Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/436

 final award was only occasionally a just one. The element of luck entered very largely into the event, and there is only too much evidence that " pull " had still more to do than fortune. And yet, in every examination, out of a score of successful candidates two or three at least were honestly chosen. It was the narrow chance of becoming one of this small fraction that brought thousands of men up from the country.

When the paper was finished, the writer inscribed his name in the lower corner, and then slit the paper up a little way and folded the name in and pasted it. The examiners were not supposed to know the name of any writer until after the merits of his paper were passed upon. After writing his name, the candidate rolled his paper up and threw it like a lance over a barrier or fence made of spears stuck in the ground. When the names of the successful ones were posted the following morning, they were dressed up in gala attire, and paraded about the streets of the capital on horseback, and received the congratulations of their friends. If the fortunate man was a countryman, his village went en fete in his honour. This system of examinations was discarded ten years ago.

As education had to do so largely with the mastery of the Confucian classics, it went hand in hand with religion, and, though there was no genuine educational bureau, the Sung-gyungwan, or Confucian School, in Seoul might be called the centre of education for the country, just as the Royal Academy in England is the centre of English art. This Confucian School still exists as a sort of honorary institution, to which recognised scholars are appointed by the Emperor, but without emolument and without any duties to perform. It is not a school in any real sense, but a sort of scholastic club or college.

For the past ten years education has occupied a place of greater honour, and the Educational Department is coordinate with that of War, Finance, Law, Agriculture or Foreign Affairs. The small sum appropriated shows, however, its relative status. Education receives twenty thousand dollars, while an almost