The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-06-07
HUNT FOR FRAGILE GIRL OF z
 SOUTHERN NOVEL A FAILURE
Deluded Traveller Thinks She Last Has Found the OdFa toned Helpless Type in Mrs Ross SmithBut that Little
 Birmingham Lady Earns Money by Flower Rais-
 ing and Has Bought Her Own Auto
By ZOE BECKLEY


 New York, June 6.-special.) .)-In all the south, wonder if there is such a person as the genuine old-fashioned southern woman? You know the type. We used to read about them in novels They were dainty and beauteous with frail little hands and microscopic feet. They played the guitar in the moonlight and sang things They never did any work. Some body put on their boots, and all their clothes. They were waited upon by obese and lovable mammies or slim yaller gals, who took the utmost pride in serving and protecting them.
 A vauge idea turks in my mind that tra- ditional southern feminity may still ex- ist in Charleston. Yet, looking back at that delightful city, l hastily apolo- gize. For I recall women driving motor cars and women marketing thriftily. basket on arm. and brisk capable sales women and girls in offices hammering typewriters with their 'frail little hands" !" think I abandoned my search for the purely ornamental southern woman. along about Savannah.
 By the time I had reached Birming ham nobody seemed to know what l meant by her, though I made searching lIlQuITlSS. blTI1luSHaH WOll6H are busy being suffragists or club members or something brisk and vital But one evening I found my old-fash- toned southern woman. At least she was lovely and dusky eyed, chestnut haired and slender. Her hands and feet met all the specifications. Her eyes-her smile. An there were a million men around her
 Now she,'' I whispered hopefully, Ifs the type! Too pretty to know anything practical, isn't she now!' Come answered my hostess briefly, I'll introduce you.
 So I went. And the beautiful lady was Mrs. Ross Smith. Born right there and her mother and grandmother be- fore her-in Huffman, which was a town long before Birmingham which has now swallowed it) was anything but a rocky wildwood beneath which lay un- guessed treasures of iron and coal. BAD JOLT FOR QUESTIONER And after I had glared away some of the men, I cast about to talk of some- thing that would interest so charming a creatures and all I could think of was flowers, so I mentioned flowers, and she turned to me interestedly and said: "Oh, do you know flowers-I'm so glad What do you consider the best fertilizer? I've tried"-Q shall not at tempt to set down the technicalities of the various fertilizers discussed, for 1 forgot to write them downl-"all my best friends send me out carloads of fertilizer rather than embroidered waist patterns or books or sofa pillows!
 I'm trying raspberries and figs this year. And as for lilies of the valley why, I can dispose of more than I can raise. I'm trying out dairy products, too. I've experimented with four kinds of cheese and
 I must have gurgled or looked faint or something; for I realized I was being apologized to. In the moment so that followed I knew I should never, never, never find the old-fashioned southern woman who used not to know that any thing existed but hospitality, dancing flirtations, moonlight music, and hom- age.
 She has gone, as all differences be- tween south and north have gone or are fast going.
 DOES A LITTLE BURBANKING
 The southern woman, thrown on her own resources today, would be perfect a dozen practical ways. Harken to Mrs Ross Smith Qor after my spasm of sur- prise I sat up eagerly and begged for more information as to raspberries, figs, etc.).
 And remember, Mrs. Smith is one of the favored of fortune in that the wolf is a billion jumps from her door, tended off by a prosperous husband, a gener- ous patrimony and a social position way up on the heights.
 Its an odd thing about raspberries and figs she wen. on at my earnest be- hest. People thought raspberries could grow only far to the north and figs only far to the south. It was the accepted theory The only way to explode it was to plant, and see what happened.
 'Wonderful things happened. By study ing the nature of fig trees, giving them the amount of sun they needed and the best soil possible, I found they bore plen-