Mme. Chang's Mission

MME. CHANG’S MISSION

Crossed Ocean to Learn How to Help Koreans.

WOULD MODERNIZE OLD NATION

High Class Woman of the Hermit Kingdom Expects to Remain in the United States Several Years and Will Then Return to the Orient to Superintend Schools.

The desire to acquire an American education, to enjoy American customs and to imbibe American sentiment has brought Mme. Chang all the way from Korea to San Francisco, says the St Louis Republic. The quaint little creature is the first high class woman of her nation to cross the ocean for an American education.

In her simple way she tells how all the real happiness of her life came through the teaching of Americans, and she wants to speak the language, read the literature and live the life of the people of this republic.

It required just two years to convince Chang Sebang, her legal lord, that a peep at the world and a bit of education would not utterly ruin the wife. But the lady's logic was not only good, but persuasive, and here she is, with her child, domiciled as a parlor boarder at the Methodist mission. It is the intention of Mme. Chang to remain there a year or more until she has mastered English sufficiently to take up some lines of the higher education.

Mme. Chang's father, the late Ye Sebang. was one of the most prominent men in the Wueyo province. He was a rice grower, and the plantation on which he made his home was at Namchangne. Her husband's family, which is rich and powerful, lives near the same town.

I never saw my husband until I stood by him for the marriage ceremony." she said through an interpreter in comparing some of the Korean customs with those of the advanced nations.

“I was just fourteen years old, and a I had been raised with the idea that my father would select a desirable person I peeped at the bridegroom with approval. Suppose I had not liked his looks and refused to marry him? Oh, such a thing could not have been. A Korean girl would not dare- why, she would not even think of such an act of rebellion. There's no 'sweet pea' girlhood in my country. When a girl of the better class reaches her seventh year, she goes into seclusion and is housed and under restraint until she is fourteen. Then she is married. After that she may visit friends, but she is not permitted to speak with a man.

“There s no social intercourse between men and women. The men have most of their life with men and the women theirs with women. It will be a telling step in the advancement of my country when social conditions are modernized. One of the old customs of the capital, Seoul, has been abolished, and this indicates progress along the right line. That custom forbade men on the streets after sunset. From that time until 3 o'clock women were allowed the freedom of the town to walk or visit. Death was the penalty for a man who broke this law. The women, attended by their wards, went in parties, and every one carried a pretty lantern. Those hours were selected so that the promenading of the women should not interfere with the business life of the city.

“Unlike the other oriental women, the Korean after marriage has a distinct place in the household and a voice in all matters pertaining to her family. She must be consulted, and her views carry weight with the husband. She is an important factor in the home life, but in the community she is a nonentity.

“Strange as it may seem, the Korean woman has no name of her own. Here I am called Mme. Chang, and I like that and wish I might always be addressed by my husband's name. At home I am Kenug Sin Omanie. That means ‘mother of Kenug Sin,' my child. If I had no offspring, I would have no name. A girl is sometimes given a nickname when a baby, but this is dropped when she is married. My baby name was Loving Bough.

“The latest social innovation is the family meal. Formerly the men and women never ate together. The wife and daughter had their meals together, and the father ate with the sons. All who have adopted the new way of having family breakfasts and dinners find it so delightful that I think after awhile it will be universal.

“Korea is not as stubborn as China, and I believe in time she will yield and become modernized. Christianity has taken a tremendous hold on the people, who are eager to adopt the new customs along with the new religion.

“I do not know how long I shall remain in this country. Likely several years, for I wish to prepare myself as a teacher and do what I can for the enlightenment of the women of Korea. Of course I cannot go around teaching, but I may open and superintend schools. I intend to instruct the women of my class in my own home.

“I used to be a pagan, and very faithfully did I worship the devil. It was all a mistake. I shall to persuade my countrywomen to look up instead of down for spiritual inspiration."