Morning Calm v.36 no.185(1925 Oct.)

The Corean Mission.

The Mission to Corea was set on foot in 1889 by the direct action of the then Archbishop of Canterbury., in response to the urgent and repeated request of those best fitted to judge of its necessity, viz, the bishops in the neighbouring countries of China and Japan. From the out it has been worked, in Corea itself, on the most economical lines possible, by a small staff of cellbate clergy, assisted by Sisters (of the Community of St. Peter, Kilburn), a few other lady workers, and one or two doctors—none of them paid more than the barest living wage. In 1922 the American Congregation of the S.S.J.E. (Cowley Father) accepted the invitation of Bishop Trollope to open Branch House of the Society in the Diocese of Corea.

Ill-equipped with men and means from the start, constantly embarrassed by political disturbances in Corea, and, of course, especially hampered since 1914 by the war, the Mission has nevertheless succeeded by its patient labours in building up in Corea a compact little Christian community of some 6,000 souls, about nine-tenths of whom are of Corean birth and speech, and the remaining tenth Japanese. The English, or English-speaking, community is small, but the Mission has always regarded the care of their souls also as a first change on its time and energies.

The “objective” of the Mission—which since its foundation has always been worked on distinctively Catholic lines—is, and always has been, not the mere conversion of individuals, but the setting up in Corea of a fully equipped and synodically governed province of the Catholic Church, self-supporting and capable of managing its own affairs, with an indigenous ministry and a vernacular liturgy carefully formed on the best Catholic models. Upon the native Church thus formed will ultimately rest the task of winning their myriads of non-Christian brothers and sisters to the Faith. With the object in view no pains have been spared in impressing on the members of the infant Church the necessity for self-support. Not only are they learning to take a keen Interest in the affairs of the Church, through their local and diocesan conferences (with the Bishop and Presbyters in Synod the supreme authority within the Diocese), but as Christian congregations are formed, they relieve the Mission of the entire burden of local Church express and the maintenance of the native ministry.

Two things are urgently needed (a) A yearly income of ₤12,000 (towards which S.P.G. at present contributes about ₤5,000) to replace the present wholly inadequate sum of about ₤8,000 a year. (b) A capital of ₤2,500 to enable us to decorate the first part of the great Central Church in Seoul. The Bishop is convinced that, if once an adequate measure of support is secured, we may look forward to seeing in the not distant future the infant Church in Corea capable of standing on its own feet with only a minimum of support and supervision from the Church in England. ——————— The Leage of St. Nicolas (with which is incorporated the Association of Prayer and Work for Corea) is a League of Churches, or Parishes, whose priests and people are pledged to support the Mission by their sympathy, prayer, and alms. Full particulars to be had from the General Secretary (see page iv.).The full list of Churches is printed in July and January Magazines. The Children's Prayer. (Please try to pray this every day.) Bless, O Lord, all Missions, and bring the people of Corea to know and love Thee, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Children's Letter.

MY DEAR CHILDREN, Perhaps only after experiencing the earthquakes of Japan, and the floods in Corea, and other such dreadful manifestations of nature, do we appreciate the beauty and blessings of England. The Floods in Seoul Nature in these parts of the world seems every now and again to let herself loose in a very wrathful and overpowering way. It has been so in Corea during July and August. After many days of ceaseless rain the great River Han, which runs through Seoul, rose over forty feet; a large part of Seoul was flooded and for several days we were cut off entirely from the rest of the world. No trains were running and there was no light or water. But faring worse than Seoul were the hundreds of villages on the banks of the river. Many of them were entirely swept away and thousands of people are homeless, and much of the countryside has been completely wrecked. A gentleman who was living high up on a cliff near the river said that during the flood he estimated that about 200 houses passed down the river every hour; and on the roofs of many of them people were clinging crying out to be saved. Two of our Christian villages fared very badly. The little village of Poong-nam-ni was destroyed, and when, after the flood, I went out to see our Christians there, I found there was not a home to be seen, everything had gone—even cur nice little church and school. Only a fortnight before I had sat in the priest’s room looking out over the smiling fields, but when next I went to the village I could not even see where once our Church had stood. Our Christians alter enduring great hardships—for they were crowded together in little boats fastened to the top of a little hill—were rescued after being there for two days and nights. Had the water risen another six inches they would have been swept away on the flood. Thirty people in this village alone were drowned; fifteen Christian houses were destroyed and there are filty or sixty Christians homeless and penniless. On the other side of the river at Kwang-Naru seven Christian houses were wrecked and in other villages many of our Christians have suffered and are homeless. We did all we could at the time to help our people. The Sisters made clothes, some of the refugees came into Seoul and we looked after them for a time, and with a little money given to each family they were able to buy food and so help them through the summer. But what of the winter and all the crops destroyed? We want you to be grateful and thankful for such a lovely country its England, and by sympathy, prayer, and alms help the people of these countries to whom nature has not been so kind. Yours affectionately, CHARLES HUNT.

We Sell Stamps ON BEHALF OF THE CATHEDRAL FURNISHING FUND. Good selections sent on approval. Cheap packets. Particulars from the Stamp Secretary, the Corean Mission, Mary Sumner House, Tufton Street, Westminster. ———— Children's Letter Leaflet.—Will Secretaries and others who have not yet paid for the reprints of leaflets they have had during the current year pay their debts without delay to Miss Seaton? It was notified some time ago that this bit of work had grown so much recently that it had become necessary to make a small charge amounting to about 1/4d. per copy, i.e., 12 copies for 3d. ; 25 for 6d.; and larger quantities at the same rate.

Please Read Pages 64, 65. ALL parish priests, all workers among children and among young people, all secretaries, all friends of Corea, are asked to read carefully the notes on "Corea and the Young People of England” on pages 64, 65, and consider if there is not something to be learnt there which will not only help the Mission, but will strengthen the spiritual life of a parish in what is often its weakest part.

The Bishop's Letter.

SEOUL August 17th, 1925 MY DEAR FRIENDS,

I hope you were not very much alarmed by the news of our terrible floods in mid-July. They were terrible and alarming enough, but the papers always make the worst of things. In point of fact our rainy season is always alarming. You in England can have no idea of the deluges we suffer; and I am free to say that they terrify me in the same way as an earthquake or a bad storm at sea. When it has rained in torrents for sixty hours or more—and there seems no reason why it should ever stop—you begin to feel that anything may happen. And in point of fact, in one quarter of Corea or another (for the worst floods do not hit the same place every year), almost anything does happen—hills collapse, rivers change their course, roads and railways are washed away, whole towns disappear. This year it was Seoul which suffered with a flood such as has not been known there within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. We had had long delayed, but heavy rains on July 9th to 11th, with a threatening of bad floods. But these stopped sufficiently to enable me to pay my last country visit (Ping-Yang) on Sunday, July 12th, and the following days. There they had experienced something of a drought, and I was able to get my long journeys over (including a long motor journey from Ping-Yang City to our country stations) without trouble. I came back to Seoul by the night train arriving on Wednesday morning, and on Wednesday evening (July 15th) the record downpour occurred continuing with greater or less violence until the following Monday (20th). What made it so serious was that the rainfall was equally heavy throughout the whole of the two basins drained by the two main upper reaches (with all their tributaries) of the Han River, which as you know finds its way to the sea past Seoul (at about three or four miles distant from the city walls). Practically the whole of the riverside area is thickly covered with habitations or factories, including the railway works, gas works, electric works, while the city water works are on the river bank a little higher up. The river is spanned by three long iron-girder bridges, at a height of about forty feet above the river's normal level. No previous flood has ever risen more than thirty feet. So the safety of the bridges has never been threatened. I was trying to forget my miseries on Friday night by standing and working in one of the few dry spots in my room—to the tune

Christians at Kwan Naru Seoul, Corea

of the ceaseless downpour of the rain, when about midnight the whole city was plunged into darkness by the extinction of the electric light, the floods having drowned out the power house. I went to bed disconsolately by the light of a candle, but could not sleep for the noise of the rain, when at 4 a.m., all the available sirens sounded, the signal agreed upon if the flood should overflow the railway as bridges and the embankments. The rain, continued more or less till Monday, the flood reaching its highest level, over forty-three feet on Saturday, by which time Seoul was entirely cut off from the surrounding world, except over the mountain range on the lower slopes of which it fortunately stands, so that the city itself was not flooded.

The river itself was a fearful sight, swollen to an enormous width, covered with wreckage, &c., and running like a mill stream. There is fortunately a large boating population all along the banks of the Han, and hundreds of lives were saved by the activities of these boatmen, organized by the police, pushing out into the stream and taking the people off their floating houses. One village, opposite Kwang Naru where we have had a little church for thirty years, has entirely disappeared, church, houses, fields, and everything. It is now only a desolation of sand and boulder. Fortunately, not one of our Christians were drowned though they suffered terribly. Our catechist, young Stephen Choi, with his wife and mother and little child were among those thus rescued after four days. We were very anxious about Dr. Borrow at Yo-Ju, which is on one of the upper reaches of the Han, as we could not get into communication with her. But we have since heard that though a great part of the town was flooded, our compound there was fortunately untouched.

But July has a greater title to fame this year in Corea than any conferred on it by the floods. For it was on the first Sunday in July (5th) in St. Peter's at Rome that the Corean Martyrs of 1839 and 1846 received their long delayed meed of "beatification." Those of you who have read anything of the romantic history of the introduction of Christianity into Corea will remember how—after that wonderful half century during which the Gospel (so to speak) propagated itself, without even a missionary entering the country—the first foreign missionaries set foot in the peninsula in 1836 in the persons of Bishop Imbert and his two associate priests of the “Missions Etrangères de Paris," Fathers Maubant and Chastan. For three short years they lived and worked in secret and in disguise, and in 1839 they were cruelly put to death with a large number of their followers, of whom some seventy (more than half of them women) have now been associated with these pastors in the process of beatification. Then, seven years later, in 1846, another persecution arose, and nine more Coreans (including the first Corean priest ever ordained) obtained the crown of martyrdom. And they, too, have had their share in the recent beatification. Thus at last have Mgr. Mutel's labours on the “process”, which has lasted about forty years, been crowned with success—leaving still to his successor the onerous task of promoting the cause of the even more numerous martyrs who laid down their lives in the last great persecution of 1866. Mgr. Mutel has always taken a kindly and courteous interest in keeping me posted in the various stages of the process, as though it were a matter almost of much interest to me as to himself, as indeed it is. For although our own Mission did not reach the shores of Corea until twenty-five years had elapsed since the last persecution, we are no less proud than our French confrères of the bravery of the Corean Martyrs, and are even bold enough to believe that we have a share in their prayers.

I wish I could have been present at Rome on the great occasion. But oddly enough I had a representative in St. Peter's in the person of my old friend (of St. Saviour's, Poplar, days) Fr. Reginald Halse, who found himself in Rome quite by accident on this very Sunday, on his way home from Australia. He wrote on the evening of the day to tell me of his experiences and the joy he had felt in being present. And he ends by saying "The strangest part is still to come. After the ceremony was over, while the 50,000 people or so were wandering about, I met what I felt sure was a Corean priest, who was escorting an elderly bishop. So I took my courage in both hands and in my best French asked whether the elderly prelate was Mgr. Mutel. He replied in the affirmative, so I took it upon myself to claim you as ‘mon ami,' to which Mgr. replied that you were his 'cheri ami, and expressed great delight at being recognized. . . . I hope it may be accounted to me for righteousness that unofficially I associated your diocese with ‘the shadow of Peter passing by' at the beatification of the Corean Martyrs, when I kissed the ring of the Vicar Apostolic of Corea and found myself shouting as lustily as the others ‘Viva il Pape.'" (I hope Fr. Halse will not be very annoyed with me for quoting this private letter, but the coincidence was so strange and so interesting that it seems worth while to put it on record.)

I have left myself but little space in which to record the very pleasant visit we had in June from Fr. Williams, the Assistant Superior of S.S.J.E. from Boston. He arrived on Whitsun Eve and so was able to keep that festival with us in Seoul. Altogether be spent three weeks with us, and, though he could not go everywhere, he was quite indefatigable in his efforts to see all that there was to be seen, and, besides Paik-Chun (where the Fathers are working now) he was able to visit Ping-Yang, Su-Won, and ChinChun, and also found time to take two retreats, one for the English-speaking priests and the other for the Sisters. So we worked him pretty hard. He is now thoroughly posted in all aspects of the case and goes home to report to the Superior and the Chapter, which meets in August. So I suppose we shall hear ere long whether we are to lose the services of the S.S.J.E. Fathers. Quod Deus azortat!

But whether they go or stay, I do trust that the Church at home will take heed to our very great need for additional priests from England, to which such urgent expression was given in the July Morning Calm. To turn to another subject. A special gift of £50 from one of the Associates of St. Peter has enabled us to put up a small “Novice House" within the Compound of the Sisterhood in Seoul. And this we hope to open on Holy Cross Day (September 14th) as the nursery for the future Corean Sisterhood, which it is proposed ————————————————————————————————————————

Fr. Halse was one ~ Bishop of ~ at Westminster ~ at the same time that Fr.~ Bishop of Kobe(안보임)

to call the Order of the “Sisters of the Holy Cross in Corea." It remains to be seen whether or no “vocations" are likely to be forthcoming. We feel pretty certain about one or two—though even with regard to those we must remember that the possibilities of disappointment are great. But until the novitiate gets under way and can actually be seen “in being," there is very little hope of any vacation being discovered or tested, or of the Coreans really understanding what the religious life is. There are certainly some most grotesque misconceptions floating about at present. However, I hope I shall be able to tell you more about this in the December number of Morning Calm. Your papers have, doubtless, all been full of the unrest in China. Here, where we depend on the Chinese for so many services, there has been no repercussion of the trouble in China itself, and nothing could be pleasanter than our relations with the Chinese with whom we are daily in contact. But it is to be remembered that here we have no “student class” of Chinese to foment trouble.

Yours very truly in our Lord, MARK, Bishop in Corea.

P.S. —With regard to the Cathedral — A. The High Altar, a massive granite structure, measuring 9 ft. (long) by 2 ft. 6 in. (wide), and 3 ft, 3 in. (high) is now in situ. It is very important that we should have the following to clothe it with : — 1. A festal frontal, gold or white (not dead white). We have a beautiful one of Venetian embroidery given us, but it is, alas! a foot too short, and will have to be used elsewhere. 2. A festal frontal, red, for Pentecost and other red days. (N.B.—Other frontals, green, violet, or black are less important, as on days when these would be used the altar may be left with just the super-frontal.) 3. A red super-frontal (tacked on to the front edge of a coarse linen cloth) to go with the above. 4. A violet super-frontal similarly treated to be used in Lent, Advent, and other violet (or black) occasions. (N.B.—The coarse linen cloth referred to should be the exact length of the altar (9 ft.) and about 3 ft. wide, so as to be able to hang down at the back, with a false hem, into which a rod can be inserted as “counterbalance.” 5. Fair Linens (not less than four). These must be of linen and should be the exact width of the altar (2 ft. 6 in.) and not less than 14 ft. long, so as to be able to hang down about 2 ft. 6 in. at each end. 6. A good Oriental carpet, 10 ft. wide and at least 10 ft. (better still 18 ft.) long, to be in front of the High Altar. If only 10 ft. long, it will just cover the steps on which the Sacred Ministers stand, but will look "skimpy" from a distance. B. The Altar is now also being placed in the crypt—a slightly smaller, but equally massive granite structure, measuring 7 ft. 6 in. long by 2 ft. 6 in. broad and 3 ft. 3 in high. This also should have frontals, super-frontals, fair linens, and a carpet—to fit the measurements given. In this case the carpet should be 8 ft. wide and about 10 ft long. (N.B.—The intense cold of winter makes it impossible to have the steps and pavements of sanctuary, &c., of marble or stone, as The East End of the Cathedral Awaiting Decoration and Furnishing. the architect originally suggested. It is essential that these should be of wood, and a carpet is almost essential—both for practical and esthetic reasons. C. Some money gifts have reached me with the expressed wish that they may be used for some special memorial of Bishop Corfe within the Cathedral. I propose to let this memorial take the form of the Bishop's throne. And I am now in correspondence with Mr. Dixon about complete plans, both for that and sedilia. Any who wish to contribute further to a special Corfe Memorial had better send their contributions earmarked for that purpose, to Miss Trollope, 48 Vincent Square, S.W. 1, who is acting as interim treasurer for funds contributed to the internal fitting. furnishing, and decoration of the Church. D. I hope that someone will be moved to give us really good suits of High Mass Vestments (especially white—or gold—and red) for use in the new Cathedral. (I suppose a good suit of each might cost anything from £50 to £100 or more.) We can make shift with such green and violet ones as we have; and we have a very good black suit given some years ago by the Guild of All Souls. The Crypt of Cathedral, temporarily furnished. (The Bishop Tuner Memorial) E. Fr. Ross tells me that St. Alhan's, Holborn, is giving us ₤100 for a tabernacle for the Cathedral. This is a most generous gift, and the architect is now being consulted about the design. It will probably be placed in the crypt, which will make an almost ideal Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

• NOTE —About £30 has been received in England as memorial to Bishop Corfe, and Bishop Trollope has received additional gifts in the Far East for this purpose. It is these sums which he wishes to use for the Bishop's Throne. The Crucifix on the High Altar will be an additional personal memorial of an old friend of Bishop Corfe, who chose this special remembrance. A recent offer of a candlestick therefore sets free some money which might have been used for this purpose as part of the memorial to Bishop Corfe.

F. I shall have something to tell you later about the High Altar—funds for which have been provided from a source that will form an important and interesting link with the Home Church. G. We are still waiting for plans and estimates for the mosaic which will (I hope) alternately cover the Apse and Seni-dome behind and above the High Altar. We shall want some very special donors (or donor) for this, as there seems little chance of its costing less than £2,000. The General fund. ALL that the Bishop tells us about the Cathedral is very delightful, but, in the covering letter he says. "We were all rather down in the dumps at the smallness of last quarter's remittance," e.g., for the General Fund. The July and September quarters are unfortunately always rather lean times, and we hope that every effort will be made in the coming quarter. It seems unthinkable that, when one (and possibly a second) priest is considering the Call to Corea, there should be any anxiety as to the possibility of funds being adequate for any expansion. We are sure no one will allow this to happen.

Japanese Children of the Church in Corea.

I HAVE heard it said, or perhaps I read it somewhere, that Japanese children never cry! Whoever said that must have had a singularly fortunate experience of life in the East, I cannot endorse the remark, though it is true to say that on the whole the small Japanese child does have a very happy time. If the first child in the family happens to be the much desired boy, the sun “rises and sets" on him, and on him alone, so that he is apt to become somewhat of a small tyrant in his home. Young brothers, and all the girls in the family count for very much less, and "Ni San," or "Elder brother" takes a very decided position among them. Little girls, if the mother has any of the refinement, seen as much among people in very poor circumstances as among the well-to-do, learn very early to how gracefully to visitors, to take a message prettily, to thank in the most charming way for any little trifle, and moreover, to do many little jobs in the house.

Japanese children start their school life somewhat later than ours. The way of reckoning ages is peculiar, counting from the year in which the child is born, when he is said to be "one," the next year he is "two," and this is quite irrespective of the month in which he is born. Therefore, a child born on December 28th, 1924, would be reckoned as "two" on January 1st, 1925. A child must be fully six years old, and not according to Eastern reckoning, by the last day of March in order to enter the first year of the primary school. This birthday falls in April or later, he must wait till the following year. One can see many small personages of one's acquaintance in the Church, who will soon be toddling off with father or mother for the "Entrance Ceremony" generally held on the first day of April, which ends their baby life. Kindergartens, both missionary and in connection with the Government schools, are plentiful in Japan. In Corea it has not been possible to have a Church kindergarten for Japanese children, for though there are very useful evangelistic agencies among the mothers, they are very expensive. There have been cases where Christian parents have even sent their little ones to a kindergarten under the auspices of one of the Buddhist temples. The family influence is so strong in the East that it probably counteracts (at all events very greatly), the impressions made on the child's mind by the temple surroundings. Of course, it is not good, but in the case of which I knew, it seemed to have done less harm than one might have supposed it would.

For four years the child has a fairly easy time in the primary school—lots of games and amusing drill, and soon, nice walks into the country with the teachers, fill up a good deal of the timetable. The teachers are certainly most devoted to their work, which is very heavy, for the classes are so large. In the fifth year comes the "tug-of-war" in the small school child's life. Subjects like geography and history are begun, and in the latter, the childish faith encounters its first obstacle. The mythical history of early Japan, with its Pantheon of gods and goddesses is taught as fact. A little girl who had learned enough of the Catholic Faith to see that what she heard at home and in Church did not fit in with her school lessons, took her difficulties to her father, who fortunately was well able to explain things. But besides this there is the tremendous strain which is put on children, often from the middle of the fifth year at school, as the examinations for the secondary schools, take place in the last term of the sixth year of the primary school course. The competition is very severe, there are not enough secondary schools. Teachers are anxious to pass their pupils in, and parents are much more ambitious than they were a few years ago. So, far too much pressure is brought to bear on the young, and disappointment is often the only result. And what about the child's Church life?

Here we can see a very great improvement compared with the earlier days of the Mission. In old days the parents often had no Strong Sacramental life themselves, or even the desire for it, and they took no trouble to procure the baptism of their children, so that when the country work was organized, numbers of unbaptized children were found.

Mothers in Buddhist families have a custom of going to the temple with their child on the thirtieth or thirty-first day after its birth, the day varying in different localities. Now the Catholic practice of baptism takes for Christians the place of "o miya maeri" ("the going to the shine").

The education of children in the Christian Faith has its problems. People who have become Christians in later life find it difficult to understand that a child can grasp a very great deal regarding both Faith and practice in its very early years. But they often equally fail to see that devotions which they find very helpful are decidedly tedious to the young, to say the least of it. I have felt sorry for children, and even young girls and school boys, who were sitting (very much on their best behaviour), through the long meetings which the old-fashioned Christians still love to call together on special occasions, such as the anniversary of a death in the family, or a thanksgiving for some special mercy. Respect to the "family" demanded their presence, but it always reminded me of the long services of Mattins, Litany, Ante-Communion, AND SERMON, of my own early days in various country churches, and of my own feelings towards the function. But all this is passing, and the Holy Mass is taking its rightful place as the occasion for all special thanksgiving, remembrance, and intercession.

The Sunday school (or Catechism as it is at Tai-kyu) flourishes best in country places, where there are fewer counter attractions, and less competition from the Buddhist temples, which also run "Sunday schools" so called. Numbers of non-Christian children are attracted, and a great deal of seed is sown, which the teacher may never see ripened, but which does bear fruit, as has been proved. If there are Christian children in the place they like their little school friends to come to the Sunday school with them, and they are little missionaries in this respect. But if it is not possible to have separate classes for the Christians and non-Christians, the definite teaching of the Christian children in preparation for their future Church life is very difficult. The Catechism at Taikyu seems to have proved the advantage of keeping the Christian child more definitely in view, rather than of catering especially for the non-Christian child. But in country places there may be only one room in which to teach, and one efficient teacher.

One of the great advances of the last few years has been the firm establishment of the principle of presenting children early for confirmation, before the great rush begins in their school life. and it is very delightful to see such young children at the Altar, and to hear of the sung Mass on the Feast of Corpus Christi this year at Taikyu being at 6.30 a.m. so that the school children could attend. B. ELRINGTON, Those who want to know more of the work among the Japanese should write for the latest pamphlet on the subject “Japanese Church Life in Corea," by Miss Elrington. Price 2d. (by post 2 1/2d.). Country Work in Corea To-Day.

TO some of us, I suppose, the work in an English countryside suggests well kept lawns, garden parties, sheepfolds and pigsties, and quiet rectory studies where theses are composed. However true this may have been of England, it is probably substantially untrue nowadays, and it is certainly not true of Corea. In Corea there are no lawns to be kept well or otherwise and so, in any case, the garden parties fall through. There are no sheep or sheepfolds, and a Corean "rectory” some 7-t. by 14-ft. with paper doors and the right of entry denied to none is hardly a suitable place for the composition of theses, however zealous our Mission priests may be in the cause of “sound learning." That only leaves the pigsties and certainly we have these in Corea, but, in the Far East, they only serve to offend an already overburdened sense of smell. Owing to a change, partly necessary and inevitable, in the evangelistic policy of the Corean Mission, our work may now be said to centre around (1) the capital, Seoul; (2) provincial cities such as Pyeng-Yang, Chong-Ju, and Chung-Ju; and (3) the remoter market towns such as Chin-Chun, Eum-Song, and Paik-Chun. This article is not concerned with the first of these. It only deals with work in the country as distinguished from Seoul. I have heard a Corean, an experienced entechist, define the evangelistic boundaries in Corea thus (i) the Protestant sects in the cities, (ii) of the Roman Catholics in the villages, and (iii) of the Corean Mission in the small market towns. I think this is more or less true, but the fact remains that we have now a certain amount of work in the provincial capitals though, as yet, it is not very considerable If there has been a slight change in the distribution of our central stations, there has been a great change in the circumstances of our work owing largely to the improved means of communication and the influence of Western ways. The Bishop has been known to lament that in order to get to Chin-Chun it is no longer absolutely necessary to cross on foot the great pass which separates Chin-Chun from the nearest railway station on the South Manchuria Railway. The ubiquitous "Ford" is with us and we are now linked up by means of a motor-car service, usually regular and dependable. In “the good old days" country work meant walking, walking, and still more walking. On one occasion I remember very well the arrival of Fr. Hewlett back in Chin-Chun from one of his periodical visits to the surrounding country stations. I was just out from England, and feeling very fresh and "green" which probably explains a good deal. But I have a vision of the hot and perspiring priest walking into the compound with his famous dog at his heels. (You have not heard about this animal, but it is much more famous than his donkey which you have heard about.) Here was the personification of country work. Even now walking tours are necessary, but I regard it as a sign of the times that Fr. Cooper, our priest of a provincial city, Pyeng-Yang, gets about a large portion of his district on a motor bicycle, while Fr. Hewlett, our priest of a market town station, Eum-Song, when, sad to say, he can no longer use his legs, makes his silent protest against the conquests of “machinedom" in Corea by riding about his district on a donkey.

Most of us are agreed that the mushroom towns growing up over Corea are not things of beauty, and, from the nature of their construction, will surely not be a joy for ever. They are mostly a long, straggling collection of wooden erections, half Corean, half Japanese, not at all improved by some showy bank or post office in concrete. The old type of inn with its odoriferous "yard" jostles its modern rival which latter certainly provides more accommodation and even electric light, but is equally as unpleasant a place for a long stay. In these towns we meet the sects in wonderful variety and our efforts are necessarily of a more polemic nature. The inhabitants, after barely eking out existence by agricultural occupations in the villages, have been attracted into these towns by the prospect of greater riches, only to find it a delusion. It passes the understanding how they can make a living at all at the nondescript occupations of these towns. Quite a number of our poorer Christians become merely hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Japanese small tradesmen, while others remain just above starvation line by keeping small eating houses, selling cakes, and doing odd labouring jobs. Some of the faithful are teachers in the Government schools, officials, or clerks in the public offices. Western ways, magazines, hair oil, tooth powder, harmoniums, baseball and tennis have made great inroads. The minds of the people are more "alert." Terms for "bourgeois," "Bolshevik," and "the Einstein Theory" are frequently on the lips of the young men. The Christians have come into the towns and we are compelled to follow them. Even in the remoter country towns such as Chin-Chun and Eum-Song life is not wholly undisturbed by the rumblings of this larger world. Our native hoardings are plastered with notices of exhibitions in Seoul, exhortations to use somebody's Japanese mechanical thresher, and to improve live stock and seeds by modern methods. The newspapers come down from Seoul in a day with the news of peace conference at Geneva, Mussolini. Ramsay Macdonald, independence raids on the northern border, and school strikes in the capital. Also the young students come round and lecture us enthusiastically in the vacations.

But these things mainly concern the little town itself and the villages are not much affected. A few years ago I was going round a certain district with a catechist, one of the more "advanced" type who reads Shakespeare in Japanese translations, and we came to a village at the back of nowhere, where we found that the simple old churchwarden had baptized on Christmas Day a man some forty years of age apparently with no other object except that he felt violently prompted to do something out of the ordinary on the great feast. And who cannot sympathize with the old man, deprived by distance of a Mass and compelled to seek such comfort of the external aid to worship as may be got from a bare little prayer room? To return to the story, the catechist summoned the newly baptized and sought to enlighten his mind on the subject of “Faith.” “No doubt,” he said, "you have heard that nowadays there are some very wonderful machines which fly through the air making a noise—burr-r-r. So, and perhaps some of your neighbours have told you that they have seen one and, of course,

Threshing with Flails

you believe them, eh?" He was trying to drive home the point that in everyday life we have to accept a good deal on the evidence of others. We may therefore judge of the unfortunate catechist's surprise and feeling of helplessness when the man stolidly replied, "Well, they do say there are such things, but I've never seen them myself so I don't believe it!”

At the end of a perfect day, then, the smoke from the supper fires still rises on a placid Corean village. But however placid it may be to all outward appearance, there is often a sad story of poverty and difficulty behind. For the last few years in Corea we have had a succession of bad harvests. Journeying around one's crop of out-stations in the spring when food supplies are getting low is very often a heart-rending experience for the priest. And in the autumn, after vespers in some dilapidated little chapel, thatched with difficulty once a year by the local Christians, there is frequently a world of woe behind the confession of that hot, sun-baked, toil-stained farmer kneeling before the priest, "I confess to Almighty God, to Blessed Mary ever Virgin, all the Saints, and to you, father, that I have sinned . . . .” May the application of the healing streams of the Precious Blood wash away also that sweat of the brow by which man eats his bread. The life of the poor farmer class—and our country Christians mainly belong to this class—is a preoccupation with the means of existence, when it is not a preoccupation with births and deaths, the beginnings and ends of that existence. If the country priest is to get into real touch with the people he must, by dint of constant listening to rural conversations, be able to say something about a day's ploughing or a day's sowing when they come to visit him. The “silence” of the rustic mind is often a difficulty. The work calls for a very real sympathy with all the types we meet in the country—from the “very latest” student in his "Yang-bok" (Western clothes) to the simple farmer who, having disposed of his eggs or his fowls or his straw shoes, walks home delightedly from Chin-Chun on market days dangling a herring on a string in one hand and a bottle of medicine, of Dr. Laws' prescription, likewise on a string, in the other.

It is so very easy to be superior. I was reading the other day an account of a conference of missionaries in India, held in July of this year, when Gandhi was invited to tell the conference why he had never become a Christian. He ended his speech with a terrible indictment. "You want to find the man in India and if you want to do that you will have to go. . . . to the lowly cottages, not to give them something, but probably to take something. I miss that receptivity, I miss that humility, that ability, that willingness on your part to identify yourselves with the masses of India.” Though there may be inaccuracy here, it is a warning not only for those of us who are missionaries A.W. LEE.

Letter from the Organising Secretary.

THIS is but a short letter, as I am just returned from the Continent to find the issue of The Morning Calm in full swing of preparation. I hope everybody has had as good a holiday as I have; roaming all over the north of France without any plan whatever, enjoying the sweltering heat, being afflicted with no rain to speak of, and joining in the hunt for the unfortunate Zizi in the Bois de Boulogne after he had made his sensational escape from the Jardins d'Acclimatation in Paris. But I soon gave that up; the firing was rather at random, and I thought after three Was I would now retire on my laurels, and subsided alongside an excellent cafe and cognac in the Champs Elysées. We have now moved into our new offices in the Mary Sumner House in Tufton Street, just across the road from the S.P.G. buildings. It is high up and airy, but not very much room. I rather regret our old den in the basement of Church House, but the Office Secretary is happy, and as she has to spend most of her time here, that is the important thing. There is a very nice wide cornice outside the window, and I have walked all round the outside of this new building, but was ordered back through my window by a scandalized commissionaire.

It was with much pleasure that the Executive Committee heard that Miss Monckton was willing to accept the position of Organizing Secretary for the Junior Work in the diocese of London. I will not say anything more about it here, as I understand the matter is dealt with elsewhere in this issue. But we are persuaded she will deal with her difficult task in a thoroughly workman-like and energetic manner; we were all impressed with the efficiency with which she has worked it already. Miss Seaton continues her work as General Secretary for children's work. There have been floods in many parts of the world during the last few months, and Corea has not escaped. I am waiting with some anxiety to hear what has happened in the peninsular; no doubt we shall hear about it in the next letter from the Bishop.

Fr. Simpson, Vicar of St. Mary's, Munster Square, who has been closely linked with our Mission both in Corea and at home, has accepted the Bishopric of Kobe, the ci-devant diocese of Osaka, which has been vacant since Bishop Foss retired. Our prayers follow him to his new diocese, that his work may be blessed, and that he will be a comfort and a blessing to all with whom he has to do. His consecration will have taken place before you read this, but I ask you to remember him at Mass. Kobe is a charming place, and now that Yokohama is laid waste will no doubt assume the undisputed position of the premier port in Japan. Poor Yokohama; though they have been getting on with the restoration of the capital, very little has been done at the port with the exception of the main harbour works; the splendid Bund and the old Bluff with its palatial residences remain desert wastes, a melancholy reminder of the past greatness of the place, which may some day return. I am due in the next few weeks to make the following visits : St. Albans; All Souls', Clapton Park; All Saints', Poplar; Birmingham St. Albans; the three churches of Cogan, Cardiff ; St, Gabriel's, Poplar; and St. Margaret's, Castletown, Sunderland.

Pray for the work at home and abroad. Especially for priest volunteers for the firing line in Corea. There is one coming forward now from the west of England; ask that he may be guided aright. Our Lady and all the Blessed Saints pray for you, and may the Holy Angels have you in their keeping GRAHAM MARTYR.

Corea and the Young people of England.

WE ask all friends of Corea, and more especially those who are settling themselves definitely to further the cause of the Mission in England, to give special intention to their prayers this coming winter on behalf of our need for strengthening the work among young people. And by "young people” we mean those who are putting aside childish things, as they enter on new phases of life, and too often feel missionary interest one of the “childish things” to be left behind. A few years' divorce from all responsibility for our Lord's service in foreign lands shows itself later in the absence of young faces in our audiences at missionary meetings, and of young minds and hearts in planning and working for Missions.

From the earliest days of the Mission it was hoped that the work among children might show harvest in coming years in the strong life of the Association. This it did in certain measure, but circumstances have changed in thirty-five years, and there is quite obviously a gap between the age when schools and junior organizations are corporately attached to the Mission, and the age, some eight or ten years later, when we should be finding a supply of keen leaders of Mission work. For lack of a bridge we are too often losing both pray-ers and workers. The Mission, and indeed the whole Church, suffers in two ways when this is the case. (1) We are not during these transition years, consciously fostering vocations to our Lord's service, either in priests or lay-workers, for home or foreign service. (2) Neither are we showing the way to, or proving opportunities for, those who have outgrown "children's" guilds. There comes a time when the boy or girl will not remain in a guild with small children, and yet Missions can give them something which will appeal tremendously to them and keep them keen and interested until they have passed this most difficult and trying age. The Executive Committee of the Corean Mission have therefore **called" Miss Monckton (30 Bramham Gardens, South Kensington, S.W.5), who has slowly and surely been developing work among young people, in one parish in London, on lines which appear to have been singularly blessed, to come to their assistance in this difficulty. This "call" has been accepted, and we urge all who have this matter at heart, either from the parochial or missionary point of view, to write at once to Miss Monckton, who is prepared to give them much practical help and advice. Parish priests would find that work on these lines would be a means of keeping the boys and girls who have left the day and Sunday schools, to doing definite work for their Master. There are so many boys and girls who do not join the Scouts and Guides, and who gradually drift away from the Church. To parish priests we especially appeal ; will you not enquire about what has already proved a solution of this problem? We do not want to oust any other Mission. We have in mind those parishes who have at present no thought-out scheme for work among boys and girls who have left school. If, in school years they have learnt to care for Africa or for India through the U.M.C.A., Cowley Wantage, or O.M.C., there is surely much to be said for spending a few years in learning the claims of the Far East (through Corea). Then when they come to maturity they will have a wider knowledge and interest than if they had never heard of but one corner of the earth. But, in order to carry out our plans (which we hope in time will double the income of the Mission), we must have some funds, and do not wish to take any more from the money which should be going to meet the needs of the Mission in Corea. If everyone who reads this will at once do two things : (a) begin to pray at once a blessing on Dorothy Monckton and her new work, and (b) put 3d. in stamps at once into an envelope (not asking for a receipt !) the new plans would go ahead without any anxiety and the ordinary income of the Mission not be further taxed. (But please do (b) at once before you forget, as we want this little help from everybody.) Further, we would ask all who are desirous of helping our young people to fulfil their vocation to God's service to write to Miss Monckton asking for advice how to take their share. Teachers who are willing to help in such work outside their own parish are much needed.

Home Notes.

1. The Office.—As a rule Miss Borrowman hopes to spend the greater part of the morning at the new office, Mary Sumner House, Tufton Street, but sometimes Mission work calls her away. It is best for anyone who wishes to be sure of an interview to write and make an appointment, and, if more convenient, Miss Borrowman can sometimes arrange for the afternoon. Please note that when our Office is closed the Missionary Literature Supply, Church House, stock for sale all our literature. 2. Forward Movement of the National Missionary Council.—We hope all our readers are following with prayer and interest this important movement which may mean so much for strengthening the work overseas, if there is the right atmosphere of prayer and expectation aroused. We, of the Corean Mission, were asked to provide a memo, on the policy of the diocese of Corea, its needs and opportunities, and what would be required in terms of men and money to meet these needs. This memo, after approval by the Bishop, has been studied by the Far East Commission of the N.M.C. But we want to warm our readers against disappointment if, in the report as finally published, the contribution of Corea to the Catholic Church of the Far East appears minimized, in comparison to the overwhelming problems of China and Japan. We shall have to go back to Bishop Corfe's teaching, that affection for Corea which leaves out of sight what happens to other Missions is fatal. And this because no Mission can live or die to itself. Japan, in the hours of Corea's needs, gave several priests to cross the dividing channel. Corea may feel it has, and will have, it is hoped, more share in the future, in the anxieties and joys of Japan, now that it is linked up through the consecration of one intimately acquainted with the Mission both in Corea and at home, in the person of John Basil Simpson, Bishop of Kobe. 3. The Winter's Work, and especially here of Finance.—The next few months is the summing up, in many cases, of the result of a year's work, and we long at the close to be able to send encouraging news to Corea. We would remind our friends that the Mission depends for support on three sources: (A) S.P.G. Block Grant ; (B) The Corean Christians; (c) Contributors to our Special Fund. The policy of the diocese is to charge the support of English priests and doctors on (A) the S.P.G Grant. The Coreans can justly expect this, as long as such "foreign" workers are needed. But the estimates are presented to the Diocesan Conference in such a form that the Corean and Japanese members may, even at this early stage, realize that ultimately all other expenses must be met by the Corean Church. At present these expenses are met by (B) the Corean Christians and (C) our Special Funds. Under (B) at present we find the support of the Corean Sacred Ministry, and the local expenses of the village stations. Under (c) we find the cost of maintaining the Sisters, and a considerable share of the cost of training and educating the Coreans for their life work, and of the upkeep of hospitals (though in all these departments the Coreans already have some share). But until there is a larger staff of European and Corean priests, considerable sums are required, in addition, for the incessant itinerating of these priests, and also for the expenses of the men and women catechists who are holding the fort till the Sacred Ministry increases in numbers. Our duty, therefore, is twofold, to help the S.P.G. General Fund, so that the provision under (A) may allow for increased foreign workers, and at the same time to increase contributions under (C) to meet the very live conditions of the Mission. Meanwhile, we may be quite sure that the Coreans are being duly taught for their part, that gradually (c) will vanish and (B) remain the normal means of the support for the Church. We repeat what is well known to many, because we frequently find that the fact that the Mission has a definite policy, does encourage contributions from those who might otherwise feel they are pouring money endlessly through a sieve. 4. Prayer and Knowledge.—Miss Hewlett (General Secretary of the Associates of St. Nicolas reports that she has 1,500 names on her books. If any Secretaries see their way to enlist individual pray-ers of the Mission, in addition to keeping alive corporate intercession in their parishes will they please write direct to Miss Hewlett (Oldfield House, Harrow-on-the-Hill), who will be glad to forward cards of membership, admission forms, and any particulars. We would remind our readers that copies are available of the 1924 Report (specially put together so as to be useful for those who know little of the Mission), and of the two latest publications by Fr. Hodges (Training) and Miss Elrington (Japanese Work), all of which have received approval from Corea. The new collecting box in the shape of a Corean book is now available, and a shilling enclosed in asking for it will help to reduce the expense of production. 5. Cathedral Decoration and Furnishing Fund.—At the end of July we received three welcome contributions: £50 (anon, by sale of jewellery); £100 (from an old friend of the Mission, who with advancing age, desires to capitalize her annual contribution); and ₤100 from St. Alban's, Holborn, for the Tabernacle which they generously promised. Doubtless, in the January number we shall be able to announce more clearly the plans for the Consecration, and the use of the money not earmarked for special gifts. Contributions are quite obviously still needed to make the Cathedral what we all hope it will be on the great day of Consecration. 6. Coming Events.—Please note that Fr. Drake will give the address at the Quarterly Service and Devotions at All Saints', Margaret Street, on October 13th, at 8 o'clock. We hope many London supporters will use this opportunity of uniting in prayer for the Mission, and of learning the most recent news. There will be the usual stall for the Corean Mission at the Horticultural Hall ———————————————————————————————————————— Please cut off here for Private use.

Suggestions for Thanksgivings and Intercessions.

THANKSGIVINGS. For the preservation of our workers during the floods. For the beginning of the Corean Sisterhood. For the consecration of John Basil Simpson to the Bishopric of Kobe, Japan. For gifts for the Cathedral. SUPPLICATIONS. That the way may be made clear for the appointment of a second Bishop. That God will show whom He is calling to this office. That a priest may be found to consecrate his gifts to the training of the Corean Sacred Ministry. That the decision as to the work of the American Fathers SSJE. may be to the ultimate furtherance of His work in Corea. That guidance may be given to these Monckton to whom is entrusted the training of the Corean women for the Religious Life.

Sale on November 11th and 12th, and parcels may be sent near that time to Mrs. Weir, 15 Westbourne Terrace Road, W. 2. Sister Etheldreda, C.S.P., will also be glad to have parcels with useful articles for sales sent to her at St. Peter's Home, Mortimer Place, N.W. 6. She hopes for a good supply, as in addition to providing for the S.P.F.M.A. part of the Stall on November 11th and 12th, there will be a small sale at Kilburn on November 2nd, when Sister Faith, who is home on furlough, will be very pleased to meet friends of the Mission and to tell them about the work. Particulars of this sale will be sent round nearer the time to members and to others who apply for them. Miss Drake will have her usual Sale at Bath on November 26th. 7. Stamps.—Even in the short time our Stamps Secretary has been at work over ₤4 has been made for the Mission. This was largely due to the discovery of three collections which had been put away since school days and which helped to make up useful packets for sale. Please put our need before any families which have numbered school boys in the past, and see what further treasures can be unearthed. Many thanks are due also to those who have kindly sent packets of stamps for sale, and to those who have been our customers. But we want more stock, and more customers. If any albums are available please communicate with the Stamp Secretary before sending them. 8. A last word to our readers.—Will each reader please say, "What have I done for Corea this year?” and if the answer does not sound satisfactory, please write to the Office for suggestions how to do at least one good deed before the year closes. ——————————————————————————————————————— That the winter's work in England may show the way for strengthening the work in Corea. That the work among young people may be more zealously developed. INTERCESSIONS. For a priest who may become a member of the Mission statt. For two candidates at Theological Colleges that they may persevere in their desire to fulfil their vocation in the Corean Mission. For the new Secretary for work among young people (Dorothy Monckton) that she may be blessed and encouraged in her venture for God and Corea. For the Japanese children in Corea that they may grow up in the Faith. For the Corean Christians in their many trials of body and soul. For all the Medical Workers, health and spiritual strength. ————— A limited member of extra copies of these Thanksgivings and Intercessions may be obtained from the Office at the following raise : twelve copies for 3d, twenty-five copies for 6d, i.e., about 1/4d. per copy.