We went to the telephone. It worked! "And we got our friend explain' to-his boy'what we wanted, and then the two boys talked together for at least twenty nrinutes after which Wong' returned with a triumphant. air, "My sabee. "Tat ting belong watch snailo, S'pose you talked fashion first time, my sabee. Jus now your eggs hab bellum velly har"
That very-morning, as if to make amends, Wong took us out to introduce'us to Mr. and Mrs. "Snailo"" both hard at work cleaning the bowl, and an hour later when we peeped out on the verandah, Wong was directing operations with a small stick, pushing the two: new "team pidgins" into places which in their' first enthusiasm: they had overlooked, ited without permission. was from an entirely different cause, for I found no more than the, ordinary display of feeling against the invaders of the province. It is not an antiJupanese feeling that has paralyzed Tsinan but a terrible depression, a great mental and spiritual shock that has come to all classes-of the people, from which it is very difficult to recover. It very closely resembles the cases of "shell shock" we read so much about during the European war and might be described as "hsin feng" (abt: or mental numbness from fri many cases of which have come under my own observation, The reason why this has been manifest: ed in Tsinan and not encountered elsewhere was explained to an old man who had watched whole course of events there through, far-seeing spectacles.
A Dream to Come True nan represented the peak," he "the very culmination of the hopes and promises of a long number of yea "With this idea in mind an explanation ig more easy. Many times in the past few years there have been advances made towards the north but they invariably died out at or near the Shantung border, Alli the ills that Tsinan and Sha tung in general have suffered these years would, in the minds of the people, have been obviated had these Southern expeditions ever reached the capital of the province, Despite all efforts to suppress Southern propaganda the entire populace had been instructed ant indoctrinated as to the marvellous benefits that would result feom a Southern occupation. Any effort to persuutce them to modify their hopes was futile. Any that the promise fiiment in this Te. ceived with nothing short of hostility.
"The spectacular collapse of the Shantung armies and the rapid advance of the Nationalists could not have been timed better. by a stage manager for the working up of the excitement and expectations of the
the very People. Step by step thes, sous to, aid the mental tate of the people on the actual arrival of the Nationalists was without precedent in North China. Southern Chinese cat arouse themselves to Heights of frenzy that are never known in the north' and they can us easily, subside therefrom. But this long. worked-up feeling at Tsinan was not to be snuffed out so easily.
'A Firat Disillasion "The first blow to their pride came in the appearance of the Nationalist troops. Tsinan is. accustomed to the sight of soldiers of all sorts and never had there been seen a worse bunch of ragamufting than "these that their astonished eyes. behold. Young boys, old men, ragged, dirty, undisciplined, dis orderly and plea-eyed, nor could their imaginations conceive that did' much to- quicken the hopes of the cheering multitudes and the end~ columns that pouted into the city seemed able by every pressure of numbers to sweep away Any obstructions in their way. I am not dealing with the matter. of responsibility for the outbreak—enough has been said on that subject already—but it cannot be Woubted that the people and the invading troops considered that they could sweep the Japanese out of their path as easily as a cat brushes away a mouse. Nor am I saying that either side expected trouble, nor do I mean to infer that th people wanted it, but it never once occurred to them that their heroos [were anything but invincible, "Then andthe The people simply could not grasp what their eyes saw. Here was their conquering army, completely cut to pieces and routed by a mere handful of Japanese. Where they had expected godlike deeds of heroism they saw cowardice, stupidity shameless inefficiency and hopeless panic. And when the Nationalists ly broke and fled in utter con. fusion the heatts of the people di¢d within them, "Since that awful revulsion. of feeling the people have hid neither life nor hope. Tholt very foundations seems to: be destroyed. No tone. has courage or initiative be make 'a new start and they talk'as, they were still in a bad dream."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.