CHAPTER X.
The Village Girl.
In Korea, as elsewhere in the world, there are just two classes of children—namely, boys and girls. The boys are always welcomed at birth and considered a great blessing, while the girls are received amid many regrets and expressions of sorrow. One Korean lady, when condoling with an American lady who was the happy mother of a little girl, said: "When a boy is born we are always very, very glad, but only a little glad when a girl is born." I fear that this is somewhat overstating the case, since in most cases there is sorrow instead of the "little gladness" at the birth of a little girl. I very well remember how, when a little girl came to gladden our home, my teacher, a Korean gentleman, being told that a baby had been born, with a broad smile said: "A son?" My answer was: "No; a daughter." Whereupon his face took on a deep expression of sympathy, and he replied, "Chum sup-sup-ham-nai-ta," which means, "I am some sorry." I told him that we did not need his sympathy in this matter, since we were just as glad at the birth of a daughter as at that of a son.
Thus we see that our village girl is handicapped from the hour of her birth, and cannot in the very nature of the case have a fair chance in the race of life. She comes into the world unbidden and unwelcomed, and is considered as an intruder in the
