The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-27
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

| For two weeks I had been keyed up on the He'd Cross, making speech after speech, and hearing others set forth it's needs and opportunities.
 Sometimes I fear that those of us who have to participate in the various war activities either as committeeman, speak, CTS or directors get bit stale without being conscious of it. I have fought against it from the beginning, for l wanted my message to be fresh. I got back Friday from hard trip with Sergeant Montgomery. and felt that I must rest up for a day or two, but found that I had been billed to go out on some cleanup work that had been overlooked and, of course, went. My friend, Jeff Bailey, says that if l ever fall in q faint on the street there is no Use to call doctor until someone said, Doe, 1 want you to make speech" and if l fail to respond, don trouble to get physicians certificate; just send for Wallace Johns for I will be dead.
 I had planned to get through Saturday without public utterance, but fell from grace twice in spite of the fact that am a Baptist preacher. might have ob- served silence for 24 hours, but tempted providence by going to a public meeting and being called upon was too weak to resist.
 That same Jeff Bailey pulled another good one on me. He didn't expect it to ever get back, and spilled it to a friend who is also my chum, and he said It was too good to keep, so let me have it. He said that Jeff admitted that Dr. Barnett was patriotic, and had re- ligiousy kept "wheatless, meatless and fireless days but if ever speeches. day was declared, he feared he would join the tolsheviki."
 Now, intimated that I might be ltllle HlIueHtQ OH dNSOtii VI et'A--o - be in the middle of evefy campaign waged in Birmingham. and was worried on Saturday morning when I woke up and felt somehow that the day would be filled with the same old routine or eating. talking, and writing.
 True 1t is, I had been invited to have q part in the exercises to be given in honor of the selectmen at Capitol park, but somehow it had failed to arouse my interest; SO a little after ? p. m. l left the lobby of the Tutwiler to stroll lp to the roomy new auditorium which is going to solve many of Birminghams problems in the way of furnishing a place this summer for outdoor entertainments.
 
 I hadn't gone far before I realized that it was ?. different kind of crowd wend- ing it's way toward the park than I had been accustomed to see on the march It was more serious for one thing, and there was lack of children. Then 1t was an all-embracing throng, represent ing all the social business and religious stratas in the great city.
 I got up there and found the seats wei, filled, but soon noted that there seemed to be distinctive groups, and on closer inspection found that men wearing q certain coored tag were separated one from the other. It was as if they had been broken up into companies. and had a ho,tt thsyn their own crowd of friends I learnal later this was for the purpose of Identification.
 B. A. pepperman. secretary of the local exemption board, was as busy. but not as noisy, as an old hen trying to chuck up her chicks, for it was up to him to keep under the shadow of his wing about 900 newly matched recruits By the way. few people have any idea just how val