NOTE.――The reader will doubtless notice that my description is of Siamese life among the lower classes, not among those who have come in contact with missionaries and been improved somewhat, nor those of the higher classes in Bangkok――the princes and nobles, whose old-time home-life was neater and more orderly than that here described. These, through the influence of foreigners coming to Siam and visits to foreign lands, have raised themselves in the scale of living, and have foreign houses filled with foreign furniture and conveniences, order sumptuous meals from foreign bakeries, and have them placed upon their tables and served in modern style. I do not consider that true _Siamese_ housekeeping. CHAPTER IX. _CHILD-LIFE IN SIAM._ When the Siamese young folks get up in the morning they do not go to the washstand to wash their faces, for the simple reason that Siamese houses can boast no such article of furniture. The cooking utensils and the mats which serve for beds, with the pillows of gayly-painted bamboo or of tightly-stuffed cotton, make up the entire furnishing of a Siamese home. The houses of the poor people are simple bamboo huts of one or two rooms, while their richer neighbors have teak-wood houses, with an extra room perhaps; but all are alike simple in their furniture. Our little Siamese friend just runs down to the foot of the ladder――for the house is built on posts――to a large jar of water with a cocoanut-shell dipper. There she washes her face――not in the dipper, but by throwing the water over her hands and rubbing them over her face. She needs no towel, for the water is left to dry. She does not brush her teeth, for they are stained black by chewing the betel-nut and seri-leaf. Her hair does not require combing either, for it is all shaved except a little tuft on the top of the head, and that is tied in a little knot and not often combed; and after a girl is twelve years old it is shaved and kept very short. After breakfast is over――and a very simple meal it is in Siam――the children go off and find some pleasant place in which to play. The baby goes with them, and is carried by the older sister on her right hip, and, with her arm to support the child’s back, she walks along as if she had no load to carry.