Page 76 - Duncan "Korea" MacRae, Missionary from Baddeck

ISSUE : Issue 67

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/8/1

...Some of the children here go about naked, others with a little jacket on coming half way down the waist, some of the children are very bold & the first thing they do is run up to feel what your clothes are like & see if you have horns on. I tell you it would be a hard place to take a newly married bride, & yet it would be sport for me to take my little maid on her honeymoon through these heathen cities. Knowing Edith Sutherland, he was able to rely on her re? silience whenever confronted by strange experiences should she be ever required to do so on such a honeymoon. Duncan realized that the peo? ple of Hamhung were unique. For centuries the city had been the receptacle for political re? bels in exile. Upon openly or covertly criticizing the govem? ment, individuals became political prisoners spun off from the centralizing forces of govemment power in Seoul. Many were sent as exiles to the isola? tion of the far northeastem comer of the peninsula. The spirited na? tures and robust sense of indepen? dence of these free thinkers impregnat? ed the population. Therefore, a less calcified and rigid culture and mles for behaviour (al? beit, perhaps, more rough and ready) developed in Ham? hung City and Hamkyung Prov? ince than those found in the cities and provinces to the south and west, which were still under the Confu? cian examination system. Qualities The Tiger at home. Duncan and three of his of character and grandchildren, in Baddeck. In their way, all vie- personality made - --- - -- ?? • ? • these northeastem Koreans excellent candidates for the Christian faith but at the same time created difficulties as a people among whom to work as missionaries. To "TODAY WE WALKED 20 MILES.... Never since coming to Korea have I seen anything that looks so much like home as when travelling through the valley today. The cultivated fields on the hills & mountain sides, the groves & forests, the running stream and the wood piles at the farmers door • All seemed to carry me home • So much so that I longed to see the old Cape Breton hills once more • My eyes filled with tears & I lifted up a little prayer that God might permit me to see home once more & tell of the triumphs of his grace in a heathen land." • Rev. Duncan MacRae tims of World War Two: Howard and Elsa Ba? con's father was killed In India, acting as a liai? son officer between the Korean Regiment and the British Army. The Korean Army came to fight with the British against the Japanese. Gordon Parker's stepfather (also Gordon) was killed during his first mission with the Air Force. He was Helen's husand. win them over to Christ was not to be an easy task. While in Hamhung, Duncan's letter to Edith took on propor? tions of a diary with daily entries adding to its length: Personal Observations ... With all this my personal observation is that die Yang ban Kore? an carries an air of extravagance about him and to me he is a poor man in that he does not know how to work, but well up in the art of squeezing and according to a law that cannot be broken without retribution.... Although a wooden block serves as the Yang ban's pillow and the hard floor his resting place, yet you see his extravagance creeping out & also his poverty in the number of servants he has under him even so far as to hghting his pipe. The Yang ban has his pipe stem at)out 3 feet long. When I saw the boys kept on hand for the sole purpose of lighting his pipe, I said, "you are a poor man...." Anything that had work con? nected with the man's life de? grades him. You should see how soft their hands are. When they feel mine they look bewildered. I tell them that people in Ameri? ca work & the man who will not woric will never get rich. The word for work is eel. Now this term is synonymous & is used for danger, or loss, or dis? aster or any calamity that might come on a person. But as eel means work, therefore, to the Korean it means trouble or disaster of any kind. They say the Koreans are awful thieves but m one respect he seems to be honest. The merchants & traders never put their money away during the days receipts. It is left within easy reach of every one.... Every fifdi day is a market day. Everything is controlled by guilds. One market has hens and fowls, anoUier eggs,... another oysters, etc., catde, etc. The stores in this city are like horse stalls for all the world.... Hospitality The Koreans are a hospitable people. They will never let a man go away hungry from their door. I think I told you of [Rev. W.J.] MacKenzie, when in the country one time ran out of money and with the man who fed him he left an order to the first foreigner coming diat way to pay the bill. Dr. Wells and Miller [American missionaries] were presented with it on one of their ttavels. It was about the time of his death. Cape Breton's MAGAZINE welcomes Cheticamp Iles-de-la-Madeleine Ferry Service Operating From July 5 To September 9,1994 Marine Acadie Ltee. Cheticamp, Nova Scotia TOLL-FREE INFORIVIATION: 1-800-866-2343

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