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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 associate missionaries. Nor does she confine these tributes
to members of her own mission. Some of her highest encomiums are given
to members of other missions, who have laboured and died for the Gospel
and the cause of humanity in Korea.

Mrs. Underwood, then Miss Lillias Horton, of Chicago, went to Korea as
a medical missionary in 1888. As a Secretary of the Presbyterian Board,
accustomed to visit our candidates before appointment, I found her a
bright young girl of slight and graceful figure in one of the Chicago
hospitals, where she was adding to her medical knowledge some practical
experience as a trained nurse. There was nothing of the consciousness
of martyrdom in her appearance, but quite the reverse, as with cheerful
countenance and manner she glided about in her white uniform among the
ward patients. It was evident that she was looking forward with high
satisfaction to the work to which she had consecrated her life.

The story of her arrival at Chemulpo, of her first impressions of
Korea, is best told in her own words. The first arrival of a missionary
on the field is always a trying experience. The squalid appearance of
the low native huts, whose huddled groupings Mrs. Underwood compares
to low-lying beds of mushrooms, poorly clad and dull-eyed fishermen
and other peasantry, contrasting so strongly with the brighter scenes
of one’s home land, are enough to fill any but the bravest with
discouragement and despair. But our narrator passed this trying ordeal
by reflecting that she was not a tourist in pursuit of entertainment,
but an ambassador of Christ, sent to heal the bodies and enlighten the
souls of the lowly and the suffering.

As a young unmarried woman and quite alone, she found a welcoming home
with Dr. and Mrs. Heron, and began at once a twofold work of mastering
the language, and of professional service at the hospital. Not long
after her arrival she was called to pay a visit to the queen, who
wished to secure her services as her physician. The relation soon grew
into a mutual friendship, and Mrs. Underwood from that time till the
assassination of the unfortunate queen was her frequent visitor, and in
many respects her personal admirer. She does not hesitate to express
her appreciation of the queen, as a woman of kind-hearted and generous
impulses, high intellectual capacity, and no ordinary diplomatic
ability. Of stronger mind and higher moral character than her royal
husband, she was his wise counsellor and the chief bulwark of his
precarious power.

Though Mrs. Underwood’s book is of the nature of a narrative, yet its
smoothly running current is laden with all kinds of general information
respecting the character and customs of the people, the condition
of the country, the native beliefs and superstitions, the social
degradation, the poverty and widespread ignorance of the masses. The
account of missionary work is given naturally, its pros and cons set
forth without special laudation on the one hand, or critical misgiving
on the other. It is simply presented, and left to speak for itself,
and it can scarcely fail to carry to all minds a conviction of the
genuineness and marked success of the great work which our missionaries
in Korea are conducting.

Mrs. Underwood’s marriage to Rev. H. G. Underwood, who had already been
four years in the country, is related with simplicity and good sense,
and the remarkable bridal tour, though given more at length, is really
a story not of honeymoon experiences, but rather of arduous and heroic
missionary itineration. It was contrary to the advice and against the
strong remonstrances of their associates and their friends in the U.
S. legation that the young couple set out in the early spring of 1889
for a pioneering tour through Northern Korea.

Fortunately for the whole work of our Protestant missions, the most
favorable impression had been made upon the Korean Court and upon
the people by the striking and most valuable service which had been
rendered by Dr. H. N. Allen, our first medical missionary, and now U.
S. Minister in Korea. He had healed the wounds of some distinguished
Koreans, who had been nearly killed in a midnight conflict between the
Chinese and Japanese garrisons at Seoul.

Although there were strong prohibitory decrees against the admission
of foreigners in the interior, Mr. and Mrs. Underwood ventured to
presume upon the connivance of the officials at their proposed journey
to the far north. Traveling as missionaries and without disguise, it
was a plucky undertaking for the young bride, since, so far as known,
she was the first foreign woman who had made such a tour. The journey
was a protracted one and involved all kinds of hardship and privation.
Nothing worthy of a name of inn was to be found, but only some larger
huts in which travelers were packed away amid every variety of filth
and vermin.

The curiosity of the people to see a foreign woman was such that the
mob everywhere scrupled not to punch holes through the paper windows
and doors to get a peep. After having been borne all day in a chair,
not over roads, but through tortuous bridle paths, over rocks and
through sloughs, it was found well-nigh impossible to rest at night.
All sorts of noises early and late added to their discomfort. As to
food, the difficulty of subsisting on such fare as the people could
furnish may be well imagined. They were not wholly free from the fear
of wild animals, for some districts through which they passed were
infested by tigers and leopards. But their greatest danger was that of
falling into the hands of roaming bands of robbers. Mrs. Underwood’s
account of one experience of this kind will be read with thrilling
interest.

Fortunately, Mr. Underwood had already made one or two shorter tours
through the country alone, and had baptized a few converts here and
there. The passports also which he carried with him secured the favor
of some of the district magistrates, so that the two were not exposed
wholly to hostile influences.

It is impossible in few words to do justice to the story related in
this interesting book, which was prepared by Mrs. Underwood at the
request of the American Tract Society, or do anything more than commend
in general terms its various presentations. One of these relating to
the experiences of a severe cholera season, during which missionaries,
not only medical but also clerical, remained faithfully at their posts,
unmindful of the personal risks and of the heat, filth and discomfort
of an unsanitary city in the most sickly months, in order to do all in
their power to save the lives and mitigate the sufferings of the poor
and despairing people. The account is given with great simplicity,
and without ostentatious claims of heroism, and may be regarded as a
true representation of the faithful service often rendered by our
missionaries in times of trial and great suffering.

Mrs. Underwood’s book will be read with peculiar interest at this
time, when all attention is turned to the far East and especially to
Korea, which seems likely to be the battleground in the war between
Russia and Japan. The position of the poor Koreans, government and
people, is calculated to elicit the sympathy of all Christians and all
philanthropists. Every one wonders what will be the outcome for poor
Korea. It is indeed a time for earnest prayer that the God of nations
will overrule all current events for the best good of this beleaguered
people and for the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom.

  F. F. ELLINWOOD.

  NEW YORK, Feb. 20, 1904.




PREFACE


The chapters which are here given to the public are simply reminiscent,
a brief story of a few years of the writer’s life in one of the most
unique and interesting of all the Eastern countries, among a people who
are singularly winning and lovable.

I beg that in reading these pages it may be remembered that this book
makes no pretense whatever to being a text or reference book on Korea,
or in any respect a history of Korean missions. The writer has simply
strung together a few events which have fallen under her own personal
observation during the last fifteen years. If more frequent reference
is made to the work carried on by my husband and myself than to others,
it is simply because it is only with regard to that which has been
woven into the web of my own experience that I can speak with exactness
and