The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-10

SLOpp0Qs VI course we all knew II
didn't stop for fun, yet we went on
with the services although some We're
alarmed on deck We ended by sing
ing, Peace. Perfect Peace" and how
thankful we were that peace did reign
in our hearts. The propeller had
broken and we lost over an hour while
it was being mended, then went safely
on our way.
80 often the men on board, mostly
all Germans. would gather around the
piano in the evening and sing their pa
triOtfc songs and many times they
sang, The German Rhine and how
they did make it ring and resound.
They never sang it, I think, but
thought of the boys and girls of Sum
ner singing above my head, Dear
fatherland, dear father]and.' It seem
ed quite home like even though it was
in German words. Our next stopping
place was at Tangiers, in Morocco. our
first glimpse of Africa. and we were
much interested in it and the natives,
which swarmed on the boat. Our stay
was for only a couple of hours, and we
were anchored out in the harbor, so
did not go ashore there Starting on
from there, we made straight for the
Strait Of Gibraltar. We scarcely left
the deck for a minute, as we wanted to
see all we could. We could see land
on both sides, and the rock. We passed
very near the rock and could see it in
all its beauty and what do you think,
it hasn't "PrudentiaI' written on it at
all (PIease excuse this levity)
THE Straits of Gibraltar are hanked
by rocks known as the Pillars of Her
culeS. The summit of the rock Glib
raltar which looks like the life insur-
ance pictures. is 1000 feet above the
sea. At its base is q town and garri-
son. with a population of 80, 600 It
has enormous fOrtif1cations and arma-
ments, and is considered by experts to
be an impregnable position.
Our next port was Marseilles,
France We saw something of the
place, and did some shopping. The peo-
pie were quite interesting, but we could
scarcely find a person who could I'M
derstand a word of English, so we had
difficulty in finding our way about We
got on a car and did the best we could
to let the conductor know that we
wanted to go to the business part of
town and he delightedly took US to
and let US off at the geological gar
den which we then proceeded to enjoy,
then started on foot to find what we
wanted and after bit of walking we
found the stores. We find no such
stores and places, even in England, as in
our New York, Chicago and other large
cities, no department stores at all.
They are all so much smaller. Our
next port was Naples. beautiful Naples.
The port certainly is beautiful, but I
thought all along I probably would
have enjoyed all these places more
from worldly standpoint. AS it was.
saw too much suffering, poverty,
sQualOr and neglected children It all
made me heartsick, as there seemed to
be nothing I could do but pray to the
Father. I did not want to gaze upon
such sights out of idle curiosity I had
much rather not. It is hard. inexpres-
sibly hard to gaze upon misery with
] out being able to help. And it does
seem I saw so much suffering human
f tty; the further we went, the more we
/ saw Of them. We spent very little time
u Afra HrNqr -rh.A e.
1 hurried to the ship. We enjoyed the
/ scenery much from the boat. There was
Vesuvius belching forth smoke in the
/ day time and fire at night. Its double
coned summit smoking, the ever-pres-
ent sign of It's terrible inward activity
/ Many villages are built at it's base on
the lava Of previous eruptions The
soil is most fertile. There are the part
" excavated cities of Herculaneum and
+ POmpeii. At night about every two
/ minutes would come a higher stream
4 Of lava and red hot ashes. and the
fiery path extended a long distance
/ down the side. No one knows what
minute another eruption will occur.
and yet hundreds of people are right
there and could not possibly escape
should one come. It is 1000 feet above
the sea and having a land surface OF
/ 100. 600 acres, all lava, scoria and vol
canic ash es, which constitute the rich
est soil in the world. The grandeur.
subHu1ty, the terror and all connected
with it are indescribable. How we
realized the presence Of the Almighty.
our own insignihcance, and that we
were face to face with eternal realities
We passed the island of Strombon al
night. but could see the volcano quite
distinctly. It IS 3, 100 feet high. Peas
ants live at the bottom here also.
we passed between Italy and Sicily.
the whirlpool Charybdis. 100 fathoms
deep with tremendous current on one
side and on the other the italian side
Scylla. tidal eddy of ancient fame. we
had no difficulty in steering safely be-
tween. Our next stop was at Port
Said. which IS a delightful place es-
pecialfy for tropical supplies. The peo-
pie readily understood and talked
some English for It is under English
4 rule. Leaving Port Said, we enter the