The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10


 rain and snow and no cyclone can blow
 it away It is more fireproof than the
 most modern fireproof skyscraper, and
 Charley does not have to carry fire in
 surance. The wild things are hls only
 neighbors and do not bother him; in fact,
 they keep him company and he loves them. A more magnificent view of river
 and mountain scenery cannot be had from
 the veranda of any million dollar hotel
 in the south or west than he gets from
 his front door,
 Charley is strangely happy, healthy
 and contented. On account of his strange
 habitation he is sometimes called a
 hermit, but he is a hermit only in
 name, for he Is no recluse, haunting the
 walks of man daily. He also has a
 family. his dog Bounce and his faithful old tomcat Tom. He has inherited rich legacy from nature both in abode and disposition.
 The home of this modern cave dweller sits we'll down toward the foot of the bluff and is about 16 feet square It is reached by winding path leading up from the river, well worny by several years of travel. The floor of the house l is carpeted with pure. glistenins white sand which has crumbled and leached during the past ages from the walls and roof The walls and the ceiling of his | one room residence are of the same material and 1t looks as though 1t had been cut out of one immense lump of
 powdered sugar. A cook stove, a make al Ia oln ax.A n-s t1- the place of the stone house furnishings l used by the original stone age man. With these house furnishings he lives the prim- itive simple life. The cave mans dwelling Is no place for a lazy man to live. There Is no over. sleeping there. At the break of day he is awakened by thousand noises for other things live on the bluff with him. Wild things. and wild things never oversleep He is aroused from his slumbers by the cry of the kingfisher. who is his next door neighbor. living fin a hole in the bluff, and who goes shrieking down the river in search of his breakfast at some shallow shoal, He dresses to the music of the woodthrush and the redibrd and eats breakfast amid tho ncisy chatterine of the squirrel. The White river stretches away like a blue nbbon in the dis tance and tho mountains of Stone county rise in majestic beauty through a hasy blue all in harmony with the primitive spirit of the cave man. He asks no odds he owes no man.
 The cave man Is pessimist in winter and late autumn and an optomist ir spring and summer. on account of hie occupations. In the winter and late autumn. with axe strapped across his pack and crosscut saw under his arm, he invades the woodlands near the town and supports himself and hie faithful family by furnishing the town families with red oak cool wood and black jack ior their heaters. When the hot days ot sune arrive he takes his boat and shell tonee ana woos fortune in the depths of Mee nver hunting. pearls. He be- ccmes persistant worshipper at the shrine of the ooddess Of luck' r.ch m. opened shell ratses his hopes ia thei, highest stage. His optimism never fsdes or wanes. The unopened shells make nim living and he 10 lured on in hie occupation by the constant knowiedr~ that there is chance that the next one he opens may containa . fortune. If Charles Colo, the origfnai cave n, n of the Csarke, had been living during the stone age he would have occupied a posi- ton high in the annals uf the tribes, for. besides being a cave dweller, he fs a maj of education. He fs . nAtural student of nature and something of . philosopher. Underneath hia uncouth apparel there ia mark of rokinement that points stronxiy to good breeding ana careful rearinr. He Is reader of a1l kinds of good liter ature, including the daily papers He hae won respect in the community by his honesty and hard working qualities. He has no known relatives.