The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-23

They have established another hall of fame in New York; but it is for words, not for men, as witness the following press dispatch:
 "A contest to decide the 25 most beau stiful words in the English language, con- ducted by the West Fifty-seventh street won by John Shea, lawyer, of 416 Broadway. The prize was a flexible leath- CT standard students dictionary. Twen- ty-one of the p words submitted by MT. Shea were accepted.
 'srhe words accepted are melody, splen- dor, adoration, eloquence, virtue, inno- cence, modesty. faith, joy, honor, rad. lance. nobility, sympathy. heaven, love, divine. hope harmony, happiness, pu rity and iyiberty. Three of the words re- jected were grace, justice and truth
 The rules pertaining to the rivalry are not given, and one is left to conjecture whether the words should be considered only for excellence in matters of cadence, rhythm, euphony; and from such stand- point those selected are doubtless as good as any, but if sentiment. emotion and susceptibility are employed In the
  over justice, melody over truth, radiance over duty?
 Justice embraces all the virtues, lack ing none Without it the universe would be chaos. It is the basic principle of all moral existence, and here I have oppor- tunity to incorporate my favorite prose quotation from an eminent clergyman from the Anglican church. that I am , glad memorized it the first time l ever read it more than 40 years ago, and I hope every youth who reads this letter will do likewise. I quote from memory, a deplorable babit I long ago dropped into:
 Truth is its handmaid; freedom is it's child; peace is it's companion; safety walks in it's steps; victory follows in its train; it is the brightest emanation of the gospel, it is the greatest attribute of God. It is the center around which human pas sions and interests turn, and justice, sitting on high, sees genius, power. wealth and birth revolve around her throne, and marks out their orbits and teaches their path, and rules with a strong hand and warns with @ loud voice, and carries or Ger and discipline into world which but for her would be wild waste of pas sions"
 With justice enthroned. no state should perish. It was not the snows of Russia, nor .the coalitions of northern Europe, not the English navy. that overcame Ma poleon the Great. It was his disregard and contempt or justice He was liar and a robber, and hence God smote him. Fortune forsoolz him. Even victory in her chariot fought against him.
 But if this battle of the words is based on mere rhythm, the thing becomes triv- ial, puerie and of very small moment. Our language has thousands of words just as euphonious as those chosen It is matter of dainty taste thing of squeam- ish opinion. When 1t comes to rhythmic beauty, the Indian names of the geo. graphical nomenclature Of the State of Mississippi will beat the entire English dictionary out of sight.
 Parliamentary reform in the American House of Representatives will "be tried on the democratic dog" as the theatre folks would say Power is to be distrib- uted. and instead of single czar, as the speaker has been for 42 years there are to be some dozen >or more cxars nomi- f