feign indifference to all temporal concerns by walking with measured pace, apparently noticing nothing.
There is no hereditary priesthood. Any male enters a wat at his pleasure, and leaves it without reproach to return to secular life: if married, however, he must be divorced before entering. Every man is expected to spend more or less time in the priesthood, and according to law no one can serve the government until he has done so. Little boys are put into the wats as pupils at a very early age (for each wat is more or less of a public school), and when they have learned to read and write they are ready to put on the yellow robes; so they grow up to manhood, and often to middle age, amid surroundings only calculated to make them idle and frequently vicious men.
There are certain special months for entering and for leaving the priesthood. The shortest period is three months. During this portion of the year the number is much larger, as many leave after a very short stay. The ceremonies of ordination are simple, consisting in the tonsure of the candidate, prayers repeated by the priest, bathing with holy water and assuming the yellow robe—something like the old Roman tunic in shape, with a scarf thrown over the shoulders. Such services are accompanied by the distribution of largess to the priests and the
