“The princes and people of Cheung Mai are all astir in the work of merit-making. Just now it takes the form of rebuilding the finest temple that was erected in Cheung Mai, and in gathering and shaping materials for the replacing, three or four months hence, of the temple on the top of the mountain with a new structure. All the sawyers of the city are on duty. Priests and people are busy with saw and chisel and adze and plane. The large public courtyard is full of timber and workmen. A new king has come upon the throne, and the way to a long and successful reign must be sought in the building of these new memorials to Buddha. How strange and how sad it all seems! But the _people_ are not sad. For while their hands are busy their tongues are busy too, and the frequent merry laugh tells of the joyous heart. They boast themselves in their work. The chief priests of the temples are there――one time passing among the workmen giving directions, then seated in groups upon their mats, spread sometimes in the large _sala_, and sometimes on the green sward, under the shelter of the bamboo matting and the leaf-awnings that have been stretched above the workmen. They are treated by all with the greatest reverence. The day is theirs, for in every honor shown to Buddha they have a share. Every day does the king come from his palace to inspect the work and to testify his interest in it. His highest noblemen, and even princes, consider it a privilege and an honor to help to frame the timbers for these temples. And so the work goes on, and Buddha is remembered. “Yesterday I passed through the temple that is so soon to be refitted. The walls of the old building had been taken down and removed. The foundation of the floor still remained. The principal idols were occupying their old places. The smaller ones were sitting in groups under the shade of the trees. The larger ones cannot be removed, but have been covered with split bamboo to prevent injury while the building is going up. The smaller ones are waiting patiently until the temple is completed and they are carried back to their places. “The building just removed was put up nearly a hundred years ago, and with occasional patching has lasted until now. And what will be the history of the new one? Will Buddhists worship their idols there a hundred years to come? Will the darkness abide so long in the Laos land? Or shall it have crumbled into ruins and temples for the worship of the living God have risen up around it?” Another of their innumerable ways of making merit is mentioned by Dr. McGilvary: