Have you seen in the street this past week,—perhaps near some temple, or even in the midst of the city's swiftest current,-clinging to the shelter of a traffic island, or trudging along the footpath two and two in slow procession,—little groups of Chinese women? Home of them were dressed in faded blue coolie cloth and wore rough straw sandals; some of them were in gala attire of gay embroidered silk and satin, with pleated skirts of bright hues.
But rich or poor, old or young—al! had the questing look in their _-eyes. Confused and half-frightened by the strange noises of the busy town though they might be, there was an adventurous gleam in their eyes. They took in all the items of the unusual place and its people, their faces glowed with the joy of travelling. Pilgrims? Yes. Devout? Undoubtedly. But watching them in the temples burning incense and paper money, joining un the service, intoning prayers, going through all the ritual—one must conclude from the keen attention they pay to all that is going on around them that they are travellers first and pilgrims afterwards.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.