As the law provides that the daughter of a slave must take the place of her parent, should she die, it is plainly in the interests of the owner to promote the marriage of his slaves. Slaves who receive compensation for their services are entitled to marry whom they please; quarters are provided for the couple. The master of the house, however, has no claim upon the services of the husband. The slave who voluntarily assigns herself to slavery and receives no price for her services may not marry without consent. In these cases it is not an unusual custom for her master, in the course of a few years, to restore her liberty. Hitherto, the position of the Korean woman has been so humble that her education has been unnecessary. Save among those who belong to the less reputable classes, the literary and artistic faculties are left uncultivated. Among the courtesans, however, the mental abilities are trained and developed with a view to making them brilliant and entertaining companions. The one sign of their profession is the culture, the charm, and the scope of their attainments. These “leaves of sunlight,” a feature of public life in Korea, stand apart in a class of their own. They are called _gisaing_, and correspond to the _geisha_ of Japan; the duties, environment, and mode of existence of the two are almost identical. Officially, they are attached to a department of Government, and are controlled by a bureau of their own, in common with the Court musicians. They are supported from the national treasury, and they are in evidence at official dinners and all palace entertainments. They read and recite; they dance and sing; they become accomplished artists and musicians. They dress with exceptional taste; they move with exceeding grace; they are delicate in appearance, very frail and very human, very tender, sympathetic, and imaginative. By their artistic and intellectual endowment, the dancing girls, ironically enough, are debarred from the positions for which their talents so peculiarly fit them. They may move through, and as a fact do live in, the highest society. They are met at the houses of the most distinguished; they may be selected as the concubines of the Emperor, become the _femmes d’amour_ of a prince, the puppets of the noble. A man of breeding may not marry them, however, although they typify everything that is brightest, liveliest, and most beautiful. Amongst their own sex, their reputation is in accordance with their standard of morality, a distinction being made between those whose careers are embellished with the _quasi_ chastity of a concubine, and those who are identified with the more pretentious display of the mere prostitute. [Illustration: A PALACE CONCUBINE]