““There is a birch-rod kept behind the looking-glass in the schoolroom, and every now and then it is brought out and used, for no reason that really matters. This generally happens when there is a yellow wind. . . . Most people in North China suffer from nerves during the winter months, when the air is so dry that one gets an electric shock every time that one touches metal, or takes off ones furs. The nervous tension becomes greater before a dust storm, known locally as a 'yellow wind.””
![“To many people I have no doubt that it appears merely silly. I once found it expressed in a rather amusing way in a Russian Book called Dal Zoviet , which means the lure of far horizons. The author is Galinischev Kutuzoff [Golenischev-Kutuzov], and he tells of a man in Northern Mongolia who goes…” quote by Daniele Varè](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dcd/daniele-var-42637_books_to-many-people-i-have-no-doubt-that-it-a_1543721.jpg)
![“A woman from the audience asks: ‘Why were there so few women among the Beat writers?’ and [Gregory] Corso, suddenly utterly serious, leans forward and says: “There were women, they were there, I knew them, their families put them in institutions, they were given electric shock. In the ’50s if you…” quote by Stephen Scobie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/560/stephen-scobie-119593_electric-shock_a-woman-from-the-audience-asks-why-were_770882.jpg)
