Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/78

66 hand dipping the water and pouring it over the clothes which they beat with a stick in the other hand. Even the deep wells are like Jacob's in that there is "nothing to draw with," and every one must bring her own rope and bucket. In many of our villages there are no wells, but a near-by running stream supplies water for all purposes.

Usually there is but one street in the village, and it is the common country road or path that happened to pass that way. The first house in the village was located on this path, and all since that time have been strung along the same way. Of course in the larger villages there are back alleys and houses that do not front on the main street. Many of these village houses are wine shops and inns, and for this purpose are best when located right on the street. In many of them the window shutters are simply opened out from the top and so propped up as to make a lunch counter at which the hungry traveler may stop and take a meal without leaving the road. Many of these enterprising innkeepers have a brush arbor built in front of their houses with mats spread out to invite the tired traveler to stop and rest, of course with the hope that while he rests he will also eat and drink. There is always a fire pot with its smoldering fire kept burning for the use of those who wish to light the pipe.

What in America would be called the back yard is always the front yard in our village. That is to say, the pigpen and all other outhouses that would be found in the back yard or in the garden of an American home are here found in the street or in the front