The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-02


Bridget will not worry
With Homework any more.
Mollies in q sweat-shop
Hates a manicure;
No one scrubs or washes.
Wages are no lure.
Maggie's an apprentice.
F1oSSfe's making mats,
And that is why we're living,
Most all of us. in flats
The Kings of Today.
The kings are in front just now.
They have been gaining upon the
statesmen in popular imagination for
some years, and at this moment few
speeches by cabinet ministers are read
with the interest attached to the
carefully-worded utterances of sover-
eignS on their travels. and no actions
are studied SO closely as their usually
very rapid movements. 1t is difficult,
as one reads their visits to each
other. and ponders the meaning of
little what they think of themselves.
Though so often in evidence, they
tell us very little about that, and the
world has to gather it up from obser-
vations not often accurate, nor al
ways even keen. Do they really i'm
they stand between the statesmen and
the higher powers, holding in special
charge the safety Of their peoples?
We may be sure that they themselves
reject the cynical explanation that
they must reign by divine decree, for
nothing else could explain the fact of
their reigning at all; but do they Of
fer, in moods of reflection and self
communion, any other explanation to
themselves ? The German Emperor
probably does, for though the rise of
the Hohenzollerns to the very top has
been somewhat sudden of late. his
house has behind it a long line Of sue
cesses so amazing as to suggest the
intention of Providence that the
family should succeed. Rosbach may
be accounted for by the genius of the
great Frederick. but the idiocy in Yer
sallies which made Rosbach possible
suggests something of overruiing
must be allowed to be a man of very
exceptional ability, and fully the equal
in craftsmanship of any Of his minis
ters.
His great rival in European dignity,
the Austrian Kaiser. may also believe
that he Is on his throne by the will
Of heaven, for with his descent from
Charlemagne. through the husband OF
Maria Theresa. he represents, In the
picturesque, if not the real sense, the
terrible majesty Of the old Roman
Caesars. who, as De Quincy showed,
without rivals to criticise or opposl-
ton to embarrass them. The Russian
ruler makes his claim more and more
definite as events seem to cast DOUBT
upon it, and it may be that, like MS
father, he holds that God must spe-
cially guide him. for he can find in
himself no adequacy for his over
whelming task.
The king Of Italy probably thinks,
like a true SavoYard. that though GOD
protects him, he must always be
watchful less the protection be in
sufficient; and our own king, II ne
thinks of the subject at all amid his
eternal stractions. has a. bit of real
evidence to produce. Building on the
sure and sound foundations laid by
that great queen of happy memory, his
mother, he has restored the charm of
monarchy in a way which seventy
years since would have seemed i'm
possible. for statesmen then thought
the British crown was slipping to the
ground.
The kings all alike, however, one
notices. though confident in the
right fu1ness of their position, seek
the applause of the peoples, and like
all sovereigns since Belshazzar, believ-
ing the writing on the wall to be I'M
translatable, hold, like philosophers.
omne ignotum pro magnifico. They
are perplexed, for the interpreters
they consult either fatter or revile.
and neither in reviling nor in fiattery
can there be illumination. One Won
ders whether they are happy-they
who, in spite of Shakespeare, are with
the populace a byword for happiness
but that secret is kept as perfectly
as their inner-most counsels for ac-
ton. Here, at any rate. the heart of
the king is as inscrutable as in ancient
days-London Spectator.
The Panther.
One of the more interesting fea-
lures of this sailing of the battle fleet
is our old friend the Panther. Though
she has received scant notice in the
public prints, it may be her forte to
Panther is the machine shop of the
fleet She has on board 100 skilled
machinists competent to make any
repairs that may be needed by any of
the ships. Some of the tools with
which she is equipped (besides her
Five lathes of different sizes, one
planer for castings, plate, pipe-bend-
ing, and punching machines, one $50
pound steam trip-hammer and three
ordinary blacksmiths' FORCES. There
is also a compressed air system for
supplying power to the machines, and
in addition a rotary brass melting fur
mace and a crucible oil furnace for
smelling iron and brass. The Panther
is equipped with a wireless telegraph
outf1t.-New York Press.
Woman Runs Mouse Farm.
Now turns up the most original
woman among discoveries of feminine
pursuits. She is Miss Abbie Lathrop
of CRANKY, Mass, who is making a
small fortune running a mouse farm.
Putting aside the traditional fear of
mice, she seemingly has resolved to
avenge womankind for centuries of
suffering at their paws. For the tiny