The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-22
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

for it's exclusive self. The prediction Is made that brain flag is the forerunner of general insanity, but fortunately a great many of us are not smart enough to have the disease.
 The question of inscriptions on tomb- stones is momentous one. for when we die we are a long time dead" There fore, 1t is appropriate that the unities be observed in labelling the earthly couches of the departed This Is a painful sub- iect but one that deserves careful con sideratan. The customs practiced in in- sane asylums and similar institutions of driving a post at the head of a grave with a number on it, is too brief way of disposing of what was once a person of sen-9ilties. But on the oher hand an effort should be made to tell the truth or say nothing at all. If a man and killed several husbands in the. neighborhood and then loaned the widows money without interest for funeral expenses, attention should be called to the latter decd and not to the former. Although dead or dying people seldom take enough interest in the matter to dictate the inscription that shall adorn their last resting places. leaving such office to charitable friends, who may be trusted to say something proper it is not desirable to leave leg acy of hate inscribed on the marble. Re- gently a man died and left orders that his tombstone should be adorned by the following inscription: He dies, deceived
 a old age by a perjured ingrate." The sen- timent that inspired such words may have been pitable or contemptible, but they certainly leave the impression that the deceased departed to face his Maker in a very un-Chrstian frame of mind. Yet, after all this inscription may be much nearer the truth than the fulsome euio- gies tha. laud people who are not laud- able.
 It has just been discovered that Amer icans are a litigious people, A glance at the professional life of any town would show that, but some enterprising man Of figures has taken the pains to compute a few ratios on the subject. Kansas City is taken as an average American town. There are now pending in its courts 510S suits. As the county has a population of 195,0OO this would give Q ratio of a suit to every seventeen inhabitants, and there are at least two parties to every suit. Likewise in New York 1t Is said that the civil dockets could not be cleaned in two years if not another suit were filed. From these figures it can be seen that the Americans are great people to wrangle over legal matters, or else have a great respect for the powers of the law. It is to be hoped that the latter is true The condition of affairs has become such that a wise man will stay out of a law suit as long as possible and enters one only as a last resort. In fact, so great is the fear cherished for lawsuits by certain corporations that they pay lawyers princely salaries to keep them out of trou- ble. All of which goes to show what a. good time the lawyers are having. In spite of the fact that the colleges and universities turn out several thousand ev- cry year, there seem to be enough pick ings for all and few fail to make some kind of living after the first year is survived During that time, however it is desirable to curb animal appetites as n,uch as possible. P. c.