CHAPTERIX.CHILD-LIFE IN SIAM.Whenthe 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.The girls play at keeping house, and make dishes of clay dried in the sun, and from seeds, grasses and weeds they make all sorts of imaginary delicacies. Little images of clay washed with lime are their only dolls; these are sometimes laid in tiny cradles and covered with a few pieces of cloth. The Siamese cradles are made on oblong wooden frames, something like a picture-frame, from which hangs a network bag made of cord, which forms the cradle, and a board is put in the bottom to keep the netted cord in shape. The large cradle of the same sort in which the live baby sleeps is fastened by ropes to the rafters of the house, and forms a cooler and safer cradle than those in which American babies rest. If any one will make a little frame and net some cord for the basket part, she can have a real Siamese cradle.The boys in Siam are very fond of pitching coins, and spend much of their time in this game. They play leap-frog, and very often jump the rope. Now that so many foreigners come to this country they have learned to play marbles too. Foot-ball is also a very popular game, but instead of a ball they use a little square piece of thick leather with feathers fastened into one side. The men, as well as the boys, enjoy this game, and it is really the most active exercise the Siamese ever take. Fishing is a favorite pastime; and as crabs and prawns are not always in season, they are a greater luxury than fish, and it is considered great fun to catch them. The time for this is when the tide in the river is very low and great mud-banks are left on either side. The little fishermen carry with them a coarse sieve and an earthen jar. The sieve is pushed along under the surface of the mud, and the crabs, when caught, are put into the jars, which the children drag along after them. After they have caught enough crabs they pelt each other with mud, just as American boys do with snowballs. When they are tired and dirty enough they plunge into the water, have a good swim, and come out of the water as clean and happy as boys can be. In the month of March, though usually dry and hot, winds are blowing. At this time the Siamese, young and old, are much engaged in playing games with kites, which are fitted with whistles, and the air resounds with the noise produced by the toys and the shouts of the multitudes of people engaged in the sport. Very frequently, too, mimic battles are fought in the air by means of these kites, skillfully directed by strings held in the hands of the owners.Siamese children do not have many pets, and those that they do have are used for fighting. Just at sunset the boys will often be seen searching very earnestly for crickets. These little creatures are put into small clay cages, closed at the top by bars of little sticks which let in the light and air. Then the boys gather some evening, put all their crickets into a large box, and watch them fight, as they are sure to do when put together. Small fish, called needle-fish from their long sharp mouths, are also used for this cruel purpose. Two fish are put into separate bottles placed close to each other. The moment they catch sight of each other they begin snapping, but of course can never reach each other. Sometimes a looking-glass is held before one, and it is amusing as well as painful to see how angry it will become. This passion for mimic fights grows in the boys, and when they become men they spend most of their time at cockpits, where nearly all their gambling is done. In spite of all this, animals are well cared for by most persons, for they “make merit” in this way. They also believe that at some future time a fish, a monkey, a dog, a cat, or it may be a snake, a bird or a pig, will be the possible home of their own soul.The Siamese are fond of flowers, and use them for personal adornment. The children wear wreaths of tiny white flowers on their topknots, and very often men and women put flowers behind their ears and fasten them in their hair. Children are often named for flowers and different colors. The name that almost all babies bear for the first few years of their life is “Dang,” which means red. When they get a little older they have another name given them, though sometimes this first name clings to them all their lives. When a stranger meets a young girl and wishes to speak to her she calls her “Rat,” for this is the most polite way of addressing young ladies whose name one does not know.A YOUNG SIAMESE PRINCE.A YOUNG SIAMESE PRINCE.There are no story-books printed for the children of Siam. Their stories are told to them, and are so uninteresting that American children would wonder how any one could listen to them; but they have never heard better ones, and the sweetest story of all, that of Jesus and his love, has never been heard by millions there. Some of the missionaries have translated into Siamese a number of story-books which are familiar to American children. A number of the familiar Sabbath-school hymns have also been translated, and are used in the Sabbath-school and church services.The Siamese know nothing of music. Their songs are a monotonous chant. They have but few musical instruments, and it does not take many to make a full band. These bands play at weddings, funerals and other grand affairs, but they do not vary their programme in the least, playing the same tune on any of these occasions.The Siamese children are not taught to keep Sunday, for there is no Sabbath in that heathen land; and even their occasional holy days are mere gala-days, when, dressed in their best and gayest garments, they go to the temples with their mothers to make offerings to the image of their dead god Buddha. From the temples they are often taken to some theatrical show to spend the remainder of the day. During the national holiday season these theatrical performances are going on all the time, besides Chinese street-shows very much like our Punch and Judy; and fathers, mothers and children all gamble.As the streets in Siam are almost all rivers and canals, the Siamese boys and girls early learn to row, and paddle their little boats almost as soon as they learn to swim, which they do when they are only four or five years old. Their canoes are sometimes so small that it is a puzzle to know how they can manage them so safely.A CHINESE STREET SHOWA CHINESE STREET SHOW.We have seen that in their plays the Siamese and American children have much in common, but in their home-life it is different. Siamese parents love their children as truly, if not as wisely, as American fathers and mothers love theirs. Generally the children are allowed to do just as they please until the parents become angry; then they are sometimes very cruelly punished. The hand of a little one is sometimes bent back until the child writhes in agony. They are whipped very severely too, although it must be confessed that the children sometimes scream and cry very loudly before they are hurt. But these punishments are not often administered for what we would consider sinful. The parents lie, swear and gamble, so that they cannot well punish their children for following their example. They often curse their children for a very little thing, and so the children learn to curse each other. But there is one thing that the Siamese children could teach young folks in America—reverence for their parents and for old age and respect for those in authority over them.
Whenthe 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.
The girls play at keeping house, and make dishes of clay dried in the sun, and from seeds, grasses and weeds they make all sorts of imaginary delicacies. Little images of clay washed with lime are their only dolls; these are sometimes laid in tiny cradles and covered with a few pieces of cloth. The Siamese cradles are made on oblong wooden frames, something like a picture-frame, from which hangs a network bag made of cord, which forms the cradle, and a board is put in the bottom to keep the netted cord in shape. The large cradle of the same sort in which the live baby sleeps is fastened by ropes to the rafters of the house, and forms a cooler and safer cradle than those in which American babies rest. If any one will make a little frame and net some cord for the basket part, she can have a real Siamese cradle.
The boys in Siam are very fond of pitching coins, and spend much of their time in this game. They play leap-frog, and very often jump the rope. Now that so many foreigners come to this country they have learned to play marbles too. Foot-ball is also a very popular game, but instead of a ball they use a little square piece of thick leather with feathers fastened into one side. The men, as well as the boys, enjoy this game, and it is really the most active exercise the Siamese ever take. Fishing is a favorite pastime; and as crabs and prawns are not always in season, they are a greater luxury than fish, and it is considered great fun to catch them. The time for this is when the tide in the river is very low and great mud-banks are left on either side. The little fishermen carry with them a coarse sieve and an earthen jar. The sieve is pushed along under the surface of the mud, and the crabs, when caught, are put into the jars, which the children drag along after them. After they have caught enough crabs they pelt each other with mud, just as American boys do with snowballs. When they are tired and dirty enough they plunge into the water, have a good swim, and come out of the water as clean and happy as boys can be. In the month of March, though usually dry and hot, winds are blowing. At this time the Siamese, young and old, are much engaged in playing games with kites, which are fitted with whistles, and the air resounds with the noise produced by the toys and the shouts of the multitudes of people engaged in the sport. Very frequently, too, mimic battles are fought in the air by means of these kites, skillfully directed by strings held in the hands of the owners.
Siamese children do not have many pets, and those that they do have are used for fighting. Just at sunset the boys will often be seen searching very earnestly for crickets. These little creatures are put into small clay cages, closed at the top by bars of little sticks which let in the light and air. Then the boys gather some evening, put all their crickets into a large box, and watch them fight, as they are sure to do when put together. Small fish, called needle-fish from their long sharp mouths, are also used for this cruel purpose. Two fish are put into separate bottles placed close to each other. The moment they catch sight of each other they begin snapping, but of course can never reach each other. Sometimes a looking-glass is held before one, and it is amusing as well as painful to see how angry it will become. This passion for mimic fights grows in the boys, and when they become men they spend most of their time at cockpits, where nearly all their gambling is done. In spite of all this, animals are well cared for by most persons, for they “make merit” in this way. They also believe that at some future time a fish, a monkey, a dog, a cat, or it may be a snake, a bird or a pig, will be the possible home of their own soul.
The Siamese are fond of flowers, and use them for personal adornment. The children wear wreaths of tiny white flowers on their topknots, and very often men and women put flowers behind their ears and fasten them in their hair. Children are often named for flowers and different colors. The name that almost all babies bear for the first few years of their life is “Dang,” which means red. When they get a little older they have another name given them, though sometimes this first name clings to them all their lives. When a stranger meets a young girl and wishes to speak to her she calls her “Rat,” for this is the most polite way of addressing young ladies whose name one does not know.
A YOUNG SIAMESE PRINCE.A YOUNG SIAMESE PRINCE.
A YOUNG SIAMESE PRINCE.
There are no story-books printed for the children of Siam. Their stories are told to them, and are so uninteresting that American children would wonder how any one could listen to them; but they have never heard better ones, and the sweetest story of all, that of Jesus and his love, has never been heard by millions there. Some of the missionaries have translated into Siamese a number of story-books which are familiar to American children. A number of the familiar Sabbath-school hymns have also been translated, and are used in the Sabbath-school and church services.
The Siamese know nothing of music. Their songs are a monotonous chant. They have but few musical instruments, and it does not take many to make a full band. These bands play at weddings, funerals and other grand affairs, but they do not vary their programme in the least, playing the same tune on any of these occasions.
The Siamese children are not taught to keep Sunday, for there is no Sabbath in that heathen land; and even their occasional holy days are mere gala-days, when, dressed in their best and gayest garments, they go to the temples with their mothers to make offerings to the image of their dead god Buddha. From the temples they are often taken to some theatrical show to spend the remainder of the day. During the national holiday season these theatrical performances are going on all the time, besides Chinese street-shows very much like our Punch and Judy; and fathers, mothers and children all gamble.
As the streets in Siam are almost all rivers and canals, the Siamese boys and girls early learn to row, and paddle their little boats almost as soon as they learn to swim, which they do when they are only four or five years old. Their canoes are sometimes so small that it is a puzzle to know how they can manage them so safely.
A CHINESE STREET SHOWA CHINESE STREET SHOW.
A CHINESE STREET SHOW.
We have seen that in their plays the Siamese and American children have much in common, but in their home-life it is different. Siamese parents love their children as truly, if not as wisely, as American fathers and mothers love theirs. Generally the children are allowed to do just as they please until the parents become angry; then they are sometimes very cruelly punished. The hand of a little one is sometimes bent back until the child writhes in agony. They are whipped very severely too, although it must be confessed that the children sometimes scream and cry very loudly before they are hurt. But these punishments are not often administered for what we would consider sinful. The parents lie, swear and gamble, so that they cannot well punish their children for following their example. They often curse their children for a very little thing, and so the children learn to curse each other. But there is one thing that the Siamese children could teach young folks in America—reverence for their parents and for old age and respect for those in authority over them.