Taikuhsien, Dec. 29.
Dwellers in the more enlightened parts of China would find it difficult tovundersuand the degree of superstition prevailing in there interior districts. This district is one of the richest in Shansi, and the same time one of the darkest and most degraded, as the following will show. About May 1 this year a little green snake was found in the west suburb of this city. Having made his appearance conveniently near the wall of a temple, a shrine was set up under the wali and the superstitious began to burn incense and worship. In some places the ridicule of the thoughtful or the mandate of the officials would have put an early stop to any such thing. In this case, however, this degrade ing worship has continued right up to the present time, and the temple wall above the shrine has been covered with hundreds of red cloth or paper testimonials, the offerings of grateful (or hopeful) worshippers. All this is directly opposite, and within two hundred yards of, the west gate of the city.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.