Page:Every-day life in Korea (1898).djvu/19

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Every-day Life in Korea

CHAPTER I
WHERE IS KOREA?

A friend and myself, returning to America after our first term of missionary service in Korea, sat one Saturday evening in the office of a hotel in Salt Lake City. In signing the hotel register an hour previous, we had each of us written in the column intended for addresses, simply the word designating the country from which we had so recently arrived. A thoughtful look came over my companion's face, and presently he remarked as we sat there: "I think we made a mistake in signing that hotel register. The clerk will not know where Korea is; will think that we have given a false address and will become suspicious of us, under the impression that we are trying to swindle the hotel. "A moment later I glanced toward the desk and, sure enough, the forefinger of the clerk was gently waving to and fro unmistakably in our direction. A moment later I stood at the desk. "Korea, Korea" (in a

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