The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-12
OU7 DOOR LIFE ON PICTURES9 LE> ROOF GARDENS;
 CHARMING SUBS7I7U7E FOR THE OCEAN VO2AGE

of delicious things to the roof where they breakfasted al fresco.
 But the real life of the roof does not begin until after breakfast when it be- comes the popular rendezvous for those appreciative of life in the open. Rows of steamer chairs, or comfortable lounging chairs are filled with people, the scene not unlike that of the deck of big ocean liner Women in the prettiest of morn ing costumes bask in the sunshine for many hours.
 Rows of bright -colored sunshades con- ceal as at the seashore, groups of peo- ple here and there, and the woman who is trying the curative value of living on the housetop finds 1t the most luxurious existence that could be prescribed. This is one phase of l..
 The real sensation is singularly uplift- ing. The immensity of sky day after day the stiffness of things, the vastness, the marvellous sunrise, the still more won derful sunsets. all produce a sense per- haps experienced only in seeing the grand canyon It quite overwhelms even those who have grown accustomed to immen- sity of space and who know the slences of the desert places.
 I asked a woman one afternoon how tkis life on the roof affected her. She had been spending hours there every day for a year. Every afternoon she was al- ways brought up for the sunset, and she stayed until long after the stars came out and I could just see the pale pink of her scarf.
 T could not stand to stay but a mo- ment when I first came," she said. "It was too immense, too vast. It was days before I came back and I came at twi- light. No one was here. Just the few stars looking down upon the world. Then l began to get my bearings After that l came when the days were blindingly hot or when the snows covered the earth. and so now I come at all hours, an feel at home here with the swal- lows and the stars"
 On bright afternoons there is a very gay part of the roof filled with people who have tea there between the hours of five and seven. You can have your coffee or ices served there, or a more elabor- ate menu Dining on the roof is very de- lightful. Your attendant will wheel a lit tie table near your steamer chair or you may be served in any part of the roof as luxuriously as in the main cafe down. stairs.
 People finger there long after the din- ing hour. either reclining in their com fortbale chairs, or strolling over the soft asphalt.
 Late afternoon in summer the scene is most interesting. At that hour there are usually more people on the root and more informality. Bright groups are chatting here and there, and this is the one hour when you seem near to earth.
 The brige extending into the very heart of the woodlands Is peopled with saun- terers Its lights flare up at dusk and in the pathways of the woods many lights glimmer and light the way for belated strollers
 But by the time the valley grows as silent as a confessional the roof also sinks into it's mysterious quiet The swallows fly into their chimneys. Not a sound dis turbs the roof dwellers. Here and there some one is leaning far out over the paraphet, gazing silently into space. The night comes on. As silently as the stars people, hushed by the very immensity, look up into the stiffness. It makes you feel what Kipling meant when he asked an Arab guide to be quiet that he might hear the desert speak.
 People from all parts of the country meet on the roof garden. used to think it was the most cosmopolitan of places.
 q have just returned from Paris" heard a woman say one afternoon as she