Scenes and Impression Behind the Kiangsu Lines al By H, L, Peancr, In a moment of exasperation one of "my" colleagues composed an epigram upon the Chinese. He said they were all face pidgin and filth, fand the remark was inspired by a Quinsan street. incident of 80 tne pleasant character that the inclusion for "face-pidgin" in this brief doscriptive. criticism was probably intended only as a complimentary, setcoll, The observation seas n gross libel, of course, but there wi grain of truth in it, Quinsan, like most {Chinese cities, is no hestth resort, Tehas the usual choice assortment of domesticated poison gases, the usual unhappy. display of squalor, dirt, Ailapidation, the usual net-work of alleyways disguised as city streets, land. seemingly more than its quota fof unattached canine residents; but these matters Tt is no worse than Any other Chinese city, beloved of citizens. They are content. They will gossip among garbage quite cheerfully so long as gossip is good and is conduced with decorum, "One wished, hower that their master fof secular windom, Confucius, had found time for composing just one small treatise upon the organization fof Public Health and Sanitation Department, Perhaps our mission-jary friends will supply the deficiency. For the Gospel according to St, Luke they might occasionally substitute the Gospel according to Lever Bros. Quinsan stands in urgent need of a spring cleaning campaign, At a street corner I noticed a placard fanmouncing a grand theatrical porformance entitled "The Thisty Heavens." The Joke will be upon me the playwright has described Quinsan as the Seventh.
It was said "that Marshal Chi would be delighted to meet representatives of the Shanghai news: pers, was indeed most anxious to do so, but had not a moment to' spare. He remained—in the deep seclusion of the magisterial Yamen, a human island surrounded by maps. No one ever ww him, One hardy fellow indeed claimed to have done so—but he was an American. One had therefore to be content with gazing upon the soldiers whom the Marshal manipulating. They were a mixed lot, representing the seven ages of lly, every stage of T.B. ward to a Some looked like real fighting men. Others obviously lad been dragged from the pence of their native fields and were still wondering why. 7 wor Northern veterans capable of giving fierce reality to a bayonet charge, and there were youngsters who went into the firing line scarcely knowing why their rifles were fitted with bolts, One story, well authenticated, explains the presence of these raw, untrained levies or some of them. A certain Defence Commissioner fealled upon to supply his quota of troops found himself in the not unusual predicament of -having more men on the pay roll than on the parade ground. But the full' number iwas quickly. gathered. Between two and three hundred men and boys {in his employ were enlisted, clothed in the garments of war, and packed loft with the rest after "training" which just: about amounted to ex-laining the: difference between the:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.