They possess a zealous convert and most efficient colporteur named Ah Wang. His well-shaved head is covered with scars, and the people say that formerly he was a beggar, and used to secure the sympathies of the benevolent by beating his head on a stone. The pleasant residence of the late Hing Fai is now in ruins, it being considered unfortunate to reside in any house overshadowed by the lofty spire erected by the foreign devils. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE BACKSLIDING OF LAO ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE BACKSLIDING OF LAO NOW Lao Ng Tau was a civil mandarin of the second grade, of a noble ancestry, considerable learning, and in addition he was tao-tai of Sung Ying Fu and the surrounding district—which means that he possessed, or held the power of acquiring to himself, no inconsiderable wealth. He was a travelled man, moreover, and one possessing a broad mind, and not over hide-bound with conservative Chinese prejudice. On one of his visits to the great capital, Peking, he had contracted a marriage with the beautiful Mah Su. Of the magnificent and costly presents he had presented to her honourable parents we will not speak, nor of the superb gifts that he had also received, or of the completely perfect manner in which the etiquette of their marriage ceremony had been conducted. Poems were written by seventy-eight poets, many of whom were held in considerable honour in the capital. Many of these poems can possibly be purchased in Peking to this day, so it is not necessary for us to enter into details of the rejoicings on this auspicious occasion. Eighteen artists of undoubted skill and pre-eminence had been engaged to portray the dazzling brilliance of the marriage cortège, but they all declared that the sun-like effulgence of the scene had completely blinded their ill-conditioned and degenerate eyes to such an extent that they were quite unable to depict any portion of the picture with the degraded and low-class pigments at their disposal. When justice and due reward had been meted out to the poets, painters, and musicians with bowstring, hot oil, and bamboo rods, according as their several productions merited; the honourable Lao Ng Tau journeyed with befitting escort to Sung Ying Fu with the beautiful Mah Su as his wife.