Aug. 2.
We are once more at that season of the year that is marked by irresponsibility of thought aswell as of conduct, Calm, cool reasoning yields) fo a torridity which we note increases in a single day by 80 much as 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit, How much more consoling to express this in its equivalent in degrees Centigrade, i.e, 0.9) It at once justifies the extra chit signed on the score of the day having been by that much hotter than its predecessor, and accounts nicely for the general wave of indignation that there should be hot weather in summertime.
Our theme, however, is not the temperature. We allude to.it only in order to suggest that, even were this summer not 80 much hotter than last, it would most likely be felt to be so, in view of the nervous strain to which all have been subjected during the past twelve months, 'The year has been one of extra anxiety to the foreigner in China, Speculation as to his future "position continues. undiminished, as does that as to whether those who are charged with his _legiti interests will ever awake to' the realization of what is required of them. As if this! were not sufficient, we of Shanghai have been threatened with the formation of a poetry club, with all that that imp!
Out of the welter of discouragement, however, appears a hopeful portent—one that should sufiee to convince the" most hardened disbeliever in sign: Like all om of great significance, it does not originate in high places, but emanates from the consciousness of the common people, who are ever the final orbiters of a nation's destiny. Indeed, this sign is the first noteworthy indication possible restoration of the status quo ante in China, that] has come to our attention in many weary moons. It is the simple announcement, "Mutual Hairdressing," which, in letters! of purest gold, greets the passer-by from the doorway of a modest establishment in Hongkew.
We are ever reminded of the lack of ce-operation between our Chinese friends—that shoulder-to-shoulder effort without which they cannot hope to put their affairs in order. Not only this, but the ery is for closer cooperation between Chinese and foreigner. The unhappy events of a year ago have had subtle, and wide-spread ramifications. We have been left with the uncomfortable feeling that they might recrudesce at any moment. 'They have begotten not only mutual recrimination between' foreigner and Chinese, but also} mutual hair-pulling. Many, figuratively speaking, who were hitherto endowed with a thatch moment as a merry-go-round, we Tean back ahd envisage a number of things. t of all, we conjure up the picture of two men, the one reclining in a cross between a dentist's chair and some relic of the Inquisition, his frame protected by a species of shroud that—_precludes contamination of his clothing by hairs (which must all down his neck): the other, bending solicitously over him, mindful only of his true happiness. But there is a new note in this otherwise familiar picture. While who bends over the chair is busy' removing a two days' growth of stubble from the features of him who reclines in it, the latter is engaged in curling the moustache of the first, or anointing his countenance with soothing lotions, By extension, we picture one lof these as a foreigner and the other a Chinese; and we behold 'a land in which they are ever in accord. Here is the very formula for that better understanding between them that is '80 eagerly sought. Where there }was constant rubbing of the fur of each the wrong way, there need be but tender solicitude ito lay, each refractory hirsute member, in its proper place. Here is ce-operation with none of the crass materialism of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," or the suggestiveness of the saying that one hand washes the other, 'There is an attitude! begotten of a satisfactory haircut, a sensation of being at peace with all the world, after 'a. comfortable shave, which could they be imparted, each to the other, by Chinese and foreigner, must' succeed in allaying all animosity.
Again, here is another instance lot how many things at which we fare inclined to rail bitterly, ultimately resolve themselves into great blessings. A decade ago, our suggestion would have [been feasible only in part. Today, by virtue of the fact that the vast majority of women come, regularly beneath the hai dresser's ministrations, it is not, only altogether practicable, but marks the moment as ripe for its adoption. How futile, how mistaken, all that has ' been said and written about bobbed and gled hair! Woman, ever at pains to impress upon us that she is a sine qua now in the economic situation, is now|® vouchsafed a glorious opportunity to justify her possession of privileges hitherto long! denied her. No need for her to remain aloof from a process that must inevitably allay all suspicion between ourselves and the Chinese, It is the seemingly unimportant factor in history that is ultimately the controlling and even the deciding one. In this category falls that mutual hairdressing' that we look to see extended until all are far too busy to think of political differences. In so far as concerns its adoption, locally, we do not hesitate to regard it as a most promi method of "shaving" situation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.