The Topeka state journal., 1905-12-16

among the worshippers. until led away
by one Of the woman. The fact that
my. missionary went to sleep amused US
all; I suppose he viii say he was en-
5oying the sermon. and let the baby
get away in q moment of bliss, but
We all know he vas asleep. Henry
george was present. and for Won
der, behaved pretty well. The little
girl WholOoks like Ruth Blair, Of Ateh-
tsons sat beside me, and I held her
hand as a recollection Of home. A wo-
man could not see played the hymns
on piano, and the presiding mission
ary led them: We sang I'VE verses Of
each one, which seemed TO me d good
many.
The missionary took a text from
John. and preached three-quarters of
an hour. I had not attended church
before in many years, but everything
the speaker said seemed strangely IA
m1ltar; had heard the sermon dozens
Of times before. He spoke of meeting
loved ones beyond the grave, and a
pale young woman who sat near me,
put her handkerchief to her eyes. The
sermon was divided into three parts,
and summing up; think he had
notes in the back of the hymn book
he held in his hand The missionary
was a poor talker, and I am sure
the other missionaries present told
their wives afterward that they could
have done better. The missionary
spoke of his trip to the home land (as
he called it, but found no fault; [
found no fault with the sermon, ex-
cept that it was extremely dull.
Then he gave out another hymn, but
he was the only person present who
knew the tune. and as he couldn't sing
very we'll: this part of the service
was almost ludicrOus. At the conclu-
sion of the nnissIonary's solo, the dox-
ology was pronounced, and the con-
gregation scattered about the decks
When I went back to the smoking
room, I found four of the men who
had attended the service, abusing mis-
sionaries. One Of the men said the
missionary who delivered the sermon
was returning to his work in China
with a second wife, whom he had
married in the states about a month
ago. Speaking Of the states one
of the other men said, they are good
enough for me. They may talk about
the beauties of Toxic, and Shanghai
and Colombo, but the little old states
are good enough for me. The trou-
bic with this trip is, when you once
start, you can't get back for a month"
There is a man on board who wants
the passengers to know that he is a
singer. He huns a good deal, and
heard him regretting awhile ago that
there was no one on board to play
accompaniments. But there Is; l
have seen a certain shrinking woman
wavering about the piano. These two
be trouble. So far, there has been
no piano playing, and no singing.
Elsephere I have used the Hawaiian
word poi. In case you want to pro-
nounce 1t, pronounce it as an Irishman
pronounces pie (poi).
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15
This is the tenth day out from San
Francisco, and the sea is as smooth as
glass. The roll and pitch continue,
l. 0rNfT Tr1c-
The young girls on board feel so we'll
that they are talking of making fudge;
I heard them wondering awhile ago
If the head steward would allow it.
Last night, at $50, with the first
gong for dinner sounding in my ears,
I saw the full moon rise out of the
water. We figured it out, and con-
cluded that 1t was near midnight at
home. At first we saw what looked
like the reflection of a fire away to
eastward. Then the rim of the moon
began to appear; it was a dull yellow
ger than the moon. When the great
orb appeared above the water, it look
ed like a. large pumpkin prepared by
boys on HallOWe' en-. Later il looked
like a golden balloon, lighted on the
inside, rising from the ocean All
the passengers were out to look at
the moon rise, and they remained I'M
til the second and final gong for din
ner sounded at seven O'Clock.
am conscious that these letters are
becoming. pretty dull. When they be-
come more tiresome than reprint
Chat is, time copy cut from other pa
pers1, it will be the duty Of the man
aging editor to throw them away 4
know it would require a good deal Of
nerve for the managing editor to Kill
the old mans stuff, but the necessary
authority is hereby granted My
intention is simply to tell the dull rou-
mi nf q n0GE1hfW ETTCn a
recital viii be of benefit to those who
are miserable, because they cannot
take "trip There is a lot of hard
ship in taking q trip; every tray
eler will admit that.
do not know whether what write
is good or bad; have never known
during my twenty eight years connec-
ton with The Globe. Every man who
writes for public print has the con-
sciousness that if he pIeases half his
readers he will do we'll; that the other
half of his readers will turn up their
noses. And this is equally true in
everything; a man is a success, who
pleases a few: the great majority
sneer at Vacation Notes, at new hats.
new suits new plays, new books, new
babies, new brides, etc.
am often impressed with the ig-
norance of intelligent men. was
talking this morning with an 1ntelli-
gent Englishman: a prominent clu-
zen of Manchester He had been
thinking several days of Kansas as a
town OF our form of government.
he knows almost nothing; as little as
know of England and the English.
I made crude maps for him, and he
apologized in a hearty way for his ig-
norance, saying he had been busy in
other ways. Yet he is an important
man in his native city. He is a walk
ing cycIopedia Of English affairs, but
America has only interested him as a
show place, in a general way, as Sing
apore interests me. Without looking
It up, answer this question; Where
is SINGAPORE Until started on this
trip, and began looking up such
things, I had the city located in the
wrong country. An intelligent child
in the eighth Grade at school knows