growing in its place centuries before Yung Pak was born.

In the wall were eight gates, and at each one a keeper was stationed at
all hours of the day and night. No persons could come in or go out
unless their business was known to those who had charge of the passage.

Every evening, at sunset, the gates were closed, and during the night no
one was allowed to pass through in either direction.

A curious ceremony attended the closing of these gates. They were never
shut till the king had been notified that all was well on the north, on
the south, on the east, and on the west. As there were no telegraph
lines, another way had to be provided by which messages might be quickly
sent. Bonfires upon the surrounding hills were used as signals. By
these fires the king was told if all were well in his kingdom, and every
evening, as soon as the sun was set, four beacon-fires on a hill within
the walls told the news as it was flashed to them from the mountains
outside. Then four officers, whose business it was to report to the king
the message of the fires, hastened to him, and with great ceremony and
much humility announced that all was well. On this the royal band of
music would strike up its liveliest airs, and a great bell would toll
its evening warning. This bell was the third largest in the world, and
for five centuries it had given the signal for opening and closing the
gates of Seoul, the chief city of the "Land of the Morning Radiance."

At the stroke of the bell, with a great clang the gates were shut, and
strong bars were placed across the inner sides, not to be removed until
at early dawn the bell again gave its signal to the keepers.

To little Yung Pak, the loud tones of the bell meant more even than to