aries are all beginning to feel that the school work must be pushed more than it has been in the past. A great church has been gathered; it is now the task of the mission to train the church and educate the young people. The Koreans are naturally a bright, intelligent people, with a literary turn of mind, capable of receiving an education. Someone has said that the "Chinese are the merchants, the Japanese are the soldiers and the Koreans are the scholars of the East." The Koreans are without doubt the most religious people of the East and have elements of leadership. What they need is a chance. Centuries ago Japan received Buddhism from Korea-it may be that she is now to receive Christianity from Korea. If the Korean church is given the advantages of modern Christian education she may become the religious teacher of all the East. God is raising up in Korea one of the most remarkable churches in the world and who knows but that she is coming into the Kingdom for just such a time as this? China on her west has wakened out of the sleep of the ages and is calling for better things. Japan, of which she is now a part, is beginning to feel the need of a true faith and a better system of ethics. Korea is fitted by a rich Christian experience, by scholarly instincts and by philosophical inheritance to be the teacher of both these great countries in Christian truth and life. What she needs and must have, is modern education, both for the sake of the rapidly growing church in Korea and for the sake of her influence in the two great nations around her.

These are days of trial and testing in this great mission field. Let the church at home pray for Korea and give to Korea.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MEDICAL MISSIONS IN KOREA.

T was a doctor who opened mission work in Korea,

IT

and the physician has ever since been reckoned a

most valuable missionary agent. The single word "Korea" cabled by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to Dr. H. N. Allen, then in Nanking, China, sent him to Seoul in September 1884, soon after the signing of the treaty between the United States and Korea. He was made physician to the U. S. Legation and thus obtained, without embarrassment, a standing in the community.

Favorable
Introduction

A political disturbance within a few months of his arrival furnished the occasion for his favorable introduction to the people of the realm. On Dec. 4, Prince Min Yong Ik, Prime Minister, and favorite cousin of the queen was wounded by a would-be assassin in the trouble known as the Emeute of 1884. After native skill had proved its weakness, Dr. Allen was called in and "for the first time in that Hermit Kingdom, western medical science had its opportunity." How fortunate that this beneficent art had its first exhibition in Korea in the hands of a man who was both a skilled doctor and a Christian. Dr. Allen's efforts to heal were successful.

1.

KOREAN SCENES

2. The Temple of Heaven, Seoul 11. Grounds of Old Palace, Seoul

3. 4, 5, 6. On the Streets of Seoul 12. The Place Where Korea's

7.

8.

The South Gate, Seoul

9.

Along the Stream, Taiku 10. View From Temple, Seoul

Queen Was Sacrificed

13. Street Leading to the Old

Palace, Seoul

He received royal recognition and the people listened to the gospel message. Thus medical science prepared the way for the favorable reception which was accorded to Christianity in Korea.

As a result of Dr. Allen's success, the King founded the Royal Korean Hospital which was opened in Seoul, February 25, 1885, with the agreement that His Majesty would equip and maintain the work while the physicians would be provided by the Presbyterian Board. Dr. Allen became physician to the King, and his successor, Dr. J. W. Heron, also held this position when the hospital work came into his hands upon Dr. Allen's visit to America on business for the King. Dr. Allen returned to Korea in September, 1893, as Secretary of the American Legation, and later became Minister Plenipotentiary. He retained the confidence and esteem of the King who became Emperor in 1897, and who gave him the decoration of the first grade of Tai Keuk, the highest honor given anyone outside the royal line.

The success of the King's physician led the Queen to desire a special lady to give her medical attention, so in 1886, Miss Anne Ellers, a trained nurse with considerable medical education, was sent out as hospital assistant and physician to the Queen. She was succeeded by Miss Lillias Horton, M. D., who continued to act in this capacity until the Queen's death in 1895, although she had in the meantime become the wife of Rev. H. G. Underwood.

Dr. Heron was succeeded in turn by Drs. R. A. Hardie, C. A. Vinton, and O. R. Avison. Dr. Avison began his work in November, 1893, and is still at the head of the medical work at Seoul. He found the