his own manner-I think they are almost his own words-he hoped to reach the heart of the Corean nation by compelling the gratitude of the individual. This was to be the leaven which he believed would, after many years, leaven the whole mass of the people. He endeavored to do this in three special directions, by which he hoped to strike at the root of great though non-political evils.

The husbandry of the Corean is still in the most primitive condition, and the subdivision of the land into fragments, more properly to be described as small "takings" than small holdings, wasteful in the extreme, owing to the great breadth of the division mounds. Almost before he had entered formally into the office of Resident-General, Ito saw in the improvement of the condition of the peasant farmer a legitimate means of reaching the heart of the people. A tract of land was purchased in the midst of an agricultural district twenty miles from Seoul, and a Station Agronomique established. The hopeless maze of subdivisions, the boundary lines of which ran haphazard in all directions, were replaced by regularly partitioned holdings on the Japanese model, and the boundary-mounds reduced by half, thus increasing by an appreciable percentage the land per acre under cultivation. A capable director and staff were appointed, and the whole put into cultivation as if it belonged to an ordinary proprietor. An exhibition of agricultural appliances of the most modern type was added; classes were formed in every branch of husbandry, special attention being paid to veterinary science, and a certain number of resident pupils were admitted on payment of a small fee, and housed in comfortable quarters in the Corean style. It was a model farm of the most approved type, and the farmers were invited to come whenever they liked to observe

and ask questions, seeds and produce being distributed among them. In order that their primitive minds should be satisfied that there was no deception, only the seeds produced on the farm were given to them, the promise of better crops being conveyed to them through the medium of samples of the old and of the improved products placed in the exhibition for comparison. Thus the fact was borne in upon them that these larger and better fruits came from soil identical with their own, and that without resort to witchcraft they could if they chose sow and reap like fruits. Finally, in order that their minds might be cleared of all suspicion that they were receiving fearsome gifts from the Greeks, the whole institution, director, staff and all, was made over by deed of gift to the Corean Government, by which it is now maintained. At first a few only of the more venturesome spirits hazarded the wrath of their deities, took the seeds, and, still somewhat sceptic, sowed them, in due course reaping, some twenty-fold and some fifty-fold; and some, the persistent ones, whose faith increased in proportion to their profits. in the second crop a hundred-fold. And so the wonder grew, the tale being told on cold evenings to the stranger from a faraway farm, sitting on the wellwarmed floor-for under the new system provision of costly fuel was abundant-and he, too, desired a similar increase to his worldly goods and comfort. The classes, too, were well attended, the unlearned taking the place of the learned as they went back to their family farms. Farmers came in ever-increasing numbers, for the prosperity of the model farm itself bore witness to the supernatural excellence of the new methods. So the Ito legend grew, spreading from farm to farm throughout the country; and with it came also the dawning in many of the humbler Corean minds that no enemy

had done this, but one who wished them only good, and who certainly had a wonderful power, far beyond witches, which he was willing to impart to them without fee for witchcraft, of compelling their land to yield them greater increase.

The Corean youth, like his elder, loves to saunter through the streets, with long pauses at the corners, and is not much addicted to labor; he often becomes a bridegroom in his tenderest years, wearing a specially quaint headgear to distinguish him from his fellows, with which work is quite inconsistent. The Corean generally is a brooder by profession; and sauntering and pausing at street corners, coupled with brooding, is not good for discontented souls. Better employment could be found, even from their own point of view, if the younger generation could be induced to work with profit to themselves. A Technical Institute, with arts and crafts classes, was therefore established in Seoul, where practical instruction is given in the simplest of the applied arts of the carpenter, the tinsmith, the leather worker, and in the manufacture, by way of beginning, of the simpler things, buckets, for example, which civilized folk have long used, and the Corean householder has long lacked, the net profits of sales going to the workman. Thus the Corean youth learnt the elementary truth that the best workman gets the best returns for his work. So here, again, in due course of simple lectures, the unskilled took the place of the skilled artisan, as he went out into the world of Seoul and sold his wares profitably; and here, again, there was no deception, no room for suspicion, no fee for witchcraft, and the Ito legend grew.

In the same spirit the Exhibition of Arts and Crafts was opened at Seoul in the autumn of 1907, at which the malevolent critic exercised his art and craft of scoffing to the full. For was

not the object of the Exhibition palpable to impose Japanese goods on the unwilling Corean purchaser? Even if it were so, that purchaser would not make bad bargains, for, so at least some of us think, Japanese goods have many virtues. Taking the critic's estimate of the ulterior object, there was not much harm in it, and Japan in this would only have been following one of the ways of the world, which fosters commerce by all means, some more legitimate than others. But the real object of the Exhibition was twofold: to show the Coreans what the Japanese could do, and incite them to exhibit their own work and so foster its sale. It failed, almost of necessity, in this latter object, for I do not think that, with the exception of their specially tough floor-paper, there were any Corean exhibits. But the Government hopes for better things in the future. that the Corean cabinet-makers and brass-workers will exhibit in future Exhibitions, and the world become familiar with their wares. At first the number of visitors was not all that could be desired; but curiosity, fostered by those talks at street corners, came gradually to be excited, and during the closing days crowds of Coreans thronged the turnstiles, and the force of example, stronger than many precepts, may be looked to work by this means much good to the commerce of the country.

Prince Ito's direct attack on witchcraft, with which the country is literally gangrened, was through the medium of a hospital which he established on a healthy plain surrounded by pine trees in the environs of Seoul. Needless to say, it was up-to-date in all its appliances, and was liberally provided with a staff of proficient doctors and nurses. The Coreans could come or stay away as they liked; if they came they were treated with the same scrupulous care as the Japanese, for it was

a Corean, not a Japanese, institution. But compulsive necessity brought many and many a maimed peasant to its clean beds and well-ventilated wards, who, lying there helpless, had much time and much food for reflection. At first they wondered what special form of witchcraft was here at work on them. But gradually they appreciated the fact that the witches, in snowwhite uniforms and with kindly faces, were gentler in their methods, certainly eased their pain more rapidly, than those to which they had been so long accustomed. They did unpleasant things sometimes against which they were too feeble to rebel, but it was often to the accompaniment of pleasanter dreams than they had ever had before, which they seemed capable of evoking at will; and then the clean beds were pleasant to lie upon and induced restful sleep at nights. And when the time for leaving came, all the wonders which the new medicinemen had wrought were recounted to the family; so the poorest homes became centres whence the Ito legend spread, and the witch-power in the land was being gradually, slowly, it is true, but surely undermined. However slow the process of regeneration, so that it was effective, Ito never neglected any means of bringing it about, even though he knew that it wanted more than all that remained to him of his own life to compass it entirely.

And the Royal House, too, fell under the potency of the legend. Great dismay was caused in the breasts of the old Emperor and the Lady Om, when the idea was broached that the little Crown Prince should go to Japan to be educated: consternation when it was carried out, much fostered by the allwise critic. Some said one thingthat he was to be held as a hostage for Corean good behaviour-and some said another: why Japanese education-the Prince ought undoubtedly to have been

sent to England! And his mother, the Lady Om, being in sore perplexity, called her familiar soothsayer, and, lining his purse with gold. bid him go to his mountain, consult the spirits and the stars, and report whether this thing should bring good or evil to her son. So the man retired to the mountain, and pondered what it were best for him to say; for he was wise enough to see among the signs of the times one which specially affected him: that the days of his witchcraft were nearly numbered, and that he had better add to his hoard without delay. So, the question being a delicate one, more time was necessary before the stars could give their answer: also more gold. Alas for the uncertainty of hu man calculations, a cable from the Crown Prince to his mother, telling her how much he was enjoying himself in Tokyo, and how gracious his reception had been by the members of the Imperial family of Japan, and sending an affectionate message to his own family. destroyed the power of the evil sayer of smooth things for ever. He now lives in peaceful but opulent retirement.

I must note one further recollection of those pleasant days in Seoul, which showed how consistent Prince Ito was in working out his personal policy of reconciliation. A wealthy "itizen of the United States had devoted a considerable sum to the foundation of quarters in Seoul for the Young Men's Christian Association, but a large sum was still wanted for endowment. The principal tenet of that admirable body, undenominational "Honour the King," appealed to the Resident-General. He realized that if it should get a hold on the minds of any considerable body of the rising generation of Coreans, it would be a powerful assist ant in his policy of working to the gen eral through the individual. He therefore gave the Association his personal

an

support, and persuaded the Corean Government to contribute largely to the endowment fund. But he made it very plain that the King he desired young Corea to honor was their own hereditary Sovereign.

The opening ceremony lives in my memory as it must in the minds of all who witnessed it. It was a brilliantly sunny afternoon, and all Seoul, seeing much bunting, turned out to see the show. The Corean loves shows; processions appeal greatly to his mind, chiefly because they mean at least two hours' rest from thoughts of labor, with loitering in the streets instead. But this show was to be somewhat remarkable, even for the dwellers in Seoul, for it had been bruited abroad that something out of the common was to be done, as indeed the display of bunting testified. Prince Ito had devised a little object-lesson for them. The idea had been conceived-I think the Prince had a good deal to do with it-that two corner-stones should be laid, instead of the usual foundationstone, one by the Crown Prince, the other by himself. The dedication ceremony was much the same as it would have been in Europe, with hymns and prayers appropriate to the occasion, and speeches, of gift and acceptance, in which that duty of honoring the King was largely emphasized. In witness whereof, when both stones were well and truly laid, the little Crown Prince, in smart khaki uniform, stood by the veteran Resident-General (he was. in the family vernacular of the East, "Uncle" Ito even then to the boy), saluting the Corean national anthem. Around them white-clad Coreans, young and old, Bishop Turner in full canonicals, his clergy in surplices, and the frock-coated consular body, with the pennons of the guard of Japanese lancers fluttering in the breeze: as strange a concourse of people as the medley of music which the Imperial

Corean band performed. After the Corean came the Japanese national anthem, and after that again the "Hallelujah Chorus."

The

I do not think that the object-lesson failed in reaching some of the Corean crowd. Prince Ito was anxious to wean the Crown Prince from the fatal influence of the hangers-on of the Palace, and also, although he was barely twelve years old, that he should take his part in all public functions. occasion of the Y. M. C. A. ceremony was an eminently appropriate one for him to take a leading part; and these two figures standing in the foreground of the picture personified to the Coreans their country under the friendly protection and guidance of the Japanese nation.

There was an element of the dramatic in Ito's nature, and to many critics but not too close observers of his methods, he seemed to have an inordinate love of display, an almost childish weakness for the decorations which the Sovereigns of all nations conferred upon him. Yet his outlook on the decorative side of his high position was eminently sane. In that position he took the keenest delight, knowing that he had triumphantly achieved it. And he looked upon decorations as if they really were orders of chivalry, the bestowal of them by foreign Sovereigns a token of their admiration of such an achievement. I remember him at a lunch given by the Italian Consul-General at Seoul in honor of the birthday of Queen Margharita. In proposing her health Ito made a charming little speech in English, displaying a perfect knowledge of the great human qualities which distinguished Her Majesty. recalling the days he had spent in Italy, and the cordial welcome he had received from the King and Queen. There was no trace of those baser elements which sometimes disfigure such speeches; he spoke of Sover