When the confidence of his armies was beyond doubt the Marshal Iaunched his attack on Shanhaikuan. He has been fighting for it for three weeks now without securing an effective oceups tion, but he has not been beaten off, he has gained much, and his long: range trench-mortars and other artillery have caused so much havoc thab when Shanhaikuan falls the road lo Peking almost certainly will be clear, One incident of the siege of Shanhaikuan deserves special mention. After the capture of Chaoyang, the 2nd Army, commanded by General Li Ching-lin, went on to join in the operation designed td capture Jehol and open the north road to Peking. Feng Vu-hsiang had been sent to defend Jehol and it was anticipated that there would be some hard fighting there, When Feng announced his neutrality and fell back on Peking, General It received orders to turn south and attempt to ent off Wu Pei-fu in the rear of Shanhaikuan, He swung down to the cast of Jehol and by forced marching covered over 200 miles in a week and, according to the official report, n 10 days was astride the railway n the neighbourhood of Tongshan, ro that Wu Pei-fu's army at Shan: haikuan now has only the sea open to it unless it can out a way through. A very fine body of men, the Antung '7th Brigade, under General Tang, has gone down to reinforce the "Young General's ard Army in front of Shanhaikuan, Foreign Ladies' Work for the of secrecy which hid their plans and the movements of their forces and we now know the outline of Soldiers and the Chinese War Hospit No man. thoroughly understand a woman, very few can be absolutely certain how a China pony will behave from one minute to another, and the only foreigners who havea perfect knowledge of the Chinese are those round-the-world tourists who stay in Shanghai for a day and for exorbitant prices buy mah jongg sets made by imported. machinery. Chang Tso-does know his own people and his whole plan of campaign was based on their peculiar characterfsties, The Marshal said that it was perfectly in order to equip and train his armies according to. the Jatest Western ideas, but the Chinese still is Chinese and century-old characteristics could not be Oct. 26, Ladies anywhere always are to the front when there are errands of merey to be done. In Shanghai the moment war was declared the various women's organization set to work to provide bandages and comforts for the wounded and I do not doubt that the same thing happened in Peking, Tentsin and Nanking. Tt was the same in Mukden, The foreign community in this pro-sporous and.soundly governed city is possessed of a club which for hospitality, sportsmanship and gen eral camaraderie is unequalled in China. Any visitor is welcome in it and all the permanent foreign residents are members, including the ladies. When the armies marched out the Indies mulcted all The main idea was to oust the corrupt and incompetent government ut Peking and to establish reliable men in the offices and ta do that he had to go to Peking. He had a choice of routes, but Chinese warfare it is "ood face' to hold certain position. In thi eae it would be "good face" to hold Shanhaikuan because of events that are past, and Marshal Chang sai that he was quite prepared to yo to Peking la Shanhaikuan. ever, he knew also that the Chibi People would be equally intent on holding Shanhaikuan, he did not despise his enemy's best troops and he knew that he would by no means have a walkover in that corner.
Shanhaikuan is on the border of his territory and he could have at-tucked easily on the first day of the war, but had he suffered a verse, or had he even been held up for so long as he has been, people without military knowledge would begin to doubt and int the end the morale of all but his veteran troops might have been shaken. Accordingly one.army was marchced right through the heart of Chihli with instructions which meant the men in contributions according. to their means and with the proceeds they set to work to produce a supply of bandages and other hospital supplies, their equipment being augmented by very generous. gifts from Marshal Chang Tso-lin and leading Chinese residents. One cannot say that any one is more energetic than another, for from Mrs. Porter, the wife of the British Consul-General, to the latest arriv-stenographer they all seem to be Tending " hand and every morning they have cheery parties in the club, where they spend several hours hard at work.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.