The age-herald., 1900-01-23
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

fell. Atmospheric conditions caused curious
 effects All the day had been cloudless,
 like some day lin June when the clouds were gone down behind the mountains lar away, and the sunlight was warming and beautifully brilliant. Yet the sun went
 down golden disc, as If it were laden of
 fumes that dull. The glorious pageant of
 the sunset was softened by some influence
 not perceptIble to them that watched the sun go down in its more softened splendor. In the vast blue glistered the star of the | eventime, and there was nothing to dull it's l silver light It seemed as if that which dulled the suns kiss ito the valley passed, and another light was left to glorify the | star of the evening. Looking and won dering, one recalled the salutation of nine 1 teen hundred years ago. "It is even-time | and the day is far spent. Abide with us.' It was marvellous, that sunset; it was di-
 vine the light of that evening star! John R. Ryan, was strong enough yester- | day to leave his room at Mrs.
 Johnston's on College Hill. This
 marked the end of fortnight | of painful illness, and the statement will | be good news to many good men who have | become personally attached to MT Ryan | during the fifteen years of his residence in | Birmingham. To most persons it will come ] in the nature of a surprise that there are | men who were prominent here fifteen years ago. Yet there are many such; and amongst these is MT. Ryan, one of the first to engage 9n the coal agency business, and who has been largely interested in the | New Orleans coal trade for the past few years. MT. Ryan Is very nearly one of ''the | oldest anhabitants' in point of actual resi- | dence; but, however that may be, is one of | the best, most highly esteemed, most popu-
 lar citizens of Birmingham, and everybody who knows him will be glad that he is re- | covered from serious illness.
 
 Senator Edmund W. Pettus, who has the | distinction of being the oldest senator of | the United States in point of age, he having | been born in Limestone county in July 1S21 | or within six months of seventy-nine years ago, was the judge of the old Seventh cir | cult nearly fifty years ago. Some years be- fore the outbreak of the war between the states, Judge Pettus resigned from the bench to engage in law practice and cotton planting at Cahaba, sometime the capital of Alabama. At the outbreak of the war he raised company of soldiers for the con- federate service, and was rapidly promoted from one rank to another until he became a brigadier-general. His one-tfme law part ner, now Senator John Tyler Morgan, was also made brigadier-general; and so also was one of the most cherished friends of Senator Pettus' life, Charles M Shelley, now of Birmingham. Major-General Har- dee, the famous army tactician. was like | wise a Selmian. All these were or are of | Selma. Selma, small city though it be, has been remarkably lavish in its gifts of great men to the world.
 It is understood to be practically assured | that there will almost immediately be built | in Fort Payne a splendid cotton factory I costing something between $6O, 900 and $iOo,- | 900, exclusive of the building, boilers and | engines, these latter are already in posi- | tion. This will be another enterprise of | moment to Fort Payne and to Alabama, | and will do much to attract capital to the | beautiful town amongst the hills of De- | Kalb The progress of Fort Payne will be | greatly accelerated. The other day The | Age-Herald announced the building of a | large cotton factory at Sylacauga, Captain | John B. Mcdonald, of the army, being in- | terested. The work proceeds. The cotton IldIpuldcluIiH5 luQuSlIy IuuSl DS pidHleui SO | to speak, in the cotton producing fields. |
 1 Hon. Sidney J. Bowie, of Anniston, con- | quering hero from Clarke county, Is in Bir- | mingham, and it is needless to say that he | is joyful and that all the supporters of Sem ator Morgan share Mr. Bowie's joy. Mr. Bowie is one of the ablest of all the lead CTS of Alabama democracy, and great | bonors wait him
 Former Congressman M. w. Howard, of Fort Payne, is in town.
 William A. Davis, of Anniston, was in
 Birmingham yesterday.
 J.. E. Russell, of Limestone, is at the Morris.
 David M. Scott, of Selma, is in town.
 
 IT T Klein. of New York. is at the Nor | ris.
 "N1hether England is right or wrong. whether the Transvaal is right or wrong, in this bloody war now raging, I say not, for much can doubtless be urged on both sides" remarked old citizen. ''But of | this I am certain: In no great country on
 fine face of the globe can>so large num- Der of blatant demagogues be brought to- gether as in this republic of ours. The mass
 meeting held in Washington Sunday under the auspices of Irish-Americans, for the purpose of giving expression of sympathy to the Boers, seems to have been largely attended. The men who called and directed the meeting were perhaps heartily in earn est. But those members of congress who did the talking from Senator Mason down, or from Senator Mason up, if you choose, were making grand-stand plays. They
 talked as demagogues, pure and simple.' | T. Gordon Foster of Montgomery is fn Birmingham.
 D. L. Cobb. general sales agent of Che | Sloss-Sheffield company, with headquarters | at Chicago, is in Birmingham.