Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/458

 huge palms, which are straight and smooth as the mainmast of a ship, the Laotians have invented a simple and ingenious process. They transform the palm into a veritable ladder by attaching to the trunk, with small strips of flexible ratan, projecting laths of bamboo, which, jutting out to right and left at intervals of twelve to fourteen inches, form so many "rungs" and enable the ascent of the tree to be rapidly and easily accomplished.

There are bright gleams ever and anon revealing themselves in the pictures given us of the life of our missionaries in this lonely corner of the world, showing that God does not leave his servants here to sadness and discouragement. A young missionary thus describes a visit to the wife of the king of the province, by courtesy called a queen:

"I want to tell you of a novel entertainment Mrs. Cheek and myself enjoyed last week. The queen has long been wishing for a dress made like ours, and at last she prevailed on Mrs. Cheek to make it. The material was black summer silk, and Mrs. Cheek made a pretty, short princesse, white lace at neck and sleeves and lavender bows—very pretty indeed. While it was being made we laughed over visions of bare feet beneath a black silk awkwardly adjusted and a yellow cot