This paper analyzes the symbiotic and mutually reinforcing relationship between the anti-American movement and other social movements in democratic South Korea since 1987.

Proposing a new typology of anti-Americanism, the paper formulates and develops an argument that the anti-American movement has substantially contributed to the success and survival of South Korea’s social movements. The anti-American movement should not be classified as one of the many social movements active in South Korea; rather, it is a special movement that performs various functions integral to the rise, expansion, unity, and success of social movements in general. The collaboration of the anti-American movement and other social movements is also transforming the character of the anti-American movement itself.

The metamorphosis of the anti-American movement into diverse new social movements makes it more sophisticated, accessible, appealing, open, and flexible. Thus transformed, the anti-American movement will likely provide an important source of vitality for civic engagement and make significant contributions to South Korean democracy.

Here is the primary thesis of the piece noted in the opening paragraphs:

The main argument formulated and developed in this paper is that the anti-American movement has contributed to the success and survival of South Korea’s social movements at large in the politics of democratic consolidation and deepening since 1987. The anti-American movement is not just one of the many social movements in South Korea. Rather, it is a special movement that performs various functions helpful to the rise, expansion, unity, and success of social movements in general.

One article from this year I thought some might be interested in is:

Contemporary Korean Society Viewed through the Lens of the Candlelight Vigils of 2008 , HAN Do-Hyun

I don’t care to write a fuller post on it, however…

The fight occurred in front of the capitol as the demonstrators attempted to march toward the presidential mansion about half a mile away.

More than forty opposition members of the National Assembly were at the head of the crowd of only a few hundred as it started to march from the city hall plaza in defiance of a government warning yesterday.  But the number of demonstrators increased to about 2,000 during the two hour street parade.

At least one policeman was beaten and members of the crowd took some policemen’s hats and tossed them into the air.  Scores of demonstrators were taken to police stations in buses.

11 Apr   Rioting Renewed on Korean Vote

Bloody political riots broke out again last night in Masan a troubled port city.

News reports said one 18-year old and possibly another youth had been killed and 14 policemen injured as anti-government demonstrators burned police vehicles and set fire to official buildings in a protest over the conduct of the controversial elections March 15.

The police chief of Masan was reported to be in critical condition as a result of a beating by angered students.  Eight other policemen were said to be in serious condition.

14 Apr     Korea City in Grip of Fear and Fury

As night falls, Masan becomes a city of complete darkness under a blackout enforced on 150,000 residents.  Troublesome areas are patrolled by 700 heavily armed policemen, most of who were brought from nearby towns to help control the persistent outbreaks of violent political unrest.

Masan’s crusaders for “clean politcs” acquired a powerful emotional symbol Monday when a fisherman discovered the mangled body of Kim Joo-Yul in the Masan harbor.  This 16 year old honor student had been preparing to enter a Masan commercial high school.  He had been missing since the election day outbreak here in which students took a prominent part.

An article on the 17th states the boy had part of a tear gas canister embedded in his skull…

This Wikipedia article lists the discovery of the boy’s body as the start of the eventual fall of Rhee.

What I find interesting is how such an event can become the focal point of a mass movement helping – giving it strength.  I guess it helps organize and maintain the energy of enough people to build momentum necessary to foment change.

You see "leaders of movements of all stripes trying to find these seemingly magical events that will help them pull in average people and ignite emotions.

Part of what I mean is — There were more than a couple of people shot and killed by police during the riot on election day…

…This boy wasn’t killed by an aimed bullet.  He wasn’t beaten to death by the police.  He apparently got hit in the head with a falling tear gas canister.  But his death is the one that was able to pool and focus the energy of Korean citizens across the nation who were unhappy with Rhee’s rule…

Tearing down the rear wall of the hospital compound, thousands broke through the police guard to view the body, which was taken as evidence of police brutality.

Several hundred students and other demonstrators wrecked all six city police buildings Monday night.  Masan’s police chief was beaten nearly to death and his jeep burned by a group reported to have consisted largely of infuriated mothers.

Activity today began with a march of more than 300 high school girls carrying flowers to the hospital where Kim Joo Yul’s body was enshrined. 

Policemen, who by now had new orders to “get tough,” broke up this demonstration with a fusillade of harmless rifle shots overhead and the use of fire hoses squirting clouds of red dye.

Screaming and weeping girls, all dressed in the spotless dark uniform of their school, retreated with pigtails flying.  But they kept their solid line, which blocked the street from wall to wall as they fell back before the shower of red liquid.

16 Apr      Police in 4 Cities Disperse Anti-Rhee Demonstrators

In Masan, where 3 persons were killed and scores injured Monday, 500 students attempted to stage new protests today. 

The police broke up similar demonstrations in Chinju, 30 miles west of here, and at Pusan, 28 miles to the east.

17 Apr      Seoul Says Reds Fomented Riots

Whether communists were responsible for this week’s bloody riots in the port city of Masan has become the subject of a lively controversy, centered in  South Korea’s National Assembly.

The next couple of paragraphs highlight exchanges of accusations by Rhee and the opposition – particularly the Hanguk Ilbo newspaper.

The newspaper was alluding to the killing of 8 persons on election day when the police fired on a crowd of demonstrators against alleged voting irregularities in Masan.  5 policemen are under arrest in connection with the shooting, and the government has announced that 56 charges of police torture are being investigated.

19 Apr     Seoul Police Kill or Wound 30 Rioters at Rhee Palace

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators surging toward Pres. Rhee’s palace were repulsed today by 45 minutes of police rifle fire.  Up to 30 persons were believed killed or wounded. 

University students formed a large part of the mob.

A reporter said he saw more than 2 dozen students in school uniforms bleeding from wounds, some crawling down the street near the presidential mansion.

Students protesting the government has a long history in Korea’s Confucianistic society:  In the Chosun Dynasty, idealistic students studying in the national academy in Seoul would sometimes join members of the Censorate Bureau in sit-in strikes in front of the main palace.  The Censorate was an idealistic branch of the government overseeing all aspects of Korean governance – from the written documents to the personal acts of the king and ministers.  Their seal was necessary for government transactions. 

  Guards opened fire after the throng had crashed through a barbedwire fence 60 yards from the gate at the foot of a hill on which the mansion stands.

Thronds of demonstrators roamed the streets of Seoul, almost at will, staying away only from the immediate approaches of the mansion.

Seoul was in turmoil as crowds – mostly student – demonstrated at other points in the city.

About half a mile from the palace a mob invaded the National Capitol grounds, smashing more than half the windows of the Education, Reconstruction, and Supply Ministry buildings.

At least 30 persons, 15 of them policemen, were injured yesterday when the waves of anti-government demonstrations spread to Seoul and two other cities.

20 Apr

The US sternly rebuked the South Korean Government today, accusing it of adopting “repressive measures unsuited to a free democracy.”

This is interesting if you consider the significant number of articles this same month on warming relations between Korea and Japan – including significant steps to initiate trade and formal government relations.  This was something the US wanted to see happen but many in Korean society didn’t due to the still very fresh memories of Japanese colonial rule.

So, Rhee’s government was finally making key steps Washington favored and now this rebuke on the domestic front…

The unusual protest, possibly one of the most severe ever made to a friendly and allied government, was delivered by Sec. of State Christian A. Herter to Seoul’s Ambassador, You Chan Yang.

By its actions today, the US appeared to accept as valid the charges by critics that the election was rigged and undemocratic.

One thing to probably keep in mind is that Pres. Eisenhower was due to visit Seoul in the near future – and – that he had come under fire the month before for supporting dictators in third world countries…

The Secretary warned of the unfavorable reaction likely to result from the bloodshed and violence occurring in Korea.  he said this was likely to produce a serious weakening of South Korea’s international standing.

True.  On the flip-side, making such a public statement of this by the US can’t avert sending a signal to the Korean government opposition that fomenting insurrection is likely to pay off…

…I can think of quotes from people in Kwangju in 1980.  Some of the older leaders tried to talk the protesters into dispersing before the last showdown – some days after the initial killings.  But, by this time, younger, more idealistic leaders had gained control and were said to welcome martyr status – in large part because it would send a message around the world and to Washington…And they were at least partly correct:  The US attitude toward the rising Chun presidency did not change to the point Chun was dethroned, but within Korean society, memories of Kwangju did eventually lead to the fall of Chun’s successor some years later…

20 Apr     UN Releases Korean Division

  Since the Kwangju Massacre in 1980, the UN release of military units for martial law has been used by many Koreans as proof the US was to blame for the killings that occurred.

20 Apr     US Played Big Role in Shaping The History of Korea Since 1905

Long article.  Interesting date to start with:  Pretty much from 1905 to 1945, the US had no direct influence on Korea, because it was dominated by colonial Japan.  Of course, after 1945, the US had a major influence on Korea…

20 Apr     Turmoil in South Korea

South Korea has been wept by mass riots amounting to an incipient insurrection.  Starting with irresponsible student demonstrations, these riots have snowballed to involve tens of thousands in the country’s major cities and have already cost more than fourscore lives and injuries to hundreds.

Most of the rioters are in no sense communists.  But communist agents help to incite them and, what is more important, they are openly backed by revolutionary propaganda broadcast by the communist regimes of NK and China…

[Fury of the opposition party] turns rather against Vice President Lee, who displaced the Democratic incumbent and whose election does, indeed, appear to have been steamrolled to assure a Liberal successor should anything happen to the 85 year old President. 

21 Apr   Rhee’s Ministers Resign

The articles now are accompanied by pictures taken at the scene of the riots and showing troops marching in the capitol.

22 Apr     US Calls on Rhee to Enact Reform of Korea Politics

This article too has echoes of Kwangju 1980 for me:

As an immediate first step in the present crisis, the US urged Rhee to order a halt to police brutality in dealing with rioters.  At least 115 persons were killed in the rioting this week, most of them by police bullets.

It was in part to bring an end to police excesses that the US agreed to release the Korean 15th Division for temporary duty in Seoul, it was learned…It also seems clear that the people were willing to accept army orders without the bitterness they showed toward the police, who are widely hated in Korea.

The hatred of the police is probably a holdover to colonial rule — and the fact that colonial-style policing continued in the sharply divided society post-1945.

Of course, in 1980, the Special Forces unit, not just the police, were the ones who carried out most of the killings – which prompted the release of different units to replace them later on.  (Contrary to popular wisdom in Korea, the Special Forces were not under the UN chain of command and did not need to be released before being sent to Kwangju.)

Officials in Washington also doubted the fierce resentment aroused throughout South Korea could be eased by anything less than the holding of new election for Vice Presidency.

In 1956, Mr. Chang [the opposition candidate] had defeated Mr. Lee.  Mr. Lee, ill and confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk or even to talk at times, did not campaign this year.  Yet he won in every district, including those in heavily populated cities where the opposition has its principle support.

22 Apr     Rhee Summons Elder Statesmen for Conference on Korea Crisis

The National Assembly broke up in a scuffle this morning as opposition members attempted to pull Defense Minister Kim Chung Yul from the rostrum after he had stated that Tuesday’s mass killings were the result of students firing on the police.

…Seizing Mr. Kim by the arms, the opposition leaders demanded he retract his statement.  Several members of the governing Liberal party also surged onto the stage to assist the struggling defense chief.

According to official figures, which are believed to be highly conservative, 115 died in the mass student-led uprising against alleged election irregularities.

23 Apr   

Pres. Rhee was authoritatively said today to have agreed to a government reorganization and the establishment of a new system of “cabinet responsibility” in which the president’s office would become a more or less ceremonial position.

Reliable sources said Lee had definitely decided to give up the vice presidency.

It should be noted, according to qualified Korean informants, that the ground for the apparently successful pleas of Mr. Huh and Mr. Pyun [to get Pres. Rhee to move toward reform] had been prepared by the US Amb Walter P. McConaughy, in a 90 minute visit with Rhee Thursday.  The scholarly-looking envoy, who plays chamber music on the clarinet for relaxation, had followed up a strong note from Sec. of State Herter by frankly outlining the obvious causes of national discontent to the president.

They told him communist agitation had played no significant part in the rioting.  Mr. Pyun said the students who are now national heroes, had accomplished what the rest of us could not in arousing the nation to the declining state of civil liberties.

23 Apr     Rhee Emphasized Strong Executive

A review of Rhee’s political life.

24 Apr  Rhee to Give Up His Party Post, Keep Presidency

24 Apr     Shake Up Imminent

Pres. Rhee went yesterday to Seoul National University Hospital, where a number of students are under treatment for gunshot wounds suffered in Tuesday’s uprising.  The President was reported to have commiserated with each injur4ed student personally and to have donated a substantial amount for the victims’ welfare.

Reliable sources indicate that General Song and others not actively associated with recent political developments have emerged suddenly as close advisors to the president since Tuesday’s bloody outbreaks.  They have apparently displaced an old guard group of the Liberal party, headed by Mr. Lee.

The coverage of Rhee’s fall will extend through the period in which Park Chung-Hee and other young generals staged a coup that removed those who rose at Rhee’s downfall.

General Song was quoted in The Korean Republic as having said yesterday that so far no evidence had been found that communists were behind last Tuesday’s demonstrations.

23 Apr     Koreans in Tokyo Attack Rhee Aide

Korean demonstrators, angered by police violence in their homeland, kicked and manhandled Amb. Yiu Tai Ha in his office today and forced from him a promise to resign.

I find it hard to believe there was no communist influence involved — given two facts:  what communist theory taught about infiltration – including youth groups – and fomenting of revolution – and – what connections were uncovered within South Korean society going back into the Japanese colonial period.  (And especially the widespread communist activity within the Korean community in Japan.)

More than 60 Koreans, mostly students, picketed in New York yesterday against the policies of Pres. Rhee.

25 Apr     Korea Held Democratic

Riots in Seoul, Korea, last week were cited yesterday by Col. Ben C. Limb, South Korean Delegate to the UN, as evidence that the country enjoys democracy.

It certainly wouldn’t happen in North Korea.

26 Apr     Police Open Fire

Pres. Rhee announced today that he would resign “if the people desire” following a night of frenzied display of public anger against his regime.

In a renewal of violence today a large crowd of students was reported to have attacked a police station in the East Gate sector of downtown Seoul.  Eye-witnesses said that the police opened fire on the demonstrators.  According to the eyewitness versions of the incident, student casualties ranged from seven to twenty.  It was believed at least one person had been killed.

Rushing upon the frightened policemen, the students set fire to the station, which had burned almost completely by midafternoon.

Throughout last night the capital had an appearance of near-revolution as thousands of students, singing, chanting, and shouting anti-government slogans, marched through the streets.  Today the demonstrators virtually disregarded the bayonets of massed troops as they pressed their demands against the president.

The students commandeered jeeps and trucks, defying the military ban on all but essential traffic.

The demonstrations, which appeared to doom the 12 year old Rhee regime, began at 5 PM yesterday when about 300 faculty members from 27 universities and colleges marched to the steps of the National Assembly building.  They read a manifesto containing the demands that Dr. Rhee conceded today.

Rioters Save US Flag – 27 April 1960

Riotously jubilant students pillaged the home of a hated politician today, and one important item survived, a huge US flag.

A mob of students and street waifs hauled the flag from a broken chest at the wrecked house where Lee Ki Poong once lived.

Mr. Lee was Pres. Rhee’s running mate in the March 15 elections and had become a symbol of the rebellion against fraud at the polls.

Not long after this, Lee and family killed themselves. 27 April 1960

Rhee stepped down.  28 April 1960

Dr. Rhee and his Austrian-born wife left the presidential mansion early this afternoon to live as private citizens in a home he owns at the historic eastern gate of the city.

As is somewhat the case today, the political parties of 1960 Korea were those of personality – defined by individual leaders more than party principles.

Both the Liberal party, which Dr. Rhee founded, and the Opposition Democratic party appeared to be approaching the verge of disintegration.  both contain warring factions and neither has a leader who seems to possess popular appeal.

Active rebelling in Korea against Japanese rule, fostered by the Russian Bolsheviki, and characterized as “the beginning of a tremendous affair,” is in progress, according to official dispatches received today in Washington.  A recent clash between 2,000 Koreans, armed mainly by the Bolsheviki, and a Japanese army post of 700 men in Northern Korea, the message said, had resulted in the defeat of the Japanese, 300 of whom were killed and the remainder routed.  Details of the fight were not reported.

Other clashes with the small Japanese garrisons have occurred, the Japanese having been outnumbered and overwhelmed in nearly every case.

According to official information, Bolshevist authorities are in close touch with the Korean leaders and are making every effort to provide their troops with adequate equipment.

12 Feb 1920 – Japanese Deny Moscow Reports of Japanese Evacuation

Military observers here were of the opinion that the insurgent movement, in all probability, would be confined to guerrilla warfare along the frontier of Korea and China, which is very mountainous and sparsely inhabited.

Several independence manifestations by Koreans occurred last night in Seoul.  It is rumored that a declaration of independence has been signed by prominent Koreans.

All the officers of the recently formed “Women’s Patriotic League” have been taken into custody. 

13 Jan 1920

A Korean National Army has crossed the Siberian frontiers into Korea and has captured En Chin from the Japanese Provisional Government forces, according to a cablegram from Shanghai to the Korean National Association here.

9 Feb 1920

Active rebellion in Korea against Japanese rule, fostered by the Russian Bolsheviki, and characterized as “the beginning of a tremendous affair,” is in progress, according to official dispatches received today in Washington.

A recent clash between 2,000 Koreans, armed mainly by the Bolsheviki, and a Japanese army post of 700 men in Northern Korea, the message said, had resulted in defeat of the Japanese, 300 of whom were killed and the remainder routed.

According to official information, Bolshevist authorities are in close touch with the Korean leaders and are making every effort to provide their troops with adequate equipment.

Reports received here recently said the entire length of the branch of the Siberian Railroad running from Vladivostok west through Northern Manchuria had come under Bolshevist influence and that a movement was on foot to organize the local Bolshevist forces in combination with the numerous bands of Chinese brigands to invade Korea.

Three full Japanese divisions are in Korea, but it is said in Japanese circles that these have been so scattered to maintain order that they probably could offer little immediate resistance to an invasion.

[Report from London] Northern Korea has been evacuated by the Japanese, it is claimed in a wireless dispatch from Moscow today, quoting an Omsk message.  The population rose to aid Korean forces from Chinese territory, it is declared.

Officials here have known for some time that many thousands of Koreans who fled into Manchuria were meditating hostile action against Japan.  While there is no real Bolshevist feeling among these people, according to the authorities, they are so stirred by hostility to the Japanese that they probably are willing to join with any other elements in attacking them.

"[Japanese official] In regard to the Korean situation, I must first mention the primary object of annexation.  At that time the Japanese felt that the existing Korean administration was inadequate to life up the condition of the Koreans, develop their latent industrial capacity, and give them better educations. 

In annexing Korea it was our purpose to better the condition of the people without any idea of discrimination.  To my thinking, it is wrong to use the word colony for Korea, since it is a country with its own special historical development.  The recent unfortunate disturbance in Korea, which was due to lack of understanding, will turn out to be a great blessing to us, because it has aroused in us a renewed purpose to do our best for the improvement of Korean affairs.  I assure you there will be a remarkable change in the administration of Korea.”

The Baron [recently named the new head of the Japanese government in Korea] stated that it was his purpose to accord equal treatment to the Koreans in all respects, that much liberality would be shown them with reference to their own language, that the endeavor would be made to prevent all harshness and unkindness toward the people on the part of both officials and non-officials, and that he was planning to inaugurate a measure of self-government through the establishment of local popular assemblies.  He hoped that in the course of some years Korean representatives would be allowed to sit in the Japanese National Diet.  Baron Saito expressed high appreciation of the work of the missionaries, and said that their labors would be exceedingly helpful toward working out the welfare of the Korean people.

9 July 1922

10 Dec 1922

It’s an academic book – based on the author’s dissertation – but the close up look it gives of how power was wielded and contested in Chosun society is interesting to a more general audience, I think.  The author draws from Max Weber and looks at power-in-action at the highest level of society. 

If you look at the title of each chapter, you can get a good idea if it is something you’d be interested in.

CHAPTER ONE. The Monarchy And Ideology
I. Rectification of Name Theory and Korean Monarchy
II. Indoctrination of Monarch

CHAPTER TWO. The Monarchy and Decision Making
I. Constitution of The Decision-Making Body
II. Sphere of Conflict 

CHAPTER THREE. The Monarchy and The Historian
I. Historian’s Watch
II. Historical Notes
III. Compilation of Veritable Record

The king is supposed to be the father figure of the society in Confucianistic terms, but the book describes – in detail with personal examples – how Korean kings were forced by the scholar-officials to sit through demanding lessons on Confucianism and Confucian ethics, as well as lectures on how their (the king and his family and associates’) private actions (like too many falcon hunting trips) were detrimental to Confucianism and the health of the nation, to the point some kings chose to give up the thrown altogether — or so it seemed…

They would abdicate the throne in favor of the Crown Prince, but, because of Confucianism’s strong emphasis on filial piety, the father could expect his son to follow his advice — leaving the son to  “endure” the complaints and ideological brow-beating by the bureaucrats, while the father tried to relax behind the scenes.

Another thing I found interesting was how the usually youngish, idealistic officials of the Censorate could bring the entire government apparatus to a halt through sit-in strikes or simply refusing to put the Censorate’s signature on documents.

Reading this book, you get the sense that – really – times haven’t changed that much. 

The Korean (and Japanese) National Assembly has been known for its mass scrums on the house floor.  Britain has the PM questioning hour.  And the US just demonstrated its gridlock with the boondoggle marathon over raising the debt limit and spending cuts… 

“Every night I dream of the palace days,” Yi Seok began, in sometimes hesitant English. We leaned in. This is what we’d come to hear — the tale of a fortunate son born too late.

Yi Seok’s life story is best known for its low point and his rebirth: After decades of struggle, including immigrating illegally to the United States, he returned to Korea only to become homeless. In 2004, a Korean reporter found him sleeping in an all-night bathhouse in Seoul and wrote about his plight. The city of Jeonju, seeking to promote tourism as the birthplace of the Joseon dynasty’s founder, gave him a house and a new job as a spokesman for the past.

Today he gives tours in Jeonju and speaks about royal history at universities around the country. He’s invited to wave to crowds at festivals and ribbon cuttings and to kick the first ball in soccer games.  [Washington Post]

You can read the rest at the link, but he ultimately wants to have the monarchy re-established in Seoul in order to draw tourists.  I don’t see it happening, but his family’s ancestral home land in Jeonju seems happy to sponsor him though.

Village Gentleman

At some time (it may be in the very far distant past—yes, as much as ten generations ago) some of his ancestors held office and were considered gentlemen by the king; and by virtue of this fact he has inherited certain rights and privileges that do not come to the common herd. The fact that he is a gentleman is sufficient ground for him to excuse himself from everything in the shape and form of common labor.

Yangban Politeness and Patience

In all the arts of politeness our village gentleman is a past master of the first degree. From the time he can walk and talk, the study of polite forms of speech and action are his daily duties.

He can easily forgive one for telling a falsehood or for taking too large a per cent of an amount of trust funds that passed through his hands, but to show any signs of impatience or impoliteness would be sins not to be pardoned.

Yangban’s Place in the Village

Not only does he use the low forms of speech when addressing other people, but he requires other people to address him in the high forms of speech. Thus the very language itself is a means of ever widening the chasm that separates the classes living in the same little village. He has little regard for the rights of his neighbors; whatever they may have that he wants he appropriates at his own price or at no price, as the"’ notion strikes him.

Village Girl

Our village girl plays about the house and yard with the other children of the ‘village until she is seven or eight years old, at which time she must be separated from the boys and men, taking her place in the woman’s department of the house, where she is not to be seen by men or boys unless they be her near relatives.

This cannot be strictly applied in the case of the middle and lower classes, where the girls must be seen as they go about the work which they must do. If there be a baby in the family, from the time the little girl can carry it she will spend most of her time with the baby tied on her back. When she goes out to play with other children, the baby is on her back if she goes out to work, baby also goes, not to work, of course, but to ride while sister works. In some of the schools that have been started by missionaries for girls, the girls come to school with babies strapped on their backs.

The parents do not consider her as a permanent part of the family, but only as a burden which is to be carried till such a time as she |Can be disposed of to the best advantage to themselves. This period is not very long, since in most cases the girl is betrothed and often sent to the house of her husband to-be before she is twelve^ years old.

Mothers-in-Law

These girl wives are literally the slaves of the household into which they are carried. The mother-in-law rules with a hand of iron and a rod of

steel. Many women have two, three, four, or more of these young daughters-in-law under their care, and take peculiar pleasure in making them understand what is what and who is who.

Daughters-in-Law and Wives

Is it any wonder that these young wives often find their burdens greater than they can bear and end the matter by taking their own lives ? They go on and on in the hopeless way that lies before them, till at last in their bondage and degradation the blackness of despair settles over them and all hope is forever lost. Then it is that in the quietness of the night many of them steal out to the village well and, standing there at its mouth, doubtless look up into the blue sky and gaze at the twinkling stars and wonder why the great spirits do not hear and answer prayer; they wonder why the days are so long and the nights so dark; why the burdens are so heavy and the way so long and ever without a change; then with a last glance at the bright stars reflected in the deep cold water below—and she is gone! Next morning somebody’s daughter-in-law is fished out of the village well, wrapped in a bit of straw matting, and laid in a shallow grave on the hillside; and in less than ten days another daughter-in-law has been duly installed in her place.

The one bright star that shines in the life of our village girl is the hope that inspires her to say something like the following: "Some day I too will be the happy mother of a son, and then it will not be long till I too shall have a daughter-in-law, and then I shall get even with the world. I shall then settle up all old scores. I shall then pay back in the same coinage all that I am now receiving, with interest thrown in for good measure."