p. 16 | Soonan, Korea by Helen May Scott

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 16, 1911

Soonan, Korea

By Helen May Scott

I am now teaching in the girls' school. We have an enrolment of thirty-three, including boarding and day students, in grades one to five, their ages ranging from seven to twenty-three years. We have no school building for the girls, so they are living in two small Korean mud huts. These are papered white on the inside, which covers up the mud, and makes them clean and light. There are straw mats on the floor, and on this same mud floor the girls eat, sleep, study, and recite their lessons. The only furniture, besides their bedding, is a few baskets and kerosene oil boxes. These boxes they paper white, and in them put their clothes and books. If a girl has one of these boxes, she thinks she has quite a possession. In the daytime the bedding is folded up and put on a shelf near the ceiling. Because of lack of space, we hold two sessions a day—one in the morning, beginning at eight, for grades three to five; and the other in the afternoon, closing at half past four, for grades one and two.

The girls are very poor, and most of them have to work for their board and tuition. We are very anxious for the time to come when we can have a school building. We wish to start some industry for the girls, probably the making of cotton and silk cloth. Many of the girls know how, having done such work at home; but we have no room for the spinning-wheels and looms. So far this year the girls have been picking cotton, and making possum (the Korean stocking) and crocheting mufflers and wristlets to sell.

Though we are crowded and have almost no accommodations, the girls are happy. They love the Lord Jesus, and they are thankful for an opportunity to get an education. They wish to help in the giving of the third angel's message

in this generation. And they have helped. In both of our paper campaigns they have taken an active part. In the first, they sold nearly a thousand papers; in the second, they did not do so well, it being the rainy season, and a flood having washed out the railroad track in places. I went with the girls, and enjoyed it very much. Although they had never canvassed before, they entered into it heartily, and we had good experiences. We are now looking forward to the coming winter campaign. We shall have at least two months' vacation, and during this time many of the students will canvass.

The Lord has been good to me, and I am truly grateful to him for the way he has helped me. Remember us in your prayers.

HELEN MAY SCOTT.