The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-12

Inat instructive tnougn Iar from sue
; Has it ever occurred to your erudite mind
That the sea serpent's growing extinct?
Shall we lose this gay monster who gam
In a genial though cumbersome style?
Shall. we cease to salute him with welcom-
AS he gives us a cavernous smile?
In the studious solitude wise men affect
And likewise where glasses are clinked,
Let's organize swiftly and try to protect
/ washington Star
John Browns Family Covenant.
| A real contribution to the civil war
history of this nation appears in the
October American Magazine. 1t is con-
tanned in a remarkable interview with
the son of John Brown. the great aboh-
ZIONIST The interviewer. Miss Eleanor
Atkinson. reports John Brown, Jr.' as
saying:
Tt was in 1888. think. that he re-
was only II at that time. Jason Is and
lOwen IA. Frederick, who fell at Osa-
watomie, was 9. and Ruth, whose hus-
band, Henry Thompson. died at Har-
at the ferry, was a baby of 8. oliver.
who gave his life there for father also,
was not born until 1889. Ny young
stepmothef was under 20. l think with
four babies around her knees, when
my father told her and us that he would
never again engage in any business that
he could not leave on two weeks no
tlce. He meant to make as much money
as he could, to educate his children, and
Ito provide for his wife and helpless
| little ones. 1t might be years before
opportunity offered to strike the blow,
| but he meant to prepare for 1t, and
when the CALI came. his wife was to
consider herself a widow. his children
committed to the care of Him who red
the ravens.
land then he knelt in prayer. to ask
g. blessing on his resolution. / say
knelt, for I never saw him kneel again,
either before or after that time. He
manner of the early Puritans. Young
as we were he took us into his conf
dence. Mother and the three Oldest
boys voluntarily entered into a COW
enant with him. There was no compul,
sion about it. We fully understood
what it meant. for the Rev. Elijah
Lovejoy had very recently been muir
dered at Alton. Illinois. for daring TO
children grew older the matter was
explained to them and not one failed
him. AS we married. our wives and
husbands were converted. There was
ed unsuspected for 81 years, to break
the power of slavery. 1 believe II was
Bronson Alcott who said tina, IN an
history knew of only one other IN
stance of such family covenant ana
that was with Mahomet.
japanese Language Hard.
Army officers who are thinking of
taking up the study of japanese should
pause before they attempt the task ana
peculiarly strong linguistic APTITUDE \
Even the japanese find the language
very difficult. Anglo-Saxons who grow
about the difficulties Of our spellngg
and favor the simplifed system would
never live if they had to undergo what
the subject of the mikado suffers in the
matter of language.
It takes Japanese child seven years
to learn the essential parts Of the al
phabet. One must be familiar with 214
signs which serve the same purposes
as initial letters in English diction-
aries. Then, after one was tracked
Part of the character for which he is
about to make a search, he still has a
veritable Darkest Africa ahead of him.
The pompous first personal pronoun is
avoided whenever it is possible in
speaking japanese. If 1t must be used
it is introduced casually, but generally
the abstract noun "selfishness" serves
in its stead.
For example, a japanese would not
say. 81 don't drink wine" but Wine
don't drink or, if this is not clear
enough, "Selfshness wine don't drink"
Reference to ones possessions must be
deprecatory Thus, if a man wishes to
point out his own residence. he says,
THAT miserable house, which, of
course, could refer to no other tnan MS
own.
On the other hand, "That beautiful
house" would easily identify the house
as belonging to some one else. More
over, any one who wishes to learn
Japanese must be prepared to learn
two Ianguages-the written and the
spoken. The one differs so materially
from the other that if japanese is
reading a book or newspaper and
wishes to do so aloud, it becomes neces-
Sarv for him 70 translate the written
words into colloquial To be able to !
read any of the higher class japanese
newspapers it is necessary to master .
at least from $500 to 5000 ideographs.-l :
Army and Navy Journal.
Minute Hand 612 Feet Long. :
The longest minute hand in the
will be the tower of the I
Singer building, if a plan proposed by ]
Commander E. E. Hayden, q. S. N, in {
meters and time service of the naval l
observatory at Washington, goes f
through to completion.
The towering illuminated shaft $
caught the commanders eye on a re- :
cent visit and he at once conceived /
the idea of making the illumination :
mark the five minutes preceding mid i
night-a minutes hand stretching 612 c
feet into the air. c
The plan was first preached to ship I
ping men the latter part of August in +
a circular letter by Commander Hay r
den. He suggested in this that by 9
Connecting with the minute break" of ,
the transmitting clock at Washington, !
each night the thirty-one searchlights +
that now make the tower pillar of g
flame could be made to stop for the =
first second of each minute, giving an :,
exact time signal visible to all shipping
n port. i
Lieutenant Hunt and Ensign B. S. 2
Dent of the branch office here have 2.
oeen sounding shin masters for the p