Gardens galore at the US legation to Seoul
Posted : 2021-05-09 09:23
Updated : 2021-05-09 17:54
The American and British legations of Seoul, circa 1890s. The Moffett Collection courtesy of Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA
By Robert Neff
A rose by any other name ― Rose Foote, circa 1880s. Robert Neff CollectionIn the 1890s, the American legation was rather dismal when compared to its peers. The British and Russian representatives were housed in large new buildings, modern and imposing, while the American representative was forced to make do in the original Korean buildings that were already on the land when it was purchased the previous decade. The American compound s buildings were fairly run down and often had to be repaired ― and while they may have been looked upon with somewhat embarrassment by the American community in Seoul, they were proud of the American legation s extensive gardens.
By Robert Neff
In the summer of 1883, the American legation in Seoul was haunted, according to Rose Foote, the ambassador s wife, by a most fascinating history and was invested with the flavor of romance. There were proud, surviving interests in the gruesome tales of its valiant decapitated Mins, who even now in unquestionable shape, periodically stalked about the premises. These tales were especially popular with the Korean servants who gave gloomy recitals [of] skulls and headless skeletons which had missed honorable burial [and] had been turned up in the gardens.
Korean bones had an uncanny way of showing up in unexpected places. In the summer of 1890, Korean bones were discovered being shipped to Japan by Murakami Shizoku, a leather merchant. He declared them to be salted vegetables but an examination proved them to be human bones. It is unclear why he was importing bones but for his crime he was fined $150.
Grave Crimes: Shaking the bones koreatimes.co.kr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from koreatimes.co.kr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Robert Neff
Rose Foote, the wife of the first American representative to Korea, was certainly painted in a negative light by Ensign George C. Foulk but she also had a soft side ― one that he chose not to mention.
According to her biographer (Mary V. Tingley Lawrence, whose prose is definitely dated), even though Rose was busily engaged in the renovation of the legation, it wasn t enough for the energetic woman and she longed to do more.
She chaffed at being locked up on the legation grounds and longed to go out and meet the people. She often climbed a ladder and looked down over the outer wall to study the spirit and the local color of the busy panorama in the crowded streets. The hard, primitive methods of the men and women at work, the hungry children, the squalid poverty and misery enlisted her serious attention.