July 29.
It is ina. spirit of admiration, tempered by sympathy, that a mere holiday-maker In Peitaiho writes to the heroes—and, of course, heroines—ot Shanghai. That you in Shanghai should have survived the trials of a record heat-wave is sufficient to! Inspire sympathy. But that you should have lived through such inleredible horrors as have been poured unto our ears... that indeed calls {for unbounded admiration. Such tales we have heard!
Our first suspicions that all_ was not well with Shanghai were roused when we were told (Oh, quite auth-critic, my dear—I had a letter from my husband to-day!) that the temperature was 112 in the shade. From that moment nothing hindered its upward progress. Higher and higher it [soared, and though a small voice did once venture to suggest that "at any rate it was a dry heat", it was immediately drowned in the exclamations that issued from soliticious wives on Peitaiho beach.
Provide the foreign population with fully coloured. beach pyjamas, large Eeribboned bats, and more practical khaki shorts." The talers do not stand fon ceremony; they sit with their sew-ting machines on the rond outside the shop door, so that the large and jazzy bait of trousers one sees. gradually 'Haining shape one day can be seen in their-glory on the ample, ngure Of a local society matron the next Between "five and. seven' in the evening, which {5 the hour for the ally stroll, all Petatho is out taking the alt. Children, screaming with ext Citement, gallop by on small donkeys, while "perspiring" coolies brandish hips with glorious disregard for the safety of humble Pedestrians. Rick: Shaws—none of your. unsteady "and fumy contraptions which. pass for Fekshaws in Shanghai, but dignified, fniniature carriages-pass in aeon: tinuous stream down the road. There: in'at those who know not the joys of Walking Gri a word,. the lazy ones) Who ave conveyed swiftly in the dir~ ction of the Lotus. hills to sit a While at the cafe and pass the time or day over a drink. As they go by treelings are exchanged. with friends fen the road in this way one can often fear as many as halts dozen different conversations going on at once, while the speakers are separated from one another by the rapidly" moving ok: Shaw. For rickshaw coolies up here HSeem to be strangely" impervious to fil commands to stop, with the result that after the first greetings are ex: hanged both. parties are shouting at the tops of their. voices, until the Coolie findly succeeds in drawing his Dassenger well out of hearing.
Pot plants are doing their share to brighten the living room for porch where the family spends the evening. Watering should always be done in the evening unless the plants are not stand~ ing in the full sunshine, and the earth should be kept loose with a fork 0 that air may penetrate to the roots. A few drops of cloudy ammonia cided to the watering can will brighten up the foliage. took place, This was done by vote, a Queen and two Princesses being chosen to represent the furth and [beauty of Peitatho. A Russian Indy, [blonde and alluring (but whose name unfortunately escapes me at this mo-was a dry heat For, needless to add, the ladies were feeling quite gloriously cool themselves. Clad in the latest and Jscantiest of beach attire, with a nice Dblue sea at their feet, and nothing' to do but talk.... What delicious cir= cumstances in which to discuss the fate of their poor husbands slaving.
way in Shanghai! And since the truth will always out, sometime or other, it is no use denying that a secret feeling of relief underlay such words as "Poor Bill, I do hope he's Met working too hard in all that heat." Because, after all it poor Bill could not work hard neither could hho play so very much. And so the vision of Bill having endless late nights and entertaining the entire feminine population of Shanghai lowly faded away, to be replaced by the much more comforting picture of Bill quite overcome by the heat and eating a series of solitary dinners at home, But you are tired of hearing about the heat. And I am here to tell you about Peitalho—so here goes.
First of all it must be understood that Peitatho is not amongst the elite.
not included in that exclusive Uttle "set of seaside resorts that Shanghai claims as her own. You hear all sorts of exciting news from JWethaiwel. ("Such goings-on, my dear, what with the navy and all!") And, of course, Tsingtao provides Jenough variations on the triangular theme to keep husbands in anxiety and wives in happiness all the sum-
But Peitaiho? What do you ever hear from Peitaiho? So with ostrich-like The Social Whirl In Peitaiho the really serious social life revolves, inevitably, round the various Legations. Peking's diplom: tic stars and their attendant satellites "migrate to Peitaiho during the summer, and Legation Bay is the headquarters of British representa tives. The Minister, Sir Alexander Cadogan, is up here at present, with Lady Theodosia and their three young "Between five to seven" daughters, so, of course, a good deal of entertaining has been going on amongst the inmates of the. British Legation. The German Legation Seems to specialize in tennis parties.
For the lesser lights, a general gathering time is about noon when the morning swim is sufficient in the way of exertion to merit some small refreshment. Each bungalow has. its hut on the beach, which is decked with chairs, cushions, matrosses and fall the paraphernalia required for run bathing. As wasps collect round em so are the bathers drawn towards hut that shows promise of cocktails. Conversation is light an? since the feminine sex predominates, strictly personal. Who was dining with whom the cafe last night... have you Weard, my dear... end so on.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.