Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-06-04
BOY ROAS|S PANAMA
Lad Makes Ingenious Remarks
After a sojourn on Isthmus
OF Six Months
IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY

Eggs Explode When You Touch Them.
Shoes Grow Moldy overnisht-oys-
ters Taste Like copper-Dserepis
Work Cows Killed For Beef. a
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 q six months
journey there. He was accommodated,
and the interview follows In almost his
exact words:
.,Our party. which consisted Of my
mother, sister and brother, left for
New Orleans on Oct.l2, 1903, and there
took the steamship Ellis, which brought
us safely to Colon. We were met there
BY my father. His maine is also Colin
Webb, and he was then manager for
Armour & CO. at Panama.
HE took US to the Aston House.
That night l put my shoes under the
bed, and when got up IN the morn.
ing they were all moldy. Everything
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
'sThe eggs there-well, IL you buy a
dozen maybe you'll get five that are
oil right, II you have good luck. You
can tell bad egg By touching the
shell. II 1t explodes, 1t shows that It's
bad.
'''They keep the cows pulling wagons
until they are too old to work, and
then they kill them for meat. They
cook 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
pound for potatoes that are mostly all
bad, and cents apiece for onions,
You get a piece Of cabbage about as
big as your thumb for 10 cents.
.And we used to get oysters on the
beach right back of our house. We
stayed at the United States consuls
house. The oysters tasted like copper
on account Of the salt water, but they
were all right.
.sAfy mother was sick with malaria
most all the time we were there, and
the doctor used to charge S. to SIC
every time he came. was sick some
Of the time, too, but I never went ia
bed.
eve used to go swimming in the ice
house tank and the tank used by the
fire department We could not &C
swimming in the ocean on account OF
the tide, which went out about mile
every morning and evening. When
the moon is small, the tide is big, and
when the moon is big the tide is small.
.sThe IRE department consists Of one
little wagon with about ten pieces OF
hose twenty-five, feet long, pulled BY
two men, and a double hand pump,
They also have chemical apparatus
like we have here.
"They cover the muddy streets witt
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
is done on account Of the rain and the
floods. The telegraph poles are made
Of old rusty railroad tracks.
s.When Roosevelt came down there.
everything was In action. Every body
worked down there then. guess that
was. about the hardest work they ever
did in their lives. When Teddy wasn't
there, they used to start up steam
shovel once in awhile, just whenever
they thought they ought to do little
work. There are 200 people working
on the canal, and they work about two
days month.
s'The fiat buildings are ordinary
frame houses with daub of paint
here and there Sometimes six fami.
lies live In one house.
Life Is a routine In Panama. You
just get up in the morning and eat
breakfast, 80 to the market and then
eat dinner, go over and look at the,
place where the canals going to be II
it's ever finished or look at the ocean
and then go home and eat supper and
after that go to bed. No; | don't ex.
pect to go back there again. And l
don't care much about going back Ell.
Their.
.The market place Is big, open In
closure with chicken wire cearound
it and lot Of counters inside. Right
back Of the market is the Pacific
beach, from which you can see the lit
tie sailboats plying back and forth
with fish between the island Of Ia
boga and Panama. Turtle Is the spe
cial meal in Panama, because It's the
best food on the market.
"The people in Panama are mostly
Jamaicans and some Panamans, be-
sides some barbarians from the south
ern countries And then, of course, |
the Americans. Two-thirds of the peO-
pie are sick all the time. They are
very superstitious, except the Ameri
cans, and when the Jamaican earth |
quake came they heard that there
would be an earthquake in Panama,
and they got frightened and closed the
school because they expected to die.
We were going to Kingston at the time
Of the quake. but changed our minds.
1T always rains on Sundays there.
?