Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-05-23
For Three Hours Long Line
Moves Through Birmingham
Streets, Viewed by Thou
sands of Wildly Cheering
Spectators
BY ROGERS WINTER.
(JOurnal StafT Correspondent.

BIRMINGHAM. Ala, May lS.-
Tonight a gray-haired man sat down
across the table from me in a res
taLrant. His eyes were gray like his
hair, and they were shining with a
bright light. and his rudy cheeks
were all in a glow.
Some parade" | remarked, by
way of starting a conversation and
at the same time vOicing the thought
that was uppermost in my mind.
You bet your life it was said
the gray-haired man. I'm not a
Confederate veteran, but I'm the son
of a veteran. and | live in Pennsyl-
yania. Twenty years ago L went
from my home in Kentucky to Phil
adelphia and have lived there since.
When this reunion came on l decided
that | needed a vacation and i came
here to Birmingham to see the old
veterans. I've seen lots of parades
by veterans of the Grand Army OF
the Republic. I've seen as many as
$4,000 of them in line. But do you
know what's a fact don't believe
I ever saw a single parade of the
G.. A. r. when a person cheered or
clapped their hands. The people
inst stand in line on the streets and
watch the Union veterans march by,
and they march in perfect order, Ike
soldiers drilling, and it all moves
like clockwork. Cold? Say, brother,
Won don't know how cold it is unless
vnu'ye seen some of those parades,
and then seen the one today by con-
trast. | came to Birmingham to see
the old veterans march and hear the
hands play Dixie and hear the peo-
nile cheer, and l sure found what L
was looking for. And now I'm going
down to this motion picture theater
to see The Birth of a Nation -
southern STYLE. You know they
showed il in Philadelphia, but the
censors cut all the f1re out.
HE SAW 1T, NO DOUBT,
AND so DID BOY SCOUT.
I don't know whether the hentucky
man from Philadelphia saw THE Birth
OF a Nation" though 1 reckon ne
wouldn't have missed it. feeling as ne
did. but 1 know one person VINO ala see
n because he was just from there when
7 saw. him. and he was still hoarse from
yelling. an
He was a Boy Scout-one of the 4OO
scouts of Birmingham whove been look
inc after the veterans during the re-
union The little fellow was standing
on the corner waiting for car to take
him TO scout headquarters, where the
scouts sleep every night. His uniform
was wet and muddy from the rain, ana
he was so tired that he sat down on
the curb to rest, but his little scout
shield was shining on his breast, and by
the light of the electric light L could
read the two words stamped on the
shield:
ION Duty"
The scout. as l say, was just from
The Birth of a Nation ana ne was al
wrought up.
'sThey put me in the theater to usher"
said the scout, "but you know l couldn't
usher when that picture started. just
found me a seat in a corner and stayed
there and watched that picture. L hol-
Tered so much that I'm hoarse. They re
going to give us scouts a banquet at the
Tutwiler-did you know it?"
1t would take a man capable of sure
enough fine writing to describe that pa
rade today, and for that reason the
writer of this story is not going to try
to describe il. but is simply going to
write down a few of the innumerable i'm
pressions he got from it, and try his
hest to express some of the things he
felt when he watched the veterans
march. If he fails to express his feel
ings it will be for the reason that this
parade today gave a man the sort OF
feelings that are mighty hard to ex-
press. As a matter of fact, there are
just two proper ways to express them.
One is when a mans eyes get misty and
blurred, and the other is when he yells.
And of that sort of expression l GER
tainly did treat myself to a plenty.
URCHINs CHASING CANDY
CLEAR WAY FOR PARADE.
About half an hour before the parade
started a big automobile truck loaded
with candy done up i'm little bags came
down the line of march, and men on
the truck were throwing the candy to
the crowds along the sidewalks. The
truck was running pretty fast, and run
ming after it were about a million urch-
ins-more or less. There were so many
that / don't see where they got any
urchins for boy scout duty, or any for
the school boy division of the parade.
Sherman may have run over Georgia
with somewhat more disregard for life
and limb than the urchins ran over the
line of march. but it's doubtful. They
certainly cleared the way for the parade.
Inere WASN'T a tnlnS leII Dul the DdTS
pavement when they passed.
The Associated Press man sent here
to write the reunion has a room in the
Motion hotel right over the place where
General Young and his stan backed
their horses up to the curb to review the
parade, and 1 was lucky enough to get
a place in his room, which was like hav-
ing a grandstand seat. For about three
hours we were there, putting pillows
down by the windows to kneel on, our
elbows on the window stills, watching
the parade go by, and watching General
Young as he reviewed his old comrades.
Right across the street were a lot of
children. packed against the ropes, with
Boy Scouts running back and forth
along the rope. holding the children
back with bamboo rods. Back of the
children rose the Birmingham Athletic
club, the Southern club. and the Y. NJ
c. A., three buildings side by side, their
windows packed with people, the veran-
das packed. the roofs chockful. To the
left OF these buildings. looking down
Twentieth street, stretched lane Of
spectators. packed against the ropes,
the Boy Scouts patrolling back and
forth, flags waving windows packed
huge Welcome" signs stretched across
the street from roof to roof
THERE GOES THE BAND;
HERE COMES THE PARADE.
From way down the street came the
strains of Dixie and the children
packed against the rope began TO sing