On A Shanghai Saturday Night 1 no longer harbour any doubt bes that ete getting 0 ig sha that Shanghai io not what it not ven the smallest fraction anall fractions led 7 had rowing dismay at changes—but I do ejoreSwhen ald and. esteemed rovidente of' Shanghat voiced no longer. Now, I believe hem, and, in tale never, never, will lend aught but sympathetic The mise-eieceno is the ballroom of the Majestic Hotel on Saturday; night. "The time is somewhere past midnight, ahd there is music, 'Not everyone calls it music, but every. one is agreed that it "serves the purpose" for which it was- intended. 'There is dancing. 'There is dancing of all Kinds "and conditions and' unless one sis filled to overflowing with the ardomrs of youth which wend one up and doing when the measured blast of the saxophone is heard, there 4s mach quiet enjoyment to be derived from watching the dancing... Should one comment} on man at his dancthg—man_ in the generic sense—as one watches, one might feel inclined to say that the modern dance has achieved its great purpose, that of removing self-consciousness. rom humanity.
Finally the music stops, but the din. 'Then one' becomes aware of a faintly perceptible hush along the tables abutting the ballroom floor, Is it not unusual to see, after all dancer seated them: selves at their tables, a pair of ingouclant saunterers' seress the polished ballroom floor? et, what an opportunity is afforded the saunterers to >be,' in' the -Vietorian fashion, the cynosure of all eyes.
There can be no doubt Shanghai is impressed: Such fect feminine chic is not o given it to see—Paris of the East though it is, A modiste's delight, the young lady who is crossing the polished floor must undoubtedly have been, offering as she did to the modiste's ant aum salt lines to encased in black satin of incom parable cut," Likewise, "her boot! maker, who took special pride in! iving' an"extra inch of height to for blank satin heel erich ends way up to the dock of a perfect ankle, The diamond buckles on her shoes heighten the simplicity; of her gown. So much for the, feminine side of it, though the feminine side notes also the tall! slender young man in clothes of estimable out, accompanying her across the ballroom. "Dignity and swank," forms the basis of many' conclusions.
'And the male section of the ballroom note the strikingly pretty face of the girl before they notice her frock. A vivid face, framed by wavy dark hair, cut' with an ingenuity by which Parisian adver-fisements exemplify the great chic.
'To hold the centre of the Shanghai stage on a Saturday night for ten minutes is indeed a record. 'The pair establish their record and seat, thomselves, all unknowing' the admiring glances enveloping them. Their conversation is gay and urbane, to judge at a distance. A scant attention they give to the world around them, which they] regard "through faintly cool and aloof, though kindly, eyes. Will they dance 90 that we may see that frock again, becomes the question in many woman's mind. But the music starts and they do not dance. The gir] smokes simply her cigarette through a black onyx and diamond holder, and listens with charming lunconselousness to her companion's obyjously charming remarks, Shang-_ hei Is disappointed that this! pair does not arise and join the kyzations of a Saturday night.
But perhaps Shanghai would return to its conversation without more ado if it could hear the generously proportioned grande dame passing by, divesting herself of audible ' comments' as she surveys the table where sit unconcerned ly the distinguished pair, it is the chief drummer and the fasnicure girl off our round-the-world boat," she proclaims as she suits by, drawing her trailing shawl more closely about her. But the fact remains that the good fairy @igpensed her favours liberally the g_manicure girl, and that 008 fairy—wanton creature—grow weary of her playthings before she arrived at the cradle of milady fashion, la grande dame, oF so it might neem to one who did not know, Jill O'Lantern,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.