The age-herald., 1900-08-29
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

Dds NdiCIuily anu dSk ldNOiS III lAAS afternoon.
 Thou wilt have chequered year for thy business, losses and disappointments; see that thou dost not speculate"
 ''The young will grieye."
 "A child born on this day will be clever and steady, and may rise in life If fe- male, she will experience much trouble after marriage
 Astrologer Raphaefs prophecies for Thursday, August SO 19oO
 Push thy business, ask favors, and seek work
 Success will attend thy endeavors, and thy business and money will increase"
 "A child born on this day will be fortu- nate whether in employ or in business on it's own account and will rise in life"
 It is easy to understand that when win ter is making up to spring and summer approaches the place of meeting with au tumn, trade in what is somewhat gen erically termed "dry goods in this coun try and "drapery'' everywhere else be- comes comparatively dull even in all-sea sons standard articles; but the unin- formed would assume that in nearly every other commodity one season or one week would be much the same every other season or every week in such a town as Birmingham. Yet that is true in part only There is but one Birmingham; yet the habits of trade here partake somewhat of the characteristics of trade in other large towns outside the immediate cotton belt.
 In the practical sense, Birmingham has all seasons for its trade, since the volume of labor here and it's pay are much the same in May and December. The millions are taken in and the millions are paid out with degree of regularity probably not experienced in any other American town; because the money-producing and wage earning industries here are remarkably varied. The army of wage-earners in Bir- mingham and the immediate district is greater than the allied army marching on Pekin, and our captains of industry are in command of forces inherently greater than those which the German Waldersee hopes to command in China.
 These facts are suggested by the crowded condition of the Birmingham eating and sleeping places and the Birmingham streets and places of business in the least busy month of She year in this town. Last night the hotels had to put out the sign of standing room only, and that is required almost every night Yet it is held to be too late for summer trade and too early for autumn business and people are on the point of saying, as an illustrious bard long ago proclaimed in deathless, ever quoted words:
 The melancholy days have come,
 The saddest of the year.
 When it's most too hot for whisky straight
 And most too cool for beer.
 All the dry goods and mems furnishing stores are having cut-prices sales, by what ever particular name they be called. Even when mercury was sitting on top of the thermometer flaming himself there were blanket sales,' whilst betwixt and be- tween were admonitions to keep cool' by purchasing "our ridiculously cheap light clothing" and fair women in net-waists were pricing woolens The daily advertise ments of bargain sales appearing in the Age-Herald are within themselves most interesting studies in respect to their wit, their cleverness, their brightness, and their actual monetary value. One of these in the similtude of a war story of the Chinese in Sundays Age-Herald created a real sensation, and hundreds of people at one pleasure resort near Birmingham discussed it with evident pleasure Such an advertisement is artistic in high de- gree. Another advertisement bade its readers to "come by any old street." and for days of anticipation the people were respectfully requested to Listen" These are merely instances in the advertising of the thousands of 'bargains' offered by merchants between seasons, so to speak; and liberal advertising has kept the trade of the more progressive stores lively every day. The non-advertising merchant is badly handicapped, and can have no good reason to hope for success no matter how excellent his wares or how low and honest his prices. ta=
 At the outset it was meant merely to say that Birmingham had no dull season. except in society with capital S. But in the terse and trite vernacular of the business advertising pays" With out the knowledge consent of the busi- ness office, upstairs doesn't hesitate to say this much: The live merchant must be live advertiser and the world is his He achieves success by deserving it; and he is the only sort of merchant who does deserve success
 Rabbi Newfield, who has returned from Blowing Rock N. C., where he spent his vacation delightfully."-, tells good story at the expense of the eloquent minister of St. Mary y's-on-the-Iighlands, the Rev. Dr. Owen F. Fitzsmmons. Dr. Fitzsimmons has been ''roughing it," strengthening his health, and greatly enjoying out-of-door life in the North Carolina mountains and his presence became familiar to hundreds of the inhabitants, even before they had heard his name. Finally his name was noised abroad and with it went the extra ordinary report that the Birmingham clergyman was really the immortal Bob" of pugilistic fame. This created great ex- .itment in the mountains, where brawn is more honored than brains; and immed- lately pr. Fitzsmmons, who is in fact a man of powerful physical strength was