The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-24
M D N <, w o N E N
 A ND T H IN G s

| A N U ] n. IN G D
 It does fellow a lot of good to get away from home every now and then in order to better appreciate his home town and county. This feeling ccmes to me after an SO0-mile trip in an automobile through Alabama Georgia and Tennessee with bunch of farmers, farmerettes and. near farmers.
 l used to laugh at my friends who spoke of the wear and tear of auto nobiling on long cross country trips; but I'll never do it again. have always prided myself that l was a combination of whit leather and whalebone, and as tough as Texas pony, and that nothing would tire mo out. But the trip just ended took off six pounds and came near send ing me to rest cure.
 It's all right from a theoretical
 
 city and country fellows. It fits in well with the propaganda so popular around election times that the city man and the country man must get closer together, for in this way only can they learn to appreciate one an- others merits. You know the line of dope handed out by the politicians.
 l remember when this idea was worked overtime at Baptist en- campment. The brethren reasoned among themselves that the best way for the city and the country Baptists would be to put a. town man and a country man in the same room. It was a lovely theory, but it came near breaking up the summer assembly. The farmers wanted to go to bed after supper and get up by daylight, while the city fellows wanted to re- tire around midnight and stay in bed until eight; and between the two neither crowd was getting sufficient sleep.
 In the Anniston Chamber of Com merce party 95 per cent were pure farmers, and the other 5 per cent was newspaper men, who had to fall into the customs of the men who titled the land. Now, when you tell a city man that an early start is to be made he considers that z a. m. Is around daybreak, but to farmer it means that a. m. is a trifle late to be up and going. It makes no difference when the party is scheduled to leave, 1t means that every one will be aroused at the first crack of dawn.
 This reminds me of the theory Of g man who got reputation for early rising, and so many tales were told about his habit of being up and do- ing before any of his neighbors that at last a committee decided that they would make an early call on him to see if he really beat them up anu to work. They dropped over at the peep of day but found him out. On asking his wife where her old man was, she replied: well, he was round here the fore part of the morn ing, but he never lets the sun ketch him at home. l reckon he'll be in for breakfast in a few minutes, just take cheer"
 I, am perfectly willing to confess that I am a rank amateur when it comes to runrises, but when 1t comes to sunsets I am connoisseur. I re- member that even the famous view of the sunrise from the top of the Riga in Switzerland was not total success to me as lost my enthus- iasm for the coming up of the sun like "a bridegroom out of his cham Der, rejoicing as strong man to run race" as I hugged tight the I as the cold bit into my very mar rev through the folds of the blanket
 
 
 On the trip have just completed we saw sunrises and at times saw the chaste moon go to bed. The nights were really wonderful, and I'll never forget the moonlight rides thr ough the mountains of east Te-.- nesse. I suppose one reason that came near white -eyeing" on the trip was from the loss of sleep, for I am sure that the amount of talking and eating that did had nothing what ever to do with my fatigue. I lost six pounds in six days. just pound a day.
 I lay part of the weariness of the continual driving to the roads, but 1t would take more than one story for me to set down the truth about some of the famous highways. When I hit the Jefferson county line on my way throughyst. Clair county I lifted my hat to Jere Gwin and felt ready to contribute to fund to build him a monument. Take them all in all, Jefferson county's roads will stand comparison with any we found in our travels through three states.
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