The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-29

1H HE efforts to establish universal \CR language called Esperanto" are
 continued with unabated activity is pointed out that language is as much part of a people as their religious be- | liefs and inherent customs-in fact much more so, and the world will have to ad- vance further than it has already done to insure the practicability of a universal language. The truth of the matter is that the older we get the morve prevalent the English tongue becomes, so that even now man who speaks it can manage to make. his wants known in almost any quarter of the globe, no matter how obscure It is too much to predict that English will ever be spoken by all peoples to the ex- clusion of their own language but it is quite Safe to say that in the course of POO years 1t will become so widely known as to do away with the necessity for having some common means of intercourse. To be sure this is based on the idea that the Anglo-Saxon race will continue to doml- nate the affairs of the world. At present there is no evidence of decay although there are certain far-sighted philosophers who predict that the Slav will some day be master of both Teuton and Anglo Saxon.
 Since Birmingham has recently had the pleasure of witnessing two of Ibsens great problem plays it is interesting to know that the author is afflicted with one of the strangest diseases known to medi- cal science. Although a master in weav- ing strong sentences and portraying com polling thoughts in words Ibsen is unable as children use in the nursery The sclen- tifc term of Ibsen's disease is amnesia. Somewhere in his brain there is a tiny nerve which is out of working order, and while brilliant passages may flow from his pen he is apt to call cat a chair or a man a stove. Aphasia denotes a loss of speech or a deficiency of articulation while amnesia is an inability to use the right word or a tendency to substitute other words than those desired. Several of these remarkable cases have been re- ported in the newspapers but they are rare and the personality of Ibsen makes his condition all the more interesting And yet 1t is comforting to know that the great playwright is still able to write nor mally and there can be no diminution in his output of powerful plays.
 On account of the scarcity of negro ser- wants in Marion it is reported that white women are now employed to do household work by several prominent families and the change has been found to be very sat isfactory. The Marion Standard predicts that the time is not far distant when ne- groes will be supplanted in many southern towns by deserving white women who are now kept out of comfortable homes and a pleasant occupation by popular prejudice. In all parts of the south people have been slow to engage white servants from the belief that such work belongs preemi- nently to negroes and few needy women or girls could be found who were willing to sacrifice their dignity by accepting such menial employment. Although south ern wives have complained that they hire l slovenly negroes and are compelled to do | all the work they have not had the cour- age to relieve themselves by hireing white | women who would perform their duties