The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1899-01-06
THETERRIBLEP POPPY
EVERYWHERE ARE 70 eE FOUND tI9F
SLAVES.

O6Av60s Y ~
why the Arab Calls Il Coda Dest
Gift to Man-Who Becomes Its vO-
tary Passes From Life to Living
Death-Opium ~ Nepenthe.
There is magic in the word "nepen-
the" as you pronounce il, magic that
finds an echo in the hearts Of millj0ns.
Yet, it is only an echo. for Il Is m.
voiced by the patient votaries at tho
shrine OF "Madjoon.' Its spell enteFs
noiselessly into the busy life Of today,
and it charms into unearthly stiffness
many human agencies By the enchant-
ment of its marvellous power. You ask
what is the power Of this drug, and
the answer comes back to you from the
millions Of slaves who toll Ia its bond
age-the charming sorcery Of its en-
chantment. They are to be found in ev-
cry walk Of life, in all countries, among
all classes, under all conditions and
among those least suspected - every
where are to be found those who are
slaves to the terrible poppy.
In gorgeous robes he stalks-"the King of
Pain"
In pomp before us to the feast he goes;
But ever at the pageant sorrowful close
Puts off the robes Of fantasy and dream,
And in his naked deaths head grins supreme.
Goods hest gift to man" is the
Arabs favorite name for opium, -
looking out from his dreamy reveri6 II
which poverty and toll are forgottsn
he ascribes to the potent "drug''
heavenly character. mission divine.
Wearied by his long and fatiguing
march across desert wastes and buffeted
by the sands Of thAa Aoon,She comes to
his halting place, where, maddened by
the craving Of unappeased hunger and
thirst, he turns with restless eagerness
to his only comfort, bis only nepenthe
and refuge, opium. And - IT. magic
spell waves around him vi1ions Of gor-
geous splendor and prinoely state Ia his
self satisfied condition he haa : right ~
call the s'drug" whose witchery hasex-
alted him Goods best gift to man.
Opium dreaming has no affinity Tor
the life that palpitates in this new
world Of ours. The sluggish nations Of
the orient are content to let "unbroken
time in continuous stream" govern their
existence; content to let today be %
yesterday, tomorrow as today; content
to live as their fathers lived 5. 600 yeasa
ago; content to remain spectacle Of
arrested civilization, standing like some
lone palm in waste OF sand bending
over it's own shadow.
These men do not live-thsy only o..
ist. As their fathers were thounnds Of
years ago 60 they are now. Not only do
they still dwell In tents, but the very
shape Of their tents remains 90 II Wa O.
the beginning. They live in the desert.
and it's monotony has passed into and
become part Of their very souls And BE-
who in this mighty continent Of the
west delivers himself over to life O
opium torpor falls from his high e1tafe
and passes into . world which. BY COM
trast, is even more dreary and monoto-
nous than that Of tho Arab tribes Hia
very oasis will be sterile. the water
brackish, the palms but ahadeless
shrubs. He passes from the living.
progressive world into ! desert who63
extent 10 limitless and whose dry and
weary pathways have no end. The ex-
hilarations at first produced BY this
potent drug seem to the ignorant and
superstitious children Of the orient like
heavenly inspirations. The brown, nan.
seous gum Of the poppy becomes to
them god. The priest in the temple
and the begging fakir IN the street
swallow it 40 religious sacrament, 70
our thought unholy and unbleased, but
to them and 20 the wandering Sribes
who witness their intoxication, II ID an
awful rite By which some deity II com
PEELED to make the body Of him who
takes tho drug its shrine an6 % -
veal its power and will il th0 tnaonG
utteranoe Of the devotee. DIR. Loslie nj
KAAlov. Y