The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-02
W|REGRASS SECTION
 PROVES EYEOPENER
Visitor Writes Impressions of Country About Dothan
STORY OF BOY HERO
The Farmers Raise Lots of Peanuts and Houston County Promises to Become a Leader in
 Hog Raising

Dothan. November 1.-(Special )-Not all the heroes are found on the Marne, not all the brave men are following Joffre hero down here that tops all the war riors in the person of 12-year-old lad that acts as special delivery messenger for the Dothan postoffice.
 Some years ago his father died, leaving his mother with two little boys to care for and educate. This lad was given employment by the big-hearted postmas- ter and he manages to earn around $40 per month. which goes to support his
 mother and the other little one. He goes to school and at the recess and noon
 hour. when other boys are playing. he is out making delivery of his specials. The schedule of the trains arriving at Dothan makes this possible, and when the trains are late either the postmaster or some member of the office force finds time to make the deliveries for him. I asked him how he managed to make his grades, and if he did not find his work irksome. He replied. T buckle down on my studies and I make my grades each year. am proud to be able to help mamma, and I only wish that could earn more. I find the world made up of mighty kind people and am happy to live and work" thought that Henry Edmonds might get sermon out of that boy. I like his idea of "buckllng down to peaceful pursuits, and the doing of something really worth while. To my mind that boy towers over Mackensen or any of those blood-thirsty gentlemen whom a mistaken world misnames heroes. ran across Red Smith down here. He has developed into a regular barker and old fellows at the game of attract ing the attention of the public sit and watch him with wonder. He has what he calls a "chassis'' of a Cadillac and he tells the passer-by that his company shows the man who wants an auto just what he is getting by taking off every thing except the frame and engine. He has said, tstep up. gentlemen; step up, ladies. and view the only car worth and when he relaxed he could scarcely speak above a whisper. When I saw him he had just landed sale for the car he had with him and some fellow was racing around to sign up for 10 more, so 1t can be easily seen that the wire grass country is prosperous, but that its bank ing reserve Is being depleted just like 1t Is everywhere else in the south.
 Change in Feeling
 A year ago this city was in the dumps. cotton was selling around 6 to cents, seed were a drug on the market, and one of the strongest firms in this terri tory was in financial straits. and it
 looked as if the country was ruined. Now ha ofra Call f Iao1 1ad with seed, cotton is piled everywhere; Malone sits in his bank and wears suck a smile as one fancies Dr. Heflin wears when he gets out among the ladies, and the whole country is full of sunshine, prosperity and gladness. @e This country is made up of small farm CTS who mostly own their homes, and whose boys seem willing to become pro ducers instead of running off to the uni versity and becoming lawyers who pro- duce nothing but litigation. They have made fine corn crop, and l know there Is enough sorghum and ribbon cane syrup to run this country for five years. You
 can see the mills grinding in every di- rection and smell the pungent odor of the
 syrup cooking. thing that impressed
 me greatly at the Dothan fair was the
 great amount of home cured meat in
 evidence. It appears that they have hit
 upon plan of making a small home
 curing plant where the meat is perfectly cured and will keep as long as any pack ing house product of Chicago. The hams look very much like the famous Tennes- see product that one eats up at Decherd, Tenn.
 But the yhave not prepared for the boil weevil as they should; they are way wonder short on cattle and have very few pure breeds. Sessions of Ozark is the only man in this territory that has any good stuff It seemed awkward to me to ride along the railways and see just a few cattle. Down in Sumter county where John Cochrane's railway runs, the cattle are so thick that the engineer often has to stop and let the fireman 'shoo'' them off the track before they can get by. The Aberdeen Angus breeds have grown so gentle that some of them rub them- selves against the cowcatcher while the fireman is getting the others off. The
 American Steel and Wire people ought to get man in this section to selling wire and getting more land in pasture. The soil produces fine variety of hay and when the boil weevil hits these peo- 1 pie real hard they will be running up to Ozark and taking some of Sessions fine cattle.
 Quantities of Peanuts
 never say such country for peanuts. They grow them everywhere and as l t,o al hi, a