The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-28
NEWS OF THE DAY IN SOCIETY WORLD s'The Plantation Typical
 Country Home THE UNIVERSITY CLUB Will Be Opened With Pomp and Cere- mony-Luncheons and Dinner
 Parties Yesterday-Topics
 of Social Interest
THE UNIVERSITY CLUB
Nv MYRTLE MILES

Happy is the man of business who can steal away for a week or two now and then with a. congenial party and assume the role of host in some deserted country mansion, where with his friends he may revel in the disheveled beauty of rural simplicity Such a one is MT. Thomas Tate Ashford, who has given house par ties time and again a 'The Plantation" one of the handsomest country homes in Alabama. Last summer MT. Ashford and his daughter, Mrs. R. c. Munger, enter tained at weekend parties and those of several weeks duration throughout the season. There were many diversions arr ranged for their guests-at least the pleasures were ready-made, for few places have so many natural advantages as The Plantation. Horseback riding, driving. fishing, bathing, dancing, barbe- cues and squirrel stews fill the pro- eramme from early morning until the small hours of the next.
 "The Plantation" is one of the few very old homes remaining in the Tennessee valley It has been preserved in its orig inal type of ante-bellum beauty and re- stored ID SDltHuiu Oiutl ny AAo piNSOiAA owner, so that although left to the care of servants half of the year 1t stands as a splendid monument to the departed glory of the old south. In summer it is used as a summer resort and then is a scene of continuous merriment. In win ter it becomes a shooting lodge, and those who enjoy the quail and duck shooting which Its private waters and broad acres afford are fortunate indeed. This beautiful old home, with the Ten nessee basin standing upon a command ing hill and surrounded by several thou sand acres of corn and cotton, dotted here and there by pastures on which grazing herds enjoy the bounty of na- ture's yield, is rich in memories of that golden age of southern history when the slave owners of Dixie dispensed open handed hospitality to every conner. Typ ical of the colonial period, the broad ex- panse of veranda, ending in great col unnns and approached by an ample drive, its very appearance is an invitation. MT. and Mrs. Ashford and their daughter are charming hosts and life at The Planta ton Is a joyous thing for their guests. They will probably not go this year until the first of July, when they will have several guests with them.
 Social conditions have so changed in the south and the old families have beer go broken up that in most communities continuous residence on a plantation i. unendurabe For this reason the Ash ford's mode of enjoying their country
 +l city life so great a part of the season Of the perfection of hospitality which the beautiful old home offers, no more gen. uine an expression could be had than these lines, written by a departing guest: The Triggers" nowhere seem "so white," As on ''Tbe Plantation"
 The fish are always right in sight,
 On "The Plantation.'
 The squirrels find nowhere nuts so sweet, And nowhere can it's "host" be beat, Here smiles" and guests seem oft to
 meet,
 On The Plantation"
 There is nowhere place so fair
 As The Plantation
 So full of song, so free of care,
 As The Plantation"
 And I believe that happy land, The Lord prepared for mortal man, Is built exactly on the plan
 Of "The Plantation