there will be one woman less in the family. I have investigated this subject somewhat, and I am convinced that a large per cent of the men in this country are now living with women other than the ones selected for them in the first marriage. Some Koreans say that this is the case in at least fifty per cent of the families in all the land.
There are no old maids in any of these families. In fact, so far as I have been able to learn, there is not one in all the kingdom. All women are married at least once, and many of them several times — that is, if we count every new husband a marriage. But, in fact, no one is married but once. When a man loses his wife from any cause whatever and he wants another, he simply finds some woman that will go with him and he takes her to his house, and that settles it.
This chapter must not be closed without a few words concerning widows. Among the higher class it is considered very unbecoming for a woman to marry after her husband's death. In case of the death of the wife, the man is expected to get another wife in a short while. Among the common people widows soon find husbands, or, I should say, are soon found by husbands. In many cases a woman is compelled to go and live with some man when it is altogether against her will. She is largely in the hands of her husband's relatives, and they will dispose of her as they think best for their own interests. When a widow is left with no one to protect her, it is no unusual thing for a crowd of men to come and take her away to be the wife of some one of their number. This is sometimes
