The age-herald., 1900-04-26
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

day Thursday, April 2e, 1900:
 An unfortunate day except for selling
 ''Thou hast a most unfortunate birthday
 and mayest expect sikness and bereaVe-
 ment in thy family, and crushing losses
 in thy business. Those in love will have cause for grief.
 "A child born on this day will be unfor- tunate from the cradle to the grave. and it should keep in employ"
 'In view of the recent decision of the supreme court reversing the decree of the Jefferson county chancery court in the cause of Susie Martin Morris against the Elyton Land company, there has been some nonsenscal gossip respecting the validity of titles to property given by the
 Elyton company and the Birmingham
 Realty company" said a property owner of consequence. This is so silly that it
 carries its own refutation. Titles to such
 property are absolutely protected, as every
 holder of them knows The capital of gos-
 sipers generally is simply gossip: it mat
 ters little what they say. It is authorita- lively understood that the Morris case will
 again come up in the chancery court, and
 the chancellor will be petitioned to appoint
 master or referee who will be charged
 with the duty of ascertaining the value of
 the Morris interest having regard to the
 price obtained for the Highland Avenue and Belt Line railroad which was sold
 under order of the United States court.
 All talk about a receiver for the property
 now held in the name of the Birmingham Realty company is absurd. That company owns all but two and seven-tenths per
 cent of the stock of the Elyton company,
 which supplanted the Elyton Land com pany, and at the time of the recent re- organization of the properties under the
 title of the Realty company, the stock was
 without value in the market The owners of the two and seven-tenths per cent. of stock will see their holdings legally val
 ued, and will be paid the amount of their
 claims. Meantime, the situation of the
 Realty company is not materially affected.
 The company has given bond in the sum
 of s12,000, which is held in the chancery court to meet just such an emergency as that which arose from the supreme courts decision"
 "All over Scotland one hears the excla-
 nation, God bless the Duke of Argyler made use of sort of mild oath" said an American at the Morris last night, who
 dwelt some years in the Land O Cakes.
 ''The origin of the expression is rather curious, and is told as joke to foreigners
 in Scotland. A great many years ago the
 late duke caused wooden posts to be
 erected throughout his vast treeless moors,
 known as deer forests for the deer to rub against whenever they felt so inclined.
 The duke, proud chief of the clan Camp bell and known in clan lingo as the Mac collum More, was greatly beloved by his Highlanders, and very justly so. These same Highlanders indulge to a greater ex- tent than any other people in that luxury which King James declared to be fit only for kings,-scratching themselves. Know ing that the duke was aware that they dearly loved to scratch, he jumped to the conclusion that his grace had caused the wooden posts to be put up solely for their own enjoyment. For this they were deeply grateful, and whenever one of them would back up against post and begin scratch ing his back he would piously ejaculate, God bless the Duke of Argyler So the phrase has passed into the current speech of the Scotch. This will be more readily and fully appreciated when it is under stood that the first of all men to an ordinary Scotchman is the Duke of Argyle, head of the ancient aris-
 tocracy of the clans, who traces his line age back some thirteen hundred years, The late duke, whose death has just oc- cured was not only the bearer of the proudest of Scottish titles and father-in- law of the Queens second daughter, but was pre-emnent as one of the greatest intellectual forces of the Victorian era He had almost a dozen titles of nobility, and every title a proud one, and numerous high degrees from the great universities whose degrees are truly honors. The old dukes eldest son, the Marquis of Lorne son-in-law of the Queen, succeeds to the l dukedom. He is childless after nearly
 thirty years of welded life; but he has brothers and they have sons, and so the
 title will not lapse. His heir apparent, the
 brother next to himself, who succeeds to
 the courtesy title of Marquis of Lorne, is
 a merchant in Calcutta. The family es- tates are enormous in extent, but the in | come is barely sufficient to maintain the | dignity. Things will be easier now, for | the new duchess, the Princess Louise, has | an allowance of $50000 a year and the new l duke $30,O00 a year from the British treas ury."
 "rhe rains have been disastrous in our 1 section of the state, the heaviest ever l known, said MT. Horton of Greene, son
 of Senator Amos Horton When the re- | cent rains began farming operations were 1 a week late, and so now they will be three | weeks late. The lowlands in many dis
 tricts have been badly damaged, and a | great deal of fertilizer has been washed | from the uplands The flood in the rivers | was of immense extent, and drove wild l game to higher ground. The other day
 some men at work on the Alabama Great l Southern railroad discovered large buck
 deer under the end of trestle. His horns
 had been caught in the trestle work, and | he was held fast. The men put the buck | on a handcar and carried him into Flu | taw."