The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-13
From the Louisville Courier-Journal.

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
 n LORIDA being the Riviera of the
 r United States, Palm Beach must
 | be the Monte Carlo of Florida. Miami might be called its Mentone or Nice. The sports, for the most part, go down the west coast, where there is yet plenty of good hunting and fishing, the swells down the east coast. where such as it is. there is "sassiety'' to burn.
 Already between St. Augustine and Key West, as between Marseilles and Ge- noa, there are many fashionable way sta tions. Some are big and some are little. to suit the purse and fancy of the tourist who pays his money and may take his choice. The mountains of the south of France are wanting to the scene, and the Atlantic ocean is hardly so divinely azure as the Mediterranean sea, but Florida is not without its distinguishing character istics and Lake Worth and Biscayne bay make some compensation for the loss of the Alps Maratimes.
 After all, what does it matter? Life is life everywhere and anywhere-as the philosopher takes the trouble to make 1t from the usual one thing after another to the romance found in the giddy mazes of the dance; in yachting, feasting and cards; in speeding, flirting and swindling, not to say highway robbery; for in every well regulated social fabric which is rich enough to indulge the more expensive amusements, crime marches in the pro- cession and the sharper goes hand in hand
 with the dandy and the siren; Deuceace playing his familiar game; Cartouche masouerading as a nobleman; all the characters of Vanity fair up to their
 tricks of trade; the. match making old
 women forming a background for the
 tricky and dowdy girls. the clever adven-
 turesses putting this and that together for the inevitable frame-up.
 Balzac and Thackeray lived century too soon to skim the cream right off the top of the jar. They had to wander about London and Paris-often to consult their inner consciousness-for their he- roes and williams. They wasted time chas- ing rainbows and got kodak impressions out of doors. but half open and windows mostly closed.
 Not go with our modern world of fash ion It has annihilated time and space and concentrated its possibilities, yield ing itself with little reserve to the whims of the satirist, lending itself to the uses l of the fiction monger and even contribut- ! ing it's secrets to help him tell his story. The novel writer indeed had has his day.
 It is the day of the newspaper reporter now.
 l Palm Beach appears to be at this mo- | ment in the throes of a sensation, which | leaves the space writer nothing to desire. Since it's leading actor had his origination | in Texas his exploitation recalls the liter I ary methods of the late O. Henry. But | O. Henry scarcely ventured upon an inn position upon the credulity of his readers
 at once so elaborate and far-fetched; mol | even in that wonderful bit which tells ol the cowboy, who having killed man al the gaming table in San Antonio. escapes to South America and successfully imper' sonates the lost heir of rich old DOT and his wife, who as the pop-lash at tht end relates, were the actual father ane
 mother of the man he murdered.