The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-16
SOCIETY NOTES OF
 PRE-LENTEN SEASON
Departures for Italy and Travel
 on the Continent
SAILlNGS FOR JAPAI
Mr. and Mrs. Maben Sail For France. Mrs. Zac Smith To Visit Japan. Mrs. Raulston Sailed Yes
 terday on the Cedric.

The announcement in these columns Ses- terday that MT. and Mrs J. c. Maoen haa engaged passage on the St. Ceceil, sailing from New York on Tuesday for Cner- bourg, was a surprise, as they are leaving much earlier than was expected.
 MT. and Mrs. Maben will go direct 10 Rome. where Miss Bettie Maben has been passing the season. She has recently been i'll with the grip, and 1t is her iilness' which, however, is not serious, that IS taking aer parents over. Miss Maben ex- pected to be present at the Italian court in the early spring. Her presentation gown was ordered from Worth some weeks ago For her presentation Miss Maben was to have been the guest of the family of the American consul
 Mrs. Zac Smith will leave Birmingham on March for San Francisco, from where she will sail on the Pacific Mail steamer Siberia for Japan, China ana Manila. Mrs Nora Miller of Dadeville will travel with Mrs. Smith from this city, and others of the party will join her in San Francisco She expects to return the first of June and after a months stay in Birmingham, will sail from Europe early in July.
 Mrs. Smith expects to reach Hong Kong on April 3. She is enthusiastic over her approaching visit to the far east.
 Arriving in Hong Kong early in April she said, "a number of delightful eX- oursions will be made, as: in sedan chairs 10 Happy Valley and the Governors Gar dens. in iinrikshas through Kowloon, and by inclined railway to Victoria Peak, from which one has a splendid view of Victoria and Hong Kong harbor
 A side trip will be made to the Portu- guese settlement of Maeao-(Boa Vista or Macao hoteD-a real oriental Monte Carlo and an important point for the shipment of opium and of interest as being for some years the home of the epic poet Camoens. Jinrikshas will be taken to the ruins of the cathedral of San Paolo, the grotto of Camoens, the famous fan tan houses.
 "From Macao I will go to Canton, 90 miles from Hong Kong, a typical Chinese provincial walled city, whose population may be, as some one has we'll put it 'S00OOO or 5000, ,000-nobody knows The trip up the river is a most interesting one; the villages, pagodas and distant moun- tain ranges afford a variety of color which holds the attention of the traveller. Can ton is an essentially Chinese city. It is famous for it's old curios and bronzes ivory carvings, embroderies, silver ware, hlackwood furniture, screens and orna- ments, and a great variety of jade, DOT celain, silk and grass-matting produe- tions. A visit to the curio shops of Can s..,. s.Ft tl,,Y 0ut fpfH Q ences it is possible to imagine.
 --~'oaI feature of Canton is the
 ousands of it's in-
 nnumerable house.
 river and the net
 gh the city. These
 marry and die on
 Il be taken to the
 ong which are the
 Examination hall,
 red Buddhas, Tenn Die u1 4Ao. ,uton grounds, the Fowery Pagoda."
 But 1t is the land of the sun-rising that inspires Mrs. Smith to speak most enthus- iastically of her tour. She expects to ar rive in Japan during the gala season of the year when the cherry blossoms and wysteria are in bloom.
 Japan has lately become the desired goal of all who travel for pleasure, and who. iaded with the old world and the American continent, desire to see phase of eastern civilization unlike that to be met elsewhere. The descriptions of it written by Arnold. Griffs, Oliphant and other men of literary reputation have fired the desire of the accustomed traveller to visit the land of the cherry blos- som and the chrysanthemum. and none have regretted the trip. country which, during the praSant panpration a sealed book to foreigners with which they could trade only across a bridge and under a jealous watch, suddenly over threw the chief officer of state, reverting in it's allegiance to a still more ancient regime. and at the same time opened it's ports, purchased steamships, built rail- ways. adopted European costume and European arms, and generally effected the