riving. Hurry!"

"But--dear me!" protests the missionary. "Whose home is this new
daughter-in-law coming to? Is it a family we are acquainted with?"

"Oh, _that_ doesn't matter!" the boy assures her. "Why, everybody goes
to see a new daughter-in-law!"

The missionary, reluctantly allowing herself to be pulled along by the
hand, finds it even as the child has said. Crowds of children, and
older people too, are swarming in at the open gateway through which
has just passed the gaily decorated sedan chair. Though the courtyard
is fairly commodious, it is packed with people, talking,
gesticulating, pushing to get a better vantage point from which to
view the bride when she alights. The groom and his parents are
graciously welcoming invited guests, entirely unconcerned about all
the hubbub. The bridal chair is set down to a great popping of
firecrackers, the appointed welcome committee of several girls and one
older woman draws the curtain and assists the bride to her place in
the yard, and the ceremony proceeds. After it is completed, the bride
is escorted with much formality into the house, and to the bedroom
prepared for her, where she is seated upon a bed resplendent with red
satin quilts. Then the guests, invited and uninvited, pour into the
room. They subject the bride and her clothes to an interested and
careful scrutiny, commenting upon everything, with much joking and
laughter. As soon as one group gets tired and takes its leave,
another is ready to push in and view the "new daughter-in-law."

"The poor girl!" says the missionary. "She looks ready to drop! When
will they ever leave her to herself?"

Not until late that night--and the same performance will start again
early the next morning. Why, if there were not a continuous stream of
visitors for three days, the wedding would be thought rather a flop!

* * * * *

The day had been a busy one. The first visitor had appeared before
breakfast, a precursor of a seemingly never-ending stream. There were
uneducated country women, whose curiosity could only be satisfied by
going through every room in the missionary's house and minutely
examining each article that met their eyes. There were those who were
educated and formally polite, and dexterously steered the conversation
into other channels every time we endeavored to present the claims of
Christ to them. There were Christians, some coming with their
troubles, others with plans for