The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-10-11
THEY DIED ZOO SOON.

Napoleon B., that bully boy,
Had satisfaction baled,
| He very seldom failed.
I'll he sos was 1q fnBs a at Waterloo
But he never strained
| The home team won.
J.. Caesar had, the books declare.
His share of frenzied sport;
| He always held the ace and king,
| The ten spot and the fort.
| And, goodness knows, he killed his foes
| Regardless Of the cost
He threw some fits
But never when
| The home team lost
And Alexander stacked the cards.
Thus taking every trick,
For other worlds to lick.
| Thus Alex climbed about high
AS climbers often get
Pawned his scepter
! Nashville American.
The Unknown Land of New Guinea.
DIR. Rudolf Pooh of Vienna has
exploration are acquired by the long
and patient efforts of solitary travel
ers. For two years G9e4-1906) he
wandered with four or five native car
| riers, three-fourths of the way around
New Guinea, the second largest island
in the world. He was engaged in
anthropological and geographical
study, chiefly back of the coasts, in re-
gions where little as yet Is known Of
the country and its inhabitants. All
his time was spent in five districts of
German, British. and Dutch New
Guinea; and it seems surprising that
only twenty to forty miles inland,
especially in the German territory, he
reached virgin fields that no white
man has visited. In his long report,
published in the Zeitschrift of the
Berlin Geographical society, he gives
reasons why much of inner New
Guinea is still little known.
Doctor Pooh walked only two days
inland from Potsdamhafen to reach
villages and mountain valleys that had
never seen white men, though the
Germans have lived years at this port.
Many similar instances occur in New
Guinea, and Doctor Poch's explana-
ton is found in the great difficulty of
travel and the unfriendliness of the
natives. In a short march inland from
Potsdamhafen, for example, the ma
tive paths climb steep slopes, fall into
deep and narrow valleys, or run along
the sharp edge of ridges; and all the
while the pedestrian feels swathed in
straw, the grass that chokes the foot
wide path rising above his head, no
movement of air among those giant
growths, and above him, the blazing
sun with it's unmitigated outpouring
of discomfort. This, he says, is the
outline OF many a pioneer journey III
the great island as relates to physical
misery; and none but man of un-
usual tact and patience can fare safely
among the natives.
The explorer found new illustra-
tions of the fact that natives in one
district may differ greatly in physical
characteristics, in methods of house
building and other rude arts and espe-
cially in speech from other tribes liv-
ing only ten to fifteen miles away. He
i 4-;I, hat hi ar freadI
in their traditional dances, sing the
same songs, the text of which conveys
no meaning to them. One tribe say
they got these songs from the other
tribe, who assert in turn that the
songs were handed down by their
fathers. These words of old tradition.
in Doctor Poch's opinion, are words OF
dead speech.-From changing the
Map of the World" by Cyrus c.
Adams. in the Outing Magazine.
The Effect of Opium.
I heard little about the beautiful
dreams and visions which opium is
supposed to bring; all the smokers
with whom 1 talked could be roughly
divided into two classes-those who
smoked in order to relieve pain or
misery, and those miserable victims
who smoked to relieve the acute phys
ical distress brought on by the opium
itself. Probably the majority of the
lief; many begin in early childhood
the mother will give the baby Whit to
stop it's crying. 1t is a social vice only |
among the upper classes The most
gence is the resulting physical weak |
ness and lassitude- The opium smoker |
can not work hard; he finds it difficult |
to apply his mind to a problem or his |
body to a task. AS the habit becomes |
firmly fastened on him, there is per- |
ceptible weakening Of his moral fiber; |
he shows himself unequal to emergen-
cies which make any sudden demand |
upon him. If opium is denied him. he
will lie and steal in order to obtain IL.
Opium smoking is costly vice. A
pipeful of a moderately good native
product costs more than a laborer can
earn in a day; consequently the poorer
classes smoke an unspeakable com
pound based on pipe scrap1ngs and
charcoal. Along the high roads the
coolies even scrape the CRIME from the
to mix with this dross. The
clerk earning from twenty-five to fifty
dollars month will frequent
ly spend from ten to twenty dollars
month on opium. The typical confirm
ed smoker is a man who spends a con-
siderable part of the night in smoking
himself to sleep, and all the next morn
ing in sleeping off the effects. If he is
able to work at all, it is only during
the afternoon, and even at that there
will be many days when the official or
merchant is incompetent to conduct his
affairs. Thousands of prominent men
are ruined ever year.
The Cantonese have what they call
The Ten Cannots Regarding the
Opium Smoker" HE cannot Cd give
I'D the habit, CD enjoy sleep. CD wait
or his turn when sharing his pipe with
lis friends, ca rise early, (5) be cured
f sick, (6) help relations in need, (D
,njoy wealth, CD plan anything, 90
ret credit even when an old customer,
100 walk any distance. Samuel
Merwin in Success Magazine.
Punctilious.
A French schooner went ashore at one