The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-10

"O the thoughtful observer it vii
 readily become apparent that tc inanimate objects there belongs as much and as varied a personality as that which characterizes human beings. Riv- CTS have temperaments and water pos eesses an Individuality
 This fact was recognized as far back as the period of the patriarchs and Jacob accentuated it when In blessing Reuben he exclaimed Unstable as water thou shalt not excel" while Keats contrib , utod his attestation in the phraseolosy of his own epitaph Here lies one whose name was writ in water" Bly, ron apostrophised the ocean in immor- tai verse and the Ancient Mariners song, Water, water everywhere and not drop to drink" is a familiar quc- tation in library and nursery; legend has draped the Rhine in garnishment of romance distinctly its own and Strauss, if it be true that music is love fin search of word, has taught us all to recognize that enc word in the name Of the Danube.
 The French with their proverbial nice- ty of distinction have a different word
 
 stream, from one which cmpties itself into the sea, and it is of rivers that l purpose to speak.
 Rivers. l repeat, have temperaments peculiarly and distinctively character istic. Some are sullen, turbid and mo- rose; others laugh and leap in the sum- shine; some are silent and deep. others lifting and shallow: some slumber with the inactivity of the sloth or snail ~t...- ..tst perceptible others dash with rapidity of the gazelle or stag hound while stil others glide with current that will brook no barrier or impedment; some wind in the tortuous mazes of be- wildering labyrinth and some hurry in their journey to the sea as the arrow takes its flight or the crow wings it's way: some tumble and writhe in mighty cataracts or ebulent cascades. where they may be seen and admired ty all men, others with diffidence and seeming shyness flow in subterranean courses half of their entire length and finally lose themselves in regions beyond the ken of mortals. Some are homely and forbidding. others mediocre and others again divinely beautiful.
 Some are gentle and subservient. grinding the grain and contributing their power to human industries. while some like the leopard are beyond the tanning influence of man. defying his prowess and repe!ling his advance. Caeser thought he had accomplished such mighty deed in the bridging of the Rhine that he recorded the modus operandi in his imperishable an- naIs and the details have come down to us through nearly two decades of centuries; the Rubicon has become a uymbol for resolution and the irrevoca- fle risk, while Thus far shalt thou go and no farther" personifes the folly of pride and the inanity of greatness
 l have seen most of the mighty wa ter courses of the world from the Mis- tissippi to the Nile and from the Anna xon to the Rauma in far off Norway and among them all l can name none Possessing such thrilling beauty the daughter of the chateau district of la belle France. the pet of the gracious robles of old, the playmate of La Pu- ceile, the Maid of Orleans, the rendez- yous of royalty and the trysting place of noble. grand dame and peasant.
 With a flow as gentle as the gliding Bcnses of dream 1t slips gracefully ana glorously over it's bed, refectine the stately contour of chateau, church and castle, and mirroring sky of ce. rulean blue, fiecked with the splendors of perpetual summer.
 I spent three days motoring along it' charming banks, watching it's gimme, and shimmering in the daytime ane hardening to it's Hitting by night til the cadence of it's musical numbers lulled me to peaceful slumber. One oi those three days was the Sabbath and ' 1t seemed to me as if every farmer ir the district was garnering his grain