Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/87

Rh holds the women of the upper class with a never-ending grip- They go where they please, without regard to being seen by men, wearing no covering over their faces as do the other women. They are all married, their husbands usually being servants about the house of their master. The question naturally arises as to how these women became slaves, and thus in some sense members of another family. Professor Hulbert tells us in "The Passing of Korea" that there are four ways by which a free woman may become a slave:

First. When a woman finds that she is without any means of support, and sees no way of obtaining the same, she may of her own free will sell herself to any one that may wish to buy, she receiving so much cash and giving the purchaser a title to her own person. This may be done for the sake of raising ready cash to conduct a funeral or to support some aged relative who may be dependent on her. This class of slaves may at any time redeem themselves by paying back the exact amount received for themselves in the first place.

Second. Formerly when a man was convicted of treason or counterfeiting he was either executed or banished and the female members of his family given by the government to high officials.

Third. The eldest daughter of a slave takes the place of her mother, and is called a "seed slave," while the younger daughters go free. There being no male slaves, the sons of the slave woman are freeborn and owe nothing to the master of their mother. In case the eldest daughter dies while the mother is living, the next oldest must succeed her mother as a slave, and so on to the youngest.

Fourth. The last way in which a woman may become a slave is by giving her person to a master for the sake of having a place to live and food to eat. She receives nothing in