New Britain herald., 1922-07-25
FLAPPERS OF ANNAM
 ENJOY THEIR PIPES
The Boys Take Care Of Babies in
 Little Known Country


 Washington. D, C., July 2b.--Ths world is getting small, you say. yet 6 monarch whose red pencil scratch makes laws for six million people ir q state twice the size of Austria visit. Paris and many well-informed, inquire "Who is the Emperor of Annam?"
 ITO the occidental mind the Elm. peror of Annam may seem bit be. lated in visiting Paris, since Annan sIuce 1s79." says bulletin from the Washington. U. C.. headquarters Of the National Geographical society From the Annnmite point of view the present ruler Is exercising req sonable delioeration. for how is he to know whether these juvenile nations are going to last until they are a few centuries old? Take the Roman and Russian empires, for example. Mere rurries In history to one who sits on the jeweled throne of Annam, be. heath the grihning Great Dragon oi the Five Imperial Claws which hal heen biting his sixty-four sacred teeth Into the royal emblem several centur- les before the time of Christ
 Amid the Balkans of the East
 If you do not carry the analogy tco far Annam may be called the AL bania of the East, located on the Bal kan Peninsula Of Asia. As you con- sider this comparison note that pend mt from Asia, as from Europe. are three peninsulas and that Arabia and India, just as Spain and Italy in Europe, comprise ancient civilizations and distinctive peoples However in Asia's eastern peninsula, as in the Balkans, one finds a racial medley with alien powers long contending for footholds among them. India taper. off down the western side, Siam holds the center with kite-tail sort of an extension south to the Federated Ma lay states. while on the west coast French Indo-China huks one fourth larger than Continental France her self. And along the South China sea- coast of French Indo-Ch!na lies tho mountain barrier which is Annam. less than a hundred miles wide but nearly 800 miles long. The jagged hills of this range, eparsely peopled by oriental mountaineers, accent the like ness to Albania. Towards the rising sun these mountains look down upon tie sea, which they cut off from easy access to the fertile valley of the Mighty Mekong to the west Phys ically they bind two plenteous deltas, that of the Red River in Tonkin on the north, and that of Mekong's many mouths, in Cochin China, to the south.
 A "F1apper" of the Orient
 "A mountain maid of Annam Is far different from her more rugged sister of Albania. She wears a 'onepiece gown caught loosely about the waist. Her body Is bare save for two long strings of beads. one har ging beneath each breast. She wears as many necklaces as her neck will permit. and her forearms is covered by a spiral netal bracelet Earrings have enlarged the lobes of her ears. but her most striking feature at first glance Is the huge hand carved pipe she is apt to be smoking. In her eX- otic appearance one factor alone stands out with uncanny familiarity to western eyes. and that is the way her hair is parted and done up in the demure fashion of an American girl of the Civil War period. The girls of Annam have far more freedom than those of China and have one advant- age over their occidental sisters-for ho, ta1y of ha babies.
 Coming down from the mountains, away from the wilder peoples of An nam, known as Mos the similiture to Albania fades. For you encounter an ancient civilization, comparable to and largely patterned after, that of China. Hue, Annam's capital and port, situated half way along its lengthy coast line, discloses series of red roofed abodes, where live the nandarins, and one magnificent es- tablishment, rooted in yellow, where the emperor dwells. True, the French has curtatled his abso- l,te sway in some important partic- uIars, but to his millions of subjects he still is the sole and supreme ruler.
 Eunuchs His Secret Service Men.
 "The present young monarch of an- ,ient Annam Is democratic. When he goes abroad for diversion he rides in an open carriage but the palaquin still Is employed in his official travels. He Is not inaccessible when he moves about the vast courts of the Imperial Palace. usually surrounded by secre- aries stewards and eunuchs, who are the secret service men of this oriental executive.
 But when he sits in state the golden floor that leads to his throne room is am bassadors who must kneel and ouch their venerable foreheads three lines to the ground before they may 'nter the royal presence. The young king follows the customs of many im- 1erial generations by anointing himself with oil and weighing himself down with jewels.
 Has Luxury Of Versailles.
 In luxury and extent the palaces of Hue are comparable with those of Versailles. The monumental gate, broad terraces with their gigantic rms, perfume burners, rooms of gold | Ind silver in rarest pattern, and chill lren's ballet, betoken high degree of | ulture.
 For it's influence upon the tradi- ions and habits and slow changing ustoms of Annam there is a silent | ity near Hue-the City of the Dead | n the Plain of the Tombs-which | deserves to rank with the capital. This | community is a genuine city-a city | if streets and houses of gardens and | 'alaces and pagodas--it lacks only lying beings. Here are sculptured