The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-02
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

count of the Red Cross bull sale, and many treat it as huge joke, and the mere mention of it causes unbounded merriment.
 In fact, have had to put up with a good bit of persiflage in town and josa- ing in the country because, being :. preacher, l have been using my influ- ence to create a sentiment in Alabama to keep as many of the registered bulls in the state as possible.
 Now, am not going deeply into the part which Apis has played in the life of Egypt, of the reverence today for the cow in India. or the legends which come down to us from the Greeks and the Romans, fer it is too well known that for centuries around the sacredness of the bull religious cult was built up in which priests ministered.
 i Now, am wholly Christian I hope. tyet there is some pagan left in the best of us, and therefore I have no apology for giving a week to furthering a bull sale. I would have been glad to have worked fer it even though the funds were not to be given to so worthy a cause as the Red Cross, for believe 1 was doing a public service in trying to improve the breed of cattle in Alabama.
 Poor, bewildered Fred Shireman went up in the air when the committee first asked him tc. let them stage the prize winner in the lobby of the Tutwiler. It was enough ohave caused him to gasp to be requested to let his million-dol r hostelry be used to house bull, bat Fred is game and when convinced it was the proper thing to do readily con- sented, and laughingly said: If you l boys want the mezzanine floor for the balance of the herd it is at your com- mand." It is this spirit which is put ting Birmir gham on the map through out the country.
 | I do not know whether Fred is learned in the lore of Egypt, but for fear that he is not in order to comfort him and show that he is bringing ancient hiss tory down to date, I will cite the fact that l Apis, the bull to which divine honors were paid by the old Egyptians, who re- garded him as a symbol of Osiris, had d | splendid residence at Memphis contain ing extensive walks and courts for his l entertainment, and was waited upon bJ large train of priests, who looked upon his every movement as oracular.
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 Now, Fred has served much steak in his dining room, but he need not think he is the orly caterer who has ever had to board bull for Apis in the temple at Memphis was a parlor boarder and his appetite was carefully watched, and whenever he was seen to be getting off his feed sacrifices of red oxen were of. 1 tered nim I dare say, however, that High Fries. Erskine Ramsay will not | stipulate that the Presidents bull be fed on meat, but will be satisfied with hay diet in order that ''meatless days" may | be continued.
 l I might as well tell all I know about Apis, to whom the Egyptians paid divine honors as d symbol of Osiris. the god of the Nile, the husband of Isis. His movements, choices of places, and what he ate were religiously regarded as or acles. He had cilich up to the age of 25. when he was secretly killed and thrown into a sacred well, the popular belief being that he cast himself into the water. If, however. he died natural death, his body was solemnly inferred in the temple of Serapis at Memphis Now, we have good authority for mak- ing much of our great bull sale. We need not follow slavishly in the foot. steps of the Egyptians who inaugurated bacchanalian festivals to celebrate the setting up of new bull as Apis There are some things we will leave out, fol as soon as q suitable animal was found having the required marks-blacl, color with white square on the brow, the figure of au eagle the back and a knot in the shape of a cantharus under the tongue-hc was led in triumphal pro- cession to Nilopolis at the time of tn: new moon, where he remained 40 days, waited upon by nude women, and was afterward conveyed in splendid vessel to Memphis
 The worship of Apis by the Egyptians
 wasclosely associated with the great river which cuts Africa in twain. His the- ophany, or day of discovery and hi | birthday were celebrated as high festi- vals of seven days duration during the rise of the Nile. The worship of animals I was an outstanding feature of the reli- zion of Egyptians. Now, worship of an imals has been found to be very common in antiquity, but it nowhere reached such a height as in Egypt. The animals most worshipped were those supposed te stand in a mysterious connection with the origin of all life and prosperity ir Egypt-the periodic overflow of the Nile
 Now, lot no man belittle the great pa. rade which is to pass through our streets today, when the finest specimens oi Shorthorn bulls in the land will be led by charming young women escorted oy brave soldier boys. It is an easy matte; to befoul 1t with coarse jokes, but if one had the sense and the vision to inter- pret it's full significance it will be seen to have hio within it the feeding of great armes in war and the sustaining of large populations in times of peace, I So while making a holiday of it let's