Scavengeing has come t> Shanghai, I hear. It has, of course, been a popular form of entertainment for quite some time in London and Paris, though one of the hosts who was responsible for its first tris in Shanghai the other night did not take very kindly to this information when I told him. He wanted to claim originality as well "as initiative for his idea.
The event was a great success. The invitation announced Miss Maude White, Miss Daphne Hutchinson, Mr. Ben Bvrind, and Mr. Muspratt Williams as organisers, and guests were told to meet at the mess in Avenue Joffre for "Food and instructions', td wear old clothes, and to "Bring car if any."
They complied with all requests except the last, and I heard that several irate fathers were demanding the whereabouts of their family cars last Saturday night. Meantime the family cars were being driven at break-neck speed all over. the town by excited young daughters.
The list_of articles to be scavenged' was well thought out. The three blonde haixs proved a quite difficult item. Several women were suggested but had to be discarded when it was said that the blonde hairs had to be genuine ones.....
Another item was a_ hard-boiled egg to be brought back to the house still warm. This gave opportunity to one of the young men to buy a bad egg which, with suspicious generosity, he placed in the car -of another of the hunters. The latter brought the joke to a most successful conclusion by sitting on the egg. Not even the most lavish applications of eau-de-cologne could restore either the man's suit, lits _partner's dress, or the car cushions.
Newspaper offices were raided, houses of peaceful citizens were broken into. The Cathay Hotel saw the Scavengers during the evening, in quest of Henry Nathan's handkerchief. It was a vain quest because after numerous questions, the poor man had to reveal that he had "no handerkerchief.
Oh yes, there is no doubt that the party was a success. The hosts deserve congratulations because it is not always so easy to amuse a party of 40 people in Shanghai without taking them to the inevitable dance places. The guests were mostly of the younger set with a sprinkling of young married couples, including Count and Countess Dél TONNA et rrr Bone and M. and Mme, Venturini of the Italian Consulate.
Miss Joyce Middleton with the help of Mr. Rhys-Roberts (who did all the work really, she afterwards confessed) won first prize.
Other prizes were given to couples who brought back the most original thing that could be got inside a car. Countess del Bone and Capt. Hinchcliffe claimed one for returning with a tailor's dummy; Miss Billie Smith and her partner returned with a somewhat astonished Tommy, and another couple with an article which would embarrass me to describe but which won them prize nevertheless.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.