The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-01-24
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
MATTERS OF THE WORLD
2aes1,aea~

everyone loves Paris-those who have
never seen the city almost as much as
those who have experienced the namelegs
thrill of spin along the Champs Elysee
London, of course, impresses by its size
and the horde of human beings who live
obscured by the huge bulk of the city
which they inhabit. In London again life
is different from that to be found in Paris
or New York. 1t lacks the keen zest of
New York and the excitability of Paris
London is sedate, a tri1e dreary when the
fog is thick, and distinctly English. In the
American metropolis there is Chinatown,
Little Italy, the Ghetto and a dozen dis
tinct nationalities stamping the city's life
by their individuality, while in the Brit
ish capital it is all London. The phases Of
life to be met with there are so tinged
with British characteristics that they ap-
pear uniformly English Although Lon
don has its pageants and its great folk.
they sometimes move In an unreal atmos-
phere. London has its memories, too No
poet can acquire the divine afflatus until
he visits Westminster Abbey, while on
every side the relics of a departed age
meet the eye One of the most attractive
features of London is its people; not the
select beings who move in society but
the common people. 1t is these who give
local color to the greatest city in the
world
Rome, in large measure, lives in the
past. Present grandeur there may be.
but no one becomes enthusiastic over
modern Rome, unless, perhaps, when the
Catholic church offers one of her impress
sive pageants. Seated on her seven hills
that have witnessed so many stirring
scenes and have wintered so many storms
of war or political strife with reminders
of former greatness on every hand, 1t is
hard for the most commonplace person to
resist the temptation of a day-dream in
Rome. 1t is the historic buildings. and
ruins of Rome that constitute her great
est charm, while the juxtapostior of
modern life with the dead past is almost
startling. But it is easy to forget every
day affairs of the present when viewing
the relics of Rome, SO that the tourist
need have no fear that he will suffer a
disallusion. If the decayed beauty of
former days were entirely obliterated
Rome would yet be one of the most inter-
esting cities in the world Its modern
life is almost as picturesque as the old
and the historic setting renders it
doubly so.
Chicago, on the other hand, stands for
the west. She represents a fresher and
more vigorous development than that of
New York. New Workers pride them
selves on their finish, while Chicagoans
boast of what they can do as we'll as
what have already accomplished. Chi
cago has been aptly termed the Windy
City, not SO much because of the gales
which sweep across Lake Michigan as to
the breeziness of her people. Although
cynical Gothamites affect TO sneer at the
crudeness of Chicago this feeling Is rapid
ly passing away, but the rivalry is as
great as ever. Chicago stands for the
most phenomenal growth and develop
ment the world has ever witnessed The
town shot up like a mushroom in the
night, but its growth has the quality Of
exceptional stability. Chicago is not
looked upon as an artistic center. Yet it
is a city of great newspapers, great uni
versities, and men of original IDEAS 1t is
a great teeming hive Of industry. which
will some day. perhaps, eclipse all other
cities in the world. p. c.