Those who desire to tread delicate-—ly in discoursing on the topic of the weather, lest they should stir the apparently sleeping dogs of Vulcan will not be disposed to make much fuss about the arrival of Ta Shu, the day of the Great Heat. Normally this day should see the peak of the mercury's performances during the hot weather. Yet it is unwise to expect Siccawei to tie itself too tightly to the chariot wheels of the Calendar.
Except for a hectic spell during which Salamanders alone were happy, July has tempered its thermometrical ecstasies with discretion. But the toughness of Shanghailanders is proverbial; how otherwise can be explained the fact that on the eve of Ta Shu two young men undertook to knock each other about and a large company defied the heat to see them do it? The result is not known at the time of writing. Whether Mr. Shelaeff or Mr. Alde received the judge's approval for his prowess in the noblest art of all will be known to readers of a later page than this. They both, however, deserved commendation for braving the rigours of the present temperature even in so good a cause, Ta Shu, however, raises certain hopes and gives certain consolation. When it Las arrived it is possible to declare that within. a fortnight the beg'n^ing of Autumn wil be at hand ard within a bare calendar month will come the blessed Chu Shu, or the end of the Heat. Words may not mean much; they can be readily refuted by the wicked mercury, but their nere utterance creates ^a psychological influence against which the power of Siccawei to contend for very long is obviously limited.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.