The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-31
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

do not know of anything which pays bigger dividends in this life than friend Illness. The friendly man is blessing in his home and in his town.
 The friendly man not only showers | blessings, but he gets them himself. Just take stock of your acquaintances and see if it is not the friendly man you go out
 of your way to meet.
 l I recall the impression that the late General Shelly. the father of Jim and I Elizabeth, made on a little Vermont l friend of mine who came south to live 1 in the eighties. 1 ran up against him in the club, and he sat smoking, and it seemed to me as he blew rings that one curled and made halo above his head. said, Why so happy?" "Oh," said he, I met General Shelly on the street just now and he greeted me in such friendly way that I feel like have been blessed" It set me to thinking that if busy man like the general could go around making people happy by the hearty, warm. manner in which he said good morning that it was eminently worth while to cultivate friendliness in order to radiate happiness. Now I have a dis like of the man who is friendly because it pays in the way of business or office getting, but for the man who takes the trouble to be agreeable in order to make intercourse more pleasant, I have high regard.
 I had a man who travelled for me for years His name was Archie Glass. got him from Ross Smith, when Ross was the manager of The Age-Herald Ross said to me, Frank, I've got treas ure in one of my road men, but he Is more fitted for a religious than a secu- lar paper" I was interested, and learned that Glass at work for the paper was a heaven born solicitor, but that if he got into a community where the revival spirit was alive, he would take week or two off and hold a meeting. That was before The Age-Herad took on a Baptist preacher, and before Dr. Ed
 
 every morning with one of his exquisite and spiritual prayers, and write such beautiful and inspiring sermonettes on l Sunday.
 | I asked him to send him around, and ! that's how I met Glass, one of the cheeriest souls I have ever met in my 1 life, and whose tragic death in an au- ! tomobile accident several years back shocked Tuscaloosa and brought sadness to my own and many hearts who knew l, what a royal-hearted life had been sud- denly snuffed out.
 ] Now Glass was just naturally friendly; there wasn't any pose or pretense about
 him, he just loved his fellow man, and \ took 1t for granted that everyone was on the level. If he took a trip on the train before he reached his destination
 he would meet every member of the train crew. He would begin with the newsboy, next the brakeman, then the !, conductor, then the fireman, and last
 the engineer. If he travelled with them l several trips he would call them by
 their first name I never saw such a | fellow for getting acquainted.
 I He had been working for me for sew
 eral years before I met his mother. | When I looked into her friendly face
 knew to whom he was indebted for his
 frlendliness. She just beamed on me, l fha i, working for We'll, I can say this for | Archie he never meets any strangers" " l That was his secret. He looked on all the world as acquaintances. It made
 his method of approach perfect He was l friendly and it never dawned upon him
 that everyone else wasn't equally so. l
 1 I never heard him utter an unkind word about anyone. I know that he had oc- easion to get bitter. but it just wasn't l in his nature to get sour. I saw him tried
 out on more occasions than one, but he
 always sidestepped trouble. He just re- fused tc be ruffled. He had faith in others and he couldn't understand how
 anyone could doubt him. His friendli-
 ness went to be overcome even by those
 who mstrusted him. He used to say,
 "They are mistaken; if they knew me better they wouldn't harbor suspicion
 against me"
 I got to thinking about Glass when I was writing my story about "The Get Acquainted Club" If he were living l would bring him to Birmingham to give lessons in friendliness. But being dead I lay this wreath on the grave. of the friendliest man I have ever known.
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