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social life of the place the Resident-Councillor occupies practically the same position as if he bore one of the higher titles. The motive of the plot is the crossing of their respective loves by the two brothers, the highly respectable mid- dle-aged Resident-Councillor and the reckless young Cadet. The principal female personage is a Mrs. Mainwaring, a woman with a past and over whose life the shadow of a tragedy rests, but whose personal character is unblemished, while her strong individuality enables her against great difficulties to play a prominent part in colonial society.
The following picture of how Penang im- pressed the Resident-Councillor may be taken as a specimen of Mrs. Eastwick's descriptive style as applied to social conditions:--
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
"Mr. Bellairs held the present progress, well- being, and even happiness of the little Settle- ment of which he was Chief Resident, deeply at heart. Penang attracted him by her island beauty, and appealed to him in other respects. The European community was not abnormally wealthy, and generally forbore from the vulgar worship of wealth; a mere superfluity of means proved no credential to its favour. In some respects he could have fancied himself in some Scotch or English township that clung to ways familiar; homely, perhaps, but not aggressive. He had already discovered that some of the more blatant features of colonialism and of modern society were absent; and the discovery pleased him.
"Husbands were not openly at a discount, and in many cases were known to be proud of and attached to their own wives, who recipro- cated the feeling. This Arcadian simplicity pleased Mr. Bellairs, who had a fine taste and abhorred the vulgarity of evil assortment in such matters. At the same time he was con-
scious of a lack of that nervous vitality which saids the northerner to combat successfully the hostile influences of exile to the tropics. The place wanted the tonio of 'savoir vivre.' He was not himself dead to the miseries of nostal-
gia, and he fancied he read the signs of the malady to an almost pitiful degree in the white faces of the people around him, especially those of the women. It must be that they had not sufficient amusement; the cares of a household, when they existed, and the round of the golf links were insufficient to save them from pining and the consequence was ill health, which even a visit to the Hill was insufficient to restore."
This leads on to the projecting of a ladies' club, in connection with which the Resident- Councillor expresses opinions on a thorny ques- tion that was brought under discussion in Hongkong two or three years ago :----
In some things,' said Miss Bellairs, Tai- ping lends itself to imitation-the women are admitted to the Club.'
Humph,' said the Resident-Councillor. His tone was not one of pleasure, but, by way of qualifying his unexpected lack of apprecia tion, he went on to explain-'I should have thought modern women were beyond being ad- mitted anywhere on mere sufferance, unless you can return the civility. It is a club of your own that you want, with a really good com- mittee-with men on it if you like,'
Nonsense' said Mrs. Mainwaring. What would you say to a lady president in Northam Road ?'
"I withdraw-it was a mere concession to- to-your unaccustomedness at present; the gentleman who was so unlucky as to be elected might also withdraw when his usefulness was at an end. But as for mixing the sexes--a club is essentially a place of freedom and ease, both as
regards manners and expression of opinion-of
course, within the regulated limits; but neither is ever, I fancy, perfectly arrived at when the seres meet promiscuously."
The club in due time is formed and is subse. quently discussed in the following terms by two ladies
<
""One doesn't think so much of the heat when one is amused. And, really, the olub on
get a lot of small worries. You should come one afternoon and try. Just the hour before dinner you know.'
Thanks no; I am too old for changes I think.'
***In our new quarters we are to have electric light and plenty of pankahs; and really the tea-room and verandah are institutions; one can always take a friend in and have a nice tea for a trifle.'
"Men? And can't you have anything be. sides tea P
"If you like, and they like,' laughed Mrs. Gardaine to both questions. In the new house, the tea verandah will overlook the tennis ground and we are to have guests once a month."
"You do a little gambling already, I hear.' "We played whist, the other evening, at 10 cent points, if that can be called gambling. Miss Moriarty won three dollars. I see no harm in it. Every one bets a little at the races and higher stakes are not allowed. As for Miss Moriarty-her winnings will buy her gloves for the ball next week ?*
The China Review. No. 3, vol. xiii. Hongkong:
China Mail Office.
AN article in the present number that every one will wish to read is "The Russians and Mau- churia," by E. H. Parker. conclusions on the international aspect of the The author's question are summed up in the following paragraph
A
"It will thus be seen that, though the Russians have been hammering at the doors of Manchuria for 200 years, the first persons to explore it at all thoroughly were a British con- sular agent and two officers from the Indian army, twelve years ago. Except that Russian territory and Manchurian territory are conter- minous, Russia has no prior claims, and the commercial interests of Great Britain through Newchwang have been as great as those of Russia through the Sungari; so that Russia has no natural right whatever to circumscribe them. In fact, we ought to do all in our power to consolidate and increase them, both, through Newchwang and through the newly-opened port at the mouth of the Pei-ta-ho."
Mr. Parker bulks rather largely in the pre- sent number, and also, it may be added, in his own estimation. In one of his sinological "Notes" he writes as follows:-
found out something. I feed the animals with I say what I say because I believe I have a fish, so to speak, and cast it upon the waters for the said animals to swallow or squabble about as they may think fit. I am not to be drawn' in any way. Stanisluas Julien and Gauthier made equal fools of themselves by their bloodthirsty and spiteful onslaughts upon each other, though every one can now see that Julien was the better sinological man of the two. In the same way Giles has always out a bad figure by the execrable taste of his at- tacks on Beal, Balfour, myself, Lockhart, &c., and that is why I occasionally amuse myself by teasing him a little. I am well aware that Giles, with all his faults, As a matter of fact,
has a sneaking respect for me, in fact, he once wrote to me to propose a trace, adding that he and I together could stand against the whole world; to which I replied Just so; but we can do it without your assistance. Both Mr. Giles and Mr. Fraser would pull a wry face if I got them into a corner far away from dictionaries and teachers, and said Now then, read that aloud; pronounce every word correctly in any dialect you take of your own choosing, give me a literal written translation on the spot, and tell me where literary points originally hail
from.'
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+
It is well for every man to have a good opinion of himself, but it is not necessary to proclain it from the house-tops.
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†January 28, 1899, engaged to another lady. This is the triple entanglement that has to be straightened out- The plot is oleverly elaborated and the characters well drawn. The scenes in the earlier portion of the book are laid in Continental pleasure resorts.
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Fights for the Flag. By W. H. FITOHETT. With Portraits and Plans. London: George Bell & Sons. 1898.
THE latest addition to Bell's Indian and Colonial Library contains, as might be in ferred from its title and the name of the author that won the Empire"—much interesting and ~W.H. Fitchett (“ Vedette "), author of “ Deeds
exciting reading. Mr. Fitohett is a master of his oraft and knows how to present a stirring scene in effective dress. What, for instance, could be better than the following in the chap ter on "Famous cavalry charges" :—
outflanking him so enormously, draw to a halt, "Scarlett saw the huge mass above him, and
just as the dressing of his own lines was com- pleted. His trumpeter rang out stern and olear the signal to "charge," and Scarlett himself, mounted on a horse of great speed and size, led yards quickened to a gallop. His troops, still against the enemy at a trot, which after a few hindered by broken ground, could not
come
the amazing spectacle presented of a red- on so swiftly, and there was
faced British general long and alone into a gigantic mass of Russian galloping head- cavalry, his aide-de-camp, trumpter, and orderly, following hard on his rear, and more than fifty yards behind some 300 Greys and Inniskillings just getting into their stride. A horse sixteen hands high going at full speed with a white- whiskered British general on its back is a some- what discomposing object as it approaches, and as Scarlett smashed in on the Russian front he saw the nearest of the hostile cavalry drop promptly off their horses for safety. Scarlett himself, flourishing his sword, drove deep into the Russian mass; Elliot, his aide-de-camp, splendid swordsman, came next, and a Russian- officer, sitting on his horse a few pages in the front of the line, struck furiously at him as he swept up. Elliot parried the cut, dropped his sword point to the thrust, drove it through the body of his antagonist, and, as the rush of his horse carried him onward, the Russian was age of the sword thrust clean through him. literally turned round in his saddle by the lover. Then, as his sword was released, with a flash of the crimson blade, Elliot, too, broke through the Russian line."
station special interest attaches to the record of With the Centurion as the flagship on this doings of her namesake of a hundred and fifty years ago, in the chapter headed “. Lord Anson and the Centurion.”
16
Anson," We are told, remained at. Macao till April 19, 1743; then, with ship refitted, though not remanned, and
out of sight of land he called his men aft, told stores renewed, he set sail ostensibly for Batavia, and thence to England. But when them there must be two galleons sailing from Acapulco this year, and he intended to capture them both! Each galleon, it might be added, was double in weight of artillery and fighting Anson regarded as an irrelevant detail, to be force to the Centurion; but that circumstance
dismissed without further consideration! An- of peril, and full of confidence in their silent, son's men, hardened by suffering, and careless much-enduring captain, welcomed the anounce ment with a shont, and the stem of the Centuri- on was turned towards the Philippine Islands, one of the way-marks in the course of the gold- ships of Spain. Anson's crew, at that moment, consisted of 201 hands, including officers, idlers, and boys; he had only forty-five table s95- men. Each galleon, on the other hand, carried a crew of about 600 men. Anson warned his orew that the galleons were stout ships
applied to the business of reckoning up an enemy's force, is of ourious quality; and Anson's men felt as cheerfully confident of capturing the wealth of the Spanish treasure-ships as though the yellow gold were already in their breeches' pockets!"
"
a wet afternoon is very pleasant-better than indicated by the title. We have a fresh young | fully manned'; but Jack Tar's arithmetic B
one's own house shut up against the weather.'
"I have always found entertainment enough in my own home. What becomes of the home feeling' with all this mania for club life?
46
*Õh! surely one gets plenty of 'home life here-considering one can hardly ever leave the house before five! Papers, magazines, and a little talk or a game of billiards make one for
ATriple Entanglement. By Mrs. BURTON HAN- RISON. London: T. Fisher Unwin. 1898. THE leading idea of Mrs. Harrison's tale is
English girl and two young men, one a very creditable specimen all round and the other highly gifted except as regards moral fibre, which is almost completely absent. Needless to say the girl falls in love with the wrong one, and the good young man, after years of weary waiting, and when all hope of winning his first love appears to have vanished, becomes
For the account of what followed we must refer our readers to Mr. Fitchett's pages.
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