A Victim To Etiquette

The rigid etiquette which prevails in Korea as to erenionious banquets is inconvenient tzv strangers, whose untraiued appetites are scarcely up to the Korean standard. Au artist, making a stay iu Seoul, was bidden to a royal feast at thekiug's palace, to his miugled joy and despair. Ignorant of native custoins, he appealed to Mr. G. , the English consul, to gnide him through the ordeal. The one thing impressed upon him was this: "It is a great insult to refuse what is offered you at table and a greater insult not to eat all that is oa your plat e. " We all sat down gayly, and the feast began. All the products of the country seemed to have been cooked and put before me, including meats, fish, honey, sweets, vegetables and sauces, of which, mind you, we had to eat "mountains"1 piled on our plates. Young pigs, in the puppy stat, were also there and were much appreciated by my princely entertainers. Wheu I was but half way through, however, not being provided with an ever expanding digestivo apparatus, like my frieuds of Cho-sen, I really feit as if I were suffocating. I raised my eyes pleadingly to Mr. G. , but he shook his head sternly. The servants, seeing me hesitate, plied rne busïly with potatoes, barley, millet and at leaf:t half a bnshel of beans. After vainly prayiug for courage and de.xtovity to slide the food undcr tho táble I made desperate inroads upon the heapod up vegetables. Once again I rolled my eyes in duinb entreaty toward tho consul, who once again shook his head, this time with a sardonio grin which made me determine to get through the feast somehow, but in silence. After this I was treated to lily bulbs and radishes dipped in the vilest of sauces, besides a large portion of a puppy pig roasted and fruit in profusión, with foreign and native wines. At length, when I feit that with the next moutliful I should groan aloud, the end was reached. That unliappy meal began at noon and was brought to a close at 7 p. m. To those who appreciate the pleasure of eating, let me recommend a royal Korean dinner. No pen can describe the agonies I endured as I was carried home in my green sedan chair. For days I scarcely ate a mouthfnl, and to this day the sight of a puppy pig is unbearable.