The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-01
% SOMETHING ABOUT JUNGLE REMUS" -

i about equal proportions. They delight IT l recounting stories of his shyness, but
 when this characteristic keeps him from accepting their pressing invitations tc | dine out andt to receptions, then merrl-
 ment gives way to despair.
 Two or three years ago the daughter
 of one of Uncle Remus' most intimate 1 friends and neighbors was to be married | Of course, the Harrises were invited to
 the dinner, and after much eoaxing Mrs, l Harris got MT. Harris to promise that he
 would surely sit down at the festal board
 Mrs. Harris went early to the house, Mir. l Harris agreeing to follow. He did. He | even got inside the gate of his oldfriend s ] house when the music, the lights and the 1 general air of festivity caused his heart
 to fail him-and despite the solemn prom | ise he had made Mrs. Harris he turned
 his back on the glowing scene and quick
 ly made his way home.
 An equally good story of shyness comes from Eatonton, MT. Harris birthplace. In 1 order to be present at a local celebration Mir. Harris returned to the scenes of his boyhood and somehow was inveigled into
 taking a seat on the platform with the l orator of the day, the late Henry w Gra- 1 dy. After this famous silver tongue had 1 finished some of the celebrants began to l call, Harris. Harris, Harrisp
 ] Now, Uncle Remus had never made a l speech in his life and the thought of be- l ing called upon to do so made his soul quail within him.
 l Harris. Harris!'' cried the crowd, with I increasing vigor. Harris. Harris, Har- rs.'
 l Up rose Uncle Remus. his old gray | hat pulled down over his eyes. I'm com | ing. I'm coming" he shouted, and the next moment stepped off the platform and | lost himself in the crowd.
 | MT. Harris shyness has made all efforts | to induce him to give public reading more than futile This trait is also partly re- 1 sponsible for the circumstance that he rarely leaves home except to visit his l the Consultation, on whose staff he was l actively engaged for more than p years. l His love of home Is marked. To him | it Is the dearest spot on earth, and ev- l cry tree, every vine, every flower, every | growing and living thing on it receives | his personal care and attention. The ] Sign of the Wrens Nest his friends l call his home. They were led to apply this picturesque title through a character | isteric little act on the part of the twink | ling-eyed owner.
 One morning, some years ago Mir Har- | ris discovered that pair of wrens were | building themselves a home in the letter I box on his front gatepost. All that fore 1 noon he neglected Uncle Remus and all | his other duties in order to be on hand when the postman made his appearance and to warn him not to disturb the feath- | cred pair in their work of setting up ! housekeeping All through the whole summer Mir. Harris kept a fatherly eye | on the birds. and not until the young | ones were able to fly did he relax his i vigil. Then, enc day, in an editorial in 1 the Constitution, he told the story of the wrens under the heading Sign of the Wrens Nest. His friends have so spoken of the Harris home ever since. | Just as stories of MT. Harris love for | his roses and his birds could be told without number. so. as one who has writ l ten at length about him says. stories of | his ~.helpfulness and cheerful praise of others work could be almost indefinitely multiplied.''
 | Then Frank l.. Stanton now of the Con stitution, was writing verses for a little l Georgia newspaper, Uncle Remus, as an l editor of the Constitution, was in the habit of clipping and republishing some of the young poets work. You're a | good one-J. c. H." Uncle Remus wrote one clipping, and mailed it to Stanton. l The poet declares that the first steps he 1 took toward success were made possible l through the helping hand extended by i Uncle Remus.
 1 Shabby-looking individuals are turned ! away from the average door without com pution, on the easily applied theory that l they are only tramps. Uncle Remus has not the heart to turn any one away empty handed. One cold. raw day, a par ticuarly shabby man appeared at his l door and asked for old clothing. The | man was blue from exposure to the l weather.