The age-herald., 1900-05-09
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

Thou hast a fortunate olfthaay, anu
 thy affairs will prosper; those in employ may expect promotions
 A child born on this day will be gener-
 ally fortunate, and rise in life, especially if in employ
 One of the most distinguished of all Ala bama's citizens Is spending few days In
 the capital of his people and all Alabam- ians will bid him glad stay; for all or
 them are proud of the great honors ne So
 long has borne with the white flower or a bameless life unfaded. Colonel Herbert has lived a noble life worthily, and his love of good has fruited in philosophy that | loves and is strong and without bitterness. | He has kept his heart young, his iaitn l abundant for all things, and as the years | mark him he is stronger and braver, man | Her. and of broader and deeper charity. | Tn Montgomery he is amongst his old | neighbors and friends, and is therefore at l home-a home endeared to him for many | reasons for many years.
 Although a majority of Alabamians have known and honored Colonel Herbert the
 greater part of their lives, it will come all | most as a surprise to them to Know that 1 he has turned 66 To be accurate, the pres | l in session at Montgomery was born March l F, 1884 After long and historic career In congress as the representative from the Second Alabama district, he retired March l | 1S99 to immediately take the oath of of 1 flee as secretary of the navy in President l Cleveland's cabinet, he having distinguish l ed himself for a dozen years in congress l as the leading advocate of the new-navy
 | policy. To him more than to any other | one man is due the credit for the Ameri- can navy as it exists today, and as It I promises to be within few years Col
 onel Herbert Is the only Alabamian who
 | ever enjoyed the honor of being a caoinet
 ! officer of the United States. After hls re-
 tirement with MT. Cleveland in 1S9I, Colo-
 | mel Herbert opened law office In Wash-
 | ington, and from the first has had great
 1 legal practice. Admiral Dewey who IS ms
 | intimate personal friend is one of his reg
 ular clients
 | Secretary Rountree of the State Press
 l Association is making good progress to-
 l wards perfecting the arrangements TOT sa
 ! press excursion to the west about the mid 1 dle of July The chief objective points Will
 be Pike's Peak and Cripple Creek, and sev-
 eral of the larger towns, such as St. LOUIS
 | and Denver, will be visited. MT Rountfee
 :, hopes to bring the actual cost to each ex-
 cursionist below twenty dollars. All news paper workers will wish the energetic sec l retary the greatest success in his most l commendable enterprise and doubtless the
 state press will be unusually well repre- l sented in the roll-call when the excursion l actually begins It is presumed that the | association will meet in Birmingham for | business, and it is understood that propo- 1 sition will be considered to make this city the permanent place of meeting. That
 would be the best step possible for the l association and for Birmingham
 l
 1 A negro barber whose name went around 1 the world years ago has just died at his l home in Montgomery. Alfred Billingslea l had kept a shop in that town for fifty-one | years, most of that long period being spent | under the old Exchange hotel He shaved 1 the beard or dressed the hair of every gov 1 ernor of Alabama and every leading man l of the state within a half 8 century, and 1 said your turn next to Jeff Davis, l Toombs, Stephens, Yancey, Walker, and all 1 the earlier political leaders of the Confed- I eracy. There are old-timers in the staid capital of the state who have been shaved 1 by Billingslea regularly for forty or fifty years. But what made Bilingsleas fame was his connection with the Birmingham boom in 1SS6-S9 He was at one time half | million dollars to the good, and newspapers all over the world told the story of how fortune came to "the Barber of Montgom- cry" a phrase almost as familiar as "the Barber of Seville" and the world wondered that Bllingslea continued to shave, 15 cents haircut 35' What he actually and finally saved of his Birmingham fortune was not much, if anything But he was a thrifty and provident man, and died com- fortably well off in this worlds goods. He continued his work until death came along and said to him, your turn next" Bill l ingsea was an excellent citizen of high character, and was greatly respected by the | best white men of Montgomery. He never 'dabbed in politics." but attended strictly to his business. J. H. Leath, one of Jefferson county's democratic nominees for the legislature has gone to Hot Springs Ark, where he 1 will remain for five or six weeks for rest and the general benefit of his health It | has been a long while since MT Leath allowed himself a vacation, and he felt strongly the need of a change He has | thousands of friends in Jefferson county | who will wish for him great benefit from | his stay at the springs Dr. Eugene A. Smith, state geologist, was in town yesterday.
 General Charles M. Shelley will leave | Birmingham today for New York, where 10 a iyota
 business. The generals health is much | stronger than it during the winter, and he hopes for still greater improve | ment by change of climate. Leroy Bowie of Talladega is spending a | few days in Birmingham greatly to the | | pleasure of his numerous friends here.