The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1916-06-29
CLOTHES IN China
Where Women Wear Trousers
and Men Are Clad In Skirts.
A CURIOUS FASHION IN HAIR.

The Feminine Head Is Decorated With
Stiff Cushion That Demands Con-
slant Ventilation to Be Bearabs.
Vogue Of the Ear TickIer.
Even though l came to China know
ing that they did things backward,
there are some customs here that I
just can't get used to. One is seeing
women wearing trousers. There are
more women wearing trousers in Chi
na than there are people in the United
Statesmen, women and children.
suppose there Is no reason why things
shouldn't be thus, but it will always
seem to me that the pants are on the
wrong side of the house.
The women look like clothespinS.
Their bodies are the same size all the
way down, and their feet are 50 tiny
that they go bobbing along for all the
world like jointed clothespins. The
women shave their foreheads, with
the timber line almost at the top Of
their heads, SO that the little patch Of
face below looks as If it were trem-
bling under threat Of an impending
snowslide.
Their hair is pulled and keyed back
as though for musical purposes. At
the back of the head q Chinese wo-
man wears a cushion Of false hair. so
dressed as to show her rank, so that a
person skilled In the language of the
hair can read her history, can tell her
present plans and her future ambi-
tions. A person up on hair can tell at
a glance whether or not she is mar.
ried; II SO. how many children she has,
and IL a widow, If she is willing to
open correspondence with Il desirable
party Of about orty-five-object, mat
rimony.
In this cushion Chinese woman
carries her head scratcher Her hair
dressing Is preparation made of slip.
perry elm. The person needing it can
run out to the corner and wait until
the carpenter takes plane and shaves
Off a few curls. This the Chinese lady
sleeps into thick, gummy smear,
pours it OH her head and uses it to
stiffen her hair.
This layer makes the top of her head
hot, so that every odd moment when
fshe hasn't anything else to do She gets
down under the mess and lets in some
air with darning needle. Her favor
ite time for doing this is at the theater.
When the performance begins to drag
she gets out her darning needle and
improves the shining hour by making
rift III the roof as she looks around
over the audience, lightly gossiping
| about who are there. what they are
wearing and how awful they look.
Men in China wear skirts. Their
skirts are in garment that reaches
from their shoulders to their shins and
looks like nightgown worn by Cape
Cod deacon. 1t has tasty slit up each
side, so that on muddy crossings the
twinkle Of masculine ankles may be
seen. When they want to catch a car
they have to gather up their skirts in
the good old fashioned feminine way.
Under their skirts they wear pair
| of drawers fastened at the ankles with
| q bandage, with the ends tucked in.
When Chinaman has an important
| letter or note to carry he unties the leg
| of his drawers, stuffs 1t in and puts the
bandage back. The bandage works
| loose, SO that when he reaches his des-
| tination the note Is usually gone
| The only pockets Chinaman has are
| in, Il, ,i.fN tSf ,,-l,t Ia
| der his skirt, 50 that when he wants to
get dime lie has to unbutton one side
and slip in hand. Even though q
| Chinaman wears skirts he has not yet
learned about the First National bank.
| The Chinese are a great nation to
think of the handy little things-things
that no other people in the world could
| possibly think of. You can run out on
to the street almost any time and buy
an ear ticker. Men make a living
going around selling them. An ear
ticker Is a little puff of cotton OH the
end of stick and is meant to combine
both business and pleasure-thc busi-
ness of cleaning the ear and the pleas
ure of the tickling sensation.
His is not an easy life, for the ped
dler has to be constantly on the watch
against tricky people who come up,
sample his ticklers. give their ears q
couple of good tingles, tell the man
that they don't like his brand of tick
Ter and go ON their way.
The peddler's ingenuity has devel
oped way of polishing up the ticklet
so that the next possible purchaser
may not know that the ticker has beer
weighed and found wanting by carry
ing along little bowl of white pow
der After n ticker has been sampled
and declined he dabs the end into tht
bowl, and it is bright and fresh lOokin:
as If it were new. If you went to bu!
one you couldn't tell for the life of yo'
but that 1t was new one-until yo'
had used it time or two.-Home
Croy in Leslie's Weekly.