The age-herald., 1900-03-11
IN HOTEL HOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE


 ''The statement that the friends of the liquor dispensary cause have summoned Ben Til1man to Jefferson county to teach our people that municipal traffic in strong drink is best for their morals has set me a-bhinking," said quiet young man with an upward cast in his off eye as he smoked a deliciously foul tobacco pipe last night. And, you must know, have hit upon the most promising of all schemes, one that will shut up Ben Tillman, the dispenSary advocates, and the saloons all at the same time, and in the quietest most peaceable and most effective manner possible. It will also shut up the cafes: but that is una voidable. The undoing of the saloonkeep- CTS and the incorporate amongst the tenn perance folk is to be brought about by the wonderful force of condensation as mani- fested in the tiny tablets or pellets. There we have the whole kit an bilin'; and I am Boer. a MouJfk or a wild-roaring Don Cossaek if it doesn't revolutionize Ameri- can life. Let our excellent friends, the chemists, follow the condensing process to its logical and legitimate conclusion, and we shall have the world in our pockets. In pellet no larger than a common pea may be condensed good stiff drink of the ardent or a bottle of beer, and into tablet the size of a lima bean might be forced all the nutriment of porterhouse steak, sirloin, or the half of a spring chicken, and so on through the entire list of drinkables and eatabfes. Thin leathern pocket-books, divided into numerous label ed sections may be made to carry in the coat pocket In these books a man could carry all he might desire in the way of food or drink and enought to last him a week or two, including treats to his friends. While waiting for a car a couple of friends could dine and wine sumptuously. Oh, it is master1y scheme" the young man concluded; and rising, he went in search of "a sandwich and glass O beer"
 Referring to the disreputable quarter be- tween the New Jefferson theater and the corner of Second avenue and Eighteenth street, opposite the government building a leading real estate agent related a notable instance of the injury done to adjacent property by the evils universally com plained of. The agent rented to a widow from another city three-story building nearby the low quarter. The new tenant opened nice hotel and boardinghouse; but
 
 house because of the defiant indecencies displayed in front of her side windows. She had innocent young daughterS, and she could not suffer them to remain so close to Haunting vice that they might by accident see the signs of sin held up in the face of the world. At considerable pecuniary loss and great inconvenience she had to give up the property she had so recently rented This at Of ha al Ia brings to the full view of the authorities of the law and to the people existing eondi- tions that are not only disgraceful to Bir- mingham, but positively criminal.
 ''The ups and downs of soldiers life are sometimes very romantic remarked Gov ernor Thomas G. Jones. From Appomat- tox I went to visit Virginia cousin of mine, who, like myself, had just surrender ed with Lee as a young Confederate officer. His name was St. George Mason; and his father had been minister to the court of Napoleon III. One day I started out to shoot birds, and I begged Mason to go with me He declined, saying he was going to the railroad station, thirteen miles away. What for? I asked. I have written to the emperor asking for commission in the French army he said. I expressed my as- tonishment, whereupon he proceeded to say that Napoleon was a warm friend of his father, and had been kind to him, young Mason, and he meant to send the letter. He did so. In few days I went north, and was absent from Virginia four or five weeks. On my return called at the local postoffice to ask for mail for the Masons. Amongst the letters was one from the i'm perial war office of France. Enclosed was commission as second lieutenant in the chasseurs d'Afrique, together with neces- sary instructions. Young Mason left im- mediately for Paris. Arrived there, fhe was ordered to report for duty in French North Africa. In 1870 he was ordered to France, guished himself He rose to be a colonel; and several years ago he died of fever in Tonquin."