The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-08-12

tue king, surprising them all IN magnlh-
cence, cost 81 100000.
Buddhist priests in yellow garb are seen
everywhere in Bangkok. They are not
permitted to work and many young fellows
enter the priesthood simply because they
are thus sure of an easy, pampered exist
ence. On the ground beside this fellow
you see the bowl with which he saunters
out in the morning to collect his daily
bread, or rather rice, and leaning against
the tree is his large umbrella When a
woman ladies few spoonfuls of rice into
his bowl he hides his face behind a fan,
for fear the lady's charms may interrupt
his contemplation of holy things. Its an
act of great religious merit to give presents
to priest and their bowls are always run
ming over with blessings Everybody
gives them something and the better class
Of people are very liberal with their
presents of rice, money, tobacco, yellow
cloth and other things. The priest is the
educated man of the land. Everybody
gets out of his way when he walks abroad
Wealthy people are usually favorable to
progress. They send their boys to Europe
to be educated. As yet there is little
chance for a poor man to rise in Siam.
Here and there, however, are examples of
what extraordinary talent will do even for
humble peasant One of the richest men
in Bangkok was formerly poor boatman.
He developed remarkable business acute
ness, grew rich in trade, and his genius
finally put him in the rank of high noble
men. He is now attached to the foreign
Office. One of his sons has been graduated
at Oxford, and has passed the English bar.
In old Siam the king would have cut off
the head of such man and con6scated
his wealth
One of the odd things in Bangkok isthe
fact that you can hardly ever meet noble
man in daytime. The king himself sleeps
nearly all day, and does not go to bed till
about O'Clock in the morning. The
tribunal that helps him carry on the gov
ernment meets in the night at the palace
If nobleman is asleep his servants dare
not wake him.
Play actors give many theatrical per-
formaHces in the streets of Bangkok, greatly
to the edifcation of crowds of idlers. The
actors seen kneeling in the streets are
mostly women, and their performance is
rather broad, and at times indecently sug-
gestive. The son of some big nobleman
has reached the important period in life
when his top knot is to be cut off This
being a great occasion, the ceremony is
costly and spectacular, and as part of the
festivities the rich father employs these
street players to entertain the people As
many topknots are cut off in the course of
year, street theatricals are a common
event.
There is only one theatre in Bangkok
that has any resemblance to our places of
amusement. 1t was built by prince who
lived for a time in Europe, and it is called
the Princes theatre 1t is said that
part Of the wardrobe he keeps for his
female performers is enormously costly.
A few of the costumes, for instance, are
made ofwoven threads of gold. When the
king wishes to attend theatre or any sort
of show he usually has a temporary
building erected in the palace grounds for
that special occasion.
The Siamese are very jovial and light
hearted, and greatly addicted to public
shows as we'll ss the gambling houses.
They have their fill of spectacles whenever
member of the royal family dies 1t
cost s5O0, 900 duly to eremate one of the
kings children a while ago. A special
temple for the cremation services is built
for each defunct royal highness. The
temple is very gorgeous affair, but it is
pulled down as soon as the royal clay is
reduced to ashes. The ceremonies include
professions music, the king on his gold
chair, an immense display of royal banners
and mourning, and all the pomp and
circumstances needed to impress the
event deeply upon the people. OF
course, the mobiles cannot afford funerals
on such lavish scale, but they spend all
the money they can on them. The masses
flock to see the show as our people do toa
circus, while it will probably be their own
fate to be burned at the cost of few
cents, or flung to the vultures.
There are over 300 Europeans and
Americans in Bangkok, so many that their
appearance on the street excites no atten-
tion.