2
1st. Wednesday. Lovely. Almost cold.
3
Seoul home. Cold enough to make it comfortable to keep fire in the stove all day long. 5.5° F in Seoul. Reported heavy snow in the north.
4
Today the Annual Conference came to close. Hear some of Cynn's Positive Bandits―kim Tai Won, Kim Ki Yun etc. behaved very rudely, threatening to make personal assault on Dr. Ryang and me for have driven Cynn out of the Y. Cynn's influence on young men and young women is simply disasterous. He finds them a nice and gentle lot, but leave them base, brutal and devilish.
6
2nd. Thursday. Lovely. Very cool.
7
Seoul home. 1 p.m. went to Pu Am Jung with wife, Margaret and Joseph. When we got there about 2, nobody in the place, except Kim Byong Yup's adopted boy about 9 years old and a little dog. Kim and his wife plus the young woman in the caretaker's house all gone to the Industrial Exposition, so called. The little boy said he was left home to keep the dog from running away.
8
Wife and Margaret rolled up sleeves and cooked rice and made seaweed soup―all excellent. Kim and the two women didn't come until we were ready to leave 6 p.m. Kim has made some money and is playing yangban all right. Returned home 6:30 p.m.
10
3rd. Friday. Cloudy. Cool.
11
Seoul home. Entertained Rev. Kim Soo Chul from Tokyo to lunch at the Lily Garden. Messrs. Koo Ja Ok, Hong Pyong Sun present also. Some say Kim is pro-Cynn-therefore a Positive Bandit.
12
This morning Mr. Song Jin Woo called and asked me to accept the position of the President of Po Sung College. The reason―Mr. Kim Sung Soo, the present incumbent, has to resign as an apology to the Bureau of Education for having received 40 more students this year than the College was allowed to take in.
13
The offer is so sudden and the position so responsible that I told him I would let him know after a due consideration. Had a talk with Yu Ok Kyum asking him to advise me how to decide.
15
4th. Saturday. Cloudy―Cool.
16
Seoul home. Went to the Ewha College 12:30 to attend the Annual Meeting of the Parents Association and then of the Supporters' Association. All passed off smoothly.
17
Yu Ok Kyum told me that he had consulted with Dr. Underwood, O Kung Sun, Kim Helen about my accepting the Presidency of the Posung College, and that they all as one man objected to my doing so for following reasons; (1) I am now of the age to retire from these public positions; (2) to make room for younger men; (3) It is very unwise to assume the responsibilities of a great and difficult position without being able to give it my whole time and talent to its control and management.
19
5th. Sunday. Cloudy―Cool.
20
Seoul home. Had lunch with Hong Soon Hyuk at the Lily Garden. Yu Han Ik came in with Dr. Ryang. This Yu who rose from a common soldier to the position of Ground Courtiers during the last decades of the Yi Dynasty, thanks to his talent for singing, was converted soon after the annexation and turned a preacher. He after serving acceptable the new profession he had embraced, he was super annuated the other day with a honorable record. Certainly. he got his reward for his religious activities even in this life. Hadn't he joined the Church when he did he might have died a dolittle man, unknown and unloved. He is one year older than I and I have come to love him and respect him.
22
6th. Monday. Beautiful―Warm.
23
Seoul home. To the station with wife, 明姬 and 珽善 3 p.m. to see our niece, 善姬 leave for kyoto. By mis-marriage, this young gentle girl prefers living a grass widow to living with a crook who seems to have married her solely for the money which he could squeeze out of her parents. A dirty rascal.
24
From 4 to 7:30 committee meetings in the Central Y. The Executive Committee of the National Council after long discussions, elected Hyon Dong Wan, the traveling or Student Secretary of the Council.
25
The Central Y. Board of Directors met from 7:30 to 8:30. Mr. Koo's reports were encouraging. Nothing so intriguish and serpentine as the reports of Cynn used to be.
27
7th. Tuesday. Pale sun.
28
Seoul home. Supper at the Lily Garden with Mr. Pyon Sung Ok. He used to be a teacher in the Seminary; then the school pastor in the Song Do Higher C.S; then a Methodist missionary to the Koreans in Manchuria. He and a few others got dissatisfied with the Korean Methodist Church to the extent of withdrawing their connections with it. They formed a separate congregation in Harbin and are preaching as independent evangelists. I don't know the inside reasons of the separation; but I like Pyon as an amiable friend.
30
8th. Wednesday. Cloudy.
31
Seoul home. Very strong westly gale, all the morning till 3 p.m.
32
4:30 p.m. went to the Ewha Parlor to meet with a Committee which had been appointed by the Parents' Association the other day, to make out a program for the dedication service for the new Ewha buildings to be held on the 31st May.
33
When Kim Joon Ok reorganized the faculty of the Song Do Higher Common School two years ago, he made Yun Chang Suk, the dean of the School―against Kim's own judgement simply out of his respect for Yu Ok Kyum who strongly recommended Yun. Last Autumn, Kim had to ask Yun to resign the deanship on account of his inefficiency. A month or so ago the Song Do police started an inquiry if Kim had lost the Imperial Rescript which every school is required to keep and honor as the very word of the divine Tenno Heika. This forced Kim to hustle about to find out the would-be informer who lodged the false accusation. Kim was told by the head of the Provincial Polie Office that Yun Chang Suk was responsible for the dirty trick. Kim has to fire him but Yun threatens to do something to get even with Kim!
35
9th. Thursday. Beautiful.
36
Seoul home. A faint shower early in the morning―then sun bright and warm.
37
The whole country is suffering from drought.
39
10th. Friday. Sun―Cloud p.m.
40
Seoul home. 10~12. The funeral service for Mrs. Jo Ryung Ha―Mrs. 李貞淋 her maiden name. The principal of the Sook. Myong Girls' H.C.S. She being the widow of one of the highest "Yang-bans" in the Korean aristocracy, her funeral arrangement was the most eleborate of the kind I have ever seen in Korea. The service was officiated by Shinto priests with copious mixture of Buddhistic rituals. It was noticeable that the whole program was in the hands of the Japanese.
41
Lunch at the Lily Garden, Dr. Oh K.S. entertaining. Cousin No. 2, Kim Helen, Yu Kak Kyung, Yu Ok Kyum made up the party.
43
11th. Saturday. Cloudy. Steamy.
44
Seoul home. 3 p.m. with wife, 文姬 and 明姬, went to the station to welcome cousin No. 6 and his wife returning home. He had been away for 11 years. Aunt bore him when she was 49. She was 73 when he left Korea, 11 years ago. She hardly expected to see him again in this world. Yet today she is as sprightly as ever. Mr. Kim Il Sun was the forsterfather to 6th cousin's wife. When she left Seoul about 5 years ago neither Kim nor she could have the misgiving even that they would never meet again in flesh. But she finds he is dead and gone. Such is the uncertainties of life!
46
12th. Sunday. Rain―till 1 p.m.
47
Seoul home. Last night's rain continued falling in gentle shower all night and all morning until about 1 p.m.
48
Attended the Aunnual Meeting of the Jong No branch of the Retired Soldiers Association held in the Kyong Hoi Roo. Owing to the rain not many people out.
49
The reading of Imperial Rescripts occupied nearly half an hour. By the way the Imperial Rescripts in the schools or in the army are regarded not only as the very words of gods but as deities in themselves. I understand the Imperial Educational Rescript which every school keeps enshrined in a box set in the wall of the Principal's office is so sacred that it can't be put in a safe.
52
Seoul home. Lunch at the Lily Garden. Nephew Il-sun brought Yi Ui Soo, the 3rd brother of Dr. Yi Kap-Soo, to introduce him to me as a possible candidate for the bridegroom of our Grace. I liked him better than any of the young men I have seen for that purpose. I made such mistakes in choosing Kim K.S. for Laura and Jung K.H. for Mary, that I dare not trust my judgment in matters of this kind.
54
14th. Tuesday. Rain. Very cool.
55
Seoul home. Lunch with Byon Yung No and Koo Ja Ok at the Lily Garden. Byon brought me an urgent request from Song Jin Woo who had received a letter from Dr. Philip Jaisohn asking for some monetary help. Byon told me that Kim Sung Soo had consented to give ￥1,00000; that the Dong-A-Il-Po would contribute ￥1,00000; that they desired to get another ￥1,00000 to make up ￥3,00000. Song wanted me to help and I gladly pledged ￥500.00. Prince Pak can give the ballance I am sure.
56
5 p.m. went to Chung Yang Sa with the Central Y. staff to entertain Dr. Cynn, Jung Sung Chai and Hong Pyong Duk to a supper and to present to them some mementoes. I was very embarrassed to make the presentation speech. I couldn't say I was sorry they had left the Y.; then could I say that I was glad they had resigned? I simply said nothing more than that the Central Y. staff had thought it fit to present some sort of tokens of friendship to those with whom they has so long been associated in the work. Dr. Cynn made a very sensible and reconciliatory talk. If he only acted as he talked he would soon win back some of his lost friends.
58
15th. Wednesday. Pale sun. Almost cold.
59
Seoul home. 4 p.m. had a meeting or to discuss the plans etc. for a Summer Conference.
60
6 p.m. was invited to a supper in 明月館 by Mr. Pak Y.C.
62
16th. Thursday. Pale sun. Cool.
63
Seoul home. Last night Mr. Pak Yung Chul invited about 20 people to a supper at Myong Wol Kwan with the object of starting, or of proposing to start, a joint stock company with a capital of one million Yen, to buy up farming land in Manchuria, at such locations where our emigrants can work on the rice fields with certain degree of protection from the depredations of Chinese bandits, Korean patriots and Russianized communists. Among the guests were 曺秉相, 曺秉學, 崔昌學, 朴興埴, 金秊洙, 元眞常, 閔丙壽. I didn't know the names of the rest. Mr. 崔在允 from Kando, Mr. Ryang who once acted as a Vice Consul in the Japanese Consulate at Mukuden spoke of the wonderful opportunities of profitable farming enterprizes in Manchuria. A.M. Ahn who made some success in the regions along the Mok-Dan-Kang, spoke remarkably intelligently about the farmland situation in and around his chosen locality. I was rather displeased that Mr. Pak should have invited me to such a meeting. I left before they proposed any concrete plan. If I join such a project, I must do so far my own profit or for public benefit. I am too old to go into speculating in Manchurian farms while I have more than enough social or public welfare works inside Korea to tax my pocket to the limit. Then again do I know any Korean who will honestly and efficiently manage the company of the kind? No, none!
64
Left Seoul 12:40 for Sai Mal.
66
17th. Friday. Sun a.m. Cloud p.m.
67
Sai Mal. This being the 82nd anniversary of uncle's birthday had family reunion. Returned to Seoul by 5:40 p.m. train from Pyong Taik.
69
18th. Saturday. Lovely―Cool.
70
Seoul home. Dr. Oh Kung Sun tells the following story illustrative of Dr. Avison's(Sr.) magnanimity. Kim Pil Soon was one of the first batch of young men whom Dr. Avison taught to be doctors in Western medicine. Kim proved Dr. A's righthand man in the new hospital. Soon after the annexation. Kim left Seoul for parts unknown without a would to or with his old teacher and benefactor, Dr. Avison. Kim not only absconded from the Sevance Hospital but he carried away number of valuable surgical instruments with him to the great inconvenience of Dr. A. But Dr. Avison said nothing about the affair to anybody. Some years later when Dr. Oh met Dr. Avison in Canada the latter showed him a letter from Kim with a photograph of a major operation Kim had been performing on a Chinese woman patient. Dr. Avison got ＄1,00000 from an American friend with which he bought some surgical instruments and sent them to Kim Pil Soon.
72
19th. Sunday. Beautiful.
73
Seoul home. Mr. Min Yu Sik, the father-in-law of Allen passed away yesterday. He was a quiet and gentle yangban of the old type but feeble in will and intellect. He was an opium addict. His only daughter Allen's former wife, whose insanity has made her a torment to herself and to her family, is still living. Min Yu Sik would have served humanity better had he died 50 years ago.
75
20th. Monday. Beautiful.
76
Seoul home. The way they teach English in the First Higher Common School is simply abominable. They don't teach grammar as such; but in the readers few hints about nouns and verbs are now and then given. Without teaching the boys systematically the parts of speech and their modifications the readers have lessons on the use of phrases and clauses. The boys can't make any sense out of the lessons.
77
Then the readers! The lessons full of involved long sentences are absolutely beyond this grasp of the over-burdened boys. The wretched writers of these lessons seem to have been more anxious to show off their ability to write long sentences than to enable the beginners to learn English.
79
21st. Tuesday. Beautiful―Cool.
80
Seoul home. Our Grace tells me that she doesn't want to marry. She wants to finish her piano course in Ewha College and then to get a higher training and practice in an American music institution.
82
22nd. Wednesday. Lovely.
83
Seoul home. 7 a.m. with wife, Mary and Margaret went to the station to see our Po-Hie and her classmates leave per the 7:40 a.m. train for Shin-Wi-Joo for school excursion. God grant the journey will prove pleasant and profitable to them all!
85
23rd. Thursday. Pale sun―Pleasant.
86
Seoul home. Mr. Pak Sung Bin and a few of his friends have organized an association called 啓明俱樂部財團期成會 with the object of raising a fund of ￥100,00000 for building and maintaining the Club. Mr. Pak is reported to have pledged to give ￥10,00000. But where will he raise the balance―￥90,00000 ? He is a man of tight business habits. He must know that there are two classes of moneyed men in Seoul; one class who never give and another who always give. He can get no money from the first of course. But the givers―like myself―are already so over burdened with contributions that they can't give to such comparatively unimportant enterprizes as a social Club.
88
24th. Friday. Beautiful.
89
Seoul home. Today is the 7th Anniversary of our Baby's birthday. God bless him and grant him many, many happy returns of the day!
90
Brother Chi Chang tells me that Mr. Sayeki, the Chief of the Provincial Bureau of Police asked him in person to join the Si-Joong Hoi or to contribute at least ￥1,00000 toward its fund! He demands an immediate answer. We Koreans are living over again the times when the all powerful Tai Won Koon was ruling the Peninsula with iron hands, exacting Voluntary Offerings. There is not an abuse of which we Koreans complained during the last decade of the Korean misgovernment that our new masters are not practicing on us under the euphonious motto of Il-Si-Dong-In, (same or equal benevolence to all) .
92
25th. Saturday. Sunny. Very warm.
93
Seoul home. The Japanese propagandists spare neither tongue nor ink in proclaiming, in season and out of season, that the Japanese rule is the "Kingly Way" of Confucius carried out in letter as well as in spirit. Militarism is the first and the last thing that Confucianism denounces.
95
26th. Sunday. Cloud―Gentle showers p.m.
96
Seoul home. A few remarkable dreams.
97
Paik Sang Kyu knew Mrs. Ha well. When she left Seoul for Peking sometime in 1919 or thereabout, she asked Paik to keep her dictionary stand for her in his house. So he had the stand at a corner of his marubang. Paik had never liked Ha Sang Ki, Mrs. Ha's husband. hence no intimacy with him. One morning about 6, Paik in a trance saw Ha Sang Ki coming in with a "Pai-rang-i"(a kind of hat woven of coarse bamboo slabs) on his head and a cord tied around his body in three places like a corpse in bandaged in Korea. Ha jerked himself up the stone steps leading from the ground to the "maru". Then he was seen to go straight to the bookstand in the corner and stood there still―When Paik awoke, it was but a dream. About 8 Paik going out of his home met Ha's nephew coming to his house to tell Paik that his uncle(Ha Sang Ki) had passed away early that morning.
99
27th. Monday. Rain a.m. Sun p.m.
100
Seoul home. The authorities celebrated the 30th anniversary of the great naval victory of the Japan Sea, over the Russian fleet.
102
28th. Tuesday. Beautiful.
103
Seoul home. A remarkable dream No. 2. Won Ik Sang was a leader of a band of Korean insurgents after the Annexation. Of course Won was wanted by the Japanese police very badly. Once he came to seoul secretly and hid himself in a friend's house. One morning as he leaned against a pile of cotton quilt he fell into a trance. An old man somewhat like his father came in and taking hold of his midbody with both hands gave him a sharp grip and said "What are you doing here when danger is all around you." Won who was always on his guard jumped up and putting on his hat, he ran out of the back door of the house and made for the hill. When he gained the top he looked down and saw his friend's house semicircled by a police cordon.
105
29th. Wednesday. Beautiful.
106
Seoul home. A remarkable dream No. 3. When I was in Tai Ku prison, a Japanese kobaship by name was one of my roommates. He told me that when he was about 20 he had visited Seoul and stopped at the Japanese Consulate. One night―possibly early in the morning―his father appeared to him and said "Your mother is waiting for you" and then disappeared. A few hours later he received a telegram from hismother that his father had died.
108
30th. Thursday. Beautiful.
109
Seoul home. 9:30 to 12. The Christian Messenger Board of Manager met at the C.L.S. Board Room to consider the recommendation from the Trustees of the C.L.S. That the Christian Messenger Board ask for the resignation of all members of Editorial Staff to take effect Sept. 30th and that the Board call a special meeting on or about Sept. 20th to elect a new Editor-in-Chief. Of 15 members of the C.M. Board only 9 were present. The Board being composed of the official representatives of the Korea Methodist Church, of the C.L.S, and of the non-official representatives of the Presbyterian Church(the Presbyterian General Assembly having refused to send officially elected representatives last year) it has not the full authority to express the official will of the two denominations. Again the Board of Managers had adopted a resolution to keep the Present Editor-in-Chief for 18 months until the next Presbyterian General Assembly. Hence it was adroitly argued by the Positive Band men that we had no reason to go back on our own resolution when the present Editor-in-Chief has made the paper a going concern since he came to the office. So it was moved and carried that we leave the whole question where it is until the next Presbyterian General Assembly acts.
111
31st. Friday. Beautiful.
112
Seoul home. 2:30 to 5 p.m. the Dedication Ceremony of the new buildings of Ewha College.
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