Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/84

 CHAPTER VI.

The Village Family.

the preparation of my outline I had written as a heading for one chapter, "The Village Home." When I came to think how little could be said on the subject of home, as the reader understands that word, I decided that it was only necessary to treat the subject under the above heading. It is rather a big undertaking to write about a thing that does not exist even in name; and this being the case in regard to the home, I have dropped it as a subject for a chapter. I would not leave the impression that there are no homes in Korea, as people here understand the relations of family life. The fact remains, nevertheless, that there is not a word in the language that has in it the true idea of home. Some time ago one of the missionaries was translating hymns, and when she came to "Home, Sweet Home," she could not find a word for home. The nearest she could come to it is the word "chip," which means a mud hut with a straw-thatched roof on it. That is the common word for house. To most of the missionaries that word "chip" did not contain much of the sentiment of that dear old word "home." However, there was nothing else to do but to take things as they were, and not as we thought they ought to be. Some years went by, and a committee was appointed to revise the hymn book. I happened to be, a member of that committee; so when we came to "Home, Sweet Home," we said, "We don't like 'chip,'" (72)