The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-06

heart. Let us see what can be done for
him.
You have all heard of Pizarro, of
course? He was the Spaniard who con-
quered Peru. AS a youth he received
more kicks than kinds words. AS a boy
| of eighteen he went around dead broke
and never even had a squirt-gun or a
/ bean-shooter. AS d young man of TWEEN
ty he had never been to a spelling school
or a candy pull, and if he started to fail
in love he was sure to get a sore heel
or the earache or something of the kind
to choke him off.
His mother called him Sissy his
father said he wasn't worth enough
yeast to raise him, and people in GEN
eral said he'd never amount to pump
kins. Pizarro himself thought he was a
failure. and he had reached the point
; of taking down the family clothes line
to hang himself when a Turk came
along with a dancing bear and told him
not to despair, and sat down and had a
fatherly talk with him.
! What was the consequence? His
tory will tell you that in less than five
years that slathering, slouching, hope
| less young man was at the head of an
army and knocking the Peruvians into
the middle of the next year. From be-
/ ing a Sissy he became one of the great
| est generals of the age, from being a
regular pumpkin-head he became a
/ statesman of such ability that the king
of Spain wouldn't buy a new mich COW
\ or trade Jack knives without consulting
/ him. Even though things looked as
/ black as tar for him the day the Turk
and the bear came along he drew a
/ long breath buckled his suspenders a
notch higher. and went in and won
Let US take up the case of Socrates
] Some of you here in Blackberry Hill
{ may have got him mixed up with
| Christopher Columbus or George
Washington, but We'll soon straighten
| that out. Old Sock as he is familiar
~ referred to by certain people with
out a bump of reverence, was born
469 years B. c. That's a long time
ago, my friends, and you can't expect
to find any of his old clothes in any of
the dime museums of today, but his
words have lived through all the cen
turtles and are AL and copper fastened
today.
His father pecked away at marble
and his mother sold herbs for the cure
of collie and other ailments. and the
boy had no show. During his boyhopd
| he hOed corn and potatoes during the
summer at ten cents a day, and dur
ing the winter he trapped for musk
rats or played cards with the Jones
boys. He was looked upon as a plug
of lad who might possibly drive
an ice wagon some day, but even when
he had reached the age of d life SEEM
ed TO offer him nothing better than
boss of a saWmiH. When he said he
had yearning for something greater,
his father sneered at him and his
mother thought he was coming down
with the mumps and made sage tea Cor
him.
He one day sought advice from
Archelaus, the philosopher. and Archv
hummed and hawed for awhile AMI
then told him to become q dealer in
pork For few weeks young So
crates was knocked out, and no one
can say whether he would have opened
/ a butcher shop or become a ward
heller had not an old man with a
game leg come along one day and sat
down under the wagon-shed with him
and had talk. The gist of his lC-
marks was Never Despair and young
Socrates readily swallowed them.
More than that. he needed them.
Two days later he packed up his buds
and set forth to make a place for him
self, and we all know how he succeed
ed. His philosophy is our guide to-
day, and Will be the guide of those
who live a thousand years hence. To
Do Right was his WatchWOrd, and you
might trade horses with him on the
darkest night and have no fear of find
ing spavins when daylight came
up to the time of Socrates it was
not known why son-in-law was eX-
pected to support his Wife's whole fam
lily, and his calculation of the mystery
has interested the entire world Had
he taken a header off the dock behind
his fathers marble shop, or had he
hung himself 10 the limb of an apple
tree in Johnson's orchard, history
would have lost its best and brightest
page.
I don't know how Nero stands in
this town, but am going to say a
few words in his favor and take
chances. AS near as I can ascertain
the facts, he has been maligned and
abused without reason, and 1 want 10
see him set right. He was born in the
year 81, and he had a mighty hard time
of it for the next five years. It is IN
record that he had the mumps, meas
les, chickenpox and was cutting six
teeth at one and the same time. an.i
as his mother was barefoot for The
want of shoes and his father couldn't
Z a hi
can judge what sort of q humping
time the youngster had
up to ten years ago his only article OF
clothing was an old hickory shirt. and