Soon after Christmas I dressed a Christmas tree for the royal family, but to my great vexation, the effect was quite spoiled because their majesties were too impatient to wait till dark to view it, and one cannot lock the doors on kings and queens and forbid them to do as they will in their own palaces. There were no heavy hangings or means of darkening the room, and so the poor little candles flickered in a sickly way in the glaring daylight, and I felt that Western customs were lightly esteemed in the critical eyes of the East. Indeed, in our superb self-satisfaction we often deceive ourselves in fancying that Orientals view with open-mouthed admiration everything European or American. I am reminded of a Korean nobleman, who, on being asked, after his return to Seoul from America, how he liked New York, replied, “Oh, very well, _except the dirt and the smells, which were horrible_.” Another similar instance was that of one of the Koreans who went with us to Chemulpo and Fusan, who saw the two-story houses, the ships in the harbor and various wonders of civilization, and exclaimed, “Poor Korea, poor Korea;” but when he heard a foreign band play at the Japanese consulate, remarked with delight, “At least there is one thing in which Japan cannot rival or compare with us, our music!” Through the whole winter I was at the palace very often, as were the ladies of the American and Russian legations, and Dr. Avison of our mission, who was physician to the king, was frequently consulted, and the recipient also personally of many royal favors. In the spring the prime minister came, saying the queen had sent him to ask Mr. Underwood to draw up plans and estimate the cost of a school for the sons of the nobility. The site selected was between the east and west palaces. Her majesty proposed to erect dwellings for the teachers, whom my husband was asked to recommend and send for to America. The queen was prepared, the minister said, to give at once thirty thousand dollars for the school, and twenty or thirty thousand dollars a year for the running expenses. Mr. Underwood drew up the first plans and made estimates, which were sent for her majesty’s criticism and approval. These were again referred to Mr. Underwood, the final plans were being prepared, and only two weeks before they were to be sent for the queen’s approval the great blow fell which put an end to all her beneficent and enlightened schemes for the advancement of her people. Before proceeding further I must go back a few years and recall one or two events which occurred before my arrival, in 1884, in order that my readers may understand more clearly some of the events which are to be related in the next two or three chapters.