The age-herald., 1900-12-14
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

Astrologer Raphaefs prophecies Tor trl- day, December 14, 1900:
 Travel, and sign writings in the even ing"
 Thou wilt have a 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 it much"
 If female she will marry well and get a good husband.'
 Astrologer Raphaefs prophecies for Sat urday. December 15, 1900:
 Travel, deal with women and remove be- fore D. m.
 Beware of sickness and family bereave- ments; in thy business thou wilt have an unsettled and troublesome year, and 1t will require much attention"
 "A child born on this day should keep in employ, and not attempt any business on it's own account or it will surely fail." "This might be a December day in Lon don, the cold slow rain and the gloom be- ing very like London weather in early win ter" said the traveller in the lobby, as he burnt tobacco and mouthed and growled last night History tells us of day like this Birmingham day of ours which passed in London one hundred and sixteen years ago precisely, 18th December, 17S4. Then it was that Dr. Johnson died. That great man, puffing and pompous to the end, puffed out at last, and the world of learn ing was vastly the poorer. No man of his time was so great or so dreaded a force in letters as he, and students are not likely to eyer forget him, whatever the schools may do as schools. The dippant and the unlearned critics-the mere newspaper ed- ucated folk of today are in the vulgar habit of referring to Dr. Johnson as the | man who is remembered for having writ ten an absolute dictionary; but for the | enlightened student and the scholar there is about his name the romance of rever- | ence and the reverence of romance. Many December day in a happy past recent enough for my own entire satisfac- tion, made pious pilgrimage to the quaint little old Cheshire Cheese pr. John- sons imperishable inn off Fleet street. To the scholar it were worth voyage across
  Cheese which stands today precisely as it stood in Dr. Johnson's day. The white sanded floor, the earthen and pewter tank
 ards for the rich brown ale, the wide open fire place, the low age-blackened ceiling, the wooden settee in the corner, Dr. John sons favorite seat, are all there just as they were generations ago. On the back of the great mans seat is brass plate with the inscription, this was pr. John sons favorite seat and on the end wall above the seat by the fireside to the right is another brass plate with a quota tion from the immortal hero of Boswelps most pleasing of all human books, tell you, sir, of all the schemes devised by the wit of man for mans comfort there is none that equals a good inn
 "One can easily picture the great man of expansive proportions and expanding gen. iality having finished his dinner and with boon followers sitting by that great fire side with his mug of good cheer, lazily re- fecting upon the advantages of the cosiest and best inn in London. And the old Cheshire Cheese still stands open and cheerful in the little Wine Court, off Fleet street, in these closing hours of cen-
 
 plies good ale, good port, and the best mutton chops in the world; and one is pursuaded that nightly when some choice soul dozes there in Dr. Johnsons seat, the ghost of the great dead comes to keep watch and join in spiritual intercourse.
 
 Seventy y-seven years to a day after the Cheshire Cheese went into mourning for ;t. there by old Johnson's seat immortal were startled by the tolling of the bells in the belfries of the ancient churches all around, in the shadows of which Johnson had spent long years of an illustrious life It was De- cember IA, 1861, and the bells tolled the passing of the Prince Consort, a man whose virtues were greater than his exalted sta- tion and whose fame will survive the fame of thousand kings. Not even the Alabama schoolchildren need to be reminded of the surpassing greatness in goodness of him whom their cousins in the schools of the mother land are taught to call Albert the Good Memorials to him all over Great Britain, erected by voluntary contributions, far surpass in number and richness those builded to both Nelson and Wellington, strange as that may seem to those who have not traveled in England The Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, sort Of gigantic canopy, is the richest -monu- ment In the world, and was erected by Queen Victoria and her people,. The people SS their own accord sent the Queen widow about one million five hundred thousand dollars to be expended as the Queen saw proper in honor of her dead husband. The Albert Memorial was decided upon In it there is a sort of angled dome decorated inside with gold to the value of half million dollars, which is in value not very great however, compared to the four mil lion dollar dome of gold of the Invalides, Napoleon's tomb in Paris.
 ''So this day is a mournful anniversary to the venerable and illustrious Widow of Windsor, who through thirty-nine years of uneXampled human glory has remained the faithful and loving widow and mother for