The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-24

Birmingham feels a distinct pride in
Miss Ethel Armes, the clever and bril-
liant young woman who has put the his.
tory of Alabama into the most readable
&c I'm in her STORY of Coal and Iron"
1t was a very difficult subject to tackle,
SO wide, SO comprehensive, so immense,
yet this clever writer has handled the
subject in the most extraordinary manner,
uniting with the bare, bold facts of its
progress a personal touch and an artis-
tic cJarm that makes the book highly in
teresting and desirable.
1t was on the strength of 1.-THE Story of
Coal and Iron" and another of her books,
midsummer in Winters Country"
that Miss Armes was recently made a
member of the Boston Authors club, to
which all the big guns like William Dean
Howells, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, George
Barr McCutcheon and the rest belong.
Miss Armes Is said to be the only south
ern writer ever admitted with the ex-
ccption of a Kentuckian, and the first
woman from the state of Alabama ever
entered.
Having just finished reading 1.-The Story
of Coal and Iron," 1 became greatly In
tcrested to know why and "how" Miss
Armes happened to write the book, and
accordingly said to her a few days since:
Goal and iron affairs are so distinctly
n mans business, I've wondered over and
over how a woman could get interested in
such things. How did you happen to start
the book in the first placer
well, it s rather long story one thing
leading to another" she replied. ITO be-
gin with, perhaps the main reason was
that it hadn't been done before here or
in any state as far as l knew. And you
know how one Is forever looking out for
something new! This was new. The do
ing it made me feel as l imagine the early
explorers felt. 1t was striking out into
unknown country indeed, and there were
surprises every day. I'm afraid I made
what the men call feminine calculations
for. at any rate, they all turned out
wrong! For instance, the time 1t would
take and all the counties and people con-
ccrned. and the expenses involved. Yes,
hard schooling!
What l thought was a little hill to
Climb turned out to be Matterhorn! But
it was interesting to look down and see
living and moving all the men who
that the history of Alabama Is a wonder
full thing"
Yes" | agreed, "but its lights are hid
den under many bushels"
THAT is because the writer's of the state
are seldom given a chance or opportunity
TO resurrect these lights" said Miss
Armies. 1.-The scholars of Alabama know
and understand where the stars sleep.
Their day for expression will come yet.
Then everybody will not keep saying,
Why history is so dry!
"One of my committee members used to
tell ME to stop making the coal and iron
book interesting. He said If I did not
make 1t dry nobody would believe 1t was
history. So there you are! The dread
fear lest it would be dry was my one
great bugabear from the start
But the material and all the facts and
things-weren't they kind Of dry?" I
asked.
"Of course from your and my stand
point said Miss Armes. so for that
reason / tried to also get the masculine
viewpoint, and sort of combine the two
desired to keep fast hold of every
spark of romance that kndled the path
ahead Of me, and make a book that
not only men would read, but women also,