"Last night I looked down upon a town in China，"
said the Moon．"My beams irradiated the naked wallsthat form the streets there．Now and then，certainly，a door is seen，but it is locked，for what does the China-man care about the outer world？Close wooden shutterscovered the windows behind the walls of the houses；butthrough the windows of the temple a faint light glim- mered．I looked in，and saw the quaint decorationswithin．From the floor to the ceiling pictures arepainted in the most glaring clours and richly gilt—picturesrep－ resenting the deeds of the gods here on earth．In each niche statues are placed，but theyare almost entirely hidden by the coloured drapery and the banners that hangdown．Before each idol（and theyare all made of tin）stood a little altar with holywater，with flowers and burning wax lights on it．Above all the rest stood Fu， the chief deity，clad in a garment of yellow silk，for yellowis here the sacred colour．At the foot of the altar sata living being，a young priest．Heappeared to be praying，but in the midst of his prayerhe seemed to fall into deep thought，and this must havebeen wrong， for his cheeks glowed and he held down hishead．Poor Soui-hong！Was he，perhaps，dreaming of working in the
little flower－garden behind the high street wall？And did that occupation seem more agreeable to him than watching thewax lights in the temple？Or did he wish to sit at therich feast，wiping his mouth with silver paper betweeneach course？Or was his sin so great that，if he dared ut－ ter it，the Celestial Empire would punish it with death？
Had his thoughts ventured to fly with the ships of the bar－ barians，to their homes in far distantEngland？No，his thoughts did notfly so far，and yet they were sinful，sin－ ful as thoughts born of young hearts，sinful here in the temple，in the presence ofFu and other holy gods．
"I know whither his thoughts had strayed．At thefarther end of the city，on the flat roof paved withporce－ lain，on which stood thehandsome vases covered with painted flowers，sat thebeauteous Pe，of the little rogu－ ish eyes，of the full lips，and of the tiny feet．The tight shoe painedher，but her heart pained her still more．She lifted her graceful round arm，and hersatin dress rustled， Before her stood a glass bowlcontaining four gold－fish．
She stirred the bowl carefully with a slender lacquered stick，very slowly，for she，too，was lost in thought．
Was she thinking，perchance，howthe fishes were richly clothed in gold，how tney livedcalmly and peacefully in their crystal world，how theywere regularly fed，and yet how much happier they mightbe if they were free？Yes， thatshe could well understand，the beautiful Pe．Her thoughts wandered away from her home，wanderedto the temple，but not for the sake holy things．Poor Pe！
Poor Soui－hong！
"Their earthly thoughts met，but my cold beam laybetween the two，like the sword of the cherub．"
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