The recent occasion of having conferred upon him, the honour of the G.3LG. gives me an opportunity to refer' to. the popular Gonsul-General "at San Francisco, man whom a good many of your! British" readers. may. at future time have occasi when over here. Mz. Campbell is type of British official who is Going much to cement the right and only sensible feeling of good-Will between the Americans. ani the British in this part of the world. At the luncheon given in his honour, reference was made to the "English-speaking Union (to which T'saw Captain Dollar also recently referred when he was in Shanghai), and the same feeling existed with that mixed band of Britons and Americans in San Francisco as'would probably exist the situation were duplicated in Shanghai. The Americans were a wee. bit uncomfortable, and. the British wondered whether the' speakers actually believed and felt to be true what they were claiming in regard to growing friendly relations between the two. peoples as distinct from the two Gor ernments.-Much the same situation would be experienced if) a prominent American were being entertained in the Shanghai Club, where British influence" predomihates. The British would hold their" own opinion, and so woul the Americans, and. there may appear to be wide differences, but if they were absolutely truthful with each other they would probably "find that much in thole general viewpoint was common Both peoples know that a con-dial dislike which appears natural among individuals in both nations, does exist, and is often mutual; this, however, comes from those members of both nations who have not broken down their own insulne view of the other through lack of experience. One hears what the American calls the "accent" of the Englishman being "tipped the grin" at in the theatres, and the difference in the employment of the long and short "a" often gives to mirth among Americans, Similarly, little surface so-called incongruities give the Briton in this country and in others where he meets" Americans—for the Americans, like the British, take their national foibles with them—occasion for a smirk. Moreover, motion pictures of a certain type do not tend to make cither nationlity feel comfortable when 100 ing at them—if the picture made in Los Angeles the Englishman squirms, if made in London the American has reason to get huffy, should he be foolish enough to take stock of simple surface things that do not matter. But that after all, the point. Our lives are 80 coloured with the things that are on the surface of life that we often in our hurry and competition disregard entirely the immovable basic facts of life. And this a need for a genuine, high regard of these nations for the other must surely be classed as among the basic facts of the nation Life of both Great Britain andthe United States. The men wh think know that upon the lasting concord and growing ce-0; o: ation of these two great peoples depends the peace of the world.
"Bobs" and "No-bobs."
And now for a lighter theme. I wonder whether all the schools out your way are advertising for lady teachers? If they are, and if no objection is made by the electing functionary I can recom-mond a fair-sized army who will be willing applicants—they are, however, all numbered among the bed." Shorn of their tresses, they are also shorn of a means of existence. The edict has gone forth, in many parts of this country, that schoolmistresses, youthful' ora little less youthful does riot matter, who have been to the barber's to' be clipped cannot continue their worthy profession of educating the young into the paths that they should tread. Several dismissals have taken' place, and officials, mere men naturally, r2- main adamant. They want long hhair, and the "no-bobs," irrespective of natural acumen, are earrying the day and winning the more highly-paid_ jobs.
'A. school-marm applies for a position; the" Commissioner of Education takes one glance—if a "bob" out she goes. And, seeing that nine out of every ten women in this country (so it seems to me) are. numbered not among the "unbobbed," there are a good many "bobs" whose funds arg running low.
But it looks as if the "bob" is a newcomer who will be with us a long time. In the United States the barbers—yes, the barbers, deed—are the perpetrators of" this crime. It happened in this wise. Business was bad. Men were hardly coming up to scratch, and as a barber can take a "course" in about three weeks, the army of barbers grew, and' this army had to be fed. Among the men ther were obviously not enough' hair-eats and shaves to make the game a profitable one, so the barbers did what all business men in this country do—they held a convention. Barbers flocked from all parts of the country, and the num: ber of men who went shavoless was legion. That is, until the barbers returned, But' when they' did return the men clients. noticed chilliness and change in demeanour, and a contemptuous side-glance as the tip changed hands. Mightly independent were the barbers. The truth only leaked out when flashy signs appeared in the windows of the barber-shops bearing the strange legend—"Ladies hair bobbed: Fifty oonts," which nobody understood, but the barbers—and the ladies, Tt appears that these wily hair cutters had gone into secret, conference at this convention, and discussed various ways and means of increasing business and turning in more honest dollars. They could think of nothing more that they could do for the men. At the present time they shaved them, they cut their hair often when was not required, they bought them clean collars and shirts at a came off while you whined" their shoes, they' massaged their faces. This was all they could think of. The thermometer was at a low ebb when a thinker caught just a shadow of an idea and turned the swift fire of his imagination upon it—why not "bob" the hair of the women? 'They called for station tics. So_many millions of the female of the species, multiplied by the amount they would nomin ally charge, multiplied by the amount they' would induce the dear creatures to pay. It ran into millions a year. Hastily, plans were drawn up for the assault. Reservations were made and the radiantly hopeful barber made a bee line back to his chair, And he ig now raking in the millions. Young and old, school-marms and school girls, the' old who took young and the young who look oki, all are "bobbing" and niareelling, "bobbing" perhaps once a month and marcelling at least once week. Well, reader, into arithmetic.—Literally millions dollars worth of business. No wonder the men cannot get ser~ Barbers no longer exist for they are giving up their honoured shops and opening "beauty parlours." 'The barber is wealthy' man from now on. Many of his grasping species, clever barbers, make much more money than some bankers, and havea much more interesting time. It is true that the "bobs" are not all successes. Some turn out like deckswabs, others hit the trail with ghastly' shaven necks, Just like the men, catching cotd down their spines.' Emulating the men, there is a tendency towards the Chrysanthemum cut—this term is my own copyright, as it presses ideally the American hai cut for men, just as it does for the little Chinese children, who have tied up with' Hetle red strings: there is only a difference HoNckons, May 6—The Japanese Olympic G: imes team has arrived at- Hongkong. Tt will me Hongkong representatives tennis, running and swimming Reuter Pacific Service.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.