he other, and therefore it is not an uncommon
occurrence for a "dear relation" to come to pay a visit of a few years'
duration to some other relation who happens to be better off, without
this latter, however vexed he may be at the expense and trouble caused by
the prolonged stay of his visitor, even daring to politely expel him from
his house; were he to do so, he would commit a breach of the strict rules
of hospitality enjoined by Corean etiquette. Even perfect strangers
occasionally go to settle in houses of rich people, where for months they
are accommodated and fed until it should please them to remove their
quarters to the house of some other rich man where better food and better
accommodation might be expected. There is nothing that a Corean fears so
much as that people should speak ill of him, and especially this is the
bugbear under which the nobleman of Cho-sen is constantly labouring, and
upon which these black-mailers and "spongers" work. High officials, whose
heads rest on their shoulders, "hung by a hair," like Damocles' sword,
suffer very much at the hands of these marauders. Were they to refuse
their hospitality it would bring upon them slander, scandal and libel
from envenomed tongues, which things, in consequence of the scandalous
intriguing which goes on at the Corean court, might eventually lead to
their heads rolling on the ground, separated from the body--certainly not
a pleasant sight. In justice to them, nevertheless, it must be
acknowledged that these human leeches are occasionally possessed with a
conscience, and after kindness has been shown them for many months they
will generally depart in search of a new victim. Whence it would appear
that the people of Cho-sen carry their hospitality to an extreme degree,
and in fact it is so even with foreigners, for when visiting the houses
of the poorest people I have always been offered food or drink, which you
are invariably asked to share with them.

But let us return to the Corean family. The mother, practically from the
beginning, is a nobody in the household, and is looked upon as a piece of
furniture or a beast of burden by the husband, according to his grade,
and as an ornament to the household, but nothing more by her own sons.
Her daughters, if she has any, regard her more as a friend or a
companion, sharing the lonely hours and helping her with her work. The
women never take part in any of the grand dinners and festivities in
which their husba