The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-08-07

\CD been received that another spirit
 ualist medium has passed away as a result of too arduous devotion to her calling Among the captains of industry, busy lawyers, doctors, ministers and statesmen the medium stands alone. The profession is not one that easily leads to the lofty pinnacle of fame, but it re- qulres skill tact and perseverance. One never knows when the cabinet will le un-
 expectedly overturned, the sheet torn away and those little tricks so necessary
 to the trade will be exposed to a cold
 and unfeeling world. There is a great ner- vous strain attached to the business of
 pulling the wool over the publicc eyes,
 whether 1t be as a legitimate confidence
 man or a quack in medicine or mental sciences. Of course there is such thing
 as hypnotsm; only a fool would deny It; and there are men of deep learning
 who now assert that communication be- tween the material and spiritual world may after all be possible, but tie aver
 ege medium who goes about over the land playing upon the superstitions of a too gullible populace Is neither learned nor inspired. Often he fieeces the unwary by his bogus seances and finds the busi- ness profitable, as a rule. How, whether the celebrated medium who has just suc- ceeded in working herself to death was a fraud or not Is hard to say from this distance, since her operations were not able in the east, but 1t is easy to under stand how any conscientious medium can over-exert himself in prolonged ef- forts to prevent the public from pene- trating the mystery of too palpable tricks.
 The Auto Idyr' Is the latest literary perpetration of this realist age when
 Klpllng prostitutes his muse before a po- iitical idol and Alfred Austin asserts that there is something wrong with the pop ular taste for poetry. The auto idyl is the natural result of automobilsm, a fad which Is now paramount in the land and bids fair to reach out over the heads of the masses despite the efforts of rural constabulary to bankrupt automobile owners in the courts. Auto idyls are as yet confined largely to humorous publi- cations, as is right and proper for 1t is hard to wax poetic over a contrivance that is nothing more than ripping, snorting innovation to amuse the purse proud plutocrats of the land In course of time the automobile may be raised to the heights of Parnassus and may be an accepted theme of bards of real senti- ment, but thus far 1t has attracted the
 &4rfrf htt morists and the pessimists, who are wont to shoot folly as 1t flies.
 While MT Root and others are protest ing to high heaven at the unseemly action of the democrats in Il minating man S1 years old for hevice presidency your 'Un- cle" Russell Sage turns the Ssth lap sound in mind and limb and chipper as the birds in May In fact there Is much speculation just now as to whether ths aged financier will ever die. If he persists in giving the laugh to Father Time he may shortly ex- pect to be overwhelmed by adventurers seeking to learn his secret of perpetual youth. Uncle" Russell reached the re- tiring stage long ago but he Is still active in harness and the chances are that he will yet make more dollars than the aver age jumper will ever see before he is induced to lay down the tape.
 The democratic convention of Texas has that the legislature of the state take steps to purchase the Alamo, the American Thermopylae" that feeds the patriotism of all true Texans and 1N Arfa a nd Crockett's heroic little band. At present the Alamo is in charge of the patriotic women of the state, who have kept the portals of the little chapel sacred from commercial taint. although the old monas- tery has been occupied by wholesale grocery firm for number of years. It 's a gracious act that iexas owes to her early defenders to purchase the Alamo and forever preserve 1t as a death so bravey within its gray walls To one who has ever visited San Antonio and has observed how the Alamo domi- mates the life of the town it is surprising that the church has not already been placed beyond all possibility of ever be- inc neglected or destroyed.
 Over the land half-starved frequenters of boarding establishments sent up glad cry at the possibility of a prolonged strike because they hoped it would abolish hash. Six months ago such a possibility was never dreamed of but today star boarders who have not kept up with the