Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-08
in MODERN CHINA
XEX-On BubbIing Well Road
BY Erederic Z Haskfn

SiiSi0 - ~ appeal save TO the MOP.
she is British, she Is rich, she has lived
in China since girlhood, and she is alb
| solute master of the social Who's Who
in the Far East.
In her carriage just behind, a turnout
of the gayest, is another lady. also in
solitary splendor. She wears her jew
els, her dress is a trife loud, she stares
as the passers by. No one needs to tell
that she is the wife of wealthy man
who has made his fortune at the gam
ing table and that she is everlastingly
trying to get in" and that she is ever
lastingly doomed to failure.
Here are two young chaps with pink
cheeks, pale indications of mustaches
and that bored look which is inevitably
a part of the livery of the young Brit
ish merchantman-clerks in some of
the great English BANKS or "hongs."
They are soldiers of that greatest of all
victorious armiee, the British CONNER
cial service. They have come out from
home" on f1ve-year contracts at low
salaries. If they avoid the pitfalls of
the clubs, the chit system debts, and
the other iniquities of the east, their
contracts will be renewed, they will go
"home" for year, and then they will
be in line for promotion and pay. Bus
mess bores them. They talk of cricket
and the races, they drink and they
play, and they all have their fling. Yet
not all of them are ruined, and it is
such as these who have belted the
world with the scarlet sash of Albion.
Then there comes, heralded by the
clamoring colors of their servants liv-
cries, pair of precious rogues from
the United States. Men who haunt
their diamonds, who are so disgusting
ly opulent that all the world cries OUT
"Gamblers!" Americans blush for
them, but here they are. The recent
administration of American affairs in
Shanghai has left them wholly without
the support of their home government
in any way whatever. The flags of
Spain and little Cuba may protect them
now. Yet, strangely enough, the infiu-
ence of every European nationality was
actively exerted to save these fellows
from the wrath of decent American
officers of the law.
Here are bewhiskered Frenchmen,
bubbling with enjoyment of life; stolid
Germans, quietly grinning at their
English rivals, whom they have go
thoroughly frightened; gay Belgiahs;
swarthy Latin Americans, and many
who have so long lived and breathed in
the atmosphere of Asia that they have
lost the distinguishing marks of their
nationality.
There are women whose red cheeks
have been strangers to bushes for ages
-braZen women who come from the
ends of the earth to find that fab1ed
part of the world "where there aren't
no Ten Commandments, only to find
that here as well as at home they are
outcasts. Close behind them comes
carriage with two little painted Chi
nese women, little dolls sold as slaves
to white men not worthy of their color.
One sees the seamy side of life on
Bubbling Well road as we'll as in less
favored thoroughfares.
Here is a man and his wife, Ameri-
cans and they seem to be thoroughly
happy. They are nodding pleasantly to
acquaintances as they pass, and all the
world seems to know them. They are
not rich--we can see that-and their
carriage has only a coachman in mod
est livery. Who are they? MISSION
aries, of course, American missionaries,
a part of that great army of workers
which has selected Shanghai as a base
in its attack upon the ignorance and
sin of the Chinese empire. Not psalm
singing long-faced praters of cant are
they. That man has brought learning
to the ignorant, and he Is laying the
foundations Of the system tnaI VIII re-
generate all China. That woman is a
famous surgeon -physician-m missionary.
She has labored for nearly a score OF
years to relieve Chinese women from
main and death. The Chinese call her
the "Genius of the Knife" She has
been decorated by half dozen emper.
ors and kings. She has been covered
with honors from the Throne Of Heav-
en- at Peking and by viceroys OF the
provinces. she is an American Metho-
dist missionary. But you must not be
surprised tomorrow when you find her
name among the list of those pres
ent' at the garden party given by the
sIlver-haired grande dame who knows
exactly who is who in Shanghai.
Scores of carriages stream by, ana
we look out upon the respectanility Oh
Shanghai, the great middle class, the
neople who really count. AFTER ALL
most of the people who drive in Buo-
hing Well road in the afternoon are
neople lust like you see anywhere else
inst like those who go down to Coney If
tbev live in New York, or to meet the
evening train if they live in Humans
vile. Mo. c,,,,a.o.
bankers, society leaders, gamblers
beach combers, clerks, missionaries,
family men; rich, weli-to-do, poor
thew all drive. And when we go PACK
To the Astor House for dinner we naii
believe the big Sikh policemen knew an
the time that all the world, for all the
ages, is portrayed in the pageant TO De
seen every afternoon, of fine day,
from 5 to o'clock in BubblinS wen
road.
ron,orrow-In Modern China-XA: 500
chow. on the Grand Canal.