The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-29

l support of the charity organizations of
 this couRly and speak in their behalf until | the appropriations are doubled, or | trebled?
 | How many cents day, for instance, | are appropriated for the board and keep | of the children at the Catholic orphanage at East Lake? All of these things are sad reflections
 upon this county and this town. Here gre some few earnest men and women giving their time, service, individual in- cones for Gods work, carrying all the | burden for the rest of us. | Instead of Birmingham and the county
 being cajoled Into doing what ought to
 be done, they ought rather to be thrasbed
 into it. Gush. fiattery, lies, in the family or out of the family, are unhealthy ar 1 tces.
 All the so-called .ttrade" against the
 county 'n the Survey magazine Is borne
 up by the cold blooded facts on the
 ground.
 Individuals were not aimed at; person. alities were not indulged in. When the "natiye clement" is spoken of it does not mean any particulars. MT. or Mrs | So and So it means the old narrow, ig- | norant prejudiced element in every coun- ty in Alabama (and in other states as | HelD. that must be educated, that must
 be eliminated before we can be equipped I ties for progress.
 As for genealogies? The societies of
 the Colonial Danes, the Daughters of the l American Revolution, the United Daugh- ters of the Confederacy-all the various | patriotic societies and organizations of | this state ara of all the states, have cer- 1 tainly a distinctive and most important 1 mission: the preservation of our histori- | cal data. Hardly any study is so inter-
 osting as geneaology, scientifically con- ducted Inasmuch as these societies will
 make for his end, and for democracy,
 they should b0 and are commended. h. 1 asmuch as they make for snobbshness, | for false ideas, fake valuations and hy-
 poorisy, why should they not be con- | 6emned?
 1 Why should anything be .un-American | in America?
 1 All this family business counts only in 1 one thing: What is the man today? | If his father knew how to read and write before him 1t is well. If he has to
 learn these things. and all that they im- ply, for himself. then so much the bet ! ter. He deserves five times the credit, 1 At any rate it will never hurt him
 for his souls sake-to face facts, to see | things precisely as they are. | One more word At the risk of being, I
 fear, little personall But I cannot help mel It is too sub | limel In the last sentence of the ladys letter there is yelled threat: T could
 make some skeletons walk" etc., she
 saysl
 The yelled threat sent me immediately
 to interview my family skeletons, just to
 see how they felt about It.
 They were all slumberlng so peacefully, | locked in so securely, it seemed pity | to disturb them. | cald family glxalp- tons, a ladys after you. She is going | to make you walk She Is going to put | you in the paper" | "Will-will the paper really print us?"
 they asked
 Ut certainly will" I said. | They shuddered. "But-but we aren't | fit for publication"
 "I know that" said l. "as well as you dol You are dreadful, unspeakable heroic darlings But she's going to get you | Just the same. She wants 10 scandalze me, and you-you can do 1t! She knows | you canl"
 How did she find out all about it?"
 said three in a breath. "Who told her?' questioned six "Oh. It will be the talk of the townl' the other seven cried. People will forget
 all about the Survey. But why is she l after us?"
 Well" I explained, you see she is a. | lady, and her mother was lady. She wants to prove it." falI They were puzzled plainly. But, why should she--"'they gasped l fairly. | That is perfectly all right, skeletons" I replied. Ut is feminine logic, true Jef-
 ferson county spirit And this is free country"
 They began to wiggle. The youngest one | tried to fly right out of the windowl Their eagerness hurt me. Ut is the busi-
 ness of private skeletons" T said se- verely, Ito stay locked up at home. It | isn't quite well bred to run outdoors. | don't mind your, walking up and down I St. Charles street and over in Gleno Iris, | for little air but my dears, to go all the way downtown--do you really think | you skeletons ought to go-all-the-way--- | dcwntown?"
 Why not?" they asked It was subtle question! 1 For solution 1t is most respectfully
 referred to the lady, the author of the yelled threat.
 And now. just one more word-my last | word,
 l Personal again, | Since my own identity is questioned, whence came and whither I shall go,' | q, too. wonder, whitherD
 l am of Olympian stock, pure and sim