Another insight that one gets into the unrefined character of the Chinese mind is the kind of plays that are popular with the masses. As the theatricals are performed on the streets, in front of some heathen temple, or on some open space where the crowds can congregate to witness the performance, one gets a lurid view of the workings of the Chinese mind by observing the kind of pieces that most suit the popular taste, and which will draw the largest audiences. It is an undoubted fact that, putting aside the historical plays, which from their nature are the very purest that are presented on the stage, the pieces that are most attractive and most sought after are such as would never be tolerated in any of the Western theatres. These seem to have a wonderful fascination for the playgoers, and men and women will sit during the long hours of an evening and right away past midnight, and will listen to the words of a play and to the innuendoes of the actors that any person with a chaste mind would fly from in utter loathing and disgust. Another very objectionable feature in Chinese life is the passion that every one seems to have for gambling. There are sections of people in England who are as much addicted to this vice as are the Chinese, but there are vast numbers who have never had anything to do with games of chance, and who would be horrified if they were asked to do so. Now, in this land there is no class of people similar to those. High and low, rich and poor, seem to have the gambling spirit in their very blood, and, like the craving in the opium smoker, that must be satisfied at all hazards, so the cards and the dice must be fingered to allay the passion that is burning within their hearts. [Illustration: FRUIT-SELLERS GAMBLING. _To face p. 327._]