The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-15
MEN, WOp@EN
 AND THINGS

had something to say about the liberality and charm of the old south which made for extravagant living, , and how it was bad form to save pen nies.
 As matter of fact. it was only re-
 gently that pennies came into use in
 the south, and I know of nothing which better typified the scorn for
 penuriousness which ruled on this side
 of the Mason and Dixon line. I well recall that if one bought an ) article in a store priced at 12 cents,
 the merchant took ten without the
 slightest comment; but on the other
 hand. if it's value was 1S cents, the cus- toner without a moments hesitation handed out IS cents, and if it was "bit' (121s cents)- it made little matter
 which one took the big end of it.
 
 But the little copper coin has at last
 become acclimatized in the south and
 is in evidence everywhere If this had
 not been the case even a public service corporation like the Birmingham Rail-
 way. Light and Power Company would
 never have thought of adding a penny
 to "jitney," or if it did, the people
 would not have submitted to it with
 out riot not that they cared for the , extra cent, but because they did not wish to be bothered with trifles. I'll admit. however that from time imnemorial, even in this climate,
 the penny made a good point on the silver dollar when it claimed that it was the most religious coin in circu-
 Ia tion, giving as it's reason for bold a claim that more of them went to church, and offering as proof the col lection baskets of the various donomi- na tions. Of course. even a brass penny never had the nerve to include buttons. 
 , If the penny by It's use in the south } shows a revearsal of form from the ante-bellum days, there is another thing I which indicates that manners are , changing, for time was when no south ern gentleman would be caught carry ling a parcel. It was however, rooted
 iii custom, for with slaves at one's
 beck 1t was looked down upon for one to the manor born to bemean his posi- , tion by loading himself down with , packages.
 Traditions die hard, and after the
 war the merchants in order to keep their trade had to adopt the delivery system. and since 1t came into use it has been nightly abused, and has had
 much to do with the cost of merchan-
 disc, for each year the service has grown more expensive. Time was vixen a lady would drive down in her carriage and purchase spool of thread
 and order it sent out, or a man would drop in a haberdashers and buy a col lar and ask to have it sent out. , I'll admit that there were exceptions
 il the older cities like Baltimore and
 Richmond where men of position would Z do their own marketing but it never r reached the smaller cities to any ap- i, preciable extent. One thing which struck me at the age of 15 when I went out to St. Louis to live with my
 sister and attend the public schools,
 was that each morning a porter from her grocer would call and take her or
 der to be delivered in the afternoon.
 This custom was general when I came , here nearly score of years ago and
 may in few instances be in vogue at present, but the telephone worked revolution in the trade.
 One of the first things I began to
 hammer at when I came on The Age-
 Herald was to start campaign to try . and educate the people of Birming- ham to buy their groceries, vegetables, , fruits and meats in person. I not only
 devoted a special department to it, but put in weeks and months visiting the ! dealers to get their cooperation in ev-
 cry possible way. and to see to it that
 they lived up to their advertisements
 found the majority of them willing
 to fall in line.
 l worked to enlarge the "bundle-
 toters club" and was charter member )of the organization. I remember quite 5 we'll that when I used to get aboard r the Lakeview car loaded with parcels
 I was subjected to a great deal of
 good natured guying and was looked upon as an interesting but harmless r faddist. It wasn't so long, however , before a few of the leading men were
 seen around the old open air markets
 featured by Jim Weatherly, when he was one of the city fathers .and many ! housewives began to put in an appear F ance
 And then the war came along, and , man power was needed and a propa- a gaEda from Washington seconded by
 the merchants themselves urged upon
 patriotic men and women to join in
 the bundle brigade" and so it got
 bigger and bigger, until the impetus it got Is carrying 1t on. and today no v longer makes a man conspicuous to be f seen riding the cars with his arms full of packages. It's just too common to
 attract attention, for Everybody is doing it." If I get off the Mountain e Terrace car and start up the hlll with f out having both hands full of gro- . ceries, Motorman Good Man will say. : Watch out, Doe, if you aint careful l you'll fall down and breack your neck, y for you ain't balanced"
 But the ''bundle-toters guild" was n increased a hundredfold when Piggly Wiggly came to town, and in it's train
 other 'help-yoursef-s stores" were in-
 augurated. At first some were timid l about patronizing them, but if you ! wish to test their popularity. just wait luntil around o'clock in the afternoon and enter one to make your purchases,