Part 1 (1/2)
The Red Miriok.
by Anna M. Barnes.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Korea has been called the ”Hermit Nation,” as of all nations Tibet alone has exceeded it in repulsing foreign influences. Only in 1882 did the United States secure a treaty, and that opened the country to foreign trade only in the capital, Seoul, and three ports. But in this treaty Korea was treated with as an independent State, and its people are distinct from either Chinese or j.a.panese and well repay study and missionary labors. This little story is one of the first to present this slightly known land and its customs, and therefore deserves special attention from all who are interested in the Christianizing of Oriental nations.
THE RED MIRIOK
CHAPTER I
MR. KIT-ZE
”There is one thing I forgot to mention,” said Mr. Reid, resuming the conversation. ”If we do undertake our sampan journey, we must have Mr.
Kit-ze. I have already talked to him about it.”
”Oh, father!”
The expression of Clarence's face so emphasized his protest that nothing beyond the mere exclamation was necessary.
”Why, Clarence, what could be the objection to Mr. Kit-ze?”
”A good one, father. He is such an eel-like fellow. I know we couldn't depend on him. Then it strikes me that his mind isn't right. He's always muttering to himself and clutching his breast in such a queer way. Oh, I'm sure it would be a bad step to take Mr. Kit-ze.”
”That is just like a boy!” declared Helen, his sister, ”jumping at conclusions.”
”You mean girls,” retorted Clarence. ”They fairly spring at them; yes, reach out their arms to grasp 'em as they spring.”
”Come, children, don't spar,” warned Mr. Reid. ”But, my son,” turning to Clarence, ”I fear it is as your sister a.s.serts, you have arrived at conclusions too hastily with reference to Mr. Kit-ze. He is a little strange in his manner, I'll admit; but his friends, some of whom belong to the mission, tell me that he is a very good sort of fellow, honest and well-meaning, though he is rather grasping as to money matters.”
”He is well-meaning,” a.s.serted Helen; ”and I think the reason he is so close about money is because he has many who are dependent on him. Yes, I like Mr. Kit-ze. Though some of his ways are strange, yet he is good-natured and kind when you know him well.”
”Guess, then, I don't know him well,” admitted Clarence.
”No; and until you do, you won't like him.”
Clarence whistled, and reached over to give the tail of Nam-san, the monkey, a twist, which that quick-tempered little animal resented by scratching at him and then springing away.
”I think I know what is the matter with Mr. Kit-ze,” said Mr. Reid, as though in sudden comment after following a line of thought. ”He is a religious enthusiast.”
Helen looked at him quickly, a glad light over-spreading her face. ”Oh, father, I didn't know that Mr. Kit-ze had been converted. That _is_ news.”
”I don't mean that, Helen. I wish that it were true, for I have been working earnestly to that end for more than a year. What I have reference to is that he is an enthusiast in his own religious belief.”
”Why, I didn't know, uncle, that these people had any religious belief,”
said his nephew, Mallard Hale, who for a few moments past had not joined in the conversation. ”I believe, yes, I am sure I have seen it stated that as a country Korea is practically without a religion.”
”That is true in one sense, Mallard, but not in another. While Korea has no established religion, what might be called a national religion, as have China, j.a.pan, and her other neighbors, yet such of the Koreans as have not individually embraced Buddhism, Confucianism, and the like, are given over wholly to ancestral and to demon wors.h.i.+p, especially the latter.”