“Well!” I remember saying, as I stood perplexed, looking at the little hero, “if that does not beat all I have seen before, I do not know what can!”

Yes, for hard heads and for insensibility to pain, I cannot recommend to you better persons than the Coreans.  There are times when the Cho-sen children actually seem to enjoy themselves, as, for instance, during the month of January, when it is the fashion to have out their whipping- and spinning-tops.  With his huge padded trousers and short coat, just like a miniature man, except that the colour of his coat is red or green, and with one or two tresses hanging down his back, tied with long silk ribbons, every child you come across is at this season furnished with a big top and a whip, with which he amuses himself and his friends, slashing away from morn till night, until, tired out by the exertion, he goes to rest his weary little bones by his father’s side, still hanging on to the toys that have made his day so happy.  The Corean child is quiet by nature.  He is really a little man from the moment he is born, so far as his demeanour is concerned.  He is seldom rowdy, even when in the company of other children, and, if anything, rather shy and reserved.  He amuses himself with his toys in a quiet way, and his chief pleasure is to do what his father does.  In this he is constantly encouraged, and those who can afford it, provide their boys with toys, representing on a smaller scale the objects, &c., used in the everyday life of the man.  He has a miniature bow-and-arrow, a wooden sword, and a somewhat realistic straw puppet, which he delights in beheading whenever he is tired of playing with it and shooting his arrows into it.  He possesses a fishing-rod, and on windy days relishes a good run with the large paper pinwheels, a world-wide familiar toy in infantile circles.  Naturally, too, musical instruments, as well as the national means of conveyance, such as palanquins and wheel-chairs, have not escaped the notice of the Corean toy-manufacturer, who, it must be said, imitates the different objects to perfection in every detail, while, of course, considerably reducing them in size.  Other various articles of common use in the household are also often reproduced in a similar way.  The games that the children seem to enjoy most, however, seem to be the out-of-door ones.  Kite-flying is probably the most important.  Indeed, it is almost reduced to an art in Corea, and not only do small children go in for it extensively, but even the men take an active part in this infantile amusement.  The Corean kite differs from its Japanese or Chinese relative in that it is very small, being only about twenty inches long by fourteen wide.  Besides, instead of being flat on the frame, the Cho-senese kite is arched, which feature is said by the natives to give it a much greater flying capacity.