The age-herald., 1900-01-13
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

The sunset Thursday afternoon was
 splendid beyond all compare: 1t was the ful-
 flment of the prophecies and the promise.
 Night fell in a glory that mad no parallel,
 and can have none. The splendor of that
 sunset cannot be equalled until another
 William come from the Norman shore.
 woven Of the Infinite. When night came the thrilled moon rode in splendor-splen- dor far there in the upper deep. driving to earth gray vapors that fell in gray softness upon the earth, hiding the rude roughness
 of yesterday and giving promise of today. We have the weather always with us, something like the poor. It is the cher l ished subject of all human observation. In
 Scotland every person, high or low, has a barometer. That barometer is closely in- spected every morning, and the day will l be "guid" or ''baad," as the glass shows 1 forth its message. In this country we take
 the rain, the snow, the sunshine, the shad- ow's fall as they come without question. Few of us ever see a -sglass," as the | phrase goes; we don't care what the glass"
 or the clerk of the weather may say We | take the weather it comes.
 | A pessimistic philosopher whose reflec- l tions have been recently influenced by ob- | servations in police court, thus soliloquizes Day by day poor, faulty, erring human- l ity slip and slide and stumble along the well-beaten, worn, smooth pathway of sin, | meaning to do better, some of them, and l ever crying out for only another chance | Others, oanoused and indifferent, stoically 1 dig their clinched hands in their pockets | and say nothing. Why say anything? l they ask. They are right. It boots us | small profit to squeal. These mile posts | along life's seemy lanes to destruction and l chaos are distressing and demoralizlng to
 gaze on, it is true, but we cannot well shun l them; they are everywhere, and obtrude I themselves. The holidays draw nigh, Christmas comes and goes. with its sweet
 and hallowed associations. To happy l hearts the season Is pregnant of sweet I memories and joy As numbers go these l are far in the minority. This time of re- l joicing to some, will only serve to awaken
 bitter thoughts in others. Vows unkept, promises broken, and nothing attained. 1 Shall this festive time again dawn us l in our indifference and deadness? To the 1 majority it will. the same old way, so easy I yet so hard. What has been shall be, and
 there is nothing new under the sun. Slip 1 ping downward, ever downward, with noth- l ing to block the way, thus does weak hu- l nlanity, poor humanity, shuffle along until 1 at last they shufhe off forever and others 1 fill their places"
 "Wu Ting Fang, the Chinese minister at 1 Washington said well known public
 man in the lobby last night, lis a social l favorite because of his genial humor and 1 companionable ways. At a little dinner the | other night he had to answer a toast. He l began with a complimentary allusion to l American ways, but said there are few things about Oriental civilization superior l to our own. There had been some wretched l weather that week, and he turned to Willis | Moore, the weather bureau chief, who sat
 close by For instance he said, fiercely, we in China would long ago have cut off l this young mans head It dazed the com 1 pany for a minute, but they soon graspec 1 the playful allusion to the weather-maker l and roundly greeted the remarks" l President Trapp, of the Alabama state | convict bureau, was in town yesterday
 and was gladly received by many personal l friends here. MT. Trapp is not only d l faithful officer of the state, he is one of the oldest and best of men wlpo dwell in | Alabama. Respecting his intelligence, his courage, his ability, there cannot be any 1 difference of opinion.
 l William Gayle, of Montgomery, was l in Birmingham yesterday MT. Gayle 1 is cotton warehouseman a namk direc- l tor, an ice manufacturer, an electric light
 and street railway proprietor; and all sorts 1 of other interests he is involved in, and in l them all he is honored and trusted Charles P Jackson, of the Mobile and
 Ohio railroad at Montgomery formerly
 clerk of the state railroad commission, is at the Morris.
 Editor Percy Clark of the Selma Tele- gram is in Birmingham.
 l Jake Weiss, of Mobile, the popular presi- l dent of the "thtrd house" of the Alabama | general assembly, is at the Morris.