not a servant at hand to light his pipe. Striking a match, he would stick it in the ashes of his brazier, then, grabbing his long-stemmed pipe, he would put it quickly into his mouth; then, leaning back as far as he could, he would be able to reach the burning match with the pipe and thus manage to light it.
Our village gentleman is often a "muchly" married man. That is to say, he would be so considered by people who do not know any better than to think that a man ought not to have more than one wife. But in the estimation of his fellow-countrymen he is a very fortunate man if he is able to have two, three, or even more about his place. In fact, there is no limit to the number that he may have, so far as the law is concerned; his only limitation on this subject is his ability to secure them. The strangest part of all this multiplicity of wives is that the women themselves often have no objections to this division of honors in the household. It should be stated that, properly speaking, he can have but one wife, though he may have as many concubines as he can get if he so chooses. One of these gentlemen of my acquaintance some years ago heard the gospel and decided to believe; and when he was told that he would have to put away his concubine before he could receive baptism he did so, with the result that his real wife was much offended because he took this step.
It should ever be remembered that our village gentleman lives very much as his neighbors who cannot boast of the yang-ban blood. That is, he lives in much the same sort of a house; though it may be larger
