Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-04-08
HAS MORE LIVES THAN A CAT
MsnsIi<, King Of Abyssinia, Has Been
Reported Dead Ten Times and 10
Sill Alive. -.

/ Menoitk, Ming OF HpyssiniaJ FIaS 0Sou
Reported Dead Ten Times and 10
Still! Alive.
A cablegram q week or 80 ago,
printed In every newspaper in Ameri-
ca, announced the death Of King
| Menelik Of Abyssinia. A few days la
ter came another cablegram containing
the comforting information that the
king was not dead at all; II was mere
ly the tenth time the king had been re-
ported dead and turned out to be alive,
| thus proving he has more lives than
the proverbial cat
One reason II Is possible for Kinfi
Menelik to fool the news service OF the
world in that way. is that he lives at
the back Of beyond, In country where
few white men ever go, and that most
Of us couldn't even locate on the map
IL we were asked to do 80 In O hurry.
Sixteen years ago Abyssinia attracted
the attention Of the world for little
while by defeating an Italian army In
most decisive manner, and people
woke up to the fact that dark-skinned
King Menelik was "a first-class fight
In, man." surrounded by lot Of sub
jects Of similar character. And then,
after the Italians had been licked and
gone home, and most Of Europe had
snickered at the sight, most Of the
world proceeded to forget about Abys-
sinia.
Abyssinia lies east Of the Nile. in
northern Africa, and In the neighbor-
hood Of the Red Sea- AS a matter OF
Red Sea at any point, being wholly an
interior country. It Is reached-occa-
sionally-by q railroad from French
Somaliland that runs 248 miles into
Abyssinia. But for the most part the
country Is a tumble Of departed civil
zations; one finds men raising sheep
and cattle very much as Jacob and his
sons did In Bible times, though one
may sometimes fnd the shepherds
carrying modern rifles; King Menelik
himself claims direct descent from the
Queen of Sheba; there are traces of
old Roman rule still extant In some OF
the customs Of the country, and the
religion Of Abyssinia is mongrel
Christianity which has survived with
rather remarkable virility from the
fourth century. Even the wave OF
Moslem conquest could not make the
sturdy sons of Sheba give up their re-
ligion. rs.,,t -.,r,,-,l.. ..i :. ..,.,,e vi
Abyssinia is the Ethiopia referred to
In the Bible, the inhabitants OF which,
you may remember. could not change
their skins any more than the leopard
his spots. But you must also rememr
ber that the Inhabitants Of Ethiopia,
though black, are not negroes, but q
sturdier, more warlike race. Many Of
the people, doubtless, may have some
negro blood but the original inhabi-
tants are a straight ht-nosed race, whose
skins are dark copper in color, rather
than black.
The king of Abyssinia, Menelik,
whom by the way, his subjects call
"the king Of kings" is person of
much energy, ability and intelligence.
Born In 1842 and brought up In COM
parative savagery, he has the open
mind" and the vivid interest In all kind
Of new and better things which char
acterized Peter the Great Of Russia.
Peter was wise enough to see that the
civilization which had benefited the
rest Of the world would benefit his
own country, which was then hardly
more than medieval; Menelik, In les
ser degree, no doubt, realizes that II
Abyssinia Is to continue az an inde-
pendent kingdom It must learn some OF
the lessons Of civilization. And he has
set himself to learn some Of these les
sons, and, II possible, to teach them.
He has taken an interest in photo
graphy, in machinery and especially In
Are arms. When he bought new gat-
ling guns for Abyssinia he himself In
sisted on being present when they
were set up, and seeing how they were
put together and just how they work
ed. The first pair Of European shoes
he saw he had taken apart at once
that he might know how Europeans
who repaired the kings watch, had to
do 80 under the monarch's gaze, and
explain to him just what was wrong
and what the proper remedy was and
why. II was more than the interest OF
a. child or q savage In seeing the
wheels go around"-it was an inteli-
gent desire to know just how they
went and how to repair them when
they went wrong. The king has shown
a great interest in improved gardening
and in irrigation, realizing. that 1t held
great possibilities for his semi-arid
realm. E,
A visitor told Menelik once about
billiards and what fascinating game
1t was, and ended by suggesting that
the king have table sent to the pal
ace.
"No," said the king, IF It is as fas-
cinating a game as you say. viii not
have It here, because / should waste
too much time playing It."
A French artist, Paul Buffet, visited
Menelik some years ago and painted
many interesting pictures Of Abyssin-
ian life, though his chief object In
making the difficult and dangerous
journey was because Abyssinia was
the one place in the world where an
artist might see with his own eyes
how the ancient Romans used to drape
their garments" Buffet was much in
terested in observing King Menelik's
fondness for pets. Three large lions
wandered loose in the courtyard OF
the palace at that time. The artist
asked whether they didn't ever kill
anybody" 81
"Oh, yes" said the king, occasion
ally a lion kills a man, but then we
always kill that lion."
The lion Is held in great reverence
by most Abyssinians. When native
Is travelling through country known
to be infested with lions he goes along
talking out loud to the invisible anil
mails, assuring them of his respect for
their strength, courage and beauty,
and protesting that he has no desire
to molest them. They tell story OF
letter carrier who was trotting along
through the desert afoot. Suddenly,
from behind a rock, huge lion ap-
peared close beside him. The man
prostrated himself, and then, rising,
he hat ho