Central High School - Mirror Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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was completed and a part of the fourth floor set aside for the library. In the present day home we arc all well acquainted with it. YVe know it has been turned over to a library board, a skilled librarian employed, and the membership fee eliminated. In the twenty-eight years the three hundred volumes have doubled and redoubled until today, as we glance over the statistics 25.927 greets us as the number of volumes catalogued by the public library of greater Birming-bam. But this is not all—the immediate need for books is to be supplied by a $20,000 subscription fn m the citizens of our city. nd dimly outlined in the future we can see a wonderful library building for Birmingham, al most a skyscraper. Look, it shows plainly, it opens and we see hooks from top to bottom—nothing but books. Yes. there is a portrait, a portrait of some one we know, and the inscription. In Honor of Dr. J. II. Philips, bon ndcr.” BIRDS IN SPRINGTIME. A cuckoo rattles in an oak. grecnlet in a maple, A jenny-wren now sings a song. An oriole voices April. A hummingbird before the vine With his long and slender bill Just sips the nectar sweet and strong. Then flits on o’er the hill. A wood thrush trills in upland woods. In dripping rains of Spring: His notes come clear and high and shrill. hells on Sunday ring. The red-wing flutes his VKalec. I pon a bending reed. His mate is nowhere to be seen. She’s nesting on the mead. A white-throat sparrow hunts for food: A thrasher sings a lay. For he is in a chcen mo. d. All will he bright and gay. 20 WIU.I M W Lf.ACE. ‘lb.

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A History of the Public Library HERE is a very important birth recorded in the annals of Birmingham opposite the year 1886. It reads: Born: To Birmingham. One Library. Nationality: Cosmopolitan. Address: The High School. And it should have been a day of rejoicing when the little three hundred volumes were snugly tucked away in the reception room of the Birmingham High School (we think of the High School then, as the second floor of the Wright Building on the corner of Nineteenth street and I lord avenue), and here it remained a library for only the teachers and students of the school for four years. Entertainments were held and the only price of admission was books, books, any kind of hooks, and soon the three hundred volumes were doubled. The number was further increased by personal contributions. Judge Lane, our Judge Lane of today, bears the distinction of making the first of these which was used very effectively in the purchasing of tables and chairs. Public interest became greatly stirred. This interest was followed by a wave of enthusiasm and the enthusiasm brought forth several personal collections which have since proven very valuable to the library. • Bv the year i8 jo. the infant had outgrown its swaddling clothes, the little room became crowded to overflowing. Meanwhile the school had taken a typical Birmingham stride and soon found its quarters entirely too small to he practicable. We all remember the next home as the old Enslcn Building on the corner of Park avenue and Twenty-first street. 1 he accommodations were much better, the library being acorded some 1.800 square feet of floor space. It was in this new year. 1801. that in glaring headlines. Birmingham was heralded as 011c among many Southern cities possessing a circulating library. 'The public was enthusiastically admitted with membership at $2.00 a year, and about 150 memberships were taken the first year. More entertainments were held, more hooks were brought. Cultured people were given more educational literature, the younger sets were tempted by a much larger supply of magazines and other periodicals. The followers of the cause felt considerable pride when editorial comment placed these 2.000 volumes as the largest circulating library in the State of Alabama. But never for a moment was the work allowed to lag. Books was the topic of conversation. 'The organizations of the city, especially the women's clubs, are to he commended for the many hooks they have placed upon the shelves. In 1902 the library was ousted from its quarters t«» relieve the crowded condition in the High School. During this year our new City 11 all Building % 19

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A Cane Grindin’ Party III ' “cane grindin' party” is the mode of entertainment in Happy Valley this season nf the year. and. as usual, Luke had arranged this one. Charlie Patterson, sitting silent and alone with only his pipe and the moaning of the wind among the trees for company, suddenly became aware of another sound. As it drew nearer he recognized the enlivening strains of a backwoods melody. I low pleasantly the sound struck upon his lonely ear. Not so long since he had joined his voice in these same songs, yet that time seemed ages past as lie sat listening. A long while after the faintest sound had passed from hearing, he sat musing. How eagerly he had looked forward to “next coinin’ spring.” when he and Katie were to be married. But when crops were laid by. Charlie had gone to Millville, and hired himself t«» Joe Mullens to clerk in Joe’s grocery store, “till plantin’ time.” Then it was that Luke Wright had “stepped into Charlie's shoes, and seemed to mighty well fill the bill with Katie.” At length spring came, and lie had returned to find that although he tried his best, it was impossible to regain his place by Katie’s side, so completel} did Luke manage to monopolize her time. The summer months passed very slowly to him, but at last the fading woods and rustling leaves whispered the approach of autumn, and autumn in Happy Valley means goldenrod, purple asters—and canc-grindin ” The jolly party which he had just heard and of which Katie was a member had been of Luke’s planning. Now and then as these tilings recurred to him a frown marred bis open boyish countenance, but presently be arose with a smile. Blest if there ain't Bill's lamps right now. said Luke. Sure enough just ahead of them at the edge of a small clearing could be seen the leaping flames of “Bill’s lamps,’’ nothing more nor less than a roaring pine knot fire, around which dark figures passed in and out of its circle of light. With the last lines of a rollicking backwoods ballad. Hi-oh, Hi-oh, Hi-oh. And we’ll all sleep late in the m-o-r-n-i-n-g.” they now drew up at Bill's bumble domicile. Git out, git out.” cried the jovial Bill. s they circled the fire, laughing and jesting, they were joined by a number of Happy Valley young people who lived near by and had walked over across the fields. A short distance from the fire, the glowing furnace with its kettle of boiling juice, the long troughs, white-capped, and shadowy figures coming and going in the half-light made a ghostly picture; on the other side one 21