The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-02-20
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

T is indeed to be regretted that Ben Hura is not coming to Birmingham this year. The production Is even bet ter this season than before, when 1t was the talk of the country, and such a play can never grow stale so long as human imagination is susceptible to vivid pictures and human emotions are sway ed by stirring scenes. In fact Ben Hur" is in many respects the most re- markable production ever staged. Par sifal' may be grander. and many of the modern productions may be more spectacular, but none could be more impressive than Ben Hur." There is depth and compelling grandeur about the drama that is neved lost on even the most sordid spectator. Nor is Ben Hur' sacrilegious, though numbers of pulpit sensationalists have managed to get themselves talked about by saying so. Nothing could be purer and ennobllng, both in it's inception and treatment thar this dramatization of one of the strong est stories ever written. The fact is that those people who rant about plays being sacrilegious have never seen them in most cases and do not know whereof they speak. Exceptional indeed is the man who can witness the last act in Ben Hur' and go out feeling that his ideas of Christianity have been dragged in the mire, or that he has been contam- mated by that evil breath which is popu- larly supposed in religious circles to emanate from the stage. To certain ex- tent the same thing may be said of Par sifal.' It Is not the play so much as the spectators who are responsible for the good or evil effects. A pious man cannot fail to be more deeply impressed by a vivid and magnificent realization of the scenes he has pictured in his mind, while frivolity is at least hushed into tempor- ary calm and devotion.
 The Cossacks are popularly called the Rough Riders of Russia In many re- spects the title is very applicable. for nowhere else in the world are such per- feet masters of horsemanship to be found Now that the war with Japan has at- tracted the attention of the entire civil ized world, it is interesting to learn some thing about this picturesque soldiery Writers and students of Russian life tell us that the Cossacks are not an ami able lot and a bruish with them is far more to be dreaded than an encounter with the foolish Chinese who were so easily swept away by the Japanese. In fact the Cossacks are perhaps the most ferocious fighters in the world with the possible exception of certain Mohamme- dams who are inspired by their religious zeal to perform prodidgius feats of valor. However the Cossacks are the leaders in courage and brutality. They are cer- tainly plentifully endowed with the latter quality and it would be sad indeed if by any chance these hardy troopers of the steppes should ever land on the borders of the F'lowery Kingdom.
 Modern superstition is far from being de- cadent. The hundreds of quacks, fakirs. hypnotists, palmsts fortune tellers, as- trologers and other frauds who wax fat off of public credulity bear witness to that fact. It Is hard for people to outlive the heritage that has been handed down through ages of more or less supersti- tious ancestors. In spite of modern science and progress people continue to quake at the idea of ghosts at a lonely hour of mid night, and credulous persons continue to sneak around to the haunt of an alleged revealer of the future in order to learn what fortune is in store.
 Fakirs seem to do most of their bus- ness by mail The case of Mrs. Post in Florida is an example. Perhaps this is because close inspection of the "as- trologer' or healer would shatter the Illusion. At any rate enormous sums in dimes, quarters and dollars flow into the