The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-11
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

ing?
 well, it's the sign which greets
 passersoy down on Fourth avenue or
 the alley next to the fire department.
 Now, I hear some folks who pretend to
 be highorowa say, We never read ac-
 vertisements."
 We'll all I have to say is, I am sorry for any tW entieth century man or woman
 who will make any such acknowledge ment, for it shows that they are out Of
 tune wish their times, for, be it known to all men, high or low. rich or poor,
 learned or ignorant, that not to scan the ads in the newspapers and magazines is frequently to miss not only bit of arr. but to lose a literary gem.
 Big business has learned to pay for service and publicity being an essen tial, the brush of the most talented ar lists are secured, just as are the pens of the brightest. literary men. Nine times out of ten I look over the advertisins pages of the popular weeklies and | litera ture, just as 1 scan the attractive offerings in the daily papers.
 Now, I have a habit of reading signs, and yet l know from sad experience that many people do not. l have had people to come into the office of the Ala bama Baptist in the old days when it l DlIb lie-ha m before it was built up, and ask me why didn't put up a sign. This in the | face of the fact that gaudy signs cov- cred both big plate glass windows, staring them in the face as they entered the door, ard ran across the entire build ing in letters nearly as tall as man.
 
 This was before the days of the great electric signs However, I believe I was the first person who ever used an cleo tric sign in Birmingham It was a small one, but was q novelty. The Magic City would lose much of it's attractiveness at night if the dazzling advertisements had to be darkel.ed as they are in London and Paris and recently in New York, because of the iniquitous air raids of the Huns, who think it great sport to drop death out of the heavens at night on un fortified towns, killing the helpless non- combatants,
 If you haven't yet gotten the advertis- ing and sign reading habit, better &C., quire it. for you stand to miss many good things Suppose I had walked with unseeing eyes up the southside of Fourth | avenue on yesterday? If I had l would have missed getting a good dinner and better story, but just because it is my business to be on the lookout for things saw a new kind of a restaurant game. 1 Paul of old was heaven born reporter wide open. The little Jew wandering I through the streets of Athens took in much that others had failed to note. Call l to mind how he used effectively some thing which he had just passed and used | it to get an opening before philosophers | in his justly famous speech on Mars l Hill. He had glimpsed an altar with the inscription, ITO the Unknown God. " It was his chance to drive home the truth about the true God.
 Back to the meal I got for % cents. 1 didn't have to spend Baby Bond to get my fill, but for Thrift Stamp got as much as I could eat. I was more inter ested in studying the diners than I was ! the dinner. for it was about as typical a crowd as you could run across in the city. It's the bunch I would want behind me if l ever ran for office. I saw some l professional men, some merchants, many 1 shops around, husbands and wives and family parties, and number of girls. Now, every thing was clean I said 1 am a sign reader. and so I began to in terpret those on the wall. The most comforting one was over the wide open
 kitchen doors. It said: "Cleanest Cooked Food in the World. Our Kitchen Is Open for Your Inspection. U-R-Welcome." :" Believing it meant what it said. I went
 in and found it was telling the truth, and went back to table assured that while
 the food l was eating was plain and substantial, it was clean.
 Having inspected the kitchen having
 read the signs, having looked over the
 crowd. l took stock of what was set be-
 fore me, for it is put down on a table
 in home style There was big bowl of
 stew meat and potatoes, large dish of
 spaghetti, dish of blac5-eyed peas, a
 dish of rice, dish of stewed fruit, a
 large bread plate with rye, bakers, and
 cornbread. Each one had the right to
 take tea, coffee, sweet milk or butter
 milk. little table on top of the
 big one held the butter, milk for coffee
 or tea, syrup. vinegar, sugar, salt and
 tomato Eetchup q forgot to state there
 was a. big bowl of salad)
 Now. here is the sign which got me.
 It read, or rather entreated Above All, i. Do Not Forget Your Table Manners. " This was also written on the edge of the small table and stared you straight in the face. I am here to depose that it was obeyed at the table at which sat for, although we were mixed assem- . bly,, never saw more courtesy shown in ) public eating place. It wasn't the
 politenass which parades itself. but was just simple straightforward kindliness Field Marshal Rushton will have tc