homes of an intelligent Christianity. Only a few of them had much that was attractive about them. In many of them flowers were cultivated, and they wrought in fancy-work. For their gala-days their servants would bring in large quantities of flowers, which they would turn into fanciful forms to grace the festive occasions.
One day I was seated with a princess upon an elevated platform in her court. She and her maidens were at work with artificial flowers, and a cup of paste and vessels with the parts of the flowers and leaves were scattered here and there among them. All at once a pet monkey which had become loose marched to the stage and suddenly appeared among us. Undaunted, he walked about, put his nose into the cup of paste and tipped it over, passed his paws over the delicate parts prepared for the complete flowers and made himself master of the situation. I sat in mute consternation, while the princess and her maidens seemed as quiet as if no monkey were there. By and by he marched around to a place where a servant could secure him, and she made him fast. I asked why they allowed him to march around their work and commit such depredations. "Ah," said one of them, "if we had attempted to take him then, he would have bitten us and would have made greater havoc among our flowers; better to wait till he works
