The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-29
M E N ,, w o M FEN
 A ND T H IN c s

1 T never read advertisements" said a friend of mine who was very much surprised to know that I confessed on which I had failed to read the ad- vertising pages.
 But while great many glance over the display ads quite few fail to read the classified ads" and there is take for frequently occasions arise when to do So would be money in their pocket
 l am not however. at present think ing so much about the chance to man interest stuff which can be read between the lines of the advertise ments on the want pages of the great daily newspapers. for all of them seek to make good showing in the number printed.
 It's the American custom to put the classified ad g. toward the back of the paper, but the Times, the great English journal, starts them on the front page, beginning with births. then comes deaths to be followed by several columns of personals" a species of advertising which plays very small part in our southern dailies, but is featured in some of the north ern and western publications.
 The English have won a reputation for their reserve, and they deserve it as any friendly or pushful American can testify. who has ever come in con tact with Englishmen abroad. This brings up a curious bit of national psychology, for while the true Briton will act like clam when you try to engage him in conversation without being properly introduced, yet he will divulge himself in the personal column of his beloved paper with a freedom that would shock even a breezy west erner.
 AiitS 10 ny WicH HOlHlHS III tHe news columns seemed to be able to in- terest me, for I was tired of war talk and strike and political talk and busi- ness talk that l began to skim through the personal columns" of the Times, and it wasn't long before I was sit ting up and taking notice, for I was getting really closer to the hearts of people than is possible even in biographies and cooked up auto biographies.
 The opening notice is as brief as Caesars "Veni, vidi, vici,' yet no doubt, if the whole story of the three words, Agnes, Finis, Ralph" were known. we would have the break up between man an da maid or the part ing of husband and wife.
 Now comes One With @ lingo of humor. "A tired city tnan in want of new sensations would ike k trin ii1 $ submarine. A reasonable sum woaId be paid for a short trip u What & pity he couldn't have been here last week and gone up in one of the balloons, for if he was in search of novelty, I feel sure he could have gotten thrill.
 Here Is a touching one will any bereaved mother who has brought her son's body to England, tell another mother the procedure to be adopted?' Material in this motherly plea for heart throbs. Not hard a bit to bring up picture of soldierly lad bidding farewell to his home. to give his life for his country. and the weary waiting and longing of her who bore him to have his remains .the old burying ground where her tears could water the flowers she put on his grave.
 
 This one brings back story of Richard Harding Davis q think it was his) any way it told of how a medal won for bravery was picked up in a pawn shop. "E-soldier would dispose of a treasured souvenir. Bandolier tgold and red cloth), worn by Turkish comma nder of Darnelles fort" What a basis to weave a tale of the he'll of Gallipoli around. Did he come into possession of his treasured souvenir" through a and-to-h hand conflict in which he was victorious?
 
 Many schemes have been matched, many government commissions have made reports, but here is the way one woman would solve the problem of making a living for herself and those hurt by the war: Would anyone pur- chase farm for lady who would pay good rent for the same and run it en- tirely with discharged sailors and~so sol- diers." She evidently felt fit for the undertaking as she adds Long experi- ence in the work of farming" Let us hope that her philanthropic desire to aid those who responded to the call of the empire will be answered by some patriotic man of means.
 Can you beat this, Gardening, the Dowager. Countess of Roden takes lady pupils (under certificated lady gardener and herself"D. Now this is something new to me. Evidently shc got the idea from the cry in England for food during the great conflict. We all recall how we were stirred up here in Birmingham as we'll as throughout the state during the war by Mrs. Mathis in her whirlwind cam paign for war gardens. It appears to me that Countess Roden is engaged in useful work in giving instructions in gardening. It opens up new field