The age-herald., 1899-01-07
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

l Alabama is to argue next week before the l supreme court at Montgomery the matter l of the ownership of the East and West | railroad the present terminus of which is | at Pell City. Associated with him in the | case is Captain Fred S. Ferguson, of this | city. General Swayne will spend several | days in Birmingham preparing his argu-
 ment to be presented to the state supreme | court. MT. Justice Dowdell. now on the | supreme bench, passed upon the case as chancellor some years ago.
 It will not be General Swayne's first visit | to Montgomery. He was in command of the federal forces there in 1865, and there
 was a large school for the colored race
 built there called Swayne college The
 general lost one of his legs in battle. Since
 the war he has become one of the most
 noted members of the New York bar. "If any person or syndicate will build first-class theater in Birmingham I would
 be glad lease it for period of ten years,
 and at rate that would give an entirely
 satisfactory return on the investment" declared MT. Walter s. Baldwin, of the Baldwin Melville company. 'Id gladly give bond for carrying out my part of the
 agreement Birmingham is a splendid
 show town, to begin with and it, is going
 to be much better, for it is growing rapid ly. I wouldn't wish for better investment than to have the lease of a fine theater
 here. There would be big money in it;
 and certainly Birmingham needs a splen-
 did theater-one worthy of so large and so
 promising a city"
 ''The Rev. Dr. Moses D. Hoge, of Rich
 mond, whose death was announced today by the Associated Press in The Age-Her- aid, was not only a great Presbyterian di- vine, preacher and moral bulwark, but he
 was a patriot and public spirited citizen
 born leader" said William Ryan, of Vir- glnia.
 Had Dr. Hoge chosen politics instead of
 theology as his profession, he would have shown as brilliantly in the halls of legisla- tion as he did in the pulpit, for he had in him the elements of statesmanship in a | marked degree. Few men~were so gener- ally read in the political history of America
 and few citizens took such lively interest in current politics as he did. Dr. Hoge
 was democrat all his lfe-a Thomas Jef- ferson-Andrew Jackson democrat, and back
 in whig days, when the representative men of his state, as a rule, voted the whig ticket
 the distinguished clergyman-he was dis
 tingushed as far back the forties-bold-
 ly voted the democratic ticket. For most
 men that would have meant social ostra- cism; but 1t did not affect his social position. His political rule was frequently commented upon, however, and one day friend said to him: We do not see how a man of your education can vote with the democrats, for they are composed principally of the lowest class The doctor
 replied pleasantly: Why, it is my educa- tion that makes me a democrat. I am a democrat from principle and by education and 1 must vote the democratic ticket
 But careful Dr. Hoge always was never to violate the proprietes of his calling. He
 never discussed party politics in the pull
 pit and never took any more active part
 in political affairs than would be regarded by the public as strictly proper Dr. Hoge
 lived to see three wars fought to a finish
 and through the Mexican war and the war
 with Spain his sympathes were strongly American. In the civil war he was a most
 ardent confederate and as a chaplain and counsellor rendered conspicuous service During the hostilities he ran the blockade oiiu NSiil tO I-HSldHu lne purpose or getting Bibles for the confederate armies He was successful in this enterprise Through the earl of Shafterbury, chairman
 Of the British Bible society, he obtained grant of $2O,000 worth of Testaments.
 "As pulpit orator Dr. Hoge had few equals. A tall, thin, wiry, high-sp.rlted
 ntan he had just the nervous temperament
 for impassioned oratory. A man of deep religious convictions, keen insight into things, and broad human sympathies, and always an assdious student, he was, in. deed, a prince of preachers. And at the age of 80 he was as fresh and luminous in
 the pulpit as he was at 50 or 6O He had
 natural turn for metaphysics, but he was essentially gospel preacher In his dis courses Dr. Hoge seldom used the word psychology, so much heard of in these days, yet no man of his day made better appli-
 cation of psychologist methods. He had studied men so profoundly, he saw the world so clearly-was himself a man of the
 world in the best sense of the term-he read people through and through so easily, and knew their springs of action SO we'll, that he could make sinners quail and quake by
 showing them their own wicked hearts.
 But while pr. Hoge was stern and fearless
 in rebukng sin, his heart was as tender
 as a chiles, and some of his best sermons were those delivered in the gentle mood,
 with the love of Christ for his theme. And
 this brings to mind the tribute which an eloquent public man paid to a dead
 brother: Tn every storm of life he was rock
 and oak, but in the sunshine he was vine
 and flower These words could be truth
 fully spoken of the dead preacher.
 with the exception of members of the
 diplomatic corps, no citizen of the United
 States was brought so much in contact with
 the eminent men of the old world as pr.
 Eoge. Several of the statesmen of Great Britain were his personal friends. On two or
 three occasions he had been the guest of
 royalty. Yet such a gentleman was he that
 one seldom heard him allude to these hon.
 ors He detested toadyism and snobbish-
 ness, and frequently, when the occasion offered, would give toadies hard raps. In