Birmingham age-herald., 1894-08-14
MOBILE AND SELMA. Observations by Mrs. Ball on the
 Quaint Gulf City.
BEAUTY AND CONSERVATISM
Of Selma, and the General Contentment of the Good
 Folks South of Us.
Are- Herald stan Corrsspondence.

Age Herald StaH COrf8SpOnuence.
 There is nothing that so reconciles us to
 our own peculiar surroundings as to ob-
 serve the surroundings of other people,
 and this applies with equal emphasis to communities as well as individuals. When
 one journeys farther south the advantages
 of our own Birmingham appeal to us with
 great force, for the farther one penetrates
 towards the tropics the more apparent be-
 comes that condition of mind aud body
 courteously called '.conservatism, but
 what is really only a strange contentment,
 with condition of things that exists sim-
 ply. because we make no effort for other and
 more progressive surroundings. Take Mo-
 bile, that quaint old gulf town, with
 charm and fascination all it's own, and one
 sees remarkable illustration of what l
 say. This pretty city, with it's age, culti-
 vation and delightful people, presents to
 the visitor certain phases that are surpris-
 ing to the active, alert southerners who
 catch occasional views of bustling, push
 ing, progressive Atlanta, Richmond or
 Louisville, and one returns to Birmingham
 after visit to Mobile with renewed faith
 in her future.
 The homes of Mobile are justly cele-
 brated, for very many of them are un-
 usually handsome aud attractive. There
 are large umb Der of ante bellum houses
 there that are beautiful, and gratify every
 esthetic taste. To ride the length of Gov
 ernment street is to see some of the hand somest homes to be found in all the south.
 And the we'll kept air that pertains to them gives the pleasantest impression to stran- gers. The old houses, the large ones, With their classic outlines and their beautiful colonial architecture, are as fresh ana well
 kept as the many new and pretty ones,
 which boast of the towers and bay windows
 of modern builders. About them all, old
 and new, bloom the roses, oleanders and
 every other lovely flower. The homes of the Emanuels aud Dr. Ketcham have no superior in Alabama. They are both on the most fashionable street-Government- aud while Of entirely different types, are both splendid representatives of southern architecture previous to the war.
 All about the quaint city are handsome homes, denoting great comfort and taste. The suburbs of Mobile are especially at tractive to visitors. For miles out on the beautiful Spring Hill road old residences, that speak of past magnihcence, peep at you from behind the most glorious trees ever saw. Avenues of oaks that incline youto accept all the stories told of revolu- tionalys. trees, whose hospitable trunks sheltered large bodfes of men, lead up to the pillared porches of grand houses, which seem to need only the twilight shadows to bring back the brave men and lovely women of long ago, who lived aud loved when these trees were young. Out on Spring Hill road is the former home of Ala
 
 Augusta Evans Wilson, and here it was, amid the beauty of tropical vegetation, l with the air heavy with the fragrance of | exquisite blossoms, and within the grate- | Hui shadows of some of these wonderful l trees, Mrs. Wilson wrote many of Der most | famous books.
 She now lives in the city, but her home | on Spring Hill road js pointed out with | commen da ble pride by even The street car | conductors, and one naturally falls into Q ha al tri cq ii many other pretty homes are overlooked | because we were thinking with pride of what an Alabama woman has done for | the literature of not only the south, but | the entire country. But the car did not go | backwards if our thoughts did, and we | were soon opposite the pretty home of the beloved bishop of Alabama, Right Rev. R. | H. Wimer. Asview of those two homes | no others of interest, but there are many | more claiming attention by their history | and beauty. Opposite the Wilson place is l the handsome and hourishing Catholic
 school for young ladies, and, with the
 progress our Catholic friends have always | exhibited, they are building just by the l school an exqusiteIy beautiful chapel. Of l course the bay, dotted with sail boats,
 schooners and steamships, is always fasci. | hating to strangers, especially to those of us who are strictly inland.
 l Now, with all these manifold beauties | and attractions one is constrained to ask | what is the matter with the business DOT l tion of Mobile, the stores, hotels, offices, etc ? There is not a dry goods store in l Mobile that approaches any of our larger | ones. Not hotel that in any way com- | pares with the Morris or Caldwell, and | barely with the Florence. Every one stops at the Battle house, of course, though why l they should do so is unexplain able, unless l 1t is because it is the best hotel in Mobile. l There is little to recommend it save it's l traditions, and while no one is fonder of such things than I, still must confess that l traditions do not satisfy one's hunger, nor l supply the place of necessary improve l ments in this day of comfort and good l taste. The elegance of the past appeals to me in the most positive way, but there is a | great diff renee between that and dilapida. l ton. With old time rates there should be | old time luxuries.
 | The business houses of Mobile startle a l stranger; they are so out of keeping with | the homes and the people of the town, and !! I found myself wicked enough to believe | that one of the most wholesome happenings fthat could befall the business part of the l town would be a genuine, old fashioned, all -devouring confagration; one of ambi- I tious tendencies, with the water works 1 entirely inadequate and unreliable. wish l we could have donated to Mobile some Of 1 Birning hams late fires.
 l sCn this recent jaunt to Mobile we stop ped in the prettiest town in Alabama, l Selma. It is certainly beautiful little | city, uniting the old and the new in the most bewitching way. The streets are wide md regular, with broad sidewalks,