Gate. Some of
them were crying. They were not allowed to look up or speak. The driver, a
Korean, took advantage of a moment when the attention of their guard was
attracted to whisper a word of encouragement. "Don't be discouraged and
make your bodies weak. You are not yet condemned. This is only to break
your spirits."

The prison outside the West Gate is a model Japanese jail. There were women
officials here. It seemed horrible to the girls that they should be made to
strip in front of men and be examined by them. Probably the men were prison
doctors. But it was evidently intended to shame them as much as possible.
Thus one girl relates that, after her examination, "I was told to take my
clothes and go into another room. One woman went with me, about a hundred
yards or more away. I wanted to put my clothes on before leaving the room,
but they hurried me and pushed me. I wrapped my skirt about my body before
I went out, and carried the rest of my clothes in my arms. After leaving
this room, and before reaching the other, five Korean men prisoners passed
us."

For the first week the girls, many of them in densely crowded cells, were
kept in close confinement. After this, they were allowed out for fifteen
minutes, wearing the prisoners' hat, which comes down over the head, after
breakfast. Their food was beans and millet It was given to the
accompaniment of jeers and insults. "You Koreans eat like dogs and cats,"
the wardresses told them.

The routine of life in the prison was very trying. They got up at seven.
Most of the day they had to assume a haunched, kneeling position, and
remain absolutely still, hour after hour. The wardresses in the corridors
kept close watch, and woe to the girl who made the slightest move. "They
ordered us not to move a hand or a foot but to remain perfectly still,"
wrote one girl. "Even the slightest movement brought down every kind of
wrath. We did not dare to move even a toe-nail."

One unhappy girl, mistaking the call of an official in the corridor,
"I-ri-ma sen" for a command to go to sleep, stretched out her leg to lie
down. She was scolded and severely punished. Another closed her eyes in
prayer. "You are sleeping," called the wardress. In vain the girl replied
that she was praying. "You lie," retorted the polite Japanese lady. More
punishment!

After fifteen days in the prison outside the West Gate, some of the girls
were called in the office. "Go, but be very careful not to repe