The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-01
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

would be to have the wives and husbands do their own arbitrating. but this is a thing they have not yet learned.
 While discussions pro and con are much in vogue the Fourth of July is coming on apace and whether sane or not there will be a celebration in all parts of the land with the usual results. While there will probably be more work for the un- dertaker, the sacrifice of youth on the glorious Fourth Is essentially patriotic and one that should bring forth Spartan mothers without number Wiseacres who have not lighted a fuse in these past twenty-five years have discoursed At length on the blessings of a sane and noiseless Fourth. but what boots the dis cussion so long as 1t Is possible for the American boy and the cannon fire cracker to get together?
 There will be general aUal,enine Q. St. Louis next week and from present indications there will be no cut and dried proceedings about the approaching dem ocratic national convention. There are all kinds of rumors and buttons in the air but it is safe to assume that tha only easy money made by speculating on the convention will go into the coffers of the hotel proprietors. While 1t might be pos- sible to pick the winner and win a bet. too many wise heads are in doubt over the result to make plunging advisable. Tn the meantime the politicians will be well come to St. Louis and along the Pike where their distinguished presence will do much to enlven matters.
 The man who camps out every year ia now having the full measure of his en- joyment. People who never camp out sit under an electric fan and rant about the life in the woods bringing a sordid soul close to nature and nearer to God.
 This communion with the wilderness is good for a man; 1t purifies his thoughts and refreshes his mind; averts for a time the wickedness of the world and brings peace The man who camps knows that there is very little sentiment and no poetry about the matter. especially when there is nothing to drink, the food gives out, fish won't bite, and the immediate vicinity experiences the heaviest rainfall that has been known for twenty years Camping on paper is always a more de- lightful matter than camping on the banks of creek where there is plenty or nature, but also an abundance of snakes, malaria and mosquitoes.
 An Indiana man loved his garden so that when he died he ordered that his ashes be scattered over the spot where he had spent many pleasant hours of his life. He did not suppose that his ashes would have any fertilizing tendency, but was actuated merely by sentiment It is reasonable to suppose that this man was a successful gardener and understood how to grow vegetables else it would be hard for him to entertain such an abiding love for his business. The ideal gardens that the poets and agricultural journals tell us about seem to be very at tractive places, but it Is hard to find them in real life. The average garden, when taken in conjunction with the neighbours chickens Is enough to sour the sweetest temper ever vouchsafed to man.
 The example of Helen Kellar's life is one that might be followed to advantage by those people who are never satisfied with the blessings that have been granted them by a wise Providence. The obstacles overcome by this blind girl in her strug- gles to drink of the knowledge which she so ardently craved, and has been heretofore denied to those afflicted like her have been often recounted, but the story will bear repetition. Helen Kellar Is ambitious to devote her life to aiding the blind, but if she never accomplshes anything more than she has already ac- complished her work will have been fin- ished. PC