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ground, on one side of which is a low building containing quite a large
number of small cells, where the candidates are examined. The examination
day is one of the sights of Seoul. It is more like a country fair than an
exhibition of literary skill. The noise is something appalling. On the
grounds, thousands of candidates, accompanied by their parents and
friends, squat in groups, drinking, eating and gambling. Here is a group
of them drinking each other's health; there on blankets a few are lying
flat on their backs basking in the sun, and waiting for their turn to be
called up before the examiners. Huge red and yellow umbrellas are planted
in the ground by enterprising merchants, who sell sweets, a kind of
pulled toffy being one of their specialities; while others, at raised
prices, dispose of examination caps, ink, paper and aprons to those who
have come unprovided. Astrologers, too, drive a roaring trade on such
days, for the greatest reliance is placed on their prophecies by both
parents and students, and much money is spent by the latter, therefore,
in obtaining the opinion of these impostors. In many a case, the prophecy
given has been known to make the happiness--temporarily, of course--of
the bashful young student; and in many a case, also, by this means fresh
vigour has been instilled into a nervous man, so that, being convinced
that he is to be successful, he perseveres and very often does succeed.

One of these examinations, the highest of all, is a real landmark in a
man's career. If the student is successful, he is first employed in some
lower official capacity either by the Government, the palace authorities
or some of the magistrates. If he is plucked, then he can try again the
following year. Some try year after year without success, in the hope of
being permitted to earn an honest living at the nation's expense, and
grow old under the heavy study of ancient Chinese literature.

The King in person assists at the oral examinations of the upper degree.
Those of the two lower degrees are superintended by princes who sit with
the examiners, and report to His Majesty on the successes of the
different candidates.

It is generally the sons of the nobles and the upper classes all over the
kingdom who are put up for these examinations; those of the lower spheres
are content with a smattering of arithmetic and a general knowledge of
the alphabet, and of the proper method of holding the writing brush,
sometime