The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-22


 PLAY FOR FREE KINDERGAR
 TEN ENGAGEMENTS = SOCIAL
 HAPPENINGS.
 A distinguished guest in Birmingham is Mrs. Mary Fairfax Childs of Brooklyn who is passing a fortnight as the guest oi Mir. George Gordon Crawford at the home of MT and Mrs. Jack Johnson.
 Contact with nature as rarely sweet and gifted as that of Mrs. Childs is given but too seldom, and those to whom the privilege of a meeting has been extended are deeply sensible of the honor
 The genial happy soul of the little southern gentlewoman shines through all of her quaint verses, and the wit that is so essential a quality in the negro dia- feet stories that have emanated from her pen, flashes out in sparkling repartee that has added fame as a raconteur to that which she already claims as a writer Those who know her in Birmingham have dubbed her the most fascinating of wom- en- Though present resident of Brook lyn, Mrs. Childs is easily recognized as a native of the south. Her soft Virginia accent is pereeptible to the most casual listener, and from the dainty carriage of her aristocratic head to her tiny feet she is all southern.
 There are few lovers of dialect who are not familiar with that clever poem of Mrs. Childs, "De Namin' ob de Twins" How many have laughed over the characteris- tic ending
 Fer nary pusson, white nor black, Ain glib no pint to me
 Bout namin' desc here Chris mus gifs.
 asleep on mammy's knee; (Now heshaby-don squirm an twiss Be still you varmfnts, do,
 You ain gwine hab' no nigger name to
 tote aroun' wid youl.
 Case on de question ob desc names sho is he'd my mine
 Perzackly an percidedly done med up all
 de time, Fer mah pol Ceely Ann-yas, Lawd, Jes nigh afo she died,
 She name dis gal "Neuralgy;' her boy
 twin, Homicide
 And her little couplet De Baptizin' O Black Betty has the same vein of hulnor and the same understanding of darky nature
 "Lawd bless you, Sistah Betty Jane,
 What melx you trimble so?
 When you come outer Tadpole Pom
 You'll be as white as snow.
 .eNo bruddah I aint ax dat much, But arter Is dipt down
 I'll sho be mo dan satusfied
 Ter come up chocolate brown!H
 In the little poem, De Barn Dance, she clearly shows the negro's love of rhythm and his irresponsible and pleas ure-loving soul. The swing and lit of the whole is earrid to happy climax, thus:
 ..An' how, chuch membahs settin' roun', Who wouldn' shek toe,
 Jes' feels de spirit wul5kin em,
 An deys up on de flo;
 Kaze one pat ob de deacon's foot
 Declars hit ain no crime
 To hab you fling up in de barn
 On dis here Chrismus time"
 There are worlds of pathos, too, in the poem, "Mamnly Sukey's Buryin'," which gives the story of the devotion existing in the old regime between master and slave. This, like many of the others, is not dialect but is told with the tender remi- niscent air that characterizes the tales that she tells so charmingly to her 7 friends.
 The wish of the old servant is told in these words:
 q want you tuck me in de groun jes at
 Marse Robert feet,
 Dat when de King O Glory come, His blessed saint ter greet, Me an old Marse, a-lyin dar togedder, we
 shall rise
 An flop our wings-white wings, my
 Lawd!-to ds mansions in de skies' And the gentle love and appreciation of the little author shows in this tribute that she pays black mammy:
 "Oh. womanl Shafts around mark the
 resting place of men,
 Who may have won that bauble, Fame
 by sword, or voice pen; But never OCT their costly piers flowed
 chldrens tears more sad Than those shed at that "buryin jes lak
 old mastah had"
 And there are many others, all refiecting the originality and humor, with at the same time the feeling and sympathy of the loveliest type of old-fashioned Vir- Ginia gentlewoman.
 For several years this has been regard ed as one of the leading industrial cities of the country. Forty years ago corn field, even 10 years ago almost village, rapid strides have been made in the last 10 years in commercialism-indeed in everything that pertained to industry and thrift. It's people are now making of 1t a city of culture, as well as enterprise, end particularly within the past two years has 1t taken on an air of art and refine Inent such as Is seen in much older cities. The coming of MT. and Mrs. Leonard T. Beecher, among other talented and charm ing people, has aroused a new interest in the artistic side of the city, and the cul- tured set are becoming more and more in evidence all the time Mrs. Beecher is well known throughout the east a reader and interpreter of wonderful tal- ent In fact she is in Boston now, where ahe is the admired center of one of the most cultured sets in America It is sell dom that woman of her great talent and education is so thoroughly in sym uathy with those with whom she lives and comes in contact. necessarily as Mrs. Beecher works, and although she is so magnifcently remunerated for her ser vices when she goes east to fill her en- gagements, she always has time to see her friends here and have pleasant chat with them When she came to Birming- ham with her husband. whose interests were here, she entered at once Into the lives of the friends who were so for