The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-16

gan to make things more presentable
 to public view.
 one could talk on and on of what we
 used to do in the beginning of Birming-
 ham and never tire, and how l wish
 had views of those past scenes and could compare now and then, but 1t is enough for the eye to see, and more than tongue can tell.
 In referring to the early days of Bir-
 ningham recalls the memories of Miss Mary Gordon Duffee. who a few years ago in the Birmingham Age wrote tn terestingly of the First Families of
 Jones Valley" In these stories she pie
 tured the old homesteads, the big hearts
 and strong, brave and splendid women
 vino composed the populace. They lived
 in peace. the simple life of honesty, la- bor and contentment, and extended the
 hospitality of their homes to the tray-
 cling public long before the railroads invaded their privacy. Jefferson county
 was the resting spot between the noun tains of North Alabama and the ma larial districts of South Alabama. Great
 neighborhoods of the chill and fever
 ridden districts of the black belt used to wind their way through the county roads Ielsurely by private conveyance in search of health at St. Clair
 Bailey and Blount Springs. The jour- ney was long, but taken leisurely was
 great recreation. The writer can re- call the tedious drive over the rocks beyond Powderly. The drivers called
 the ledge devils race track as we
 drove so roughly with such jolts, and then the joy Of reaching the great big
 spring at pr. Joseph R. Smiths place
 at Old Elyton. The old mill called
 Hawkins mill and where travellers al-
 ways stopped for lunch, the great tur-
 bine wheel moved slowly with a meas
 n ac frrbb n
 was being ground--is 1t wonder thas
 .he old cold nanny sang the babes to sleep with the original melody, bum, bum, bum, poor dependence" the old wheel turned so slowly.
 Roebuck Springs was another favored spot, and one can recall the moonlight nights on the camp grounds, the Cress- wells. Webbs, Colemans. Randolphs, Crawfords all had thier outings there, and through this pioneer method of travelling the county they too became aware of the resources of Jones valley, and the descendants of some of these families are among those who are lay Ing some of the cornerstones of Bir- minghams great structures, and have joined with the original property hold CTS and the new born Birmingham in making a wonderful city of today. No wonder this good woman likes to mar vel over the scenes of the past and pres ent. She has had her share in the city's enterprises, and the success of her un- dertakings has been the stimulus to other women to do things for them selves, as Mrs. Craker, who has been manager for the Craker Toilet Supply for years, and her pluck has been the means of starting other wom- | CT to successful business pursuits
 She loves Birmingham and the peo- | pie and never tires of telling of the | good deeds done one for the other when | everybody here was starting to build | the wonderful city of the south-cer- tainly as she sits in a window in the | modern structure, she ses much that | causes her to marvel over what has been done. and speculating on what the fu- ture has in store. The founders or | listened to the wisdom of + Abraham Lincoln when. he said:
 Property is the fruit of labor: prop H erty is desirable, is q positive good In H Inc world. That some should be rich H 'hows that others may become rich, and II lence is just encoura cement to indus Il ny and enterprise. Let him not who II $ homeless pull down the house of H but let him work diligently lnd build one for himself. thus by ex-