The Price of a Daughter-in-Law
By Ella Camp Russell
BY MRS. ELLA CAMP RUSSELL ONE day, as two Korean women sat chatting together, I caught the following conversation: “How fortunate you are to have a daughter-in-law! How much did you have to pay for her?” “Three hundred dimes. Cheap, wasn’t it?” “Very cheap indeed; but I cannot pay even that, for I am a widow. It distresses me very much, for my son is now over twelve years old.” At this point, I asked the first speaker how she obtained such a bargain. “O, I bought her when she was small,” she replied. “How much did your father sell you for?” I asked again. “O, I went very cheaply,—only fifty dimes. But I was only ten years old.” “I went for less than that,” said the second woman. “I brought only thirty dimes. My parents were dead, and distant relatives sold me to some very poor people when I was eight years old. My husband’s parents died soon after; and all my life, I have known but sorrow and the terrible struggle to get food and something to wear. My husband is now dead; and with my three small children, I have many times faced starvation. It is only the love for my babies that gives me the courage to keep up the fight for existence.”