p. 13 | QUEER KOREAN CUSTOMS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 27, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 13.

QUEER KOREAN CUSTOMS.

All things in Korea are strange to foreigners. Thimbles are of cloth, beautifully embroidered. There are no buttons or pins, and garments are tied on with ribbons. Soap is sold in the form of a powder, and the only matches are shavings tipped with sulphur. These have to be put into the fire to light them. The market scenes are interesting. You see pompous men in long gowns and high hats, poor women with green cloaks over their heads, and scores of boys carrying vegetables.

The people are early risers, and the best time to market is between five and six in the morning. Two hours later the stands are all cleared away, and you have to rely on the retail stores or little shops. Eggs are bought by the stick, and are stacked up like knitting-wood. Ten eggs are laid end to end, and they are then wrapped about with straw, so that they stand out straight and stiff, and look more like clubs than eggs. In the stores these sticks of eggs are piled up crosswise, and the price is about three cents a stick.—Selected.