Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-08


| ia Mi 6 o'clock in the afternoon one
IkA MI may not only see Shanghai,
| Ilk%A it's people, but he may feel
lksszssseA Shanghai, its charm. Bub-
bling Well road is a stage
setting worthy of pretty scene, and
no one who loves life, color and the'
pursuit of happiness can be disap-
pointed in its daily pageant. Here may
be seen in sharp contrasts the various
types of the lordly White Man as he
lives far away from his own people and
his racial home Here may be seen,
also, the types of those Chinese who
would ape their Occidental brothers in
manners and customs, whether it be
for salvation or for sin. Here may be
seen in epitome a moving picture of
the great human comedy, albeit col
ored with the rose, for on Bubbling
Well road even pinchi1g poverty and
! sordid sin wear gay livery.
Bubbling Well road has its beginning
somewhere in the heart of the busy
marts of commercial Shanghai as
mere street without particular or pc
culiar grace. 1t leads out into more
open spaces, passes by race tracks, by
cricket fields, by baseball diamonds, by
golf links. 1t marches down long asles
of red and gray brick garden walls,
which enclose veritable parks in which
are set red and gray brick palaces. 1t
meanders along the bank of a tiny
stream which coyly hides itself with
huge hedges of graceful bamboo. 1t
gives peeps of cultivated fields where
the farmers plant and reap around,
about and over the little mounds which
are the revered graves of their wor-
shipful ancestors. 1t declines to yield
to the temptation of green by-paths and
lovers lanes, keeps on past circus
grounds and summer amusement parks,
a I1Ar NF
sary shops. and finally comes to the
Bubbling Well
The Bubbling Well is a deep spring
surrounded by a low wall-of red and
gray brick-over which the newcomer
leans to loole upon the wonder of a
common, ordinary bubbling spring. 1t
is then that one knows that the Bub-
bling Well is nothing; the roads the
thing. One doesn't drink from the
Bubbling Well, one never looks at it
but once. and its only use is to give
name to the course over which Shang-
kai life must run sometime between
tea time and dinner time of pleasant
afternoon.
Set hard by that disappointing we'll is
caravanserai where men and women
of Shanghai do alight and compose
themselves for a dish of tea, peg of
Scotch and soda or q vile imitation OF
some American born intoxicant. From
the low window of this resting place
there are several such places, in fact
that portion of the pageant which IS
being refreshed by drink and food looks
out upon that portion of tbe parade
which has just been refreshed, or which
is about to be refreshed in similar
manner in very few moments
Driving with the rest of them we
have seen the road and its wonders;
now being out of the show and in the
act of being refreshed we look on.
Rather smart isn't it? Scores of we'll
set up victorias, drawn by good-look-
ing horses, carry those who do not own
their own turnouts. Shanghai has the
best carriages for hire in the world.
They look more nearly like the real
thing from a rich mans stable than
any other for hire" e4uipage on earth.
On the box sit two glorious creatures
who are hired with the outfit. The
coachman knows everything about
driving except how to drive carefully,
and woe be unto the luckless and i'm
pertinent person who dares to select
Rubbling Well road for pedestrianism
during the crowded hour of the after
noon drive. The footman does nothing
after the most approved and conVen-
tional f0otman fashion of doing moth
ing. Together they furnish the glory
They wear long gowns of blue-China
has been ueScrlDeQ as lHe ldllu ~ liS
blue gown-but the blue is of a differ
ent shade than that affected b. the
millions. 1t is somewhat lighter and
there are borders and cape collars and
the like of that done in white. on their
heads is the peaked cap of the ancient
Chinese aristocrats, with its tassel of
scarlet falling all about it. And, Won
der of wonders, the wayfarer In Shang--
hal or the impecunious may have ana
enjoy all this grandeur at the rate OF
one dollar, Mex, per hour, which IS
about 40 cents in real money. But we
tire of the pikers.
Smarter and brighter are the car
riages of the wealthy. Gayer and more
varied in color are the liveries of their
servants. Sleeker and more sprightly
are their horses. And the wealthy
themselvesEthey recline on the white
cushions and seem content with the
consciousness that they have come not
onlv to look, but to be looked at. some
of the wealthy ones, reckless OF con-
ventions and blind to the anachronlsln,
invade the sacred files of Bubbl1ng
Well road with motor cars, thereby
disturbing the serene superiority OF the
Chinese coachmen and utterly upsettlng
the unities of the pageant. :,
The people in the carriages, after al
make the show. In splendid and SOIL
tarv state drives a grande dame WIN
silvered hair. she is the leader Oh
Shanghai society, and from her decree