The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-05
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

It seemed to me as if the-whole town turned out to the auction of the bulls at the Red Cross sale here in Birming. ham.
 s 1 am sure it was a revelation in more ways than one to our people and upset some of our old ideas about auctions. most spectacular manner, and then 1t had been press agentcd as no other such cattle enterprise had ever been in this or any other country
 Another thing, it was no faked perform ance pulled off under the guse Of char
 ty. The Red Cross mantle of love was not used to bolster up or hide the de- fleets of underfed or underbred cattle. The bulls spoke. or rather beloved for themselves and needed no one to toot their horns
 The men who listened to Frank Der bys Arabian Night tale about how hard headed Shorthorn breeders would give of their best without money or price Tor the benefit of the Worlds Greatest
 Mother were the leaders in the civic, so- cial and business life of this community, and when they fathcred his scheme t meant that they believed that he would make his dream come true and we're, therefore, ready to underwrite it.
 This would be drab old world with out prophets, visionaries, promoters and optimsts They are the externally young who refuse to be put out of the running and never know the discomfort of suffer- Ing with cold feet. They are the winged Mercures who cover the earth with their enthusiasm and compel the blood of cold CT men to grow warm as they listen to
 their schemes.
 The public. however. will never know the amount of patient and heart-breakins work which went on behind the scenes;
 in fact, if it was set down here in cold type few would believe that it took so much labor to accomplish q thing which went off without hitch, and yet there were moments. hours and days when those who were carrying the burden felt they would have to lay down. But Frank Derby was always confident and radiant but working like 3 fury
 I never saw auctioneeis get down to work in the way in which the great ex- perts like Colonel Gross and Colonel 1onesS did. All through there was no jeal- ousy They did a regular Alfonso and Gaston stunt. Each tried to make the other out the greatest auctioneer in the | world If I had to give the palm to eth- l CT I would not know on whose brow tl 1 place it. for each one deserves crown
 for his unselfshness in coming at his \ own cost to conduct the sale. l
 have seen many masters of cere-
 monies, but never saw one at an open air performance who did it any better than did Col Carey NJ. Jones of Chicago 1 His introductions were snappy and to the
 point and yet he never failed to set be- 1 fore Us in d sympathetic and intelligent ], way those who were to speak and what
 he said was as good as anything uttered from the platform. Remember. he in l troduced such men as Paschal Shook !! Robert Jemison, Harding, Curtis. Jones Scale and others.
 It was left for Col. P. NJ. Gross oi ] Kansas City to warm up the crowd wisi lpaepsotic fervor. He looked as if h. I weighed as much as any bull he sold. be ing the beefy. solid type Of westerncr He got a laugh hv telling how his Ger man great grandfather. feet, inche tail, with sft like whisky barrel weighing 3io pounds. and with feet llk'
 an elephant $, came down the gangpanl
 X his wooden shoes making so maci