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[Illustration: SENTINEL GATE AT PALACE. _Frontispiece_]




  FIFTEEN YEARS

  _AMONG_

  THE TOP-KNOTS

  _OR_

  _LIFE IN KOREA_

  _By_

  L. H. UNDERWOOD, M.D.

  _With Introduction

  by_

  FRANK F. ELLINWOOD, D.D., LL.D.

  SECOND EDITION
  REVISED AND ENLARGED

  [Illustration]

  YOUNG PEOPLE’S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
  OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
  NEW YORK


  Copyright, 1904,

  BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY.

         *       *       *       *       *

  Copyright, 1908,

  BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY.


  THIS LITTLE VOLUME
  IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO

  MY HUSBAND

  IN MEMORY OF
  FIFTEEN HAPPIEST YEARS




INTRODUCTION


It may be said at once, that Mrs. Underwood’s narrative of her
experience of “Fifteen Years Among the Top-Knots” constitutes a book of
no ordinary interest. There is no danger that any reader having even
a moderate sympathy with the work of missions in the far East will be
disappointed in the perusal. The writer does not undertake to give a
comprehensive account of missions in Korea, or even of the one mission
which she represents, but only of the things which she has seen and
experienced.

There is something naive and attractive in the way in which she
takes her readers into her confidence while she tells her story, as
trustfully as if she were only writing to a few relatives and friends.
Necessarily she deals very largely with her own work, and that of
her husband, as of that she is best qualified to speak. Everywhere,
however, there are generous and appreciative references to the heroic
labors of