as it turned out; I shut my fool mouth and decided
that the missionary was right and that I had "Missed too many boats."

CHAPTER VIII

FLASH-LIGHTS OF FREEDOM

"SELF-DETERMINATION!" That phrase has set the whole world on fire!

"Independence!" That word somehow has awakened the Oriental world;
awakened that mass of humanity as it has never been awakened before.

Korea perhaps has thrilled to this awakening as no other section of the
Orient or the Near and Far East. India's millions are restless; the
Filipino is hungry for Independence although he is loyal to the United
States; but Korea has the matter set in its heart like adamant. This
determination will never be broken; Korea will never be conquered by
Japan!

This dream of complete and full independence is buried in the souls of
the children, as well as in the souls of the brave women, and of the old
men of Korea.

"It is one of the most thrilling things I have ever seen in the Orient!"
said a man on the Editorial staff of _Millard's Weekly_. "It is the most
significant outcome of the war; Korea's passion for independence, and
the Student Movement in China!"

I said to a business man of California who had traveled all over the
Orient and who had been sent as part of the Commission that prepared the
way for the abandonment of the Picture Bride custom, "What is the most
significant thing you have seen in the Orient?"

"The determination of the Koreans for Self-determination!" was his quick
reply.

"Will they get it?"

"It is inevitable in time!" he responded, and then he added: "Why the
little rascals; the children, I mean; paint the Korean flags on their
brown bellies, because the Japanese gendarmes will not allow them to
display the Korean flag in public!" and he laughed aloud at the memory.

"Have you seen Korean kiddies with flags painted on their stomachs?"

"Dozens of them. They like to show them to Americans," he said.

A week later I was walking with a Korean missionary and asked him if
what the business man from California had told me about the children was
true and he said, "Wait until we find a group of them."

We waited for only a few minutes when we ran into a crowd coming home
from school. A friendly smile and a low-voiced "Mansei" got attention.

Then we pointed to our own stomachs.

In a flash they caught on to what we wanted and, looking around
cautiously, each little rascal untied his robe and there, sure enough
was the