The age-herald., 1899-03-14
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

SOOliiS lhc llliSt Ol q peAiCiith cal lAA.. AA
 was drip-drip-drip all the livelong, gloomy. miserable, inexcusably disgusting day. There IS no possible need of such day in the calendar: 1t served none but evil pur pose It was a liverish, jaundlced day
 without one little redeeming trait It was a mis-shapen, misplaced and unwelcome bastard of crazy old Time. come to horrify
 men and give them flyers larger and harder
 than paving-stones; to terrify women, and
 to make children forget to laugh.
 | At the ugliest, wettest, darkest, nastiest hour of the day, lone little sparrow was | seen perched upon an electric wire in the | vestibule of the Morris. He was absolutely ] alone, and was crying necessarily and bit- l terly. He was wet and bedraggled, and his | wall never ceased in the vaulted lonesome | ness. No other sparrow was to be seen | up street or down, none was heard. Il l appeared as If the tribe of sparrows had | been suddenly wiped out of existence ex- | cept as to this lonely member perched upon | the electric wire in the vestibule and weep | Ing to "beat the band" He must have | been rake, that same sparrow, some | what disreputable bird, for no bird of char | acter or standing In the community would | go out on such day and get stranded | the vestibule of a hotel, however fash | ionable. Poor little cock-sparrow, caught | out on such a day! Three weeks ago he | was seen In the same place under similar | conditions of weather, and that is proof | that he is either disspated or crossed in | love. One couldn't avoid thinking of the l poor little tomtt that cried "Oh, willow. | oh. willow-tit- willowl' One thought of l tough worms, disappointment in love and l rebellious livers as the little cock-sparrow upon the electric wire wept while the rain l fell and the accursed day waned into the | blackness.
 | 'The Age-Herad the other day contained l two or three stories about Owen Finnegan, l the veteran steamboat captain of the Ala | bama river" remarked Major Daniel M. | Fulenwider. T was his agent In Selma | for time and knew him intimately. One day in '65 he came up the river from Mobile with his boat, on his way to Montgomery. | The orderly of a federal officer | at Selma called on board Finnegan's boat | and informed him that he was required to l convey to Montgomery the remains of | large number of federal soldiers who had
 
 Finnegan was hot mad, and swore he | would not take the boxes The orderly went back to headquarters and reported, and the officer of the provost guard hurried | to the river When he got there Finnegan l was down amongst the deck hands hard at work trying to get the boat off without having to take the dead bodies. You are | ordered he called to Finnegan in a rage, folx tl,o l Montgomery Certainly, sorr, answered | Finnegan. I'd be glad to take every damned man of ye away in a box
 "Finnegan was very thrifty man, and
 he had very thrifty wife. Whenever he
 had saved up sufficient money he would buy
 a negro. At the outbreak of the war be- tween the states he owned dozen very | valuable negro men, whom he hired to the owners of his boat as deck hands, thereby | deriving a handsome income. His wife | took charge of the boats laundry work and | had that done at home with good profit There was profit in negroes in those days Why, I bought two negro men for 5000, | whom I hired out at s75 a month--not an unprofitable investment, to say the least" P. Sid Jones, the energetic and popular official of the Louisville and Nashville rail- road, and the founder of Vinemont, the in- dustrial town six miles above Cullman, has | received letter from a man in Denmark, inquiring as to the danger from Indian savages and bandits in Culman county. The Dane desires to make investments at
 vinemont and probably settle there him. l self; should he be assured that there is no danoar fa ha lad ages and bandits One half the world ) doesn't know how the other half lives. l The Rev. Dr. J. Boardman Hawthorne, the famous Baptist pulpit orator, is in Br-, l mingham. Dr. Hawthorne has just re- l signed charge of the First Baptist church | of Nashville, on account of failing health l Many years ago he was in charge of the l First Baptist church of Montgomery. He is native of Alabama, having been born
 in Wilcox county about ffty-six years ago.
 His remarkable eloquence has made him a
 familiar figure in southern life for the past
 twenty-five or thirty years.
 Another distinguished Baptist preacher
 now in the city Is the Rev. Dr. George B.
 Eager, now in charge of the First Baptist
 church Of Montgomery, who took such |
 | conspicuous part in fighting the recent bill
 in the legislature authorizing pool-selling in | Montgomery.
 MT. Fred B. Fiske, of Montgomery, south | ern representative of Ralli Brothers, of
 Liverpool and London, the largest dealers
 in cotton in the world, and the foremost
 commercial firm in existence, is in Bir- l mingham to attend the annual convention
 of cotton compress men, which assemblies
 in this city today MT. Fiske Is an Anglo
 American of charming personality and
 great force of character, and in Montgom-
 cry he is one of the most popular of men.
 lie is a gentleman who commands good
 will and respect wherever he goes.
 Amongst others who come to attend the
 compress convention are c. c. Hanson, of
 Savannah, who manages the seven com
 presses of the Central of Georgia railroad;