind for a number of years returns to his village with his sight restored, it is a miracle to them. A campaign for vaccination has done a great deal to les- sen the smallpox plague. At each of our Bible Classes a short course on home hygiene is taught, and the station doctor gives from three to four night lectures to both men and women. Koreans know nothing about feeding chil- dren. On the hottest August day one will find them feeding a baby green melons and unripe fruit. It was only last week that I cautioned my cook not to allow the five-year-old child of a visiting friend to eat too many nuts. She calmly replied, “Oh, I am just giving him the rancid ones, those you told me to throw away.” The point, in her mind, was not the danger to the boy’s “tum- my”, but the saving of my pecans. Our doctors and schools are doing much along the line of teaching food value and diet. Never was the prospect for medical work brighter. Now the doctors are feeling the urgent need for two doctors in each hospital. (10) Bible Standards. — From the beginning the mat- ter of keeping the Sabbath, wine drinking, secondary wives, and all such questions have been handled very strictly by the missionary, and now much more strictly by the Korean Church. All such faults are considered sufficient to bar from baptism or to call for discipline if committed by those who are baptized. Sabbath Keeping. — Sabbath keeping is a severe test of the weak Christian. Here there is no other one thing that so distinctly marks the line between the Church and the world as the observance of the Lord’s day. If you THE OUTLOOK 183 keep a shop, to close your- doors when the shops all around you are open, — one can do it once or twice, but to keep on doing it every Sabbath day in the year means not only the loss of one seventh of your income, but the loss of regu- lar customers, who, when they come and find your door closed, do their buying elsewhere. We have already spoken of the Chosen custom of holding, every fifth day at certain centers, great markets. Of course occasionally market day will come on Sunday and that is a time of real testing, for a man makes as much on market day as he does on all the rest of the week combined. I wonder at the term “rice Christian,” for it costs something to be a Christian in a heathen land. It means real pecuniary loss, isolation, the jeers and taunts of heathen neighbors, and often being cut off from your own family. Rice Planting. — It is a custom among the farmers to serve wine at the rice-planting and harvesting, and it thus becomes difficult for the Christian farmer to get help at that time, because he does not follow the time-honored rule. Dr. Forsythe and Mr. Junkin had several orphan boys living with a Christian family in Chunju. The boys were allowed to plant and cultivate for themselves a small mission field. Next to it was the larger field of a wealthy farmer. When his field was planted the workers danced to the music of pans and drums, doing homage to the spirits that bring rain and drought; rice and wine were scattered over the field as an offering to the spirit; and everything possible was done to propitiate the rulers of earth, air, and water that they might send a good crop. When the boys were ready to plant their field and the rich neighbor found that there was to be no wine, no dancing, no effort to win favor from the spirits, he was worried because their field joined his, and if the spirits should grow angry over their neglect, would not his fields perhaps suffer too ? He therefore sent to the boys offering to pay all expenses for rice, wme, and professional dancers. 184 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA But the boys declined. And all day long their cheery voices rang out, singing, “Bringing in the Sheaves,” as knee deep in the muddy water they planted their rice. That field was watched with great interest by the neigh- bors, but true to His everlasting promise to those who trust in Him, the Lord of the Harvest gave the boys au abundant crop. You see how the Devil puts many a temptation in the way of the Korean Christian. Only this morning Mr. Oh, Mr. Nisbet’s helper, said that his family is eating barley because of the high price of rice, but that he has to feed the coolies who work his rice field on rice, because as a Christian farmer he does not furnish wine with their meals. The farmer who fur- nishes wine can feed his hands on cheap barley, but the farmer who is a Christian has to give expensive food, since he declines to furnish the much-loved “sul.” Marriage Questions. — The marriage question is one of the hardest that confronts the Korean Church. Here is a man who, while a heathen and knowing nothing of God, took two wives, and has children by both of them, is per- haps devotedly attached to the second one, who is general- ly the younger and more attractive of the two. Here is a woman, a secondary wife, her husband is a heathen and will not provide for her and her children if she leaves him, — yet she cannot be a Christian and live in adultery. She has no way of making a living if she leaves her hus- band. Here is an educated young man just from our col- lege, married by his parents to a stupid ignorant wife; and this is one of the most pathetic situations in this new era. The Mother-in-law. — But there is a situation even more pathetic; it is that of a girl well educated, trained in modern hygiene and sanitation, and then turned over by marriage to an old-fashioned Chosen mother-in-law. The old lady is a Christian, yes, but that does not keep her from giving the baby green peaches to eat, it does THF OUTLOOK 18S not keep her from thinking that a bath is very injurious for the baby, it does not prevent her from binding tobacco on baby’s eyes if they are sore. And remember that the mother-in-law is the Queen Bee in Korea. No daughter- in-law has any control over her baby when the mother of its father is there. Home Society. — There is one word that is lacking in the Korean language. They could never sing, “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home,” for they have no word for home, nor do they have any real conception of a home. When the first home was set up in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were companions, God made the first woman to be a companion to the man. If the Koreans ever had that idea of the position of a wife they lost it cen- turies ago. What companionship can there be between a man and woman who custom says must not talk to- gether, nor walk together, nor eat together? A young Korean woman is not suffered to address her husband. I had a friend who prided herself that she was married two years before her husband heard the sound of her voice. Of course she lived back in the an-pang, the women’s quarters, while he lived in the men’s quarters. If a man and his wife have to go to the same place he walks ahead with her following like a dog some two yards behind. When the meal time comes the food is put on a little table about a foot- and a half square and one foot high, on which it is carried steaming hot to the men’s quarters. There the Lords of Creation eat alone. After the last one has eaten all that he wants, the tables are re- moved and the women go back to their back rooms and eat. What sympathy and companionship can there be between a husband and wife. living in that way? Strange as 't may seem it is difficult to get the women to change this custom. New Vision. — Many a Christian man has seen his home life in a new light through the Gospel, but his wife l86 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA and daughter-in-law refused to change from the old way. They would say, “We could not live in the village if we ate with you. When we go for water, when we go any- where, the women would abuse us so that we could not endure it.” But, “mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” In the tiny room of many a Korean home one may see hung against the wall a table something like a yard square and a foot high. — it is the sign that in that home the family eat together. Whenever I see it 1 want to sing, “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow,” for I know that there is a real Christian home, with the wife and mother in her rightful place. They have dis- carded the tiny table for only one or two people and set up the family table, and it should go with the family altar. There is the starting point for the growth of a real companionship between the husband and wife, and it means much to the life of any people. They have the beginning of a conception of home. Korean Optimism. — When I was at home on furlough a friend asked me suddenly, “What is the hardest thing you have to teach the Christian Korean?” I was totally unprepared for the question, and like many others taken unawares I told the truth when I answered, “To pay their debts.” The Koreans are not dishonest, they are simply optimistic; they are always sure that the pot of gold is just at the foot of the rainbow, almost within their grasp. The fact that we will not ordain an elder who has a heavy debt has helped to educate our leaders in right business thinking. With woman assuming her rightful place in the home, with the business conscience of the Christian becoming educated, with a Bible-loving, soul-winning church ad- vancing on its knees, we feel that, “He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat, He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment Seat, Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant my feet, Our God is marching on.” THE OUTLOOK 187 Korea’s Life-Line. — In 1911 and 1912 when the cam- paign to equip Korea thoroughly was put before the Church at home, she answered it in a magnificent way. With one exception, every man we asked for came, and that one was appointed but never sailed, taking up Home Mission work instead. I saw a chart prepared at that time, and in it life-lines were being cast from our home office in Nashville to the different countries. We felt a little catch in our throats when we saw how far short the line was for reaching China’s millions, but in Korea the line almost touched. Alas, since then the Korean line has broken in many places. That campaign was first started in 1910, and since that time we have had sent to Korea up to August, 1919, forty-nine men and women, but we have lost during the same period, twenty-seven. We have gained twenty-one men and lost twelve in the last nine years. Our life-line must be strengthened, and its broken links must be replaced, if we are to do the work that we believe God has set before us in the Koreans’ readiness to hear His Word. Sprue. — Sprue, that dread disease which attacks Westerners in the Philippines, in China, and also in Porto Rico, has invaded Korea. Two of our workers have died (Dr. Forsythe and Miss Bedinger), and twelve others have been attacked. Some of these have had to return to the homeland, but others made a good recovery on the field, so that we are feeling more hopeful, now that the disease has been successfully combatted. Certainly this disease cannot be attributed to the climate; for Korea has justly been called “The White Man’s Country,” because of its good climate. Except six weeks of hot, debilitating weather in the summer, it is all one could ask. ’ Spring, autumn, and winter are un- surpassed. The rainy season comes in the summer, and then one feels that he is in a Turkish bath for three long weeks. 1 88 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA Every ounce of energy and strength leaves you. But I cannot understand the reason for the nervous breakdowns among the Korean missionaries. Some have thought that our long itinerating trips account for them ; for it has been noticeable among those who were out among the Koreans for long periods, and not among the mothers and house- keepers who are very busy with their children and the local work. Others have said that it is because the work presses on us here with no let up. Until recent years very few of us stopped to get away from home during the hot season. God’s Providence. — This spring, as we were feeling that we could face the battle with renewed courage be- cause of the inspiring visit of Dr. Egbert Smith, there came the heaviest loss that the Mission has ever had at one time, when through the collision of their automobile with the Fusan express train, Mrs. Eugene Bell and Rev. Paul Sackett Crane were killed instantly. Dr. Bell and Mrs. Crane were forced to return to America with their little children. Thus we lost one couple, experienced through years of successful work, expert in the language, wise in counsel, and possessing the love and confidence of the Koreans; and another couple just entering upon what promised to be a life of telling service, characterized by love of the Master, devotion to His Word, gentleness of spirit, and a desire to spend and be spent in bringing Korea to Christ. Present Conditions. — Never has our inability to see with the eye of the Divine been more manifest than now, for although we know that He sees the end from the be- ginning, that He makes no mistakes, yet humanly speak- ing it seems to us that there was never a time when these workers were so badly needed here as now. For despite all the changes and unrest, the labor problems and politi- cal disturbances of the past year, God is moving mightily in the hearts of the people of Chosen. There was never a THE OUTLOOK 189 time when it was as easy to “speak a good word for Jesus” as now. Three weeks ago Dr. Nisbet' went out to a county seat, a place always hard to reach. In the weak church there he found seventeen young people waiting to be taken into the catechumen class; fourteen of them were young men, strong, well-educated, well-to-do. It seems as though God is again knocking at the door of Chosen. Shall we not arise and let Him in? The Three Beasts. — Dante tells us that when he was on his journey upward he met three beasts which tried to bar his progress. The first was a leopard: “And lo; just as the sloping side I gained, A leopard, subtle, lithe, exceeding fleet, Whose skin full many a dusky spot did stain ; Nor did she from my face retreat ; Nay, hindered so my journey on the way, That many a time I backward turned my feet.” The Korean today who would be a Christian must first slay the leopard of sensuality. All the instincts and ap- peals of his old life tend to make him yield to this subtle and fierce beast, which is not easily conquered. It stalks its victim and is ready to spring upon him again and again. Buddhism and Shintoism both cater to this vice, and so no wonder it stands in the way, confronting him who would climb the steep and narrow path heavenwards. Next Dante met a lion: “Yet o’er me, spite of this, did terror creep — From aspect of a lion drawing near. He seemed as if upon me he would leap, With head upraised and hunger fierce and wild, So that a shudder through the air did creep.” 190 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA For ages the lion has been the symbol of earthly power, worldly pride, — and this beast too stands in the way of the Christian Korean. For he must give up much that seems good from a worldly viewpoint if he would follow the lowly Nazarene. Often it means the surrender of family headship and social and village leadership, and the sacrifice of property. There is still a third beast to be conquered : “A she-wolf with all greed defiled, Laden with hungry leanness terrible.” The she-wolf, symbol of greed, avarice, materialism, stands barring the way. How can the simple unlearned man of Chosen conquer? Victory. — He takes out his much loved Bible and reads, “They overcame by the blood of the Lamb.” From many a village and mountain home they have driven out the beasts, because they shared the blood of Christ and He changed them into conquerors. “I asked them whence their victory came, They with- united breath, Ascribed their conquest to the Lamb, Their triumph to His death.” OUR MISSIONARIES IN KOREA 191 ©ur JUtssionartes to lUirea The following 108 men and women are the representatives of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, in her mission work in Korea. There are doubtless some inaccuracies, but we have done the best we could according to the records we have. The second of the two dates following any name indicates the termination of the period of service. Cases of death in service are indicated, so far as the facts are known, by an asterisk fol- lowing the second date. — J. I. A. Alexander, Dr. A. J. A., Kentucky, 1903-1903. Austin, Miss Christian Lillian, North Carolina, 1912- Bedinger, Miss Anna Moore, Kentucky, 1910-1916. Bell, Rev. Eugene, Kentucky, 1895- Bell, Mrs. Eugene, n£e Lottie Witherspoon, Kentucky, 1895-1901.* Bell, Mrs. Eugene, nee Margaret Whitaker Bull, Virginia, 1904-1919.* Biggar, Miss Meta Louise, Missouri, 1910- Birdman, Dr. F. H., Missouri, 1907-1909. Buckland, Miss Sadie Mepham, Missouri, 1908- Bull, Rev. William F., Virginia, 1899- Bull, Mrs. William F., n6e Libbie A. Alby, Virginia, 1900- Clark, Rev. William Monroe, Alabama, 1909- Clark, Mrs. William Monroe, nee Ada Christine Hamilton, Kentucky, 1909- Coit, Rev. R. T., North Carolina, 1909- Coit, Mrs. R. T., n6e Cecile Woods, Mississippi, 1909- Colton, Miss Susanne Avery, North Carolina, 1911- Crane, Miss Janet, Mississippi, 1949- Crane, Rev. John Curtis, Mississippi, 1913- Crane, Mrs. John Curtis, nee Florence Hedleston, Mississippi, 1913- Crane, Rev. Paul Sackett, Mississippi, 1916-1919.* Crane, Mrs. Paul S'ackett, nee Katherine Whitehead Rowland, Georgia, 1916-1919. Cumming, Rev. Daniel James, Kentucky, 1918- Daniel, Dr. Thomas Henry, Virginia, 1904-1917. Daniel, Mrs. Thomas Henry, n£e Sarah Brice Dunnington, Virginia, 1904-1917. Dodson, Miss Mary Lucy, Texas, 1912- Dodson, Rev. Samuel Kendrick, Texas, 1912- Drew, Dr. A. D.. Virginia, 1894-1904. Drew, Mrs. A. D., n6e Lucie E. Law, Virginia, 1894-1904. Dupuy, Miss Lavalette, North Carolina, 1912- Dysart, Miss Julia, Missouri, 1907- Earle, Rev. A. M., Virginia, 1904-1911. Earle, Mrs. A. M., n€e Eunice Virginia Fisher. West Virginia, 1907-1911. Eversole, Rev. Finley Monwell, Virginia, 1912- Eversole, Mrs. F. M., nee Edna Earle Pratt. Virginia, 1912- Forysthe, Miss Jean, Kentucky, 1910-1911. Forsythe, Dr. W. H., Kentucky, 1904-1918. Graham, Miss Ellen Ibernia, North Carolina, 1907- Greene, Miss Willie Burnice, Georgia, 1919- Greer, Miss Anna Lou, Texas, 1912-1914. 192 DAY IN AND DAY OUT IN KOREA \ Harding, Dr. M. C., Colorado, 1912-1914. Harding, Mrs. M. C. .Colorado, 1912- Harrison, Rev. William Butler, Kentucky, 1896- Harrison, Mrs. W. B., nee Linnie Davis, Virginia, 1892-1903.* Harrison, Mrs. W. B., n6e Margaret Jane Edmonds, Canada, 1908- Hill, Rev. Pierre Bernard, Virginia, 1912-1918. Hill, Mrs. Pierre Bernard, n6e Ella Dee Thraves, Virginia, 1912-1918. Junkin, Rev. William McCleery, Virginia, 1892-1908.* Junkin, Mrs. William McCleery, nee Mary Deyburn, Virginia, 1892-1908. Kestler, Miss Ethel Ester, North Carolina, 1905- Knox, Rev. Robert, Texas, 1907- Knox, Mrs. Robert, n£e Maie Phila Borden, Texas, 1907- Dathrop, Miss Dillie Ora, Georgia, 1912- Deadingham, Dr. Roy Samuel, Iowa, 1912- Deadingham, Mrs. Roy Samuel, nee Harriett Ida Pearce, Douisiana, 1912- Dinton, Mr. William Alderman, Georgia, 1912- McCallie, Rev. H. Douglas, Tennessee, 1907- McCallie, Mrs. H. D., nee Emily Cordell, Arkansas, 1907 McCutchen, Rev. Duther Oliver, South Carolina, 1902- McCutchen, Mrs. Duther Oliver, nee Josephine Cordelia Hounshell, Vir- ginia, 1909- McEachern, Rev. John, North Carolina, 1912- McMurphy, Miss Ada Marietta, Arkansas, 1912- McOueen, Miss Anna, Norm Carolina, 1910- Martin, Miss Julia A., Missouri, 1908- iviattnews, Miss Estner .Boswell, North Carolina, 1911- Newiand, Rev. neKoy Tate, Norm Carolina, 1911- Newland, Mrs. DeKoy rate, nee Sarah Douise Andrews, North Caro- lina, 1911- Nisbet, Rev. John S'amuel, Tennessee, 1907- Nisbet, Mrs. Jonn Samuel, nee Anabel Dee Major, Tennessee, 1907- Nolan, Dr. J. W., Kentucky, 1904-1908. Owen, Dr. Clement Carrington, Virginia, 1898-1909.* Owen, Mrs. C. C., nee Georgiana Wiyting, M. D., Massachusetts, 1900- Parker, William Peticolas, Virginia, 1912- Parker, Mrs. William P., nee Harriet Dillaway Fitch, Ohio, 1912- Parker, Rev. Joseph Kenton, Virginia, 1912-1914. Parker, Mrs. Joseph K.. nee Dydie Sparrow, North Carolina, 1912-1914. Patterson, Dr. Jacob Bruce, Pennsylvania, 1910- Patterson, Mrs. Jacob B., nee Rosetta Palmer Crabbe, Ohio, 1911- Pitts, Miss Daura May, North Carolina, 1910-1911.* Pratt, Rev. Charles H., Virginia, 1912-1918. Pratt, Mrs. Charles H., nee Pattie Foster Ward, North Carolina, 1912- 1918. Preston, Rev. J. Fairman, South Carolina, 1903- Preston, Mrs. J. Fairman, nee Annie Wiley, North Carolina, 1903- Rankin, Miss Nellie B., Georgia, 1907-1911.* Reynolds, Rev. William Davis, Jr., Virginia, 1892- Reynolds, Mrs. William D., Jr., n€e Patsy Bolling, Virginia, 1892- Robertson, Dr. Moorman Owen, Oklahoma, 1915-1919. Robertson, Mrs. M. O., nee D’Mee Lehmann, Oklahoma, 1915-1919. Rogers, Dr. James McDean, Virginia, 1917- Rogers, Mrs. James McDean, n6e Mary Dunn Ross, North Carolina, 1917- Shepping, Miss Elizabeth Johanna, New York, 1912- Straeffer, Miss F. Rica, Alabama, 1899-1908. Swinehart, Mr. Martin Duther, Indiana, 1911- Sfwinehart, Mrs. M. D., n6e Dois Hawks, Indiana, 1911- OUR MISSIONARIES IN KOREA 193 Talmage, Rev. John Van Neste, Louisiana, 1910- Talmage, Mrs. John Van Neste, nGe Eliza Day Emerson, Louisiana, 1910- Tate, Rev. Lewis Boyd, Missouri, 1892- Tate, Mrs. Lewis B., nGe Mattie B. Ingold, M. D.. North Carolina. 1897- Tate, Miss Mattie Samuel, Missouri, 1892- Timmons, Dr. Henry Loyala, South Carolina, 1912-1918. Timmons, Mrs. H. L. nGe Laura Louise McKnight, South Carolina, 1912- Venable, Mr. William Anderson, Texas, 1908-1917. Venable, Mrs. William A., nGe Virginia Flournoy Jones, Texas, 1909- 1917. Walker, Miss Elizabeth, Tennessee, 1919- Wilson, Dr. Robert Man ton, Arkansas, 1908- Wilson, Mrs. Robert M., nee Bessie L. Knox, North Carolina, 1907- Wilson, Rev. Thomas Edwin, Arkansas, 1915-1917.* Winn, Miss Emily Anderson, Georgia, 1912- Winn, Rev. Samuel Dwight, Georgia, 1912- % Mrs. Nisbet’s Last Message to the Women of our Church. When our committee asked Mrs. Nisbet, in the fall of 1918, to write a mission study book about our Korea Mission, they little dreamed that she would be called to her reward before the book was pub- lished. The manuscript came into our hands in the fall of 1919, and after editorial revision, was turned over to the Committee of Publication about the first of January of this year. A few days later the news was received that Mrs. Nisbet had cancer, and that the disease had already progressed so far as to make an operation impracticable. Mrs. Kisbet died on the 7th of March, and we received the cable announcing her death on the following day, too late to make any adequate announcement of her death in the book itself. In the preface the author says, “I forgot I was writing a book as I thought how you had held the ropes for us all these years in love and faith and prayer, and had made possible our going down into the dark mines of superstition and demon worship. Forgive me if I forgot the editorial ‘we’ and just talked out my heart to you, for indeed you seemed very near to me.” Her book, which is published under the title, “Day In and Day Out in Korea,” is therefore really her last message to the women of our church especially, and to the church as a whole, although she doubtless did not realize this when she wrote. March 25, 1920. Educational Secretary. INDEX 195 3ni)ex Alby, Miss Libby (Mrs. W. P. Bull), 27, 127. Allen, Dr. and Mrs. Horace N., 16, 71, 125. Alexander, Dr. A. J. A., 59. Baptismal Examination, 68. Bedinger, Miss Anna Moore, 187. Bell, Rev. Eugene, 32, 55, 65, 83, 90, 127, 172, 188. Bible, Japanese exclusion from schools, 128, 129. Bible Society, 170, 171. Bible Standards, 182, 183. Bible Study, 94, 95, 97, 98, 172, 173. Biggar, Miss Meta, 112. Birdman, Dr. F. H., 85, 89. Bolling, Miss Patsy (Mrs. W. D. Reynolds), 17. Borden, Miss Maie Phila (Mrs. Robert Knox), 85, 89. Buckland, Miss Sadie, 173. Buddhism, 102, 104. Bull, Miss Margaret Whitaker (Mrs. Eugene Bell), 64, 188. Bull, Rev. W. F., 27. Catechumenate, 67. Chay, Grandmother, 115, 116. “Chosen” (Korea), 111. Chulla, North and South Chul- la Provinces, 20; Presbytery divided, North Chulla Pres- bytery and South Chulla Presbytery, 130, 131. Chunju, first visit to, 21; re- turn to, 26; first baptisms, 27, 37, 38; medical work, 54; statistics, 66; school, 127, 128; personnel changed, 63, 87, 91, 97, 98. Church Curtains, 115, 116. Church Leaders, 170. Clark, Rev. Charles Allen, D. D., 168. Coit, Rev. R. T., 112, 113, 115. Confucianism, 102, 103, 104. Cordell, Miss Emily, 85. Crane, Rev. Paul Sackett, 188. Curiosity, Korean, 23. Custom, the power of, 35, 178, 179. Daniel, Dr. Thomas Henry, 60, 123, 161, 173. Davis, Miss Linnie (Mrs. W. B. Harrison), 17, 19, 26, 27, 29, 63, 127. Demon Worship, 106, 107. 196 INDEX Digest of the Presbyterian Church, 168. Distribution of Scriptures, 170. Drew, Dr. A. D., 25, 55, 59. Dunnington, Miss Sarah Brice (Mrs. T. H. Daniel), 60. Dupuy, Miss Lavalette, 112. Dysart, Miss Julia, 85, 95. Earle, Rev. A. M., 60, 85, 127. Educational Work, 177-180. Ellen Lavine Graham Hospi- tal, 123. Faith, under persecution, 139- 145; casting off old customs and ideas, 145-147; sowing seed, 148-152; under tempta- tion, 152-154; dealing with little things of daily life, 154-158; through prayer, 158-164. Family Control, 178. Federal Council (Korean), 77, 78. Fisher, Miss Eunice (Mrs. A. M. Earle), 85. Food, Korean, 49. Foreign Missions, Korean, 131, 132, 175. Forsythe, Dr. Wylie Hamilton, 63, 64, 183, 187. French Memorial Hospital, 125. General Assembly, Korean, 130. Generosity, Korean, 80. Go-Between, 61. Graham, Miss Ella, 85, 95. Greer, Miss Anna Lou, 112, 123. Harrison, Rev. William But- ler, 26, 28, 63, 127. Hawks, Miss Lois (Mrs. M. L. Swinehart), 128. “Heathen” Sunday Schools, 173. Home Missions, Korean, 131. Home Society, 185. Houses, Korean, 33; An-Pang, or women’s quarters, 34; furnishing of, 35. Hounshell, Miss Josephine (Mrs. Luther Oliver Mc- Cutchen), 87, 97. Ingold, Dr. Mattie (Mrs. L. B. Tate), 54, 59, 123, 172. Island Work, 119-121, 123. Itineration, 47, 168, 169. Japanese Immigration, 71. Jik-y, 47. Jin, Chay Choon, 84. Johnson, Mr. Cameron, 17, 18, 19. Junkin, Rev. William Mc- Cleery, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 55, 63, 71, 81, 84, 86, 87, 127, 183. Kestler, Miss Ethel, 60, 123. Kija, 111, 112. INDEX Kil, Mr., the blind preacher, 79, 175. Kim, Rev. C. G., 28, 29, 131; the church starter, 46; Y. S., 65; Y. J., 116, '117, 118; Rev. P. S., 130, 172; Mr., 53. Knox, Rev. Robert, 85, 89. Knox, Miss Bessie (Mrs. R. M. Wilson), 85, 89. Koo, Old Mother, 113, 114, 115. Korea (Chosen), 111. Korean Missions and division of territory, 78. Kunsan, station opened, 26; medical work, 54, 59, 60, 66; statistics, 89, 91; school, 126, 127, 128. Kwangju, 64, 65, 98; school, 127 , 128. Language, Korean, 58. Law, Miss Lucie E. (Mrs. A. D. Drew), 25. Leadingham, Dr. R. S., 123. Leyburn, Miss Mary (Mrs. W. M. Junkin), 17, 27, 87, 126, 127. Leprosy, 62; leper work, 126. Linton, Mr. William Aider- man, 127. McCallie, Rev. H. D., 85, 89, 120, 125. McCutchen, Rev. Luther Oli- ver, 57, 88. McEachern, Rev. John, 157. McKnight, Miss Laura Louise (Mrs. H. L. Timmons), 112. 197 McMurphy, Miss Ada Mariet- ta, 123. Major, Miss Anabel (Mrs. John Samuel Nisbet), 85, 86. Manual Training, 177, 178. Markets, Korean, 51, 52. Marriage, 184. Martin, Miss Julia A., 95, 123. Mary Baldwin School, 127. Medical Work, 123, 124, 125, 126, 181, 182. Miller, Mr. Hugh, 90; cheap gospel, 90*', 170. Million Souls Movement, 90. Mission statistics, 92. Moffett, Dr. S. A., 51, 81, 82, 95, 129, 144. Mokpo, 32, 55, 64, 66, 89, 127, 128. Mother-in-law, the, 35, 184, 185. Myung, Yun Sik, 83. Nevius, Dr. John L., 94, 174. Nisbet, Rev. John Samuel, 85, 86, 104, 131, 156, 160, 161, 189. Nolan, Dr. J. W., 86. North Chulla, 20, 21, 97, 98, 128, 130, 131, 134. Oh, Dr. K. S., 59, 129. Optimism, Korean, 186. Owen, Dr. C. C., 32, 55, 65, 89, 90, 113, 120. Parker, Mr. William P., 129, 157. « - INDEX I98 Patterson, Dr. J. B., 123. Pharmacopoeia, 61, 62. Pitts, Miss Laura May, 159- 164. Polygamy, 117, 118. Pratt, Rev. and Mrs. Chas., 112, 113. Prayer, Korean faith in, 94. Presbyterian Council, 20. Presbytery, first Korean, 82; 'Chulla, 130, 131; Missionary membership in, 85. Preston, Rev. J. F., 64, 89, 90, 112, 113, 120. Principles of work, 168. Protestant Council, 77. Pyeng Yang, Seminary, 81; our first graduates, 83, 84, 98, 129. Quelpart, 21, 82, 83, 131, 144, 145, 176. Railroad, Fusan-Seoul, 72, 129. Rankin, Miss Nellie B., 85, 127, 173. Reynolds, Rev. William Davis, D. D., 17, 18, 19, 26, 27, 32, 33, 37, 51, 81, 87, 89, 172. Rice Planting, 183, 184. % Robertson, Dr. Moorman Owen, 123. Rogers, Dr. James McLean, 123. Rowland, Miss Katherine Whitehead (Mrs. Paul Sack- ett Crane), 188. Russo-Japanese War, results of, 71, 72, 73. Sabbath Keeping, 182, 183. Salvation Army, English, 134. Schools, 126; Kunsan school, 126; Bible excluded, 128; Union school work, 129, 177, 178. Self-government, 175. Self-propagation, 174. Self-support, 174, 175. Severance Medical School, 129, 180. Shamanism, 102, 104. Shepping, Miss Elise J., 129. Sin, Mr., 69; preaching, 70. Smallpox, 62. Soo, Kim Pil, 84. Soonchun, 112, 113. South Choong-chung, our field, 20 . Sou,th Chulla, our field, 20, 32, 98, 128, 130, 131. Sprue, 187. Su, Mr., faith through prayer, 158-164. Sunday Schools, 173, 174. Straeffer, Miss F. R., 32, 86, 127. Swinehart, Mr. M. L., 173. Tangun, first king of Korea, • 101 , 111 . INDEX 199 Tate, Miss Mattie S., 17, 21, 23, 24, 84, 95, 97, 127, 150, 151, 172. Tate, Rev. Lewis Boyd, 17, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 37, 69, 83, 84, 88. Three Beasts, the, 189, 190. Timmons, Dr. H. L., 112. Tong-hak Rebellion, 24, 25, 26. Tract Society, 171. Translation work, 32, 33. Travel, Methods of, 21, 168, 169. U, Mr., faith casting off old customs and ideas, 145-147. Umini, Chassubby, faith deal- ing with little things of daily life, 154-158. Underwood, Rev. Horace G., D. D., 17, 18, 19, 32, 33, 51, 95, 174; John, 19. Union, 77. Venable, Mr. William Ander- son, 127. Ward, Miss Pattie Foster (Mrs. Charles H. Pratt), 112, 113. Whiting, Miss Georgiana, M. D. (Mrs. C. C. Owen), 55. Wild Animals, 181. Wiley, Miss Annie (Mrs. J. F. Preston), 64, 89, 90, 112, 113. Wilson, Dr. R. M., 85, 123, 126. Witherspoon, Miss Lottie (Mrs. Eugene Bell), 32, 55. Women’s Missionary Socie- ties, 175, 176. Woods, Miss Cecile (Mrs. R. T. Colt), 112. Yi, Mrs., faith sowing seed, 148, 152. Yi, Mrs. K. P., faith under per- secution, 139-145. Yi, Rev. C. I., faith under temptation, 152-154. Yi, Rev. W. P., 131. Y. M. C. A., 93, 134. Yu, Mrs., one of first five con- verts, 29-32. Yun, Rev. S. M., 131. Village life, 51, 181. 2715LH. 611 02-05-08 32185 HC S-FGroup