The age-herald., 1900-11-24
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE

Bishop Hugh Miller Thompson of Mis- sissippi, who was in Birmingham the other day, is one of the most eloquent men in the Episcopal Church. The Bishop was his way home from St. Luke's Hosp1- tai, New York, where he has been for sev- eral weeks recuperating after undergoing an operation. The Bishop had some throat trouble and an operation was necessary to relieve it. ''The doctors tell me-" said the Bishop, that my voice will now be better than ever" The Bishop did not add that the operation was performed without an opiate-he refusing to take one-but such was the fact
 T suppose" said the Bishop, that there is larger percentage of old men in Mis- sissippi than any other state-at least 1t seems so to me, and have been in a good many. By old, mean from 80 to 90. They are not decrepid old men who hug the fire side, but are quite lively old fellows. One of them whom I knew, man of S9, re- gently got a little too lively. He went out after dark without lantern, fell in ditch and was broken up just as if he was china. I forget how many bones were broken"
 How do you account. Bishop, for this large proportion of old men in Mississp- pig" asked some one.
 Well" said the Bishop, "there Is no chance to become rich in Mississippi. Ev. erybody knows it and does not worry him self into an early grave trying to-
 
 People are fond of saying remarked a man at the club, that the age of dueling is past; and so it has as far as the custom affected the upper class of society I was reading in a paper the other day where one prominent man had called another a fool, and the latter had simply laughed about it. The newspaper correctly ex- pressed the opinion that some years back such a remark would have been certain to have brought on a duel.
 ''Duels, however, have by no means be- come obsolete. The only difference is that as they have been dropped by society they have consequently lost all the ceremony and punctilio that formerly characterized them, and have now become impromptu affairs, or what are generally referred 70 as shooting scrapes. The class of people who now fight duels are those unacquainted with ceremony of any kind. It is too much trouble to provide seconds, and some of these fighters cannot write a grammatical challenge. All they know is when they want to shoot and just as they proceed to eat without consideration of others when they are hungry, so they proceed to shoot with similar lack of consideration to others, when they get blood thirsty. Peo- pie of this kind usually select a church meeting, public street or some public gathering as the most appropriate place for their little self-indulgence.
 "Duelling has gone out of fashion among the prominent people as a result of civili- zation. They have realized that duel demonstrates or proves nothing except that one man is perhaps a better shot than the other Duelling and pistol carrying among the people will never cease until they are sufficiently refined and civilized to have a diStaste for human blood. All the laws in the world can't legislate a pistol out of mans pocket The only remedy is to edu- cate the fondness for shedding blood out of his heart, to make it beat with love for his fellow man, and a consideration for the welfare of others"