The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1897-03-04
LAND OF "OOM PAUL"
A SPRlGHTLY LETTER FROM OUR
CORRESPONDENT THERE.
HAS A HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE.
What It Means to Drink Water in johann
nesburg.-A Consise1y Bit OFF Descrip-
ton of that Country He Has
Typhoid Fever.
johannesburg, JANUARY II.

(lOG To m0HGIOu dUOTlSln6S Oh uOuUlIul
courtesy and ingeniously deadly plaques
and scourges) see Johannesburg and
die Should he desire to see and still
to dispense for time with the adorn-
ment of the marble hat, it were we'll for
him to abstain religiouslY from that
fatal beverage water; for typhoid
lyeth cunningly in wait for the unwary
and his thirsty victims are legion.
Apropos: there is said to be a standing
reward of tempting magnitude for the
discovery of any authentic epitaph to
the memory of departed Kentuck1an
anywhere within the domain of g Dom
Paul" the sagacious. Moral: do not
enlist in the Transvaal division of the
cold water army.
The decline to extinction Of all in
dnstry within the troubled boundaries
of fair Rhodesia induced me in common
with many others who did not care
to become five shilling day
and bareback policemen to Trek
southwark about the Thanksgiving
end Of November in pursuit of our daily
bread and q bully" beef, and with all
my goods and chattels (not necessitat-
ing the charter of special train or
numerous caravan) I steered my course
for the all-must- be- gold that glitters
Rand.
Arrived in Johannesburg after no
more than ordinarily eventful trip down
the east coast and across by the Della
goa Bay Railway and tasting again for
the first time in nearly a year and a
half the sweets of something approach
ing the real civilization, proceeded to
blow" my substance in riotous living,
revealing in such wild designations as
the theatre and music halls, reckless
rides on real street cars and such gym
nastics as the mad lodging of the
deadly aimed and aiming bicycle.
Johannesburg and it's golden glory,
the Rand, has been SO often described,
illustrated and otherwise vivisected,
dissected and resurrected, that it best
becomes me to pass, | think, and to re-
fer the curious to almost any past or
present magazine article. A vast fiat
ness punctured closely for sixty miles
along the line Of reef on either
side of johannesburg by mill stacks
and the head gear of bottomless pits
such in brief is the modern Ophir as it
appears to me.
After the delights of new found lux
ury and indulgence had begun to pail
and change their tuneful metre to
hating prose, as even the poetry of a
new wife is said to do in surprisingly
short time, /, about the middle OF
December became established at one of
these sound money" factories known
as the Simmer & Jack mine, one OF the
largest and richest on the Rand. Stu
ated about a half hour by train from
johannesburg, we form quite respect
able sized township with our own Sim
mer & Jack station, our little street of
thirty or forty cottages forming what is
known as " the married quarters, p" two
large dormitories called the staff quar-
ters, numerous long, melancholy look
ing barracks for miners and laborers
and the recreation hall, library and
billiard room. We have beside, our
own hospital, extensive stables, offices
and innumerable mine buildings, stores,
mills. negro compounds and a large
athletic field. About thousand white
men altogether are employed upon the
property, the great majority of whom
are Americans and for which prepOn
derance of Yankees the Simmer & Jack
is remarkable among the mines on the
field
Having been made monarch Of all |
surveyed, in number 800 staff quarters,
and a member in good and regular
standing of the staff mess, | soon ia
miliarized myself with my new duties,
and all was gong merrily as marriage
bell or the wedding cake, when a
weakly INDUCED appetite for aqua pura
with the pura left out, change of eli
mate or the doctrine of predestination
turned loose upon me the demon ty-
phoid and | was incontinently carted
off to hospital to spend Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year
within the narrow confines of trim
looking cot appropriately labelled ID.
Mine luckily was a mild attack and |
was hazy" but day or two; after
which had an opportunity of enjoying
and Analysing a new sensation-life, or
rather existence in hospital ward.
The first clear intelligence which i'll
tered to my then slowly clearing brain
was the palpable fact that one of my
nurses was young and decidedly pretty.
This was reassuring and comfortable
and when Richard was himself again,
that portion of day in which the
charming nurse Bertha was not minis
tering to her faithful subject seemed
fat, stale and Improbable. My other
nurse was one of these appallingly
strong minded, automatic personages,