Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/274

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Village Life in Korea.

told us about the case advised that Mrs. Reed go no more, saying that while he probably would not hurt Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Moose, he would abuse his wife for receiving treatment from them. In fact, he said that if her feet got well he would burn them again, so she could not run away.

To give some idea of how this crime was looked upon by the community and by those in authority, it may be stated that the man held a position as mail carrier and his crime was known to those in authority, but nothing was ever done with him.

Schools. — Before the coming of the gospel to Korea there was nothing worthy the name of schools, if they are to be judged by the standard of a liberal education. What did exist under the name of schools was for boys and men, the girls and women being entirely left out. So we are forced to mark out schools as among the blessings which we enjoy that were unknown in our Korean village before the coming of the gospel.

Literature. — It is true that Korea has been making books for many centuries. Even before Europe had learned the art of printing the Koreans were printing books with movable type. But these books were never intended for the mass of the people; only the few who ranked as scholars could read them. Twenty years ago there was not a newspaper published in all the land. Now there are a number of dailies and weeklies, some of them being published in the native script, which is the language of the common people; so that today many of the common laborers are better informed than were the scholars of twenty years ago. And yet, even