I discovered that a woman has a right to open and enter any door of a Corean house when she sees a foreign man appearing on the horizon, as the reputation of the masculine “foreign devil” is still far from having reached a high standard of morality in the minds of the gentler sex of Cho-sen.  In the main street and big thoroughfares, where at all times there are crowds of people, there is more chance of approaching them without this running away, for in Corea, as elsewhere, great reliance is placed on the saying that there is safety in numbers.  So it was mainly here that I made my first studies of the retiring ways and quaint costumes of the Corean damsel.

[Illustration:  A COREAN BEAUTY]

Yes, the costume really is quaint, and well it deserves to be described.  They wear huge padded trousers, similar to those of the men, their socks also being padded with cotton wool.  The latter are fastened tightly round the ankles to the trousers by means of a ribbon.  You must not think, however, that the dame of Cho-sen walks about the streets attired in this manly garment, for over these trousers she wears a shortish skirt tied very high over the waist.  Both trousers and skirt are generally white, and of silk or cotton according to the grade, position in life, and extravagance of those who wear them.  A tiny jacket, usually white, red, or green, completes the wardrobe of most Corean women; one peculiarity of which is that it is so short that both breasts are left uncovered, which is a curious and most unpractical fashion, the climate of Corea, as we have already seen, being exceedingly cold—­much colder than Russia or even Canada.  The hair, of which the women have no very great abundance, is very simply made up, plastered down flat with some sort of stenching oil, parted in the middle, and tied into a knot at the back of the head, pretty much in the same way as clergymen’s wives ordinarily wear it.  A heavy-looking silver or metal pin, or sometimes two, may also be found inserted in this knot as an ornament.  I have often seen young girls and old women wear a curious fur cap, especially in winter, but this cannot be said to be in general use.  It is in the shape of the section of a cone, the upper part of which is covered with silk, while the lower half is ornamented with fur and two long silk ribbons which hang at the back and nearly reach the ground when the cap is worn.  The upper part of this cap, curiously enough, is open, and on either side of the hole thus formed there are two silk tassels, generally red or black in colour.  When smartly worn, this cap is quite becoming, but unfortunately, whether this be worn or not, the modest maiden of Cho-sen covers her head and face with a long green sort of an overall coat which she uses as a mantilla or hood, throwing it over the head and keeping it closed over the face with the left hand.