To the Editor of the '"Nowtu-Cuiwa Datuy News."
Sit,—The letter of "Homeside ini" opens by giving her eredentals (as she sees things); the fond stanza is taken up in the ing as to how long a Shangirl would be likely to survive under Siburban conditions in Eng-the latter portion is devoted existence" in Shang-the capabilities of the Shanghai Girl in the matter of pedestrianism, Thave not the slightest desire to cavil at the Homeside Girl; they of course vary according to the environment in which they have been brought up—some are capable, some narrow in their outlook, are domesticated, others not.
Let us be fair to the Shanghai Girl Many there are who feel that jpersions cast upon them by call youths of the "Bachelor" type are Unjust, who feel that the insular of the "Homeside entirely unwarranted fact. She herself admits that she hasn't been out here long. How, then, can she be in a position to pass judgment? Tam Homeside, with a residential qualification. of thirty. years in the "empty, idle existence" which she affects" to Toathe, and yet which nevertheless Tam certain she finds a welcome change from Homeside conditions. Stig true that we miss a lot; but we have many compensations, "The average Homeside "girl, having been carefully. selected. by the discriminating youth from among the surplus stock at Home, duly shipped to Shanghai on, we'll hope, a clean bill of lading. If she is not too favoured in features and general deportment and bearing, there Is a possibility that she my arrive here in due course (many of them, prior to depression in the Straits, wore per-Suaded to forswear their allegiance their original purchasers, and decided to grace the precincts rubber plantations, tin mines and the ike rather than, to come up North and share the lot of a mere commercial man in Shanghai), and help uplift the general tone of the British feminine community. Hi ing arrived, where do at least 90 per cent. of them settle down to Gisplay their marvellous skill in doing the housework, cooking, mend-ting, washing, and so forth? The answer is—in a little poky flat, with heat, hot running water} no den. Those who are more fortunate may find themselves installed ina house—but invariably will it be found that they require, a xetinue of servants to enable them to display their domestic qualifications. They are immeasurably inferior to their Shanghai sisters when comes to "running" a house (oF even a flat) out here, They have no knowledge of "the nati they fallback upon activities rather than domestic: they are to be found in the Clubs, tea fights,"—not in the kitchen.
How many Ho girls are to be found in the early morning in the Shanghai markets? Few. 'They would be' lost there—handicapped by guage difficulty, Most of them "leave it to the boy" or with a compradore. ing has rendered her cosmopol She has friends of all national she is self-respecting, but not proud; she can speak, as a rul two or three languages. She is a good sport—and adaptable. I have, when Home on leave, been called upon to sample some of the culinaty efforts of the "Homeside" type. The least said the better. "I'l guarantee that the general run of Shanghai girl would whip them to fa frazale in a couple of months in that direction if she had to face the necessity. After all, a man wants more than a wash-amah, a sew-sew woman, a cook-stove drudge for a wife. He wants refined social amenities—he needs a wife who hold her own in the social cire (whether at one of the national balls or in one or other of our better class places of entertainment where dancing is the vogue). He wants a wife who can play and sing, who is not so dumb as to find herself tongue-tied when conversa tional powers ate called for. All these qualities he will find in the Shanghai givl—and, although may mot always be apparent on the surface, he will find that she is able to run a house (or a fiat) effciently and economically, that she makes an even better mother than a Home-girl, who necessarily lacks ex-health con-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.