The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-19
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY
 YEARS OF TRANSFORMATION,


 increase steadily in values could always be sold at a profit and most important of all afforded a certain means of raisr ing cash, through the pawn shops. But where pawn shop men formerly lent nearly fifty per cent of it's value on a pledged stone, ten per cent Is now about the least profitable ana most expensive luxury possible. Not the rich but the poor are those who have diamonds now.
 One of the chief novelties of 1908 in New York is mild but interesting agitation for female suffrage. Under yellow and black banners bearing the words Votes for Women" various im- passioned oratoresses grieving at the positionf to which woman Is releeated in this country are lecturlng from soap boxes on crowded corners. Just what specific ends this suffragette invasion with demand for votes for women hopes to accomplish mere man has so far had considerable difficulty in dee termining. One of the more fiiery ora toresses has announced that the coun- try is in need Of a moral revolution whatever that may be. Another has taken for her theme the statement that as woman is the boss of the home, which Is the greatest factor in the ad-
 
 ally to be the boss of everything else. Still others advocate the abolishment of rents. It is noticeable that about ninety mine per cent of the street cor ner audiences are composed of men who grin cheerfully. the remaining one per cent being made up of women who are extremely disdainful. One man, appar- ently of English distraction, found himself in considerable danger of a se- rious fight for shouting NO petticoat government for Hamerica." Various requests were made that he "give the women a chance to talk" and matters looked stormy until he explained that he had left England on just that ar count. No local Countess of Warwick has yet appeared to champion the cause and altogether the movement. while if attracts interest by It's novelty. is not taken seriously.
 Other cities with oldest residents hoveEjng about the mere hundred mark will now have to make way for Fa- ther Knickerbocker. The city's. oldest resident counts his age not by scores of years. but by hundreds. While the date of his birth is naturally shroud- ed in a somewhat dim and distant past, his age, figured as closely as possible, is set at 1030 years. H. Toad Is the name of this resident whose memory, if he possesses one, goes much farther back than American history. but as might be guessed he is not a human being. but common every day toad {. Discovered by workmen engaged in blasting out rock 500 feet below the surface. he is now the most valued pos- session in the reptile house at the Zoo. Hitherto all toads discovered under similar circumstances have been dead and many of them petrihed. Indeed the present specimen when the blast first laid open his bed of centuries, seemed to be devoid of life. On being brought to the zoon from the rock chamber in which he had so long slumbered, he was not only blind and of a dull grey color, but also refused to eat During the first days of his return to earth the ancient toad lived in a jar filled with oxygen. Gradually. however, his eye- sight returned, together with his ap- petite and his color became normal once more. After his sleep of centur- les this oldest knt wn living creature on earth is calmly devouring flies and incidentally attracting much attenti ,u at the Zoo without showing any sign or his enormous and surprising age
 Follow the crowds 70 the Theatorl- um, where you will enjoy yOurneIf