The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-07
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

Among those individuals who exhibit an unlimited amount of "gair' in public and make themselves conspicuous by their smallness. none surpasses the per son who halts ragged little newsboy on cold morning. takes one of the urchin's papers. reads the headlines while the boy loses half dozen sales, per- haps, and then coolly returns the paper without even a word of thanks. It is hard to understand how a man can do such trick without being ashamed of himself, but 1t has been proved that the skin of some men is exceedingly thick.
 Francis B. Loomis steps down and out of his position as assistant secretary of state. After a careful consideration of | the scandals in Venezuela, his country bids him farewell without poignant re- grets.
 A negro elephant trainer is giving ex- a week. It would not be bad idea for Booker T. Washington to develop few elephant trainers at Tuskegee.
 The newspaper complainant who ob- jected because certain building in his neighborhood grated on his nerves'' must have been hard up for something to worry about.
 Although some sensational stories have emanated from Memphis in regard to yellow fever, the town may congratulate itself on having been fortunate thus far. Old residents who recall the epidemic of 1S7s when Memphis was almost de- populated have been taught lesson they will not forget. There will be no yellow fever in Memphis if Memphians see 1t first.
 A striking illustration of the reputation New York has built up in the provinces is offered by the case of St. Louis man who went to Gotham disguised as a walking arsenal and swore he was afraid to stay in the city without his guns" How do' you spell the slang word phasex' asked curious man. Would you say Tt never p-h-a-z-e-d him or It never p-h-a-s-e-d him? Would you dare to spell the word faze' or 'fase? You would probably be satisfied with phaze' but as a matter of fact, faze' would be closer to the original spelling of the word now used for slang purposes. A reference to the dictionary will show that feaze or 'feese' is an Old English obsolete word which means to harass. to humble or to worry. That is exactly the meaning of the slang word as used today. Feaze' also has a number of other meanings, and is both verb and noun, but 1t is undoubtedly the ariginal of our slang word, although it was pro- nounced like the word fees There are many other examples of good old Eng fish words that have fallen by the way side and have been incorporated into the rapidly growing dictionary of modern slang.
 FAREWELL TO THE STRAW HAT Goodbye. old friend, your useful days
 Are now upon the wane;
 And since you're much the worse for wear,
 We part without deep pain.
 Full often I have chased you when You sped before the breeze
 And caught you in a merry race
 At last upon my knees. You've been faithful friend to me And kept me from sunstroke,
 But I am glad to say goodbye I assure you, that's no joke.
 You'll go the way of all straw hats To some unkempt trash pile. And though your fate Is sad, 'tis just
 Because you are not in style.
 You've served me well, my faithful Tn truth, I'll think of that,
 Although they say it is bad form To grieve for ones straw hat PAUL COOK.