are done up and held in the embrace of these curious but intensely interesting hieroglyphics.
The Chinese written language is the classic language of Korea, and has been from the time she had a written language. In it all the government business is recorded and all official letters are written. Before the coming of Protestant missionaries there were no books of any standing printed in the native script, but everything in this line was in the Chinese characters. This being the language in which all government business is transacted, the study of it becomes therefore a prime necessity for all who aspire to government positions. The mastery of these characters is nothing short of the work of a lifetime, and it must be a pretty long life at that; so our village gentleman begins in early childhood to study Chinese. But as we have a chapter on the village school, I leave this subject for that place; only it must be understood that if our gentleman is to hold first rank, he must be a lifelong student of the mystery of Chinese characters.
Our village gentleman is strictly opposed to undertaking anything that looks like manual labor. He may be ever so poor—yes, even dependent on others for his daily rice—but to get out and work is out of his line of business. It is no disgrace for him to go hungry, but to engage in any sort of manual labor would at once lower his standing as a gentleman and ruin his prospects for future promotion along the lines which gentlemen only are supposed to travel. The fact that he is a gentleman, through no fault or merit of his own, gives him a standing in the village which
