CHAPTER XVIII.
The Village Funeral.
Funerals, to thinking persons, are sad in any country and under all conditions. But here in Korea, as well as in all other unchristian countries, one is impressed with the sadness of the occasion as he cannot be in a Christian country. I used to read the account in Mark's Gospel of our Lord raising Jairus's daughter, and could not understand why the Lord should have seemed to be so thoughtless of the feelings of those that wept as to rebuke them as he did, saying: "Why make ye this ado and weep?" Since coming to Korea and seeing something of the "ado" of an Eastern funeral, I think I can understand how the Lord could use these words, which to those not understanding the circumstances might seem harsh. The people to whom those words were addressed were doubtless those who were not at all affected by the death, but were professional mourners who were there for what, they could get out of it in the way of actual pay or in their part of the feast that would be given.
Such is the manner of funerals in this country to the present day. There is much ado, and little that seems to a Westerner to indicate real sorrow. Like nearly everything else in this country, the funeral must be conducted in the approved style which has been handed down from the shades of the past. It is impossible for the poor to make the grand display that always
