The age-herald., 1900-09-28
IN HOTEL LOBBTES
 AND ELSEWHERE

Astrologer Raphael's prophecies for this day, Friday, September 2S 1900: Seek work and ask favors in the after noon."
 An active year awaits thee, and with care and prudence it will be a prosperous one; be careful of risks and speculations and avoid them.''
 "A child born on this day will be push ing and active. and on the whole rather successful"
 If female, fortunate in marriage" 'Go a-fshing.''
 Astrologer Raphaers prophecies for Saturday, September 20, 1900: Travel; uncertain and doubtful for all else"
 Success will attend thy endeavors and thy money and business will increase fast; those in employ will meet promotion" "A child born on this day will be very fortunate and rise in life rapidly, whether in employ in business for itself" "If a female, she will get good and fortunate husband and be very happy with him."
 Seventy-ive years ago yesterday the first of all railways was opened. The date
 
 the diamond jubilee of the railway. And if the wheels of every locomotive in the world were stopped for sixty seconds, and every hideous whistle and every confound- ed bell were silenced, for sixty seconds In commemoration of the world-moying event of five and seventy years ago. 1t would be infinitely worthier and more inn pressve than if all should stand still to fha nOSSib1n of railway president in existence!
 The first railway, as we now understand that method of transportation, was the Stockton and Darlington line in England, 37 miles in length, intended originally for the transportation of coal alone. It had been the purpose to operate that line with horses, but the immortal Stephenson soon
 succeeded in introducing the use of locomo- tives, and the first used on the first railway now stands on pedestal in the splendid station of the Northeastern Rail- | way System at New Castle, as thousands of American travellers in England have seen. The Stockton and Darlington Rail- way is still in use, one of the busiest short
 lines in England, and is now a division of the Northeastern, which itself is a link in
 the East Coast route between London and i1uiIbui8ll, ONSI WHICH runs the famous Flying Seotchman," the fastest long dis tance train in the world.
 The first railway in America was built to supply the granite for the Bunker Hill l monument and was from granite quarries at Quincy, Mass, to tide-water, a dis tance of five miles. It was begun in 1926 and finished in 1927. The second American
 road was built in 1927, and extended from o1 ,1,ip fo +1, Chunk, Pa, a distance of nine miles. The loaded cars passed down to the river by
 gravity, and were drawn back by mules. The rails were timber covered with straps of iron; therefore differing somewhat from
 the ninety-pound steel rails of the trolley
 lines of Birmingham.
 The first railway in the South was the South Carolina Railroad from Charleston
 to Augusta, 135 miles, begun in 1850. By the close of 1880 there were twelve rail-
 roads in the United States, completed or
 in course of construction. All these roads were built for and operated by horse DOW
 CT, except the Delaware and Hudson Canal
 Company's line. which in the winter of
 lS2S-29 received three locomotives from
 England, the first ever seen on this con-
 tinent. The greatest completed mileage in
 this country at the end of 1S30 was that
 of the Baltimore and Ohio 60 miles out
 of total of 122, of which total 20 miles
 were in the South.
 Fancy what the people of those benighted
 days missed by not seeing the vast railway
 center of Birmingham, Jones valley, Jeff ferson County, Alabama! The present
 noise of the Railroad Reservation of this
 town would have walked the ghosts of all
 the dead centuries since time beganI
 Oh, shade of Stephenson where are you At?
 Work is being actively proceeded with on
 a new house which will be one of the hond somest and most luxurious residences on
 the South Highlands. It is at the corner
 of Avenue I and Nineteenth street. and is being built by Hon. Frank P. O'Brien for his own occupa tion The material is
 brick and stone and the house will be
 of two stories and attic, and one hundred and forty by sixty feet, with stately DOT
 tico on the Nineteenth street front and
 along some forty feet on one side, form ing partial crescent It will set back twenty feet from the pavement; and 1t will be superb building.
 The lot there owned by MT. O'Brien is large one and is one of the most desir- able on the Southside. Hence he is pro- ceeding to utilize the space to the best ad- vantage. His remarkable versatility in-
 cludes the skill of the ar tist, which was his
 original vocation; the architect, the draughtsman, the engineer and the builder and thess qualities have en- abled him to make the most
 of his opportunities at Avenue and Nineteenth Facing Nineteenth street.
 some twenty feet above his own residence he will build another beautiful dwelling Mouse, which he has undertaken to have
 finished by the first of January, and which
 he has already let to MT. Steve Smith of l
 Sumter County, who is coming to Birming-
 ham to reside
 In the rear of his own residence, towards