Twenty-Sixth Evening

Twenty-Sixth Evening

"Last night I looked down upon a town in China," said the Moon. "My beams irradiated the n***d walls that form the streets there. Now and then, certainly, a door is seen; but it is locked, for what does the c******n care about the outer world? Close wooden shutters covered the windows behind the walls of the houses; but through the windows of the temple a faint light glimmered. I looked in, and saw the quaint decorations within. From the floor to the ceiling pictures are painted, in the most glaring colours, and richly gilt—pictures representing the deeds of the gods here on earth. In each niche statues are placed, but they are almost entirely hidden by the coloured drapery and the banners that hang down. Before each idol (and they are all made of tin) sto……