The following letter appears somehow to have been intercepted in the post, whether by operations of censorship or for other reasons ennnot be ascertained. It is pubished here without prejudice, without responsibility, without reserve, cand without endorsement, Shanghai, Sept. 9, Dear Cetay—I am glad to hear Jack's got such a good billet, but T expect you will be sorry to leave Calcutta." Those were very jolly days that we spent with you and Jack at Darjeeling, and Tom says that he always associates Mount Everest with sausages and mashed at 3 in the morning. I do not think that is quite proper, but still 1 will let it pass. Here in Shanghai 3 in the morning is nothing, as it were-So many of them seem to begin their day at midnight, We have been in Shanghai, as you know, the best Part of w year. We came on from, Hongkong, where Tom had to put in a few weeks for a special inquiry demanded by his Department, Hongkong was delightful, although I should not like to live there al-Ways because of the constant trouble with the atmosphere, The atmosphere of Shanghai does not give any trouble at all. There are '30 many different currents that they have what Tom would call a neutralizing effect, But you ask me how f like it, It is very difficult to say, Som times I positively loathe the place there seems nothing to do. All kinds of rules and regulations which help one in other places seem to go by the board, and I want to tell Tom to book my passage by the next steamer. But old stagers tell me that it grows on you, and [am not 80 sure that they are not righ Tom says, in fact, that Shanghai is ike one of those dear tactless people that always persist on show. ing their worst side on first acquaintance, It must grow on you in some ways, because on the ship between Hongkong and our destination I met some apparently quite sane creatures who confessed to having lived in Shanghai for some time and who told me the most amazing stories, a few of which 1 could confirm on my arrival, I was, told, for example, that the cinemas produced plays miles ahead of re-ease in New York or London owing to the proximity of Shanghai to Los Angeles—and yet my first cinema entertainment wax "The Broadway Melody!"—And then most glowing: descriptions were given us of the interior of Shanghhai's theatres and the resources of its shops. Well, a good deal of that is to be taken with a grain of salt. Theve ave plenty of theatres and the shops are not so bad, but nothing to enthuse about. And the idea that you will not miss your special girl in Gratton Street is pretty wide of the mark, Perhaps the most difficult. thing about Shanghai to the newcomer is, to find out exactly where you are. In London you siruply don't worry about these things, I suppose, We make our friends as we tumble into them and it never happens that we meet them in other capacities. Out here things are different, It is not ike Calcutta, for instance, where you dine and dance in your own particular set and there is no cla ing. Shanghai has the merit of being entirely free from any caste pre-Judices, as you would call them in India. At the same time, this free-and-easiness has its drawbacks. I should not dare to write this to a Shanghai newspaper, although they do write the most' extraordinary things to the press here as far as Tecan make out. But I think the men here want bracing up. The women are really very smart, they turn themselves out well in the hottest weather. There is no lack of decent dressmakers, and the Chinese are far better than your Indian dhurzis in copying Paris fashions. But what amazes me is to see smartly turned out women allowing themselves taken to the cinema in the evening by men in every stage of undress.
who other night at an open-air cinema performance there was a gorgeous git! in a most ravishing Frock, as the fashion papers say, and she was quite calmly in charge of a creature in a white cricket shirt and no collar. It is true his hair was brushed and his face was washed, but that was the most that could be said about him. And parently the women put up with this in Shanghai. Why they do it heaven only knows—for they must have to undergo, a fair amount of discomfort to turn themselves out decently—and the hot weather is rather trying. But there it is. 1 suppose there is a reason for it, jand no doubt when I have been here another year I shall permit myself to be escorted by Tom in perhaps—though he is as indignant as Tam and refuses to entertain the suggestion for a moment, But then I suppose the men really rule the roost east of Suez "altogether. And in India you only get more Tespectful treatment from your men merely because they are used to official discipline. Here there is no discipline at all among the men, and although the word "taipan"" tone to conjure with in Shangh: the free-and-easiness of the young jafen "as a whole in their bearing towards their seniors would give a brigadier in India an apoplectic fit. As for dreaming of the ordinary social homage to their senior women—if such things exist Shanghai—well, I imagine that is a form of occupation is as extinct as the dodo. You will remember Mrs. Simpson. the wife of the Commissioner in Sultrypore. should like to see her in Shanghai, it really would be good for her soul. When I remember the dressing down she gave me at my first dinner party as a bride, because I sent her in to dinner by mistalwe after the Civil Surgeon's wife. I chuckle with delight at the mere thought of asking her to dinner at one of the casinos here—I hardly all them clubs—and dumping her down side by side with Tom's manicurist, This sounds terribly Aippant to you, I expect, because you always were imbued with respect for authority. It shows you, at least that I am not altogether disliking Shanghai, as it permits socialistic tendencies to have an outlet. But I still wish the men would dress after dinner, or I shall be inclined, when T get to know the place better, to organize a feminine counter-stroke and induce all the female community in Shanghai to attend the theatres in their dressing-gowns—but then of course they would still manage to look smart, been use that is the cussedness of Paris, Aug. 20—"An old Spanish custom"—that of tall senorita garbed in black Inces, velvets, and plenty of soft, long-ired fur—keynoted the collection of Redfern, jcostumer to her Majesty the Queen of Spain, ind proud of a numerous South American clientele.
The collection differed from most other houses in abundant display! of velvet on any pretext, the thetrical "Juliette" aspect of many of its more formal gowns, and the Sensuous use of fur to weight down or outline dresses of the clining transparent or panne velvets, Nevertheless Redfern introduced all seriousness the "leg o' mutton" sleeve, using it often on both coats and dresses; it will probably be popular with persons of excessive femininity who like to be "dressy. Redfern also emphasized a long tunic leg o'mutton sleeves, the tightness from elbow to wrist being emphasized by narrows row upon row of, fine white net ruching—the open yoke and tiny stand-up frill of the round neck of the same ruching.
Despite occasional glimpses modernity at Redfern's, there was a tendency to revel in laces, net velvets of the past, even "Jazz, entry in almost every collection, being simply flame-colored Ince conservatively fashioned.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.