The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1900-09-04
SKETCHES FROM
EVERY DAY LIFE

oring to close the gambling establish
ments
This has not only irritated the gamblers
and large part of the population, but
even members of the City Council who
are spoken of by the Cripple Creek Times
Citizen as the "OByrne Crowd of Repub-
leans" These latter, it says, have sought
to override the Mayor, and have lost no
opportunity to convince the gamblers that
the Mayor is not sincere in his determine
ton to close the games. What these ..op-
portunities" are is not specified. but left
to the imagination. All this is very wrong
In this O'Byrne crowd of Republicans for,
as the Tines-Citizen naively expresses it,
the sooner the gamblers obey the Mayors
order the sooner will the agitation against
gambling cease, and so long as they place
themselves in an attitude of defying the
Mayor, .just so long, will they be re-
quired to keep closed their doors
A word to the wise is sufficient. Cripple
Greek gamblers and the o'Byrne crowd of
Republicans who desire opportunities
should be guided by the advice of the
Times-Citzen.
The President, like all of the race of
men, has troubles of his own The latest
is an idea of Mrs. F. F. Mcwhirter, presi-
dent of the Indiana w. C. T. u, who has
organized an endless prayer chain
against his reelection.
Who has not read of and sympathized
with poor Jerry Cruncher, whose wife was
always Hopping agin him. in his role of
lone fisherman? But what are Jerrys
trials compared with those of Mckinley.
who has not one woman, but many thou
sands, to flop agn him. every night?
And not on account of grewsome body
snatching, like Jerry but simply for his
failure to suppress the army canteen.
Now, soldiers are men, and not. as a
rule, w. C. T. u. men, They will drink r.
they get a chance-or half a chance. So 1t
comes simply to a question of hygiene.
viz: Whether the bold soldier boy of the
United States shall drink vile and contra
band liquor, or "benevolently assimilate"
Mr.. Mckfnley's beer and soft drinks. This
Is all there is in it. If the w. C. T. u.
people prefer their soldiers to have a
membrane to their stomachs, let them put
an end to the endless prayer chain. On
the other hand, If they wish the stomachs
OF their heroes and regulars to be battle
SCARED, like their skins, then let them
stand an endless prayer
Henry Clews & Co. report the financial
matters of the country as generally salts
factory. Money is fairly plentiful and rail-
roao earnings are good. Business, while not
on any particular boom, is conservative and
profitable. In fact, the basic conditions are
satisfactory the only clouds in the business
world being the Chinese matter and the
coming fall elections.
Harper's Weekly of September contains
some interesting items. 1t calls attention to
the fact that the allied fleet now assembled
at the mouth of he Pei-ho is the finest and
greatest gathering of ships the Pacific has
ever seen, and ranks with the meeting at
Kiel in 1895 and Spithead in 1897. OF the
allied fleets, the Russian Is the largest and
most formidable.
The demand for good roads Is becoming
more general every day. The United States
government is taking practical steps
towards ascertaining the best plans for
road Improvement. Mr.. James Wilson, Sec
rotary of agriculture, in an article in Har-
pers Weekly says that 1t is proposed to
divide the United States into districts and
trict to study conditions, confer with scien-
lists and practical road makers, and make
reports of work done. and proposed to be
done, that will form the basis of road lit
erature.
1t is doubtful df this country will ever
have thoroughly good roads, until they are
built by the general government. Rome had
the finest roads in the world at that time
of
proved mechanical appliances of the pres
ent day, there is no reason why the United
States should not have better roads than
the Roman empire.
One of the new health fads, says Har-
per's Bazaar, is the idea of sun and air
bath instead of an ocean dip. An English
doctors say the popular idea of sea bathing
is absurd. That in many cases the dip
that frail women force themselves to take,
believing 1t the right thing to do, is too
severe shock to nerves and systems unac-
customed to sudden or violent exertion.
In place of sea bathing, sun and air baths
taken lying on the beach in the lightest
possible attire, is recommended 1t is fact
established in medical science that mere
exposure of the body to the air produces
physical changes that go far towards coun-
teracting the degenerating effects of CIV
ilized life.
Women, says the Bazaar, who do not look
lovely in a wet bathing suit, will eagerly
adopt this notion.
The French people have always been
thrifty, and acquire the habit young. Cicero
says you should teach children the things
they will have to do in after life. The fol-
lowing from Harper's Bazaar shows that
the French follow this advice:
"a very interesting provision Is made in
the French educational system for encour-
aging the children in the habit of saving.
The teachers are empowered to receive any
sums from one sou upwards which the
scholars choose to place on deposit, and
these collected monthly by agents of
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