time a fish, a monkey, a dog, a cat, or it may be a snake, a bird or a pig, will be the possible home of their own soul.
The Siamese are fond of flowers, and use them for personal adornment. The children wear wreaths of tiny white flowers on their topknots, and very often men and women put flowers behind their ears and fasten them in their hair. Children are often named for flowers and different colors. The name that almost all babies bear for the first few years of their life is "Dang," which means red. When they get a little older they have another name given them, though sometimes this first name clings to them all their lives. When a stranger meets a young girl and wishes to speak to her she calls her "Rat," for this is the most polite way of addressing young ladies whose name one does not know.
There are no story-books printed for the children of Siam. Their stories are told to them, and are so uninteresting that American children would wonder how any one could listen to them; but they have never heard better ones, and the sweetest story of all, that of Jesus and his love, has never been heard by millions there. Some of the missionaries have translated into Siamese a number of story-books which are familiar to American children. A number of the familiar Sabbath-school hymns have also been translated,
