The age-herald., 1900-08-23
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

An uncertain day; be very careful
 An active year awaits thee, changes
 and travelling; with care thy business will
 succeed. but keep thy health in order
 A child born on this day will be very
 quick and very clever, and, on the whole,
 fortunate"
 "Thou shalt not court. marry. nor
 bake bread, hire mafdservants or men,
 servants. or go a-fshing; neither shalt thou
 brew strong drink
 Astrologer Raphaefs prophecies for Fri
 day August 24, 1900:
 Ask favors in the afternoon or even-
 ing
 See that thou dost not quarrel; in thy
 business thou wilt have quiet year, but
 run risks
 "A child born this day will be quick
 in temper, headstrong steady, but not very
 fortunate"
 In some hour between s o'clock Tuesday
 evening and o'clock Wednesday morning
 the self-registering official thermometer
 at the United States government signal
 station in Birmingham registered 91 de-
 grees above zero, a degree of night heat
 never before recorded in this valley and not surpassed in more than twenty noons in a twelvemonth, When it is borne in
 mind that the instruments of the signal station are eighty-seven feet above the
 pavement of the street, and therefore subject to several degrees less heat from
 reflection, fuller conception of the appall- ing night heat may be had. The roof of
 Jacobs Brothers building in First avenue is seventy-five feet from the floor, and the
 covered lattice work, cage-like structure,
 .l,., weather bureau, is twelve feet above the roof, thus removing the instruments as far as possible from the heat So 1t may be inferred that the heat of night before last in the streets of Bir- mingham reached about 100 degrees above zero, surpassing which there is no record of even day heat previous to this summer. The highest recorded day heat of Tues day was a. only three degrees higher than the highest night heat. At o'clock We'd
 nesday morning the official thermometer
 registered S3k. Twenty-four hours later,
 or at o'clock yesterday S5 degrees were
 recorded. At a. Monday the register
 ing was S61a The least high point touched
 during the twenty-four hours ended at o'clock yesterday morning was TIE and the least high of the succeeding twenty -four hours 7415
 There have been two cases of so-called sunstroke. In the absence of direct and
 most positive medical proof, that cannot be accepted as fact But it in no sense
 follows that because there has never been in the long past a case of sunstroke in Birmingham there should not be cases now This weather is altogether unexam- pied. Yesterday was the fiftieth day of
  edly gone to 100 in the shade eight and ten feet above the street level. It is believed to have repeatedly risen to above 120 in the open sunshine. A cool wave came unex- pectedly last night, and at midnight the temperature below 70.
 The public health is more than threat
 ened; it is suffering gravely. The utmost caution in the personal habits of everybody is essential Physicians warn all persons against excessive indulgence in any stmu- lant including tea and coffee. In this weather-in any weather-intemperance in tea or coffee is just as hurtful and just as sinful intemperance in alcohol. The same is true of food. Yet one often finds the most arrant howers for temperance" addicted to the coffee habit" or "tea habit" and to glutttony. A man may ex- haust himself advocating temperance" and other virtues and then eat whole chicken pie or two pounds of beefsteak! Bah! Same with mems tempers their pas sions. They grow purple in the face from violent denunciaton of what they call vice or sin, thereby proving themselves to be mouthing mountebanks, chiefs of the sin ners of self-righteousness. Once more bah Likewise, fiddlesticksl Moreover tommyrot! Drunkenness wallowing in the gutter, is less contemptible vice than intol- erance and bigotry, Therefore be temper
 ate, more especially in hot weather. 
 Two successful business men of more than ordinary prominence in this communi- ty spoke complaint yesterday concerning what was declared to be a very objection able custom pursued by some persons in- terested in charity work It was alleged
 that in some instances collectors of charity money were hired to solicit the public for contributions through the purchase of tickets, and otherwise perhaps; the consid-
 eration paid for such service being con- siderable percentages. The spirit of the complaint was that ordinarily when a man has any sum of money for charity he de- sires that all of 1t shall be expended in charitable causes; that none of it shall be paid to hired solicitors, in other words: One hundred cents from his pocket shall mean one hundred cerfts for charity and the ab- solute expense necessary for its administra- ton, not ninety cents, nor sixty, nor any sum less than the dollar by him contribu-
 ted. In short, the self-created or other wise established agents of charity should bear the labor of collecting and expend- ing money. When men contribute to charity through the medium of paid solicitors they have no way of ascertaining how much they are giving to the cause which they are willing to aid.
 | There is general element of uncertainty | about such giving; and it would doubtless l be best for charity and best for the public | if all persons would refuse to give money