Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-04-05
BOY ROASTS PANAMA.
Ingenious Remarks Of a Lad
After Six Months Sojourn.
1T ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY.

1T ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY
Eggs Explode When You Touch Them.
Shoes Grow MoIdy overnight-oys-
tiers Taste Like copper-Decrepit
Work Cows Killed For Beef. III
Colin Webb, who is eleven years old
and something less than four feet high,
walked into the Office Of the Chicago
Daily News the other day and asked to
be interviewed on his Impressions of
Panama, gathered during six months.
journey there. He was accommodates
and the interview follows in almost his
exact words: sg1s "
"Our party, which consisted of my
mother, sister and brother, left for
New Orleans on Oct. 2, 1906, and there
took the steamship Ellis, which brought
us safely to Colon. We were met there
by my father. His name Is also Colin
Webb, and he was then manager For
Armour & iCo. at Panama. 4:
.'He took us to the Astor House
That night put my shoes under the
bed, and when got up in the morn
ing they were all moldy. Every thing
gets moldy down there on account of
the rainy weather. It rains eight
months in the year down there, and
the ground Is always soggy, and there's
mud all over. Later we went to the
city of Panama, where things are just
the same. s@s, .%.;f3sst
"The eggs there If you buy a
dozen maybe you'll get five that are
all right, If you have good luck. You
can tell bad egg by touching the
SHELL IF it texplodes, it shows that it's
bad @&. IS
.They keep the cows pulling wagons
until they are too old to work, and
then they kill them for meat. They
cock the meat for twenty -four hours
before it gets soft and then feed 1t to
the Americans. The Americans think
It's fine. good meat.
"And you have to pay 20 cents a
pound for potatoes that are mostly all
bad, and cents apiece for onions.
You get piece Of cabbage about as
big as your thumb for 10 cents. i
'H.And we used to get oysters on the
beach right back Of our house. We
stayed at the United States consul's
house. The oysters tasted like copper
on account of the salt water, but they
were all right. s45;
'sMy mother was sick with malaria
most all the time we were there. and
the doctor used to charge SIS to $40
every time he came. was sick some
Of the time, too, but I never went to
| bed z .efs
4. '..We used to go swimming in the ice
| house tank and the tank used by the
fire department. We could not go
swimming in the ocean on account Of
the tide. which went out about mile
every morning and evening When
this moon is small, the tide is big, and
when the moon is big the tide is small
'aThe fire department consists Of one
| little wagon with about ten pieces OF
hose twenty-five feet long. pulled by
two men, and double hand pump
They also havea chemical apparatus
like we have here.
'sThey cover the muddy streets with
heavy crushed stone and rock fol
pavement. All the houses are made
Of wood and stand on six or ten posts
four feet high from the ground. This
/ ii done on account Of the rain and thu
foods. The telegraph poles are made
Of old rusty railroad tracks.
when Roosevelt came down there
everything was In action. Every body
worked down there then. guess tina
4 was about the hardest work they eve
did In their lives. When Teddy WASH
there, they used to start up a steam
| shovel once In awhile, just whenevel
they thought they ought to do littlt
4 work There are 200 people workin.
i on the canal, and they work about twt
days a month. z
j 1.-THE fiat buildings are ordinar.
4 frame houses with q daub of pain
here and there. Sometimes six fami
He's live In one house. IN N
ssLife is a routine in Panama. Yol
just get up In the morning and ca
breakfast, 60 to the market and thel
eat dinner, go over and look at th
place where the canals going to be i
It's ever finished or look at the oceal
and then 90 home and eat supper an,
after that 60 to bed. No: don't ex
pect to go back there again. And
don't care much about going back Ell
Their. u.
THE market place is a big, open in
!; closure with chicken wire fence aroun
[ It and a lot of counters inside. Righ
back Of the market Is the Pacif
beach, from which You can see the Iii
tie sailboats plying back and fort
with fish between the island OF Ia
boga and Panama. Turtle is the spe
cial meal in Panama, because It's th
, best food on the market.
The people In Panama are mostl
Jamaicans and some Panamans, be
sides some barbarians from the south
ern countries. And then, Of course
the Americans. TWo-thirds OF the PEI
pie are sick all the time. They an
very superstitious, except the Amer
cans, and when the Jamaican eartf
quake came they heard that Their
4 r..