Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-28
FAMOUS MRS. SHELDON.
Reflections of Visit to a. Neighboring Town
 by Brilliant Woman.

by Brilliant Woman.
 Mrs. May French Sheldon of London, Eng, returned Sunday afternoon to her quarters at the Hotel Morris from short visit to Anniston.
 She gave pleasant greeting to. State Herald representative who called last evening, and in response to curious in- terrogatories as to her observations or east Alabama's beautiful little city Kind ly consented to put 1t down in black anu white, and when she had done 1t with amazing celerity, pouted at it and called it "bosh;" but it is given in it's charming freshness from her brilliantly panophed mind without a question or reportoIiai interpolation to mar or divert its faciie flow:
 A Glance About Anniston.
 The announcement by Mayor Flight, who was courteously doing the hohorS of the town to a stranger, that Annistoh was the youngest town in Alabama, seemed a statement hardly possipie lo credit-at least without provoking nos, of questions. ,,ov,, field of iron mines; its $500,000 iron mills, not in operation, having been straneIeo into silence by Birminghams too shaIp competition-not dead, but waitlns .u be revived and energized into prosperity when the price of black diamonds' tum,
  ouiescence imposing, provoking commer- eial ideas of possible thrift; its various industries, it's stores, its banks, US no tels and residences, schools ana cnurcnes and it's denizens-forsooth, a new toWh; What prodigality of boom, of morlpuha ventures, And yet instinct with latent futures, with wholesome success. a
 Its surroundings are beautlful, anu some of the outskirts must pc iiios' 's charming in spring and summer, IL, when barred by winter, as now, they y,is far from being either desolate or forpia- ding. Through the little stretch or val ley we were whirled along in trolly car through two hamlets, and just today the ground was being broken on the sloPe ol a bosky hill for the Industrial Coiiese for Colored Girls, being bullt through ...e generosity of noble Philadelphia wom- an. and one of the first, if not the very first. industrial institution especlaliy Tor colored girls in this country. On we Speo to the lake, a beautiful sheet or pupoiin5 water dripping down. encupped py .ne psendo-terraced slopes. This lake IS tne reservoir of a spring on little hii not half a mile away, and on the margin or the bank in the lake directly opposite lts fountain-head is spring of the dePtn of 60 feet, from whence may De ofawn , ue licious cold water at any season. isi of goodly size squirt ana dart apoue, a rare temptation to Isaac Waltons Who are not prohibited. In the center or the lake is an islet with its fringe or trees and little summer house like the Vose on silver shield. The grounds oVerioos the race course with deserted grano stand and booths in state or hlperha sioi. vet fancy could depict without effort how 1t could be gaily peopled and radiant with le movement another day, when gees and jockeys strove for public accla- nation and some would lose and some would win. ..s.s.. .s,,,.,,e,
 The atmosphere clear and exhilarating. Inviting. aye, in the most irresistiple manner. The fragrarts fbreezes seemed wizard hands to dfsplace age ana wear ,.t ness from city furrowed brows. Tn Iaitn I felt the .reipstated zest or past sune days of twenty. Standing in the 1capa- cious. open ball room on the top pr ,', the club house., with an .unfnterrupted view on all sides. where the eye could, travei to the heights, lunpurpled sby the winters atmosphere Studded with pines, Tn ilVe- ly contrast to the red, red soil that spohe of mineral wealth. The sburrowed out and gutted earth. where Iron nau Ce9;i Se1n extracted, looked like Dutch Gap in Can, fornia The glittering steel, arteries QF progressive, insistent railroads threads ing here and there to encompass the sl.es of mills and works and mines d1d not indicate the posted neWness or tHls re zion. Here in sturdy granite, spreading over considerable space, stands the memorial Church of St. Michael and the Angels built by the bountiful bequest Of one appropriately ,yclept Noble
 Further away could be idiscerned the rather fanciful structure once known as Anniston Inn, converted into the so-caii- ed Southern Female college. merry crowd of girls, with heads topped off with mortar boards, ; issued forth on recreation bent and then all relapsed into silence and desertion
 Passing out of the little park environ ing the lake at the entrance can be seen an old boiler rusting in the weather Like some old veteran, scared; and weather beaten, it challenges attention. It's mu- tineers seemed eloquent with untold story. Mayor Flight. with peripatetic suavity as historian of the day, soon sat isfied my desire.
 Madam, that is victor every fed eral must doff his cap to-"
 Briefly, this is the boiler of the loco