The age-herald., 1900-07-01

W NbIl-hNONN IN ATneflCaH, WHo
 A lived for a number of years in N Paris declared recently that
 when his summer holiday came, instead of spending it away from Paris he decided to remain in Paris and visit the points of interest that are seldom seen by the residents of the city. The facilities for visiting these places had been within such easy reach that he had not taken advantage of them, and such is too frequently the case in this country, where many points of in terest are seldom seen, since the knowledge that they may be visited any day results in indefinitely postponing many hours that would make an ideal holiday.
 There are many Birminghamians who could take a day off and spend it profit ably in visiting some of the interesting places nearby, for there are numbers of persons who intend visiting at some future day this or that point of interest but when tomorrow comes they are off for the more distant sojourn, and are like other Americans who rave over the bedu ties of other countries and know very lit- tie of their own.
 While every man or woman who reads the daily papers knows that great indus trial plants grow in night in this district, they postpone any personal investigation, and when months or years later they glimpse a steel plant or two at which the outside world has marveled at, they wonder that so much has been accom- plished without their knowledge. But if this is true in the steel and iron world, with English and American syndicates pro- noting these great industries, it cannot be matter of surprise that an institution un aided by capitalists could be lifting it's head unknown and unsung. If Birming ham opens its eyes over steel statistics and finds as Julian Hawthorne said that here within the limits of an afternoon stroll are coal and coke inexhaustible and iron beyond the dreams of aYarce, it will probably awaken some day to the statistics that give not the diameter of pipes or the rise and fall of prices or what per cent ore runs to the ton, but in what per cent Ala bama boys are being saved. the decrease in crime in other words, not the market value of industrial products but the mar ket value of boys. But while the statistics of the refofma tories of other states were being poured into my ears yesterday and some one was saying that crime was re- duced 95 per cent by these statistics , glimpsed a group of little figures in blue , overalls against a clustering of trees in acres of woodland Beyond them build ing lifted it's turreted head against green . mountain sides. We stopped for an en- Rchanting view of mountain and valley, and )blue sky with floods of mellow sunshine hat covered the hills far away.
 Beyond in the open fields the little blue
 teralls were bending over little hoes, and
 we passed on eager to drive through the
 en gateway, I found that I was getting s blurred view of the landscape, and l got tho blue overals and the rustic bridge and the summer gowns of a group of women ,hopelessly mixed for moment. The little figures finally stood out conspicuously, and I shall always remember the faces of the three boys who the first to be sheltered on the Industrial Farm for Wayward Boys of Alabama When later on l went over the building, it was to wonder at its com pleteness and to pause at every window for a view of the enchanting landscape that lay below
 The administration building is fast near ing completion, but it will not be in readi- ness for the boys before the middle of Au- gust. Mr c. D. Griffin the superintend- ent of the Industrial School, has, however, been on the farm since May, and he is util- ouiGeP for the present a rough and tumble Ddown house that was on the farm when it was purchased. It serves temporarily for a dining room and kitchen, while the sleeping accommodations are arranged in one of the partially finished apartments in the administration building. The latter is an imposing structure, the exterior present.