The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-06-16

refrain. Some interest has been aroused as to the relative size of the Oklahoma man and his mother-in-law
 The free bath is merely another illus tration of the remarkable progress of this century and the philanthropy of large cities. There was time when 1t was so much trouble to take a bath that large part of humanity could well be excused from indulging but now every convenience Is not only to hand but Is given freely to all who seek ablution. Around New York the public bath has be- come fixture and is certainly a step in the right direction. Other cities are fol- lowing suit, so that there will soon be m further use for the term .'humanitys great unwashed," as applied to that part of humanity which resides in the United States.
 The decollete gown has been drowned upon by Mrs. Francis at the St. Louis fair and that lady has won for herself the warm commendation of sticklers for form" Of course it is all very proper for the Filipinos to wear nothing more than an interested expression when they are on exhibition before the masses but the beauties of the south and west who are prominent at the fair will be under the necessity of shielding their comedy necks and shoulders from view. However, the peek-a-boo shirtwast is still open to them.
 A new trick in vaudeville that is never. theless quite old has made it's appearance in New York and is called the "Mysterious Face" The face suddenly appears to the audience and by clever contortions ex- presses all the emotions that usually sway human beings. Love, hate, joy and sorrow are all there. The performance is so realistic that no wonder the people ap- plaud and children tremble with fear or shout with delight, as the mobile features change from one expression to another with lightning rapidity. This is a clever number in vaudeville, there is no doubt of it. but the trick is old in France. for we are told in "The Adventures of Fran cois" by Dr. s. Weir Mitchell. that Fran cois tried the trick with great success during the days of the Paris commune
 
 formance and had his fortune told by the mysterious face. There is no clair voyance about the New York show but the nifmber of expressions portrayed is much larger than poor Francois could encom- pass, for he was nothing but a rogue out of money while the modern face is manipulted by a high-slaried vaudevil- Han.
 It is now possible to get shine by electricity, so fas it progress in this busy age. The electric shoe polisher has al- ready stirred up commotion among the bootblacks who are wrathy over the pos sibilty of being run out of business. The electric shoepolisher does the work rapid ly and safely but is not yet complete, for the paste must still be put on by hu- man hands. The polisher is also said to be very bad for corns-but that is an all legation of the disgruntled bootblacks
 
 Prince Pu Lun is said to have been very ! angry when he discovered. that there were only four claws on the hind hoof of the dragon holding the sacred jewel in the Chinese building at St. Louis. The dragon was made by an American manu- facturer, however, so he escaped the wrath of the gods. this incident serves to call attention to the fact that enter prising American manufacturers make lot of money turning out gods for the heather and shipping them to foreign lands. In fact the business of making gods seems to be very profitable. P. c.