The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-09-07

neer Mother project, the plan fol
identifying yards and civic centers
the scrap book cover design contest
among school children. and commu.
nifty festivals. Notable among The
many festivals staged by clubs
throughout the state was that pre-.
scented by the Harvey Sorosis club
which won the General Federation
Department of Fine Arts prize Of SIT
for community service, Mrs. Thomson
said. The award was presented tt
the Harvey club at the close of the
program.
New Libraries Organized
Excellent work in organizing new
libraries and increasing the circula-
ton of others and greater interest in
choral work, pageants, and musical
programs were carried out under tho
divisions of literature and music, Mrs
Thonlson's report showed.
Mrs. Hager's lecture was an excerpt
of her experiences in China on a re-
cent trip around the world and was
erlivened by accounts of personal
contacts and lucky accidents which
enabled her to see among other things
off the beaten tourist path: the in
terror of a Chinese home in Annoy;
shops in Shanghai's Pig Alley; and q
performance in Mel Lang Fang's the
alter in Picking.
Prefacing her travelogue with an
estimate of the cosnopolitanism OF
the Chinese and a brief resume Of
chaotic conditions as they exist in
China today, Mrs. Hager took her au-
dience by rickshaw and motor
through the treaty ports of Hong
kong, Annoy and Shanghai to Picking
Speaking Of her first impressions
In Hongkong, which she described
as one of the most beautiful cities in
the world, she said:
II awoke in Hongkong In a mist
that was almost rain. The orange
colored sail of a passing junk oh.
structed the view from the port-hole
but when it had passed saw a pic
ture I shall never forget. The ship
was locked at Kowloon on the main
land. Across a strip of fog-colored
water dotted with bright eastern sails
rose glorious mountain peak, clean
and green, as though it had been
freshly washed in the little rain OF
China
Many Live on Boats
"But it was the river life that grip
ped me. Huddled SO closely together
that one could almost Jump from deck
to deck were thousands of man-pow-
cred junks and tiny sampans. AS
looked down among them it seemed
unbelievable that such tiny boats with
barrel-like roofs and a bit of mating
or sail cloth hung up for a doorway
could be the homes of thousands OF
Chinese"
The stream of human life in China
flows swiftly by land as well as or
water and in the varied system OF
transportation, coolies play an i'm.
portant part, the speaker showed.
1T was not unusual" she recalled
ITO see coolies harnessed to carts in
four-man teams, straining at loads Of
brick. They trundled wheelbarrows
they bent double under loads of BAN.
boo. Gaunt, hungry-looking. theil
faces streaked with CRIME and sweat
their arms and legs bullying with
knotted muscles, they plodded along
the pleasant roads of Shanghai, {
spectacle Of human misery as old a.
the East itself"
She spoke OF the exquisite treasure
to be found in the little shops alonf
Pig Alley and recalled a journey
through one Of Amoy'S narrow wind
ing streets.
Evidences of Fighting
Crossing the treelesS plains o.
northern China, there were evidences
OF recent Notwithstanding buildings
broken farm walls. trampled fields
The previous day there had been !,
skirmish between some bandits ant
Nationalist troops. She drew q com
parison between the Chinese of tn
south and north, showing how the.
differ in color, in temperament, dres
and manners.
Mrs. Hager described the approach
to Peking as one of the most i'm
pressive sights in the Orient. TIL
80 miles Of earth-colored walls witt
their watch towers, gate houses an,
bastions suggest an impenetrabl
fortress against the assaults of time
though Peking itself is crumbling t
ruin, she said. Grass is growing o.
the tiled roofs in the Forbidden Cit
and the carved and painted timber
OF the palaces and throne hall ar
barred to the elements.
Although shorn of her grandeu
her palaces looted, her art treasure
IN the museums of the wester
world" Mrs. Hager believes. "Pekin
even in her ruin, is the most fascinat
Ing city Of the East"