tinguished
himself during the three years spent in America by learning English (as
spoken in the States) to perfection, besides mastering mathematics,
chemistry and other sciences, perfectly new to him, in a way that would
have done credit to many a Western student. In the same short space of
time he also succeeded in a marvellous way in shaking off the thick
coating of his native superstition and in assuming our most Western ways
as exhibited across the Atlantic. If anything, he became more American
than the Americans themselves. What astonished me more, though, was how
quickly, having returned from his journey, he discarded his civilised
ways and again dropped into his old groove.

There is not the least doubt that, though to the casual observer the
majority of Coreans appear depressed and unintelligent, they are, as a
matter of fact, far from stupid. I have met people in the land of
Cho-sen, whose cleverness would have been conspicuous in any country,
Western or otherwise. When they set their mind to learn something they
never cease till their object is attained, and I can vouch for their
quick comprehension, even of matters of which they have never before
heard. Languages seem to come easy to them, and their pronunciation of
foreign tongues is infinitely better than that of their neighbours, the
Chinese and the Japanese. The only stumbling block is the letter "_f_,"
which they pronounce as a "_p_." I can give an instance of a Mr. Chang,
the son of a noble, who was appointed by the king to be official
interpreter to Mr. C.R. Greathouse. In less than two months, this youth
of nineteen mastered enough English to enable him both to understand it
and converse in it. I have seen him learn by heart out of a dictionary as
many as two hundred English words in a day, and what is more, remember
every one of them, including the spelling. Only once did I hear him make
a comical mistake. He had not quite grasped the meaning of the word
"twin"; for, in answer to a question I put to him, "Yes, sir," said he,
boisterously, proud apparently of the command he had attained over his
latest language, "Yes, sir, I have a _twin_ brother who is three years
older than myself."

The Corean magistrates think that to over-educate the lower classes is a
mistake, which must end in great unhappiness.

"If you are educated like a gentleman, you must be able to live like a
gentleman," wisely said a Corean noble to me. "If you acquire an
education