Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-19

Tenth and Eleventh avenues. South High lands Telephone 9SS)
 The revelry is over. Put aside for a season are the signs of joy and mrth; the lights that burned with softened radiance in the halls of pleasure have been turned out and the rippling laughter is hushed in the solemn quiet or this Lenten time The voices of two great branches of the church militant are heard throughout Christendom today calling upon the faithful to drawn closer to their God, bidding them go with Him into the solemn darkness of the wilder ness. There will be rough, steep paths to climb, wherein the finty stones will pierce our feet. There will be barren deserts, where the monday glare will blind our tired eyes, and there will be the great cliffs, where our besetting sins will confront us and tell us of the King doms of the earth which may be ours if we but fall down and yield obedience to the mandates of our temptations. To- day-Ash Wednesday-we begin this pen etential season, and sad will 1t be TOT us if the world shall find us faIterlng and wavering on the boundary limits or this Lenten period The pains tnrough the wilderness are luminous with the memories of saints, who gloried in all sacrifices made for the sake of him who first led the way through the tangle and thickets of earthly temptations. There is no triumph worth the telling without the struggle; there Is no victory Worth recording that has not come after the conflict There is no crown without cross, no Easter without an Ash Wednes- day!
 While the Episcopal and Roman Cath ollie churches make urgent appeals 10 their members for the proper observance of Lent. yet much must necessarily be left to the conscienceS of the individuals The manner of keeping this penetential season must be decided by each man. woman and child largely, but the out side world has very natural habit or passing judgment upon the methods or those churchmen who are regardless or the admonitions of the church at this time. Our delinquences and our neglect of duties bring upon our religion re- proach that is as hurtful as the sting Of d whip upon tender flesh. The almost universal observance of Lent is an evil dence of the growth of Christian senti- ment and the respect paid by other churches to this sacred season is an n- dication of the increase of brotherly love among Christians of every creed. It Will be the fault of individuals if this feeling does not grow stronger with .each re- curing time. If we keep faithfully this period of self-abnegation and self-abase- ment, turning our faces from the allure ments of the world-allurements that are innocent and harmless in themselves at other times--we shall make of Lent season not of hollow pretense, but Of genuine, true spiritual refreshment.
 Services will be held today-Ash Wednesday-in all the Catholic and Epis- copal churches of our city. At St. Ma rys-on- the-Highlands there will be ser vices at II o'clock and at the Church of the Advent at 10:30 o'clock this morning.
 Preparations are already beginning for the presentation of the opera "Erminie" immediately after Lent. for the benefit of the Confederate Veterans The f1rst meeting to arrange preliminaries will be held tomorrow, Thursday evening. at the Volunteers armory, at s o'clock sharp It is important that every one who has been invited to assist in "Er- minie'' should be present tomorrow evening at the armory..
 What a magnificent success was the celebra tion of mardi gras in our city yes- terday, What a splendid pageant the proce ssion was, with the officials. mili- tary, fire department and handsome floats that would have been credit to a much older and larger city than Bir- mingham The carnival spirit seems to belong to the south. and it is ready to live and flourish wherever transplanted in our sunny land. Yesterdays experi- ment proved this beyond a peradventure. Never in her history has Birmingham held within her limits such a surging mass of huma nifty and such good natured humanity The celebration demonstrated beyond ntradiction that ours is a city of progress and patriotism, and that the desire to excel in any undertaking is now uppermost in the minds of our peo- ple. and in the future we shall all pull strongly together in every way that tends to -upbuiiding of our communi- ty.
 The rooms of the Philhedonian club were ablaze last night with color and light About twenty-five couples were masked in all kinds of fashion, some quaint, some handsome. some pictur- esuue. some grotesquely absurd, but every one we'll designed and attractive. The young gentlemen In charge, Messrs. Ernest Redd and Charles Leeper, had ar ranged all the details in the most satis- factory. manner. A large vehicle was sent to the South Highlands for the young ladies and another to the city and North Highlands. and they were carried to the club rooms 30 that they would not be recognized by the young gentle men~until they unmasked. The gentle v,,orf not then, al inc c1uh and for hours