The age-herald., 1900-07-24
IN HOTEL HOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

before 3 o'clock in the afternoon" Thy birthday is good one and thou wilt not lack friends; thy business will prosper and thy business affairs will please thee"
 Young women will have much attention from the opposite sex, and will receive of fers.'
 "A child born on this day will have many
 good and useful friends, who will help it
 in life and through whom it will benefit
 greatly
 If a female, she will marry well and happily"
 Astrologer Raphael's prophecies for
 Wednesday. July 25, 1900:
 Very uncertain"
 Beware of speculations, and avoid them;
 do not travel; thy business will require
 much attention
 "A child born on this day will have a
 quiet life. although much will depend upon
 the hour of its birth.'
 Bake; brew; hire maid servants; go a-fishing."
 Save such and only such persons of this valley as enjoying the inestimable privilege of European travel, or possibly jc lrneying in the Holy Land, the multi tude of he population whom the exactions of practical life keep at home find the summer least burdensome. As for most of those who would most appreciate the price less Art treasures and the enchanting his toric assoications of the Old World, Chill penury represses their noble rage And freezes the genial current of their souls.
 Those treasures and associations, together w.-h the sacred shrines, are left largely to chattering Cincinnati soapmakers and to- bacco-eating Chicago swine-butchers, whilst scholars and students and pious per- sons must needs toll.
 But God is good. There Is no other place in which it is so pleasant and so profitable to toll as Birmingham and this district. All of our people have something of home comforts, poor enough perhaps in compari- son with others; but still our own, honestly earned, and enjoyed as best we may. If We have meat and bread today, we need
 not deny ourselves the meat tomorrow in
 order to have dusty journey on a hot
 railway train the day following. A day on the Jersey coast would be day of delight, but scarcely worth tho internal roar and rattle and dust of four hundred leagues of
 railway. week in the Adirondacks would be blissful, but the typhoid germs are stronger there and the sap-headed sum-
 mer-man, and the soft-headed summer girl speak with nasal twang and have habits we do not care for Beer in the roof-gar- dens amongst the most uncivil persons in
 the most uncivilized great city of the globe would be refreshing enough, but no more so than beer at Nineteenth and Second or at dozens of other home resorts. Symphonies in white or not much of anything on sands of the far sea are thrilling; but the earth's fairest visions in white-the proper amount of white, with half-concealed pink-make Birmingham beautiful and blessed! The license of the Bowery and the Tenderloin have vulgar at fractions all their own; but even the unco' guid intolerance and bigotry are powerless to make Birmingham a place of moaning and mourning and more hideous secret sins. Our people are hgh-hearted and hap py, with no desire for wickedness and there are multitude of them who are genuinely good and pious, and not guilty of l the blasphemy of forever calling upon the Almighty and the people to, Look at Us the Righteous.
 Birmingham Is the best summer resort in the United States, the best all-seasons all- around town on the continent. As health or pleasure resort it is the best in Sum- mer, in Autumn in Winter and in Spring Railway rates low Good hotel and board tnshouse accommodations; terms moderate {! Mountains all around Heath-giving springs by hundreds! Village creek fishing, in edge of city, excellent! Humorous sub
 urban resorts! Best trolley rides in the world a speciality! Beautiful valley, splen- did drives The dustiest dusty streets in all the world of dust, but people swear they'll not submit to that much longer! So come now come drumming!
 
 Town-Builder Woodruff of Ensley was talking Ensley enthusiastically yesterday The investment there of a million and a half additional capital is practically under | way, including a steel railNmill, a hundred | and twenty new ovens by the Semet-Solyay I Company, rebuilding of cement works | erection of brick business blocks; and so on' almost endlessly, Ensley is growing SfedteT IOWn-BullQef Woodruff even | hints half-mysteriously that great Bir-
 mingham may have to yield first place in
 the mineral region. Really, the amount of
 building in progress in Ensley is astonish-
 ing Several pressed-brick blocks are be- | ing built, handsome enough for the best l streets of a great city.
 | Pratt City is just finishing a high school | structure that should be seen by the Bir-
 mingham town council and Birmingham
 citizens generally. Compared to it, the | Birmingham High School is as a barn to a
 mansion. That building in Birmingham S principal suburb is very handsome and l commodious, and is most creditable to the
 public spirit of Pratt City tax payers. It 1 is one of the best public school buildings 1 in Alabama, and it speaks most eloquently for the enlightenment of a prosperous and | progressive community.
 Many members of the contlnent-coyering | Travellers Protective Association of Amer