The age-herald., 1899-08-15
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

! tOf America said last nlSHt.
 i "Mr. R. II. Croker's coming over to Bryan and anti-imperialism shows that the fires the rank and file of Tammany have been building behind him have had ! the desired effect. Under the leadership i of Sheehan the boss was about to be dls- l placed. Sheehan is a great Bryan man. 1 The ovation that was given former Gov ernor Hogg by Tammany on the Fourth of July convinced Croker that if he hoped to retain the leadership he would have to yield to the wishes of the rank and file. Politicians all over the United States Will profit by Croker's example,"
 Major Wailes, of Selma, was on the stan of Little Old Fighting Joe'' Wheeler in the war between the states. General Wheeler Is speeding across the worlds widest sea to fight for the American honor. Major Wailes fought with him against the American union. Some sore of fate denied Major Wailes the privilege of being on San Juan hill when Wheeler rode to fame that shall not perish whilst American yalor remains American valor in the world. It was not the fault of Major Wailes. He would have rejoiced to be there when Little Old Fighting Joe'' rode to new glory up the heights of San Juan. Some of them who love Wheeler and love Wailes have begged Wailes to write what he knows about the illustrious little com mander. Major .Wailes has declined to do i so, though he loves Wheeler as an elder brother. When Wheelers name was ring ing around the world, the youngest man save one who had become illustrious in war, Major Wailes was serving upon his staff. Wheeler loved Wales. So also does every man who ever knew Major Wailes So also does every man who ever knew Joseph Wheeler One night, after battle had been fought-some desperate conflict Wheeler sought wailes's blanket. Outside, | the snow was falling. The cold was in- l tenseIy bitter for a southern climate l Little Old Fighting Joe is fragile as a | boy of fourteen. He Is as impulsive and affectionate as a child. Major Wailes is | a stalwart man, exceeding six feet in | height He rested under his poor blankets | The major had fallen asleep. Wheeler, | then the first military hero of the world, l came and crawled under Wailes's blanket | He placed this thin, wan little arms around l Wailes, and. whilst his fame was resound- l ing the world, he said with the sweetness, l the simplicity and the directness of child, 1 "Wailes, I love you!'
 l That phrase tells the whole story of that l 'beautifullest of lives, now speeding across l the widest of seas It Is the incarnation | of Joseph Wheeler. "Wailes, I love you!'' l To such of those of us who personally l know General Wheeler and who know Ma | jcr Wailes the story of truth comes today l with wondrous sweetness and beauty. Inc | wan, thin, little arms that, in sterner days, | did wield a sword of fmperishable glory, led to glory up San Juan Hill. That sword | of glory will flash bright in the Far East. The Little Old Figihting Joe" is gone to do new duties, and he asks no questions. 1 He is gone to fight. All the American peo- | pie love him. He ranks alongside Dewey. 1 The two are the heroes of our day. The
 call of "Wailes, I love yeu!' will call
 across, all across, every space above which l flies the flag of the nation. It speaks | Wheeler as Wheeler is. It expresses In
 words of sweetest tenderness the emotional,
 the most powerful side of the American. I It may be sentimental-call it what one | may-but 1t remains American the noblest,
 truest, bravest quality known of man.
 "Wailes, I love your calls across all the
 spaces of time and calls sweetly, bravely, | heroically. We talk about the Hast of the l Cardigans" at Balaklava, Macdonald at | Wagram, Pickett at Gettysburg, Lee in
 that long line at Petersburg, but the sweet
 est speech ever spoken after battle was
 "Wailes, I love you!' Joseph Wheeler Is
 crossing now the widest of seas. The
 measure of his fame cannot be fuller.
 Major wailes, at his modest home in
 Selma, asks for no further fame. But a
 reporter who knows and loves both the
 ilustrious general and the modest major
 ventures to tell how the little general
 wound his little arms about the major and
 said "wailes, love your!
 |
 l Colonel John F. Steele civil engineer, is
 on a visit to his brother, M. W. Steele, of | Avondale. Colonel Steele made the first l survey of the railroad from Athens, Ala | to Elyton in 1S54 and upon the arrival of
 his party at Elyton the good citizens of
 that place rendered them a banquet al
 which the late Judge w. A. Mudd presided
 and in response to toast on that occasion |
 soon come when there would spring up ir l this valley an American Birmingham, Il. | valing, if not excelling, in its great Iron in.
 dustries it's English namesake. He is alsc
 now the sole survivor of the engineer corp!
 which surveyed the route of the Memphi! l and Charleston railroad, (which now be | longs to the Southern railway system. 1 from Stevenson, Ala, to Memphis. Colone | Stele was a gallant Confederate soldier
 taking part in the first battle of Manassas
 and the seven days fight around Richmond
 He was later chief engineer on Genera
 Bragg's staff. Colonel Steele is now il
 feeble health. but mentally as bright al
 ever. The present route from here tt
 Athens Is the route which he then located He was a low, chunky man with a nerv l ous air. He might have been 45 or h,
 might have been GO years old. His hail
 was sprinkled with gray and the lowe l wort of hiS face was covered with A tbre,