The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-19
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS


 sake
 There was dear pr. Finder. the dean of the bunch, as noble a Roman as ever plunged into the Tiber at the heels of a Caesar. Doe" only knows duty. Just let child cry and hc Is willing to lay down his glasses and l go to its rescue.
 I don't want to fail to throw a bou- quet> at c. c. Fleming otherwise and much better known as "Charlie's Transfer" for his get-up was a scream, and by the way, if young or old are in need he is always ready any time during the day or night to hitch up team and go to their rescue.
 If had the giving out of blue rlo- 1 bons I would certainly pin one on w. | o. Broy1es, for untiring activity in crying his wares, covering territory and climbing on cars and stopping jit- neys and otherwise interfering with traffic He carried his business motto
 
 polite newsy.
 Then there was good old Jake Bur ger. He looked a fright, or rather sight in his outlandish makeup, but Jake belongs to that accomm odating class that Is always ready to stand on its head if by so doing it can. re- | child.
 My good friend R. A. Brown, moro generally recognized as Buster Brown" was high up in the class as newsboy who never overlooked possible customer. If you gave him dollar for an Age-Herald be kept the change as he seemed to feel that all was flair and square" when it came to holding up tightwads for helpless infants.
 Did you see John Shelby? I thought the average newsboy had a vivid i'm agination in crying out the startling news supposed to be in the paper, but
 
 turesque and misleading. He was cry ing through a megaphone that Pratt City was dry and East Lake was wet and that the Kaiser was crazy, for he had substituted "Peruna" for sauer- kraut and that the Germans were go- ing to depose him.
 a " Father Spark man. His gray hair did not chime very well with his cherubic face and short pants. but what cared the president of the Furniture Deal- | CTS association, so long as he could make the beds easier for the little | ones, and so he was as busy as bee 1 from morning until night
 Jere Gwin, the man who hates cat tie tick agitator like the devil hates holy water, but who in spite of I l physique that prize eskhter might well envy, turned boy again and did his bit for the little ones whom the Jaw made him turn his back upon as president of the board of revenue.
 Some folks say that clothes do not | make the man. but they certainly | change his appearance, for anyone who has ever seen w. T. Parker, the auc- tioneer. ride through the streets in | his full lodge regalia and who looked | on him in his newsboy's outfit had ] i, hard time to realize that they were | one and the same. but what cared hc 1 so long as he could auction off pa pers at hundred dollars or more and | help swell the offering to the needy | institutions.
 T. J. Crittenden deserves praise not only for his ceaseless work on the streets i as a newsie, but for hours spent in com | mittee work getting things in shape He | was willing to wear out his lungs and | and smoother for the little tired feet of the children to walk in.
 My friend Greene of the Greene Drug | company was the best dressed newsy | on the streets, but he should have been fined for wearing silk stockings. He | looked too clean and well cared for | for a newsboy, but Ills forgive him, as know he is always ready to do his part in caring for those who have no one to | care for them.
 l think all the town will agree with me | that my nephew, J. Mercer Barnett who was made up as big Indian chief and rode through the streets on horseback. | was the most ferocious newsy at large do not blame people for emptying their | pockets when he held them up, for he had the look of one who would toma- hawk skinflint and give his scalp to motherless children for a plaything.
 The newsboys were fortunate in hav- ing two Uncle Sans. T. H. Motion and M. P Messer looked and acted well the parts to the delight of the children AS they passed in the parade everybody took off their hats to Uncle Sam.
 I can't remember all the freaks in the newsy side show. and as l didn't take notes. I have just jotted down the ones who made an impression on my memory I dare say when I see this in type that I will remember many more who ought to have had a paragraph, but before I} quit let me say that the chief entertain CTS were little Kirk Moore and big Steele Andrews. They were the original and never failing funmakers. I have seen many parades in Brming-