The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-10-21
WOMEN
AND THINGS

to drive me home in his car.
l came here recently during one OF
the war drives and spoke at night and
hurried back to Birmingham, but on
this visit. 1 put in a Sunday and had
the pleasure of preaching at the Bap-
fist church. both at the morning and
the evening services
For nearly a score of years L have
been going up and down the state, and
in that time have had an opportunity
to see scores of city churches. hun
dreds of village ones. and it seems
! to mo thousands of country houses of
worship; but l never ran across love-
lier situated one than is the white one
| here hid on a hillside in a virgin
/ forest
| l got up early Sunday morning, and
as is my custom when visiting a new
! town, I went out for a stroll, and be-
fore l came back to the hotel, 1 had
\ taken in Ashville from every angle,
and had found much to interest me
| I always like to get a physical esti-
mate of a place in order to aid me
! in reaching an idea of its business,
social and religious status.
l left Birmingham Saturday after
noon and the coaches were crowded;
| men. women and children standing in
the aisles. I saw man after man, both
young and DID, get up to give their
| seats to women. Why do I tell this
| here? Just because after preaching
| sunday morning l got in conversation
on the hotel veranda with man who
\ is here on a visit from Utah, and he
Il 10 -. l1
courteses were shown women in the
| west
Now Ashville is a center of culture.
+, 1t does not have to advertise or flaunt
itself in ones face, for it's in the very
| atmosphere and the environment
shows it forth better than shouting
| 1t out. One feels that here it is n
case of women first I admit that
I am a bit worked up over the sub
| ject for have just put down a book
| which gave the subservient position
| of the women of Germany. and how
! thew were forced at times from the
sidewalks to make room for the bad
| hammered males.
| I am getting here the manners Of
the old south. for Ashville is three
| miles from the railroad. and hid as 1t
were. hack up in the hills, far from
the hurly burly of life, and its peo-
ple have time to cultivate and pay at
tention to the amenities of business
and social intercourse. 1t all comes
| like Whit OF ante-bellum times,
and reminds me OF two pleasant years
! 7 put in at Washington. Ca. the
home of Gen Robert L. Toombs. who
phoopooed the idea of hotel being a
necessity as his home was open to any
we'll behaved stranger
| But this brings to mind the fact that
E30 years ago I made trip to Ashville
| in the interest of one of the big COR
porations to see about the proper can
| collation. of mort SATe. It was in the
dead of winter And I nearly froze in
| the drive in an open buggy from Whit
new. can almost feel the glow of the
! 1t to thaw out. Great, heaping armfuls
of logs kept It burning brightly.
/ It was Just rambling building and
did not look very promising from a
city mans standpoint but soon supl er
| was announced and with an appetite
sharpened by the ride out in the cold,
| / went into the dining room and sat
down expecting to find the usual hotel
fare But got an agreeable surprise,
| for It was in the days before job Il
Wallace took charge of the birds and
squirrels and possums, for all three
with fried chicken to make out the
quartet were in front of me.
! took dinner at this same hotel on
Sunday. and while t..sre were meats,
the thing which struck me most forci-
bly, was the variety Of vegetables and
every one out of the propr1etors gar
den, in spite of five weeks drought.
Tomatoes. egg plants. Irish potatoes,
onions, peppers. corn. snap beans, but
ter beans, green's. After doing full
| justice to them at table. / got up and
, went out to pay my respect to the gar
den itself. 1t simply shows what Can
| be done in this climate when there is
man with will and a way.
Both the Hood House and the St
Clair hotel are run by Baptists and
this meant that l was entertained in
each before 1 got away. The garden
| was at Brother Hoods hotel, and he
is the gardener. Now. the fare at Sis
ter leagues was mighty good, but
the thing which appealed to me most
was the room in which I was CHARTERED.
I use the word "quartered" advisedly,
| for l think without exaggeration Il
was 80 by Is feet. A modern apart
ment could have been set in 1t Of the
k'tchenette type. The thing which
| caught me was coveted it for a library
with its fireplace and ample windo VS.
and wall space for book cases.
] spoke of the ante bellum air of
! Ashville, and this gives me the chance
| to speak of a gentleman of the Old
| school, for | have just been sitting in
| the office of Judge John W. liner, who
having passed his four-score years, is
LIVING on borrowed time, but Is facing
serenely the sere and yellow days,
for he said. 81 have much to be thank
full for. as my hearing is still goo j
and while my eyes of LATE have fai. ed
me to the extent that ] cannot read
much. yet I am not troubled in goins
about" His mind is still clear as a
bell
I had said in reading the scripture
lesson when coming to Paul's saying
("for all Athenians and strangers
which were there spent their time in
nothing else. but either to hear or tell
or hear something new) that II
seemed strangely up date. and might
ihave been in the mornings newspaper
as a comment on the average twentieth
century America. 1t struck the Judge
for in referring to it, he told me that
he found the scriptures to be both
old and new and that for so years he
had kept bible in his law office as
enc of his best reference books.
OF course. went up to the office OF
the Ashville Aegis to Sc my friend B
Is. Gather, who owns and edits the
paper founded by his father in 1873
and who is just proud of the fact that
II has never missed an issue. He Is
also a bit stuck W over the fact
that while he is not using it he has one