CHAPTER XI.
The Village Woman.
To write of the village woman is only to carry forward the thought of the last chapter on the village girl, since the village woman is only the enlarged edition or full-grown product of the village girl. The same low estimate that is placed upon the unfortunate being that knows no better than to be born into the world a girl ever adheres to the village woman. It is true that if she is faithful in the place into which she has been put and fulfills the purpose for which she was supposedly made by becoming the mother of many sons — not daughters — then she takes a more honorable place in life, and is really considered worthy of some respect in old age.
The estimate placed upon woman is one of the marks that shows at a glance the wide difference between Christian and non-Christian nations. In Korea there is nothing sadder nor more to be deplored than the exceedingly low estimate placed upon woman. She is supposed to be inferior to man in every respect; and she has been told from early childhood that she has no sense, till she has come to believe it to such an extent that often she refuses to learn anything but to walk in the treadmill of domestic service. This is not only true of the lower classes, but of the higher classes also. I now recall an incident that took place in our own home that illustrates this fact. A high-class
