What does 습자지 mean?

ANSWER: writing paper 습자지 (習字紙) literally translates as "practice (習) characters (字) [writing] paper (紙)," which means it was writing paper used in school to practice writing Chinese characters. Apparently, students in Korea back in the 1930s, and probably earlier, were supposed to bring such writing paper with them to school. They were also supposed to pay a monthly tuition fee known as 월사금 (月謝金), which literally translates as "monthly (月) gratuity (謝金)." The Chinese character 謝 (사) means "to thank (someone)."

Anyway, today I read a Korean short story written by Paek Sin-ae (백신애), who most likely wrote it in the 1930s since she died in 1939 at the relatively young age of 31. It is a story of two 12-year-old friends (11 years old in Western age) who had to end their friendship when the father and family of one of them were forced by poverty to move to Manchuria to try to find work. It was a sad parting since both of the friends seemed to know that they would most likely never see or hear from each other again. The friend staying behind feared that his friend going to Manchuria would be killed on the road by 마적 (馬賊), which translates as "bandits on horseback." I was moved by the story, and I will definitely add it to my list of "Favorite Korean Short Stories." The Korean story is posted below: