and are used in the Sabbath-school and church services.
The Siamese know nothing of music. Their songs are a monotonous chant. They have but few musical instruments, and it does not take many to make a full band. These bands play at weddings, funerals and other grand affairs, but they do not vary their programme in the least, playing the same tune on any of these occasions.
The Siamese children are not taught to keep Sunday, for there is no Sabbath in that heathen land; and even their occasional holy days are mere gala-days, when, dressed in their best and gayest garments, they go to the temples with their mothers to make offerings to the image of their dead god Buddha. From the temples they are often taken to some theatrical show to spend the remainder of the day. During the national holiday season these theatrical performances are going on all the time, besides Chinese street-*shows very much like our Punch and Judy; and fathers, mothers and children all gamble.
As the streets in Siam are almost all rivers and canals, the Siamese boys and girls early learn to row, and paddle their little boats almost as soon as they learn to swim, which they do when they are only four or five years old. Their canoes are sometimes so small that it is a puzzle to know how they can manage them so safely.
