The age-herald., 1900-05-28
IN HOTEL LO3BIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

"A child born on this day should keep in employ all it's life; otherwise it's business will soon be shipwrecked."
 Hire menservants; set chickens, geese and turkeys; bake bread"
 The eclipse of the sun this morning will begin at GAS o'clock. will reach the maxi mum, so far as Birmingham can view it, at 7:S3, and will end at SIS. It is believed that the entire population will be outdoors to observe the phenomenon. Many persons have arranged to go to the top of Red mountain for what they believe will be a more satisfactory view than can be obtain ed from any point in the valley. The roofs of the taller business buildings down town will be resorted to by sight-seers, and it is expected that all clear spaces with an un- obstructed outlook eastward will be thronged by wondering watchers.
 The destruction by fire of the old Florida town of Apalachicola will be regretted by everybody along the Chattahoochee river below Columbus, in both Alabama and Georgia, as well as in Florida. For fifty years it has been the custom of inhabitants of Columbus, Eufaula and other river towns to go by steamboat on excursions to the quaint old wood-built seaport town, which literally wiped out of existence on Saturday. The date of many wedding has been fixed to correspond with the de- parture of a Chattahoochee boat for Apalachicola; and in sprngtime for two generations parties of lovers, properly chaperoned, have blessed the deep, narrow, serpentine river that is nearly always vel low from the clay of Alabama and Georgia hills. The voyage down would require three or four days, and on the boats as they did wind through the great forests towards the gulf there would be dancing, flirting, loving, and many a troth was plighted upon the start waters. A day or two spent in sailing about the spacious but shallow bay of Apaachicola would suffice, and then the voyage up the river home ward would begin.
 The little town, builded upon the snow white sands of the gulf shore, was about as uninteresting as any town could be. There was little there apart from the Catholic church and one or two other churches and a cypress sawmill It would appear that the churches and sawmll were not burned Saturday, and therefore it is unconceivable that the loss by the fire cOulu amount to u ndlI lnllllOn uOIdfS, dS reported in the press dispatches. There is probably an error of the wires or the types and the loss is $50,OOO which is somewhat within reason. The cypress sawmill is one of the largest of that kind in this try, and cost a million dollars. A general sawmill few miles out cost $50000 There used to be one lawyer there who prac- ticed law, collected the trifling customs dues, and edited the local weekly news paper. He was also a state senator, and became afterwards a member of congress. There is but one lawyer there now, it ap- pears, and his office was burned
 Columbus is the head of navigation on the Chattahoochee and is the largest town on the river, Eufaula being second in im- portance. Atlanta, few miles away, gets its water supply from the river; but there is still sufficient water to serve the great cotton mills at Columbus, and float an occasional boat down to the gulf. At Eufaula, which is on high and beautiful bluff, long high wagon bridge spans the river, and to some minds it recalls Long, fellows lines:
 And yet whenever I cross that river
 On it's bridge with wooden piers, Like the odor of brine from the ocean
 Come the thoughts of other years.
 In point of fact, the piers of the Eufaula bridge are not wooden, but that is of small moment Facts not material in senti- ment.
 'The Holy City, one of the most beau- tiful of all songs, was sung with wonder full force and effect by Miss Ola Bidwen at St. Paul's church immediately after late mass yesterday forenoon. Miss Bidwels voice filled perfectly the great Gothic church, and was thrillingly effective Miss Bidwell is a visitor from the north and is the guest of Mrs. Rembrandt in Bir- mingham Her occupation is singing.
 "Once in a Philadelphia theater heard a golden haired girl sing The Holy City, and it was the most beautiful music I ever listened to-" said a bright and cul- tured woman who has travelled. "The curtain rose upon scene representing the exterior of Trinity church, New York, and from the church came soft sounds of sing ing and organ music. The exterior of the church faded from view, leaving the in- terior before us. In front of the great organ, at which sat surpliced organist |
 
 stood the golden haired girl and she was singing The Holy City She was accom- panied by the organist and the song as she sung it was wondrously, marvellously sweet. So noble it, inspiring, that the audience seemed to hold their breath lest one note be lost. Who the singer was I never knew: she was on the programme as a Golden Haired Girl And her singing was like what imagine angels singing to be-" Julius c. Wolff of Kobe, Japan, is at the Morris Warner S. Mccall of Chattanooga is at the Morris. Harry E. Stringfellow and w. Y. Rob- erts of Montgomery are in Birmingham.
 Ovor