A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 526, 1 June 1869, Page 4

A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE.

(From the Burrancfong Argus. ) About twelve or eighteen months back a Chinaman set up in Main street as the keeper of a joseThouse. The establishment was fitted up with curious papers, mystic symbols, and a number of dropsical little gods, The priest combined with his religious duties a little conjuring, fortunetelling, and a great deal of gambling ; and it is reported that he made one branch of liis profession j>ay, while he lost consi- I derably by the other. A s regards the for-tuns-telling, the ceremony was worth the shilling. The priest commenced by invoking the gods in a pathetic manner. He fell upon his knees, slapped the ground, sang, chanted, and prayed most piteously. He then rose up, lighted a lot of combustible matter, which he blew about in a shower of green fire, the fumes of wiiich half-choked the audience, It was then all over. Slips of paper were handed round with characters upon them as unintelligible as Arabic, and you were informed that " Bimebye, you too muchee money; too muchee money." But after a time people became tired of the chanting and green fire and the "too muchee money," which they never got, and the poor priest was reduced to a strait. The seriously inclined of the Chinese did not even patronise the temple, nor did they send in the stipends as regularly as the priest could wish, for, be it observed, the voluntary principle obtains among them and that implies that the congregation voluntarily give nothing. Scene the second then follows. A Chinese storekeeper in Main street, On Lee, was awakened on Wednesday morning last about three o'clock, and found a man about to make an exit through the roof with a bundle of drapery. On Lee caught him by the legs, and, horror to relate, it was the priest ! Notwithstanding the sacredness of his office, On Lee handed him over to the police, having first slightly disarranged his nose and mouth by sundry hard knocks, or, as On Lee describes it, pointing to the nasal displacement, "I beat him! Oh, yes ; you see I beat him too much." The priest complained to the Court, when charged with burglary, that his stipend had not been paid ; that nobody would give him anything ; and that, as he could not starve, he had to steal. He was, notwithstanding, committed to Yass, and between this and the quarter sessions he can contemplate the depravity of human nature, and amuse himself by telling the fortunes of the gaoler. This case should be a warning to the members of other | congregations who do not pay their stipend regularly, and whose clergymen may not have too muchee money.