The age-herald., 1900-12-22
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

and push thy business"
 Beware of sickness or bereavement and keep thy business well under control; much will occur to harass and annoy thee; those in employ must be very careful "A child born on this day will have much to contend with; it should keep in employ; it will be quick and very clever, but not l always lucky"
 Astrologer Raphael's prophecies for Sun day. December 9, 1900:
 Visit thy friends
 Except for quarreling and some annoy ances in thy family affairs, thy birthday is pretty good one, and, with care, thy business will Sbe kept together" "A child born on this day will be rather successful in business, twill be clever and original in ideas.
 According to the calendar this is the first day of winter, and has one minute more of sunlight than yesterday, which was somewhat popularly supposed to be the shortest day of the year, but there were . other days short. and tomorrow will be precisely of the same duration today, which will be approximately nine hours and fifteen minutes, counting from the ris- ing to the setting of the sun. Popular GUS tom in the United States fixes the beginning Of winter on the first day of December, three weeks before the actual beginning and popular impression is confused as to whether December 21 or December 2 is the shortest day of the 365, or 356 as the case may be- but it perhaps doesn't happen four times in half century when either date is the shortest day Tonight will be about fourteen hours and forty-fve minutes long.
 
 '"The oldest visitors Christmas has brought to town were a woman and her three sons with two dogs. the woman par donbIe- -h9TTpleU shotgun with q stick stuck into each muzzle," said an ob- servant man. By contrast she reminded one of the poets famed 'huntress fair and queenly,' for it was apparent that she had been hunting birds and other game, had been successful and had come to town 10 sell her bag She had gone forth in the early morning with her gun, her three little boys and her two dogs. When l saw the picturesque party they were in Second ave nue waiting for the dummy train going to Bessemer. It was impossible to see the good woman's face unless one stood directly in front of and close to her, for she wore the old-fashioned calico sunbonnet, and her raiment was in keeping with her headwear. Clearly she-was of the old-timers from 'wayback, and was as independent as wood-saWer on the bark of a pine log.
 This figure of fifty years ago in the baekwoods, standing in one of the busiest streets of the busiest and most progressive town in America, was in strange contrast to her surroundings, for within square or her was the largest and most fashionable dry goods and department store south Of the Ohio or the Potomac. She was com fortaby clad, as were her boys the young est of whom held on to her hand, and was eminently respectable. The boys were also well clad, and two of them held the dogs, each by a string, and the dogs were well fed. When the dummy train stopped the party scrambled aboard. The muzzle Of the gun striking the step of car caused the woman momentary annoyance. The dogs were lifted to the platform by the boys and so all went home for a merry Christmas.'
 Referring to Mrs. O'Brien of the County Cork, the peasant mother of the late Lord Chief Justice William O'Brien of Ireland, who used to drive from her little farm into the city of Cork to see her illustrious son presiding over the great Assize Court eX- tended reference to which was had in this place yesterday, the man who sojourned in Ireland for some years said last night "The dear old lady could make her city visits regularly, even until she was eighty seven years old, when she died. Seated on a typical Irish donkey cart drawn by a meek donkey, and wearing the short skirt and heavy shoes of the peasant woman. with no covering on her head, she would drive along the Western Road, into the Grand Parade, and along the South Mall to the place where for many years aSSlZe court was held, pending the rebuilding of the county courthouse-which caught fire the night the other William OBrien, mem Der of Parliament, was condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered-the ven- erable mother from the fields would call upon him who was always Willie to her, high and mighty judge for the QNen though he was to others.
 |" 'Whar's Willie?' was i. her loving question of the gaudily livered servants of the court and she would be shown into the judges private room
 ''The judge took great pride in driving out to visit the rude and humble place of his birth. going in an ordinary jaunting- car, instead of in his splendid carriage with it's escort of ten mounted Lancers from an aristocratc regiment of the army, as provided by the government.
 ''The last time I saw Chief Justice O'Brien was on one night in Cork five years ago, when he put the traditional black cap upon his white head and in the open court passed sentence of death upon a notorious mur- derer-the only man charged with murder in Ireland during my nearly five years res idence there. Ireland has 4,SO0,O00 people. and one murder in five years. Jefferson County has 1400CO people, and about five murdersrs every month of the year!'
 "Direct personal audience with their rulers and governors has been contended for by the people in all lands and all ages" remarked the Historian few gossipers in the lobby were discussing executive ap- pointments at Washington and at Mont gomef'y
 ''The final appeal could be in every case to Caesar, and the principle of it has come down to this day, ringing in the grooves of time; but specifically the right of personal appeal has never rested with place-seekers, with applicants for public office It has applied to cases of injustice, imaginary or real and the appointment non-appointment of men to public office has nothing to do with justice or injustice. The right of petition, which is but another term for appeal, must always be; but that does not mean that our high governors shall listen to interminable oral pleadings for place.
 ''We nave nowadays the sore affliction of too many delegations and too much oral pleading in-the matter of vacancies in the public service. Some place, paying a salary so small that the best of men can't afford to accept it, becomes vacant and forthwith trainloads of delegations hurry to Mont oomery for example, and lay seize to the