Morning Calm v.3 no.23(1892 May.)

THE MORNING CALM. No. 23, VOL. II.] MAY 1892. [PRICE id.

The Bishop's Letter. CHEMULPÓ, COREA: January 1892. DEAR FRIENDS, We were not exactly able to ring "the old year out and the new year in " with a peal of bells. But had we been disposed to go out into the frosty air, we might have done so with one bell. For St. Michael's Church has had a bell given to it; and now twice a day may be heard the sound of the church bell inviting people to come and worship God, or at least compelling them to ask themselves why that bell rings so often. But I must tell you how we came by it. An acquaintance of mine from Japan-a naval officer, and son-in-law of my old friend, Admiral East - was passing through Chemulpó in one of the mail steamers. He was much interested in all he saw, and, taking a mental note of the absence of a bell from the belfry, went on board. After the departure of the steamer I received a kind letter from him, telling me that he, some of his fellowpassengers, and the captain of the ship had subscribed a sum of money towards purchasing a bell for the church, and that he had written to his wife in Tokyo to induce her friends to give the remainder. On his return to Japan the necessary sum had been collected. The bell was cast, and in a few weeks shipped in the same steamer in which the kind plot had originated. A kind letter accompanied it, and a list of the contributors, most of whom were quite unknown to me. One item pleased me greatly-a small sum from some children. Everywhere, you see, the children conspire with their elders to help us. On the first Sunday in the new year. too, we used for the first time another handsome present to the church, the gift of two kind friends in Chemulpo, who are never weary of helping us. Their gift was an altar, the first holy table-set apart as such-in the Mission. Hitherto we had used a plain deal table, which by management was made to look neat, but was never intended to be more than a temporary arrangement until we saw our way to possessing one less unworthy of Him Who deigns to receive our worship. It is really a beautiful piece of work, of oak, designed by our dear friend Bishop Scott, of North China, and executed entirely by a Chinese carpenter in Chefoo. On the side facing east are three panels, whereof the centre has a Maltese cross carved, the other two have respectively the I.H.S.and the XP. emblems carved. On the side facing west there are also three panels, each containing two Chinese characters, similarly carved. The English of these characters is “Behold the Lamb of God.” At the north and south ends there is another panel, that on the north containing Alpha, that on the south Omega. The oak is dark, polished, and richly gilt, according admirably with the colours of the rest of the woodwork in the church. When the weather is a little warmer I hope I may get some photographs of it to send home. Last month I told you we were disappointed in not having our promised visit from Mr. Sprent. This month we have had a still greater disappointment. Some weeks ago I received a letter from our dear friend Father Benson, saying he was leaving India for the United States, and would pay us a fortnight's visit on his way from Japan across the Pacific. You may imagine our elation, and how we prepared to receive him. But again the steamer which should have brought him from Nagasaki to us brought instead a letter saying that the sailings of the steamers to Yokohama and thence to America made it impossible for him to come. He had to be in the States by a certain date. Well, we know that he couldn't come, and we know, too, how sorry he was to disappoint us. But we cannot put into words what our disappointment was. How often he has taught us that disappointments are good things if we only know how to use them! Now we have an excellent opportunity of putting his teaching into practice. We have resolved to avail ourselves of the educational advantages offered by our Mission-house in London to provide Mr. Peake, to whom we are so much indebted for printing the Corean Dictionary, with a more thorough and extended course of theology and training than we can afford to give him out here. He came to us, you remember, from Canada. His work in the printing house has been a great and lasting gain to the Mission. But it has been done at some expense to himself. Mr. Trollope and I are both agreed that if he is to be ultimately ordained he must undergo a much stricter theological training than he can obtain out here. We are therefore sending him for a time to Mr. Kelly. But I trust that the printing press will not be idle meanwhile. Now that the dictionary is finished, the working of the press has been left to the care of the Corean assistants, who continue to do useful work. I have every reason to believe, too, that there is a printer in England who is anxious to join us. If so, Mr. Peake will send him out with all convenient speed. I have just heard from our other absent member, Mr. Small. As soon as he landed in British Columbia he found himself overwhelmed with work. His Indians received him with open arms. It is too early yet to speak of the date of his return to us. But we already possess a good deal of him, for in his letter he says, “My heart is still in Corea.” And, judging from the kind letters I receive from England, and the interest which continues to be displayed in the Mission, the same may be said of many of you. Do not fail to pray for us daily, that our hearts, too, may not only be in Corea, but in the work which God has given us to do here. May His blessing be on you all. Your affectionate friend, C. J. CORFE.

A Walk through Corea--(continued). II. POPULATION. THE total number of inhabitants in Corea is said to amount to twelve or fifteen millions, and the country certainly appears to be thickly populated. Seoul itself contains a population of about 250,000 souls (i.e., about the size of Bristol), and there are a large number of towns and cities of considerable size sprinkled over the surface of the peninsula. Of these, however, we saw but little, except on the west coast between Pingyang and Seoul. But little hamlets of half-a-dozen cottages are constantly come across, even away up in the mountains. And here the approach of the “yang-in," or foreigners, created the liveliest consternation. Women engaged in washing at the stream bolted into their houses, children fled in terror, dogs ran away yelping, Pigs rushed in panic about the roadway, chickens flew from before us, horses shied, and even the patient and staid-looking oxen, regardless of their burdens, sometimes galloped across country in mortal fear at the unwonted sight. And it was only when we were safely through the village that the noise gradually subsided and the place resumed its normal quiet. The only people who seemed but little perturbed by our appearance were the men, who, if they were not at work in the fields or fuel-cutting on the hill-sides, were loafing about outside their houses, busily engaged in smoking their long pipes and in doing-nothing. In the larger valleys on the lower levels we were seldom out of sight of human habitations, and with the inhabitants of these, too, our advent was the subject of extraordinary interest. COREAN INNS. Along nearly all the roads we touched there seemed to be considerable traffic. And consequently there is no lack of roadside inns. As they are all “much of a muchness," and as we spent most of our nights under their shelter, I had better, perhaps, before I go further, give a rough description of a typical Corean inn. Picture, then, to yourself a straw-thatched hut with walls of mud rising 6 or 7 feet from the ground. Entering from the road by a big gate with rough folding-doors, you will find yourself in a courtyard, which is open to the sky, and which may measure as little as 10 or 12 feet or as much as 25 or 30 feet square. Two sides of the courtyard are occupied by the stabling accommodation, which is of the rudest character, and stands quite open to the yard. Here the vicious little packhorses, the asses, and the great patient oxen are, as soon as they have been relieved of their burdens, tied up side by side, their faces looking into the courtyard, and their noses buried in the long troughs hewn out of solid tree-trunks, which do duty for mangers. And here the livelong night they keep up a steady munching, varied only by squeals and kicking when for the nonce one of the horses transfers his teeth from his food to some portion of his neighbour's person. On the remaining side of the yard are the guest-rooms, of which there are perhaps two, or sometimes even three. Over and over again in these inns one was reminded of that "lowly cattle shed, Where a Mother laid her Baby In a manger for His bed." The humbleness of the surroundings, the sight of the horses and oxen and asses at their stalls, the smallness of the guest-rooms which might very easily be so full as to make it difficult for latecomers to find "room in the inn," the very troughs out of which the cattle were feeding, all combined to present a most vivid picture of the night when, “with the oxen standing by," “ He came down to earth from Heaven, Who is God and Lord of all ; And His shelter was a stable, And His cradle was a stall." The guest-rooms, in which travellers sleep and eat, are usually 8 feet square, or 16 by 8 feet, with floor and walls of dried mud. Their sole furniture consists of the reed mats which cover the mud floor, and sundry little blocks of wood which lie scattered about, and which the Coreans use as pillows. The only daylight admitted comes through the door, which is made of wooden trellis-work covered with white paper; and, after dark, light is supplied (if needed) in minute quantities by one dirty little wick floating in a cup of filthy oil. But your Corean traveller has little need of night-lights. Arrived at his inn in the evening, he calls for his rice and eats it, smokes his pipe, then coils himself up in his clothes on the floor with his head on one of the wooden pillows, and sleeps (and snores) till daybreak, when he starts again. The floors of these rooms, which teem with cockroaches and other live stock, are warmed (till you can hardly bear to lie on them) by the flues which pass beneath them, carrying the flames and smoke from the big fire lighted just outside at one end of the room to the smoke outlet at the other end. Over this fire the horses' food of boiled beans and chopped straw is cooked. The centre of the courtyard contains at least one dung-heap and one pig-stye, and is the happy hunting-ground all day long of pigs, dogs, and chickens. Where the members of the household live, and where the cooking is done, is usually a question of some mystery. Indeed, one is only made aware of the existence of the kitchen as a rule by the appearance on the arrival of travellers) of a slatternly head, inquiring, "How many tables ?” and by the subsequent issuing forth of little round tables (one for each guest) about one foot high and eighteen inches in diameter, laden with huge bowls of steaming rice and half-a-dozen smaller dishes, containing kimchi (a sort of pickled cabbage), dried fish, chillies, and the other relishes so dear to the Corean palate. These tables are carried speedily across to the guest-room, where their contents as speedily disappear, and the tables then return to the kitchen. The inns are, in the most literal sense of the word, "public houses." The big folding-doors into the road stand wide open all day, and the arrival of a foreigner is sufficient to bring the whole male population of the village into the courtyard in a few moments. And there they remain, standing or squatting on their hams, smoking their long pipes, watching one’s every motion, and occasionally uttering some remark of surprise or interrogation. They watch every mouthful you eat ; they watch you read and write; they watch you say your prayers (if you have presence of mind to say them before they go); they watch you undress; they watch you get into bed, and blow your light out ; and then they go away. As soon as you are astir the next morning they are there again, still smoking their long pipes, and they watch you as you wash and dress; they watch you as you eat your breakfast; they watch the loading of the pack-horses, and, as you go down the village street, if you turn back you see them watching your receding footsteps. From this utter lack of privacy there is no possible escape. If you retire into the guestroom and shut the door, they either open it again, or poke their fingers through the paper, and take it in turns to look through the holes. And we rather laid ourselves open to this public inspection, for- rather than face the heat and the insects of the guest-room-until the weather got too cold, we usually looked for some sheltered nook in the courtyard, and pitched our campbedsteads there- to the great alarm of the fowls roosting over head. And here, as we sat on the ground and ate our food, or dressed, or undressed, or did anything, we were exposed to the searching gaze of the multitude. The bolder spirits would come close and feel one's clothes, and ask questions about all one's food and one's belongings, and the price of each and every article. And once they found one could speak a little Corean, the flow of conversation was unending. Their curiosity was of an amiable and harmless kind, but, especially when one is tired and hungry, such intense publicity is apt to have a rasping effect upon the temper. ROUTE. Our original intention had been simply to walk from Seoul to Gensan, the Treaty Port on the east coast-a distance of about 170 miles-and back. But finding that we had a month and more at our disposal, we enlarged our plans, so as to embrace a visit to the Keum Kang San range of mountains (about 130 miles north-east of Seoul, and 120 south of Gensan) on our way out, and to the big city of Pingyang (about 170 miles west of Gensan and the same distance north-west of Seoul) on the way back. The whole distance to be traversed thus amounted to about 600 miles a respectable walk which we succeeded in accomplishing in exactly thirty-four days. The roads from Seoul to Gensan, and Seoul to Pingyang have been a good deal travelled over by foreigners, and that from Gensan to Pingyang nearly as much so Western residents in Corea are, however, of such recent introduction, and have been and are so few and far between, that even over well travelled roads we found ourselves the objects of great curiosity; and in our détour from the Gensan road to Keum Kang San we were going over ground hardly ever touched by Europeans before. In 1889 Mr. C. W. Campbell, English Assistant-Consul at Seoul, travelled via Keum Kang San to Gensan on his way to Paik Tu San on the northern boundary of Corea, and returned as we did via Gensan and Pingyang. And as we worked our way through the gorges and over the passes of the Keum Kang San, we found that two German merchants from Chemulpo had preceded us by about ten days. But I believe that they, and we, and Mr. Campbell are the only “yang-in” who have ever set foot in those fastnesses, so noted among Coreans for their beautiful scenery and for the Buddhist temples and monasteries with which they abound.

Hospital Naval fund. THE Chairman of the Committee has received a letter from Dr. Wiles, in which he writes (from Seoul, February 13, 1892): "I am glad to hear from you that the Navy takes such interest in the work being done out here, and I hope will keep up that interest by increasing subscriptions. Medical work out here means a considerable annual outlay which must be met if the work is to go on ; fortunately, so far, I have been able to assist considerably towards the expenditure, but this I may not be able to continue, and then the Naval Fund will have to meet it if it is to go on, so we will hope that the interest in the work will be kept up and subscriptions increase.” A letter has also been received from Dr. Landis, dated Chemulpo, January 20, 1892, giving the following interesting description of the new hospital : “The hospital is built on a hill in the form of three sides of a square, the fourth side to the east, overlooking the Corean town, being left open. The south wing contains the main entrance with dispensary and waiting-room and surgery to the left, with the doctors' rooms and store-room to the right. The west wing contains the servants' quarters, kitchen, coal and wood house, bathroom and pantry. The north wing contains the hospital proper. As the building is in the native style, each room is 8 feet square, with the exception of one of the wards of the hospital, which is double size-that is, 8 by 16 feet.

• Mr. Campbell published a most interesting account of his journey, which is far and away the best thing that has appeared lately on Corea. It is a government “blue book," designated “China, No. 2 (1891)," and can be obtained for the modest price of 9d. from Eyre & Spottiswoode, 32 Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W., either directly or through a bookseller.

“The walls of the building consist of upright posts 8 feet apart, with transverse timbers connecting them, in the spaces between which split bamboo is fastened. This is coated with mud. After this has dried another coating of a sandy material is put on. On the outside of this again is put a cement composed of lime, with which is mixed boiled sea-weed to make it more adhesive. The roof consists of tiles, the interstices of which are limed. The rooms are heated by hot air, a number of radiating flues being built of stone and mud. These are covered with large flat stones and two layers of mud as in the case of the walls. On the top of these are put two layers of thick paper and one of oiled paper. The flues communicate with the outside by a fire-place in which wood is placed and ignited. The Corean does not sleep in a raised bed; he simply spreads out a mat on the floor, and on this a mattress, and when the fire has been lit it is far from uncomfortable. The doors and windows are all covered with paper, no glass being used, and, as Corean paper is very translucent as well as durable, it makes a very good substitute. “The hospital having been opened on St. Luke's Day, it was naturally dedicated to St. Luke, and an inscription to that effect will be placed over the entrance; but as this would be absolutely meaningless to a Corean, another board is put up with the inscription, 'Nak syen si ē wun,' which means, ‘The Hospital of Joy in Good Deeds.’ On the walls have been placed some native pictures and inscriptions presented by a native artist, a former patient. “ Thinking that this description of the hospital might be interesting to you as being the first one built in Corea by the Naval Fund, I send it with many thanks to the Committee for providing a hospital in which we are able to carry out more fully the work with which we are entrusted. The dispensary patients still continue to come in large numbers, and I have no doubt that before long we will have quite a number of in-patients."

Notes. The Secretary of St. Peter's Foreign Mission Association wishes the members to know that in the Bazaar, which the Associates propose holding on June 22 and 23, in the Kensington Town Hall, for the works of the Community, a stall will be set apart in support of the Sisters' work in Corea. Any contributions for this stall, either of money, china, fancy or plain work, clothes for the poor, etc., will be gratefully received by the Secretary, Miss Graham, 48 Pont Street, S.W. The first Annual Report of the Mission is now ready. All subscribers to the various funds and members of each association are entitled to receive a copy. If anyone should not receive a Report by May 10, they should communicate with the Head of the Department to which they belong. Any readers of Morning Calm who are not members of any of the associations can have a copy on application to Mr. H. Harvey, St. John the Divine Vicarage, Vassall Road, S.W. (price 3d. post free). As the number of copies printed for this purpose will be limited, orders should be sent in as soon as possible. Association of Prayer and Work for Corea. We gladly draw the attention of members to the accounts of the April quarter on the Association flyleaf sent out with this month's Morning Calm. It will be seen that the receipts of this quarter have exceeded those of any single quarter before. Up to April 8 nearly £160 has been sent in through county secretaries or direct to the General Secretary. We hope that this satisfactory progress in one department of our work for the Mission may be maintained every quarter, The list of new members is not perhaps as long as we should like to see it. In it appear the names of the Bishop of Mashonaland and Mrs. Knight Bruce. It will always be pleasant to us whenever we read about and pray about their deeply interesting work in that wonderful country of Mashonaland to know that they, too, are joining with us in prayerful and sympathetic interest in our beloved Mission to Corea. April reports have been received up to this date from 59 out of the 130 secretaries of the Association. It is earnestly hoped that all secretaries and members of the Association read in last month's Morning Calm the good news that our first Triennial Festival will be held on May 3, and that all who live within reach of London, or can possibly arrange to visit the Metropolis at that date, will be present, both at the service at St. John the Divine, Kennington, and at the afternoon meeting in the Church House, when the Rev. S. H. Berkeley, Vicar of Heayitree, Exeter, has kindly promised to speak, as representing the Association in place of Canon Trefusis, our Vice-President, who is unable to be present. We are glad to know that by Mr. Brooke's request many of our secretaries who are priests will celebrate for the Mission on the same day, and so in many places members who are unable to be with us in St. John's, Kennington, will still have their share in our Festival. M. M. CHAMBERS HODGETTS, General Secretary.

The Spirit of Missions. " Live more with Christ, catch more of His Spirit ; for the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more intensely missionary we become."-HENRY MARTYN. We take the following from the Southern Cross : -"There are not a great many churchmen who know that in the interior of Patagonia, far up the Chubut, there is a little colony of Welsh churchmen striving to win their bread as men did in the days of old, in agricultural and pastoral occupations. They have been for some time building themselves a little church, which, according to the last intelligence from them, was at the point of completion, and which, it was hoped, would be opened by Bishop Stirling, of the Falkland Islands. The little structure which these hardy folk have built for themselves is of brick, and sufficiently large to accommodate about one hundred worshippers. Its bell is the ancient bell of St. Rhedyw, Llanllyfin, which will, in this isolated corner of the world, ring out the call to the faithful few, which in days gone by pealed through the valley and over the mountains of the land of their birth, bidding their forefathers to the worship of God. A pleasing bell indeed, and with associations that make it a priceless treasure in the eyes of the little band of Welsh exiles in the interior of far-off Patagonia." In the northern part of the Island of BORNEO there is a place called Kudat, where there is a large body of Chinese settlers. Most of them are employed in the cultivation of the coffee plant, and the rest are shopkeepers, &c. Some of them are Christians, converts of the German Basel Mission ; and until recently there was no resident missionary of the Church. A year ago, however, a mission was started there by the Bishop. The missionary is Mr. Richards, an old student of St. Boniface College, Warminster; he is at present a layman, but hopes to be ordained deacon in April next. After spending some five months in China in order to learn something of the language, he came to Kudat, and since then has been working there alone. In a letter in Warminster Work he says: “When I first appeared on the scene, the mission site (five acres) was nearly all jungle. With the help of my man I have now been able to effect a total clearing, and have had to wield the axe pretty freely to do it. I am now planting bananas and pine-apples, by way of giving the ground something useful to do. But the site sorely needs fencing in. It is now open to the attacks of all animals, biped and quadruped, who both come to steal. "The opening of an Anglican Mission among these people is not easy. We have raised a small building, which is utilised both as a church and school. It cost about £50, most of which was raised by outside subscriptions. I have also built for myself a small house at half that cost, but it is so very small that it is not big enough ; and not only that, but being built on piles nine feet high, and on a hill, it is exposed to whatever frolics the wind may choose to play upon it. I really am afraid sometimes that it will kiss the ground, it sways in such an alarming fashion. I am about to add another gable, which you will admit is absolutely necessary, not only for personal convenience, but for personal safety. The chapel is, of course, an exceedingly rough structure of wood. I need hardly say that at present it is bare of all ‘ornaments of the Church' without exception. However, a beginning must be made, and I have heard that all things come to those that wait. It consists simply of four wooden walls stuck upon mother earth. I am hoping in no very distant future, if the sinews of war be forthcoming, to enlarge it, which is a necessity, to ornament it, which, to say the least, is required by natural decency, and to cement it. “The Sunday services are well attended-indeed, so well that not a few have to content themselves with staring in at the windows. I should have mentioned above that the building will only accommodate comfortably from 150 to 200, so an enlargement will have to be made as soon as ever that can be managed. ... To be able to use the Prayer Book in its entirety will necessitate its publication in the Hakka dialect. This may come by-and-by. I must be content for the present with being able to use the grand old prayers. The hymn-book is, of course, Basel Mission, and will have to retain such, at any rate for a long time to come. Most of the tunes, being German, are very fine indeed. ... School is, of course, held here. I have now 18 boys on the books, all Chinese, with the exception of one Malay. "I am sorry to say I have not yet been able to arrange for a celebration. We have no altar, no vessels; and not only that, but the only priest within available distance (150 miles) is so much occupied in his own centre of work that it is very difficult indeed to get him. We want more men. Oh, we so much want more men. This diocese is far too unwieldy, and ought to be divided. The Bishop can only visit us once a year. When he comes again in April, it will have been nearly two years." "More men": that is the cry everywhere. We find it, for instance, in the letters, always moving and inspiriting, from the Uganda missionaries. Mr. Walker writes home: “We want more men. If University men cannot come, then do let us have some godly uneducated men. Any Christian man can find a sphere of usefulness here. If a man knows anything of a trade, so much the better. We want men of real usefulness, no matter about their being highly educated. We see the Roman Catholics with lots of men of this sort, and they are a vast help to them. I know people in England do take a vast interest in the work here ; but, to judge from the facts, we see that the Roman Catholics are better supported than we are, and have sixteen men to our four.” So again Mr. Pilkington writes: "I have the names of thirty-six chiefs who have offered to build for and feed a European residing at their place. . . . At most of these places a good number of the people have already learnt, or are trying to learn. The outlay would be (the missionary once in the country) next to nothing, and who can estimate the returns. The Baganda have already begun to go out to preach in other countries (in Busoga and Usukuma). I believe that, with God's blessing, this ought to be the centre of African Christianity, sending the messengers of peace east and west, north and south. We have here, I believe, the fulcrum by means of which to work Africa ; but the lever must, in the first instance, be Europeans, men of God, who do not mind being used as levers in Africa or elsewhere in God's hands. I wrote, ‘who do not mind,’ but, when I read, it sounds almost blasphemous, ‘not to mind' being in God's hands for His work! Could there be a safer, a happier position ? Could there be a greater privilege?” Two events, each of which is full of meaning for the future, must be only mentioned here. The money for the endowment of the Bishopric of Lucknow has been raised, so that a Bishop can be sent there before long; and the C.M.S. has sent a deputation to Australia, to stir up yet more missionary enthusiasm, and to organise missionary work in the Colonies. It is hoped that another missionary bishopric may soon be founded in AUSTRALIA: to comprise the whole of Northern Australia west of the Gulf of Carpentaria. This would relieve the huge Diocese of Perth (which contains over one million square miles) of a considerable district; and the Diocese of Adelaide of another, which, from its position with regard to the rest of the Diocese, Bishop Kennion is, as he has said, "quite unable to work."