The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-09

1 in the room. Lunches may be eaten there and Ice water is furnished.
 Stenographers and clerks go up at their luncheon hour instead of walking | home and back again. In this way they | can have almost a full hour to eat lunch read and rest, where if they
 walked home they would have only a short time for rest. Ladies who go to Tuscaloosa for a days shopping and V ives of farmers who carry produce the re may leave their children with the maid and are free for the day, or they may rest there with their children, have their lunch read a new magazine | or visit there with friends.
 | One of the members of the society | stopped there one afternoon to find the maid in attendance upon lady who wac sick. She had spent the morning at the dentists where she had had an unusual amount of work done. She was asmost hysterical from the suffering | ard nervous strain she had undergone | and she had her baby With her. Wait ling at the station or driving home in | q car was out of the question when | she felt as she did. Had she gone to a Eo.el she would have been without an attendant and would have had the care of her little child. Tn the rest room she might remain undisturbed the re- rain1er of the day with the maid to trke care of her and to relieve her of the responsibility of the baby.
 At recent meeting of the society held in this room a lawyer whose of flee Is in the building, went In to tell the ladies that he wanted them to
 know how great boon this rest room Is to the many visitors who go there and how great difference 1t made Tn
 the comfort of those who are in town
 for a day; and a stenographer in the
 courthouse spoke of the same thing and
 told them of seeing three babies in the room at a time. The little while beds are very much appreciated and many sleepy child has rested there.
 Cherokee Fairgrounds
 Just now the improvement society hos in view a playground for children. On Thirteenth street and Queen City avenue. The Boy Scouts are entering into the work of clearing the grounds.
 making baseball diamond and build ing a rustic bridge across ditch which divides the grounds. foun' tain and a gold fish tank will be built and there will be a sand pile and wading pool The pool will be filled with running water and will have ce- n. .ant sides and bottom. Seats, swings and small pavilion will be built The ground is owned by the Nande- Graaffs, who have given the use Of II for an indefinite period and it will he called the Cherokee playground for their only daughter, Miss Cherokee
 VandeGraaff In connection with that name is a pretty story that is recalled
 ,y the naming of the playground.
 The Cherokee. or the "Tsalokee" In-
 dians came to Alabama from Tennessee
 early in the eighteenth century and set
 tied in the northern part of the state
 They were a comparatively peaceable reo-
 IL. at. xtfi
 neighboring tribe of Choctaws. Among the
 first white people to settle near them
 were the Taylors of Mobile, who were the great grandparents of Mrs VandeGraaff
 They were quite near the Cherokees and
 during sickness in the family of the
 Cherokee chief, Mrs. Taylor helped in every way possible. The chief was deep-
 ly grateful to the white people who had
 shown this kindness. Finally he was en- abled to give proof of his gdatitude. The
 Choctaws planned and peipetrated a mas sacre of all whites who were friendly to-
 ward the Cherokees. The Cherokee chief took MT. and Mrs Taylor and their little daughter into his wigwam and protected
 them while hundreds of other whites
 were killed Payment was offered by the Taylors for this protection. but the chief refused money He made one request and
 that was that their little girl should be
 named for one of his children. She had already been named Eliza and Mrs. Fay
 Tor could not give her consent to change the name with which she had been chris
 tened. Another daughter was born and she named Cherokee for the chiefs daughter and for his tribe. This daugh- ter, Cherokee Taylor. was Mrs Jemison. For four generations the name has been used, the four being Mrs. Jemison. Mrs. Hargrove, Mrs. yandeGraaff, and Miss Cherokee vandeGraaf. for whom the playground Is named This name is doubly applicable in Tuscaloosa for Chero- kee plantation, beyond Northport, and be- longing to Mrs. VandeGraaff is a well known estate, the finest boat plying the Warrior before the war vas the Chero- kee, and the Cherokee rose blooms in profusion in Tuscaloosa.
 The story adds charm to the place which bears this name and Cherokee play ground will be still another attractive feature of the work of those ladies whose efforts in civic improvement have re- suited in so much comfort, pleasure and beauty.