The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-03
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

I was at the lunch given by the local Red Cross bull committee on Monday at Jones, Dean Curtis. the donors, auction cers, newspaper men, and other visitors
 
 sat opposite w. c. Little, big in body and biggerfn heart, the Shorthorn breeder of Sumter county, and he looked across the table at me and said, "Hellc MT. Professional Dinerout, see you are on hand as usual where there is a feed and folks" And right glad I was. Now, have freely admitted that am professional dinerout, and eat break lasts, dinners and suppers galore for the good of the country and other worthy objects, for it's the easiest and by far the pleasantest way to keep in touch with what is going on in Birmingham, for, be 1t known that nothing big IS launched hero until we have gathered around the festal board to plan it.
 
 Now, here is the surprise l am SprlnS ing. It was the mos, patriotic dinner l have attended since the war began. We preachers when a meeting is being richly blessed and the minds of men are turned toward God in an unusual and feeling I manner, say the Holy Spirit is in our midst say it without question, that | the spirit of Uncle Sam lowered over 1 each one of us from the time we sat down to table until we arose, and that 1 our hearts were on fire with divine heartburn for our country''s welfare I say it without fear of contradiction l that the speeches surpassed in native J straightforward eloquence anything yet heard at any of our public dinners. saw strong men weep uncontrollably whom I have never seen show any emotion be- l fore I never ssaw a religious revival 1 in whi,n men were more wrought up and mellowed than those who had tha high privilege of being present to re- ceive a new baptism of loyalty am l bursting to censecrate themselves to the high and holy purpose of winning the 1 war.
 l Paschal Shook in a few choice wortis and with charming manner welcomed the visitors. and turned the meeting over to Chairman Ramsay, who called on Robert Jemison, Sr., to give bit of l the history of the enterprise. He dit | 1t feelingly and referred to a conversa- 1 tion his lamented father had with 9 great Kentucky friend who had ridden eco miles to spend the summer with him at Tuscaloosa, in which he had predicted that the tims would come when the gulf states woulo be able to feed the balance
 of thc nation. These were the only loca! speakers.
 l Chairman Ramsay then called out Dean Curtis of the Iowa State college and in a few moments we were listening with rapt attention as he visioned the possibility which was wrapped up in l the introduction of pure bred bulls ni l Alabama. It is always delight to listen i to man who knows what he is talking about Every one present felt that ths gospel of shorthorns according to Curtis was the only orthodox belief worth ac- ceptance, and that any one who doubted l it should be branded as an heretic. l
 1 It was man by the name of Gross. a great big, fat man with jolly face. who i deceived me beyond measure. said to
 myself, now watch out for a lot-of funny I jokes, for here is where we are going to 1 get a laugh Now. do you know what
 that Falstaffian fellow dId?, He arose and there were real tears in his ey,s andSa catch in his voice, and, believe me,
 he hadn't said much before we all were sniffling and furtively wiping our eyes
 until we saw others doing it; then most
 of us just cried comfortably like a child
 cries, without shame His story of how
 he called his wife in conferenceaand said to her. Our boy is in this war, and until l it is over am going to give 25 per cent of my income to the Red Cross" made
 us know that he just wasn't talklsiE