Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-03-22

1t is a IaciOus building. containing one or
more large rooms with bare boarded floors.
and open on one side at least to the winds
and to all corners. The approach is guarded
only by the numerous wild dogs which trade
upon the pious aversion of the Buddhist to the
taking of animal life. and lurk among the pill
lars upon which the building is supported.
Ascending the wooden staircase, and passing
across an open verandah. We are at once with
in the monastery. The sight is for moment
blinded by the darkness of the interior, the
wooden walls being unrelieved by any color,
and the ear is at the same time deafened by n
chorus of children's voices repeating with the
full power of their lungs the traditional Bur-
mese spelling book. AS we enter, the voices,
now raised higher than ever, are found to is
sue from 40 or 80 boys recumbent on the floor
in regular ranks, each having before him
small oblong black board which serves the
purpose of slate. A smart tap from a long
cane on the boarded floor causes instant ST.
lence, and the visitors advance to an inner re-
cess where mats and cushions are spread, and
where the monkish pedagogue is seated on the
ground. By his side are curiously shaped
boxes and dishes of lacquer work and silver
containing betel nut, water, and the like.
Huge palm-leaf fans and monster gilded UNI
brellas lean against the wall, and in the dim
light we find ourselves surrounded by gilded
images of Gaudama-the name uniformly CIV
en- in Burmah to the founder of Budhism-in
brass, marble, or silver, piles of dusty palm
leaf manuscripts, some of them richly illus
trated, and boxes of various size and form or
namented with gliding and kind of mosaic
or cOlored glass. Above us colored lamps
hang from the richly carved ceiling and amid
the strange medley are carpets and vessels of
English manufacture, and, in a conspicuous
niche, an American eight-day clock Near
us lounge number of tall youths and boys
with fair olive complexion, dressed in the uni
form yellow monastic robe, and attentive to
every word or signal from their superior.
These are the juniors or probationers of the
order, who minister to his immediate wants,
who daily in solemn procession through the
village beg for his morning meal fan him in
the heat shield him from the sun as he wd1ks,
or row him in his boat on q journey. We are
received with an air of apparent indifference
and offered a seat on the mats, and while our
host continues to chew his betel nut in silence
and awaits our opening of the conversation,
we may note his outward appearance, which
is striking enough. His skin is dark and his
cheeks thin as If with fasting. His head is
bare and close shaven, and his dress is the
uniform tOga of sombre yellow cloth so fold
ed as to leave one arm completely bare. The
seams which traverse the robe in so many di-
rectons are relics of the original injunction
that the monk should be clothed in rags gath
cred in the grave-yards and stitched together.
In his hand he holds rosary of beads, and
his whole aspect is that of the recluse who has
neither part nor lot in the things of the world.
Common as this scene is TO those who live in
the country, it is one worthy of a painters
canvas, and to step aside from a metalled high
road, skirted by line of telegraph, into one
of these quaint retreats is like passing at a
step from the nineteenth century back to the
years before Christ. t.-FTdSeJ's Magazine.