ances the bridegroom must just patiently wait until,
perhaps, years after, the bride undertakes the journey herself and comes
to live with him in his house.

After all, on thinking the matter over and bearing in mind that with us a
marriage is indeed _a_ lottery, I cannot see why the Corean wedding
should not be equivalent to _two_ lotteries! Very often, weddings are
arranged by letter, in which case misunderstandings frequently occur. For
instance, a father who has two daughters, a sound one and a cripple, may
have arranged for the one in good condition to be married to a charming
young man of good education and means. When the day of the wedding,
however, arrives, judge of the surprise of the bridegroom to see himself
on the point of being united in matrimony with a humpback lame creature,
with a face and limbs all out of drawing--in place of the ideal beauty
whom he had expected to obtain. What is to be done? There is the written
agreement, down in black and white, and signed by his incautious father,
and there the father of the maid swearing that it was "this" daughter he
meant to give him, not the beautiful one! What is to be done under such
circumstances so as not to cause grief to his parent, except to go
through with the wedding with courage and dignity, and to provide himself
with some good-looking concubines at the earliest opportunity?

The practice of having concubines is a national institution and of the
nature of polygamy. These second wives are not exactly recognised by the
Government, but they are tolerated and openly allowed. The legal wife
herself is well aware of the fact, and, though not always willing to have
these rivals staying under the same roof, she does not at all object to
receiving them and entertaining them in her own quarters--if her lord and
master orders her to do so. There are, nevertheless, strong-minded women
in the land of Cho-sen, who resent the intrusion of these thirds, and
family dissension not unfrequently results from the husband indulging in
such conduct. Should the wife abandon her master's roof in despair he can
rightfully have her brought back and publicly spanked with an instrument
like a paddle, a somewhat severe punishment, which is apt to bring back
to reason the most ill-tempered and strong-willed woman. Such a thing,
though, very seldom happens, for, as women go, the Corean specimens of
feminine humanity seem to be very sensible, and not much given to
jealousy or to w