The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-27
FOXY GRANDPA" AGAIN HAS.
 ATTACK OF WANDERLUST
amou Bohemian Spirit Has Spent Weeks in Birmingham and Likes the Town, But Cannot Resist the Impulse to
 Seek New Adventures
Seek New Adventures
Ky RALPH R. SILVER

Foxy Grandpa" son of the Earth and brother of Man. maketh preparation to shake from off his feet the dust of Br- mingham.
 Not that Foxy feels amiss with any thing pertaining to or part of the great metropolis of the south. He merely feels again the stir in his blood of the wan derlust and his eye scans the outline of the far-away horizon in search of pas lures new.
 Foxy came into Birmingham. some sesN eral weeks ago without the blare of trum- pets or announcement ostentatious. He would have been leaving now the same way but for an accidental meeting with a newspaper man whose immortal frame has been put together with about the same kinks as Foxys but who lacks the moral courage. which Foxy has, to cast discretion to the winds and roam the highways in peace and plenty instead of wallowng always in a rut with toll and trouble. Thus made akin by instinct, Foxy to his brother assumed all the halo that must surround the soul at peace within itself and with the world; and nothing hallowed to a newspaper man can long remain out of print
 Foxy came to Birmingham from no- where in particular and when he takes his leave he will be bound for about the same place The world reckons not his coming or his going and thus left to his own sweet self Foxy pursues the even tenor of his way feeling only in his heart contrition for his brother men toiling, toling, toiling in the grind.
 When Foxy first arrived upon the sur face of this earthly sphere a brace of parents called the swaddling infant by la of C,,,ff Tl,af pened May 2, 56 years ago, and Foxy came to Birmingham mainly to celebrate his birthday, not that he was born here but that he just likes to be in a good old town whenever the annual anniver sary of his nativity comes around He was here 15 years ago He's coming back But before. long before, another 15 years have rolled away. Foxy likes the town and there's nothing in his political plat form or his religious creed that will keep him away from anything he likes in this world or (so he says) in the next.
 Foxys father was a lumberman and Foxy, a side line, is a musician. Foxy says the two won't mix at least they didn't in his experience. His father tried to make out of him a lumberman and at one time kidnapped him and set him down in the midst of a great lumber camp in the wilds of Oregon, there to cut down trees or whistle. Foxy whis-
 
 25 miles to hear a cornet solo, finally smuggling an instrument into the camp and every evening after work he made a practice of going deep into the forest, where his fellow wood-choppers could not find him. and there woo the Muse with only the silent and respectful for est trees to witness.
 Foxy states that his father finally re- tented and sent him to the Michigan Con- servatory of Music, where he studied harmony. giving especial attention 10 the cornet and violin, Whether or not Foxy's story will fall on unbeleving ears mat ters not he carries his proofs with him and it is only necessary to hear him play on either instrument. Foxy came to Birmingham about the same time that Carl Raymond the wonder pianist and pipe organ player and graduate of Leip- sic university, Germany, was found up against it and living in the armory at the city hall. Foxy Grandpa and Old Man Raymond. kindred spirits as they were, became buddies on the instant and for many weeks slept on the same wrest- ling mat in the city hall gymnasium Foxy now has heard the call of the wan derlust and parting between the two ex- ponents of Bohemia is approaching
 Foxy has travelled all over the North American continent, in 37 states, in Can ada, Cuba and Mexico. He spent con siderable time in the bull fighting repub- lie across the Rio Grande. when old P. Diaz was in full power and the stories he relates of experiences there are gems of untold price.
 Foxy was born in Indiana. close to Fort Wayne. but it wasn't his fault. He says if he had had anything to do with it