Korea by Mimi Scharffenberg

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 30, 1910

Korea

By Mimi Scharffenberg

SEOUL.— After a six weeks’ absence from home, I found, on my return to Seoul, that Brother and Sister Howard Lee had arrived. We were glad indeed to welcome them to Korea, and the Koreans also rejoiced that some one has come to look after the school work. The first thing the Koreans call for, after they become believers, is a school for their children.

While at Chinnampo this last time, I wished some of our people at home could see how the girls who come to this school have to live. Some are there whose parents are not Christians, and therefore they have very little or no money from home. They can not work to earn their living, as no work has as yet been provided for them. All are anxiously waiting for the time when we can have some industrial work connected with the girls’ school.

One mother, who is a widow and works very hard to make a living, sent her thirteen-year-old daughter to the girls’ school in Chinnampo. I was there when a friend brought the girl, with her belongings, and gave instruction to the teacher about her money. Besides her bundle of clothes, she brought twenty sen (ten cents) for her food, and forty half-sen (four half-sen equal one cent) to be used only for Sabbath-school donations. She also brought two silver rings, and asked the teacher to sell them for her, so she could buy food. The value of these two rings, when new, is two yen, or one dollar. Many others come to school with less than this girl brought.

Our two Korean teachers are doing well, but have many perplexities in helping the students to get along financially. I hope we may soon have a dormitory for our girls, so that we can see that they live as they ought while in school. From two to three dollars would pay one student’s entire expenses in school for one month. The girls are very willing to work, and anxious that a way may be provided for them to have some employment.

One fourteen-year-old girl who desires to be a Christian ran away from home to attend school. Her father died, and the rest of the family, taking part in ancestor-worship, tried to compel her to partake of the food offered to idols. This she refused, and ran away. She is a bright little girl, and studies her Bible well. I was surprised at all the questions she asked me about the different points of truth.

Another little girl of about the same age attended the women’s institute at Chinnampo last month. Her father is dead, and she is faithfully helping her mother with the farm work. It is said that every Sabbath morning she visits the neighbors’ houses and invites them to come to Sabbath-school. In one meeting I asked that some one should tell me a verse that spoke of Christ’s second coming. This little girl kept on quoting scripture after scripture, together with the references, on the subject of Christ’s coming. She was never idle; when she had nothing else to do, she was studying her Bible. Her prayers and testimonies are always full of real experiences.

These younger girls are the ones who grasp the truth most readily. The older ones have to be taught over and over again before they understand, and often we think they are making progress when they are not. Still, the honest in heart will be gathered out here in Korea, and I am glad to have a part in this work.

MIMI SCHARFFENBERG.