The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-08
BIRMINGHAM AWAkES.
BY PAUL COOK.

It is o'clock on a spring morning in Birmingham. The town is silent and the whole world would appear to be slumber- ing were it not for the intermittent glow of the furnaces which infames the sky with light and sends blush of color over the sleeping city The streets are desert ed save for few solitary policemen who saunter along their beats or stand silent ly on the corners, looking huge and omi- nous to the evil-doer who is skull<ing along at this hour of the morning. Even the fruit vendors bend drowsily above their charcoal fires and over the bustling city there broods the calm that overtakes the greatest centers of human activity just before the dawn.
 At the great furnaces and steel plants however, all Is hustle and stir The grimy laborers pay ne heed to the darkness but toll on. through the night. They do not stop for such small matter as the ab- sence of sunlight, and the activity con- tinues from day to day unabated, one shift of men working while others sleep. The iron and steel plants are impressive enough in the day time, but in the silent watches of the night, when the world is sleeping, their great stacks their hot fires glowing ftfully and the throb of machinery that awakens the echoes round about them, have an eerie effect on a person of imaginative mind.
 At 3 o'clock Birmingham is quietest Another hour passes by and there begins that nameless stirring which is a fore runner of the awakening. Newsboys come hurrying down the streets to get their supply of morning papers. The blind man shufhes along with the others, his stick tapping with a hollow sound on the pavement. Sometimes a ragged little ur- chin leads him by the arm, both competi- tors for the publics stray nickles, but more often he walks alone. There is a
 
 the average of our 6-pounders made a new mark for the world to fire at.
 With the Colts automatic, Private J. R. Johnston did excellent work. D. Kracht and c. A. Robinson held first and second place at the 11pounders. F. A. Skilman did the best work with the 6- pounders, while J. A Godie and w. F. Berten stand second and tie E. Goercke. F J. Shrim and c. W. Murphy made good scores with the 6-inch guns Goercke's string made a record w,iich will probably stand this year at least.
 "Then came the event of the hour When A. G. Buenning came out of the after turret having made shots and s hits in minutes and 10 seconds, every enc was batting him on the back until Gaunt climbed out of the forward turret with record of 10 shots and nine hits in minutes and 40 seconds
 "The forward handling room crew is deserving of considerable credit" The accident on the battleship Missouri at Pensacola the other day, when thirty two officers and men lost their lives al gun practice renders even more interest ing "The Badgers description of 'hov a 6-incn gun Is fired:'
 Haste, Haste, Always Haste. "It might be intere sting to our readers at home to know something about thu work our men are doing when the shiI I is at target practice.
 "The first work is to get the ammuni | tion from the magazines to the guns which Is done by means of electric hoists to which the powder is carried by fill | of men along the ammunition passage ! The projectiles are laid about the gur in a convenient position for the crew t' l andle them quickly; the wooden case , ;,resremoved from the large brass cart