The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-01
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

from Dr. Lyman Ward, asking me to preach the commencement sermon at the Southern Industrial Institute, Camp Hill, on Sunday May 30.
 I was in lucks for it was a fifth Sum- day. Now, this does not mean anything country minister. for the fifth Sunday is his own to do with it as he pleases an6 so he usually avails himself of the chance to supply some church out of his own bailiwick.
 
 Now, I am a combination preacher. working as well in the country as in town. and so when call came for mo to help out on an off Sunday l was for tunate enough to have an open date. and Saturday afternoon caught train and speeded toward one of the most delightful homes in the state to spend weekend.
 l spend my time along the lines of a gentleman who is in rather bad repute that is. in running up and down the 1 my home town" or anywhere else as for that; and yet do get joy out of my peregrinations in spite of the fact | that frequently I have to put up with | much in the way of country hotels, thereby giving me a great sympathy for all T. P. As.
 
 have fouud that in fha long rJnp things even themselves up pretty well, for in my travels quite frequently I find myself in homes of comfort and culture. There is one such place in Alabama that always makes a strong appeal to me, and in spite of the fact let myself worry, for l knew that ia | a little while would be the guest of the Wards, on the edge of Camp Hill. l These charming New Workers came here more than score of years ago, pr. Ward at that time being fresh from the seminary. His salary as preacher was to be $20 month. I am giving this detail for two purposes; first, to i show that congregations have always been conservative in regard to pastors salaries, and second, to give a com rarison in the cost Of living between then and now. Strange as it may seem in these days of old H. c. L.. the young minister and his lovely bride did not starve to death, but actually managed to live well, but not extravagantly. Mrs. Ward told me that the farmers held her up in many ways. They had the effrontery to charge her cents q dozen for eggs, 15 cents apiece, for | hons, 10 cents for flyers, 20 cents a gall 1 lon for milk, 15 cents a pound for but ter, cents a pound for the best cuts of beef, cents for pork, and the mer- chants were shameless profiteers. Meal was around 60 cents a bushel flour 80 | nts a sack, rice cents a pound, and sugar at cents. Calico was cents a yard while ginghams ranged from 8 to 10 cents. A $5 hat was considered high, and s20 dress an extravaganza. l After the war, during the bitter re- con nstruction days, we were much both cred in Dixieland by Yankee mission aries, many earnest but tactless souls who swarmed over the Mason and Dixon line as uplifters; but every now and then some of the northerners came with an honest desire to get in sym pathetic touch with the southerners and do their bit in helping to bring order out of the general confusion into which the land had been plunged through four years of fratricidal strife.
 The ones so minded had no difficulty in making a place for themselves. Dr. and Mrs. Ward were not long in finding their life work, and happy the man and woman who shortly after marriage start on the road which they are to travel so long as life shall last Some one paid tribute to the postage stamp on its ability to stick until it's work was done. Suitability is a great vir- tue, and the Wards have it to a re- nlarkable degree. They have stuck (until now they are deeply rooted in the )soil of Tallapoosa county.
 l
 Born in rural New York and reared in the north. yet here in Alabama they seem to 'the manor born" and are a part and parcel of Camp Hill and the surrounding community. The people nave taken the Wards into their hearts and homes. During the war no couple was more active in all of the various drives. and when the awful tornado did its dealy work it was Dr. Ward whc was called upon to head the citizens relief committee, and he worked night and day to help the stricken section He minimizes the part he plays in pub llc. matters by saying anybody coulc get results with such a community be- hind him. He believes in the people oi his section.
 Sunday afternoon I got in his cal with Him and he drove me over a part Of the storm swept district. Nature has a way of repairing the damage dcne when cyclones ravage the coun' 7 try. People stand helpless in the pres , ence of the havoc wrought. Forest are laid low. houses blown down, crop. destroyed, and the land made waste snd despair seizes hold of every on'
 for awhile, and then the God of provi
 dence who sends the rain and the sun : shine manifests himself in His gentle
 moods and ere long the fields are sway ing with golden grain or whitene' with cotton. and the fruit hangs iron
 the boughs of the trees.
 I had no idea of the destruetivenes of the wind until with my own eye r I saw bare places where lovely farn 3 homes had stood, school houses topple,
 over, churches out of plumb, but wors
 still. new graves made In which slep | T T