The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-13
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NEWS OF THE DAY
IN SOCIETY WORLD
A Southern Homestead Typi-
cal of Ante Bellum Days
NOTES HERE AND THERE
Mrs. White 10 Be Hostess Mt Luncheon.
Allen School Girls Give Scholar
ship-Announcements
sonaI Mention
NOTES HERE AND THERE
BY MYRTLE MILES


How often in these days of city life. city
extravagances and city prices one hears
the idea advanced that things are not
what they used to be in the old days,
when the doors of the homes were thrown
wide open all the time and inside was
a gracious hospitality. such as the world
has seldom seen. OF course the things
our mothers tell us of the old days be-
fore the war We're all true The house,
holders of the old south kept open house.
They raised on their plantations every
thing to eat and they had servants ga
lore to serve their guests. TO many this
is thing of the past, but not in every
case, for some of those hospitable old
homes of south Alabama are still held
with the key on the outside and while
they have been modernzed in many ways
and are cared for by the posterity of some
of the good Old slave owners, the same
customs prevail and the same sort of
happy, easy living is INDUCED in. An
ideal home of this kind was visited re-
Gently by Birmingham woman. 1t is
the home of Mrs Myrtle Barnes, the
widow of the late Henry Barnes. The
plantations which are owned and oper-
ated by this delightful woman was the
property of her forebears, she having
been born on the farm upon which stands
her present dwelling. The house which
she occupies is modern. as houses are
in the city. The place is IA miles from
Montgomery, and in the heart of the cot
ton belt of that district. The south Ala
hama women of ante bellum days were
ideal home makers, and the women of the
present time have inherited the ideas OF
hospitality that prevailed in the days of
slavery Nowhere will one find more
hospitable or charming home life than
in Montgomery. the city where so many
OF the representatives of the old south
still remain. The Barnes home is sit
uated so that access to the city in an
automobile is a matter of only few
minutes, and its owner has two splendid
cars, one of which is seen on the streets
of Montgomery nearly every day. for she
can go to the lardresser or to the mar
kets and drive back to her home in a
short time
After leaving the main road
quiet ride of two or three miles that
is like some of the beautiful driveways
on the Bitmore estate. Art has done
nothing for it except to make 1t level
but the grand old pine trees and the
sweet honeysuckle were a gift of ma
ture Here and there are a few acres
cleared off and planted in cotton, but the
farmer, as il ashamed of molesting ma
ture so beautiful. has INDUCED himself to
but few patches on the driveway, but
preferred to go further away for his cot
ton and wheat and pasture. where the
foot of the automobile would not disturb
the even tenor of his way. Mrs. Barnes
hcme has at all times some flower to
delight its owner and the visitor there,
for she watches the seasons and when
time for the violets to bloom there are
acres of them and the pretty rooms are
always filed. When the season for the
bulbs there is no end to the quantity
or variety of them. There are beds of
pinl. hyacinths, hard by a bed of in
conceivable size of white ones. and bor-
ders and beds of yellow ones. Indeed
everything of the bulb variety, while in
side the house, or in the conservatory,
ones, white ones, veing with each other
in their efforts to look beautiful. Dur
ing recent spend-the-day party at this
lovely retreat the flower was the lilac.
Evidently purple is Mrs. Barnes favor
lite shade, for although there were others.
the purple predominated. A hedge on
one side of the entrance makes fence
OF almost trees, they have grown there
for so many years. On this occasion
they were a mass of the different shades
of lavendar and lilac Inside the house
there was a jardiniere as large as a
bushel basket of them scattering their
fragrance and giving their beauty in a
way so gladstone that they seemed to
say Here we are, with our arms out
stretched, to give you welcome. We have
bloomed Just for you more beautiful than
ever before and more sweet" Beneath
some of the family portraits there sat
another bowl of them and encircling the
beautiful porch were palms, ferns and