They are lazy and idle and profligate. Their leisure time, which is extensive, is spent in gambling and in occupations entirely unsuited to their sacred character. They have been known to make excursions during the darkness of the night when honest men are in their beds and dig up people's potatoes, or, if no obstacles occur, to despoil a farmer's henroost of all the birds in it. There certainly is a Nemesis that attends the irregular lives of these regular clergy of the idols, for they have not only an evil reputation, but according to popular report death invades their families until one after another is taken away and the home becomes extinct. That this happens often enough to warrant the tradition is quite evident to those who have studied the question. It is also a remarkable fact, that whilst these men who are the ministers of the idols are looked down upon with contempt, the gods who select and employ them are never censured by the public or considered to be involved in the evils of their servants. It is a strange system that allows men of a low and depraved character to be the chief actors in the spiritual movements of a nation, but it is on a par with the fact that in the worship of the idols, goodness or reformation in heart or life is never required from a single worshipper. The bad man brings his offering without any promise that there will be a change in his life, and it is apparently accepted just as freely as that of another whose reputation stands high amongst all classes of the community. This latter fact is a sufficient explanation of how it is possible for such men as now act as interpreters of the gods to be tolerated in the service of the temples at all. [Illustration: A TYPICAL VILLAGE.] CHAPTER XII SCHOOLS, SCHOOL-MASTERS, AND SCHOOL-BOOKS Chinese passionately fond of education--Reverence for printed or written words--State makes no laws for the education of the people--The school-house and the school-master--System of teaching--Boys first learn sound of words--After years of study learn the meaning of each character--Small percentage of readers in China--One set of school-books in every school in the Empire--The _Three Word Classic_--The "Four Books" and the "Five Classics," with analyses.