uble.'

So they come and go.

But on the festival days at the end of Lent it is far more wonderful.
Then for units there are tens, for tens there are hundreds--all come to
do reverence to the great teacher at this his great holy place. There is
no especial ceremony, no great service, such as we are accustomed to on
our festivals. Only there will be many offerings; there will be a
procession, maybe, with offerings to the pagoda, with offerings to the
monks; there will be much gold-leaf spread upon the pagoda sides; there
will be many people kneeling there--that is all. For, you see, Buddhism
is not an affair of a community, but of each man's own heart.

To see the great pagoda on the festival days is one of the sights of the
world. There are a great crowd of people coming and going, climbing up
the steps. There are all sorts of people, rich and poor, old and young.
Old men there are, climbing wearily up these steps that are so steep,
steps that lead towards the Great Peace; and there are old women,
too--many of them.

Young men will be there, walking briskly up, laughing and talking to
each other, very happy, very merry, glad to see each other, to see so
many people, calling pleasant greetings to their friends as they pass.
They are all so gaily dressed, with beautiful silks and white jackets
and gay satin head-cloths, tied with a little end sticking up as a
plume.

And the girls, how shall I describe them, so sweet they are, so pretty
in their fresh dresses, with downcast eyes of modesty, tempered with
little side-glances. They laugh, too, as they go, and they talk, never
forgetting the sacredness of the place, never forgetting the reverences
due, kneeling always first as they come up to the great pagoda, but
being of good courage, happy and contented. There are children, too,
numbers and numbers of them, walking along, with their little hands
clasping so tightly some bigger ones, very fearful lest they should be
lost. They are as gay as butterflies in their dress, but their looks are
very solemn. There is no solemnity like that of a little child; it takes
all the world so very, very seriously, walking along with great eyes of
wonder at all it sees about it.

They are all well dressed who come here; on a festival day even the poor
can be dressed well. Pinks and reds are the prevailing colours, in
checks, in stripes, mixed usually with white. These colours go best with
their brown skins, and they are fondest of th