The age-herald., 1900-12-13
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

p. m"
 Thou hast a very unfortunate birthday, and thy money and business will waste,
 and what thou undertakest will fail; keep | myself quiet and do not run any risks, neither travel nor remove." Young women will court" "A child born on this day will be very
 unfortunate, whether in employ or out of
 it, and be poor; 1t will have good friends, but will throw their help away. If female she will marry well and be rather happy" Astrologer Raphaers prophecies for Fri | day, December II, 1900: Travel, and sign writings in the even- | ing"
 "Thou wilt have favorable year for thy business, if this be thy birthday, and with attention it will progress" Young women will have offers of mar riage, which they may accept and be thank | full for
 "A child born on this day will be for tunate and have many good and substan- tial friends who will assist 1t much" 'If female she will marry well and get | a good husband"
 Somebody has stolen my overcoat and it is the third one which has been stolen a shivered al the crossing Of streets last night He was a public man, and the sug- gestion that some of his needy constitu-> ents were probably the thieves did not soothe his temper, and as he got colder in the chilly night he got hotter in his indig- nation. 'It astonishes me that we hardly ever hear of the punishment of sneak thieves I IL, f,. one of the courts this morning a man was fined $50 for stealing an overcoat is incredi- ble. The average thefts of overcoats in Birmingham is probably ten day, the av- craze value of the coats being $25. Thus in the single article of overcoats the thievery is $25O day in Birmingham It seem to me that every third man I talk to has been robbed of his overcoat. My own losses make me gay-hysterically gay. Three overcoats stolen from me, and cold weather scarcely begun.
 If ever I should marry again It will not be for riches; I will marry a girl ten feet tall, So she can't wear my-overcoat. "'Overcoat' doesn't rhyme precisely with riches but there is a garment which does. My overcoats which were stolen cost
 
 is Christmas time. I am coatless, and sev- enteen hundred presents, more or less to buy! There was a man held up by the post office Monday night and nothing said about it. I believe I shall go forth holding up and to hold!' and the public man entered the government building with look of fierce ferceness as if he meant to do des- perate deeds.
 
 Birmingham is the only city known to me in this country in which concerts and similar entertainments are suffered to he marred by conversations between persons in the audience" said a man long familiar with such entertainments and with the more enlightened life of many chief cities.
 Ut may be assumed that no person is so utterly ignorant of good manners as to
 be unaware that sustained conversation
 during the progress of a concert or play is bad form and therefore vulgar. Hence those who so offend the proprieties must
 be adjudged as doing so in sheer wanton- ness and in defiance of cardinal rules of reputable manners; and that makes the
 offense all the more blameworthy. In Birmingham persons who go to the con- cert or the play to enjoy it are made to
 
 of general bad manners. There is a stant gabble all over the house, and dur ing the intermissions, or between the acts, big, lanky, awkward men scramble over the feet of and rush against ladies in un-- seemly haste to get out and secure drink or smoke a vile cigarette before the cur tain again rises. I knew a gentleman of the old school who declared that in his
 
 approach a lady with the disgusting odor of a fresh cigarette or whisky on his breath! That is what he said. But even more amazing than converse tlon at public concerts is that in private drawing rooms guests often carry on sus- tained conversation whilst ladies are sing ing. In any other enlightened community in the world, a man woman who would talk in such circumstances would never be invited thereafter to anybody's drawing room, for all over the world that is held to be evidence of manners so bad as to be entirely beyond pardon. ''The recent Southern Industrial Conven- | ton at New Orleans, 1 repeat, far exceed | ed in importance and success all that l | had hoped for. though my hopes were all the time high,'' said Col. N F. Thompson, | the secretary of the convention, who left l Birmingham yesterday for his home in Huntsville.
 ''The thousand men in attendance were | representative of the very best business, industrial and progressive element of | Southern life. As regards the character l and ability of the men, doubt if any abler or more powerful national convention ever | assembled in this country; doubt, in fact, | if our recent convention was ever equalled | in the United States, for all the delegates ] were picked business men of the greatest | ability and highest character in their re- 1 spective communities throughout the | South, and in the North notably Philadel-
 pfia and Pittsburg, each of which cities | sent a powerful delegation of its strongest