davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The age-herald., 1901-08-02

New York Letter in the Chicago Tribune.
 Who is Edgar Stanton Maclay?" is a question that Is often heard and seldom answered these days. Maclay has sudden ly become a figure of prominence because of the charges that he has made in his naval history, refecting on the conduct of Rear Admiral Schley during the war with Spain
 Maclay Is a son of a clergyman and is about 39 years old. He is under the aver age height but of sturdy build, with broad shoulders and heavy legs. He is persist ent and stubborn in character and proud of a Scotch ancestry.
 Maclay's face is broad below the eyes, which makes his head appear small across the forehead. This apparent smallness Is accentuated by his habit of wearing his hair short at the sides, and combed up and back. His beard Is of the Van Dyke ispittedandwhenhesmi ma ha ham order and is dull red brown. Ills face Is pitted and when he smiles he shows an upper row of small but regular teeth. Hi3 speech Is slow and appears somewhat af- fected, but is pleasant to listen to. He POSSCOoCo of music and dancing, but his frugal na ture keeps him from the continual pursuit of happiness In those directions.
 While at work on the first volume of his naval history Maclay was reporter on. the New York Tribune, covering the board of education. At that time there were nine sons of clergymen on the Tri- bune, and Maclay, like all of them. was fond of staying up in the mornings after work ahead of him, he decided he would have to practice economy.
 It took Maclay some time to hit upon plan which would keep him from long ing to be with his colleagues. Finally he hired plano and had 1t installed in his apartment in a studio building in Fifth avenue. Here, after he had got through his work on the paper, he would go. and for hours at time devote himself to practice. In the course of few months he had become a fairly proficient per former.
 When he had become tired writing he would turn to his piano and play until he became wrapped in the music. On becom- ing weary he would hurry to bed. This was one of his plans to save money.
 It was hard work for Maclay to write. Words came slowly to him, and 1t was diff1dult for him to handle a pen or pencil. He wrote a small, cramped. ir- regular hand, the lines being so close as to make him unpopular with copy read CTS. At that time he had all his data for
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
KILLED BY LIGHTNING.
Two Men Meet Death in Peculiar Man.
 ner in Mississippi.

New Orleans. August IA special to the Picayune from Mississippi City says:
 Captain John Astredo and MT. Hooker, a travelling salesman of New Orleans, were instantly killed by lightning here at 2 o'clock this afternoon at the home of Captain Astredo. They were in the summerhouse situated in clump of trees in the yard, seated on opposite sides of a table when struck. The bolt seemed to come from a cloudless sky, as the sun was shining brightly, but after the crash small, harmless looking cloud was seen lowering low over the house from which evidently came the messen- ger of death. Three trees were shattered by the bolt the fluid passing into the earth from two trees but passed from the other tree into the upper story of the summer house, struck an iron bedstead. ran down to the ground floor and then along the floor, striking Astredo's foot There was no mark of violence on the person of MT. Hooker.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
Prosperity to be Punished.

The Montgomery Journal seems to consider Jefferson County too large and populous. Its iceas of representa- tive government are confused. for it says:
 It is said that the movement Is quite strong in the constitutional convention to make a new county out of Jefferson to be called Bessemer County. The move ment is not only said to be strong but it is growing in favor with the delegates. This is due to the growing impression that Jefferson is too great political fac tor in this state. It is entitled to seven members of the legislature and to over thirty delegates to the state conventions, and 1t is estimated that in the next state convention the county will have at least fifty delegates Thoughtful Democrats reason that this is too much political power to give one county, and especially a county that is now uncertain in It's political complexion.
 In other words, the consent or the governed is not to be taken into con sideration at all. Its power in a State convention and in the Legislature, adds the Journal, should be curtailed. And the signularity of the proposed act consists in the fact that it is to have no reference to the population Of the county or to the governed, but is to be done partly because Jefferson has not accepted the un-American grand father clause spontaneously and unan- imously, and partly because Jefferson is too populous anyhow. The Journal therefore endorses apparently a prop osition to cut down Jefferson's repre- sentation by division even more than it had before been cut down by unfair and. absolutely unjust representation Nothing is perhaps impossible in this world, but the convention will scarce ly care to invite an extremely full vote in a county that contains 43,311 males of voting age.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
THE GRANDFATHER CLAUSE.

From the Jackson, Miss, Clarfon-Ledger Following in the wake of Louisiana, the constitutional convention of Alabama has adopted what is known as the "grandfather clause" after long and spirited debate, the vote standing 1O4 for and 14 against.
 Under this clause any man whose fa- ther or grandfather served in any war Is allowed to vote, though he cannot read line in the book and does not own a dollars worth of property
 There is great doubt about the consti- nationality of this grandfather clause" the object of which is well understood. to allow white people of that State to vote, for most of the men of the present generation in the South had fathers or grandfathers in the late war.
 This grandfather clause" is a' fraud pure and simple. and should 1t ever reach the Supreme Court of the United States, as it must, suits having already been be- gun to test it's constitutionality, it will, doubtless be declared unconstitutional
 Marvellous as 1t may seem, an amend ment of ex-Governor Oates to exclude .'deserters and sons of deserters'' from benefits of the grandfather clause was defeated by an immense majority, the convention having decided that no changse should be made in the franchise article as submitted by the committee. The franchise article further provides property and educational qualification, two years residence in the State and one year in the county, and the payment of taxes for two successive years. It contains all the good to be found in the Mississippi and Louisiana constitutions, as well as much of the bad, and absurd ideas not embraced in either.
 The Alabama Democrats have gone further, and adopted more radical meas ures to get rid of the negro voter than any Southern State, and they may have overshot the mark.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02

From the Boston Herald.
 That is a very silly sort of attempt to alarm the summer girl. whose bare arms, tanned brown by the sun, look so healthiiy wholesome. 'on the ground that light and air encourage the development of hair, and so induce the arms to take on a growth that is not pretty. Not only every physiologIst, but anybody - knows anything about the character1srics of the various races of the human fam fly, knows that air and sunshine have nothing to do with the degree of hairi- ness of the human body. That is entire ly a matter of ancestral trait. Some of the most tropical races like the Indians of South America and the Malays. who go entirely naked, are practically hair less in body, while certain northern races like the Russians and the Amos of Ja- pan. are apt to be as shaggy as New foundland dogs underneath the heavy garments that they wear.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
His Words May Be Prophetic.

Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff Is one of Great Britain's most experienced colonial officials. For a long time he was Gov ernor of the Madras Presidency. relates a London newspaper. While there he took great interest in educational mat ters, though whether he approved of lavish schooling for all classes of natives or not may we'll be considered doubtful, in view of the following story. One day he was engaged in his study at Gindi sorting. cataloguing and apportioning the different schools large quantity of text books and educational works, which lay filtered around him on tables and chairs An intimate friend was ushered into the room, and seeing the mountains of books behind which the Governor sat entrenched asked with astonishment:
 That on earth are you doing
 Sir Mountstuart looked up with a face grown suddenly grave, replied
 T am paving our road out of India"
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
SHORT STORIES
 OF THE DAY
Worked First as a Section

Worked First as a Section Boss.
 George A. Custer and Thomas R. Rosser were chums and classmates at West Point Military Academy. relates a writer in Success They left that institution in 1881, the one to enter the Union and the other the Confederate army. Both proved their skill and valor on a score of battienelds. The endof the war. however, found Ros- ser penniless, with a wife and children dependent upon him for support. There were no openings in the South, but em- ployment must be had. He made his way to the Northwest and secured work on the Northern Pacific railway, then in course of construction. One day General Custer, riding along the line of the road, noticed a section boss whose face seemed strangely familiar
 Isn't your name Rosser?" he finally asked.
 "Why, Custer, how are you?" said Ros- ser, looking up from his work.
 Thus they met for the first time since since leaving West Point. Custer called, the next day, on the chief engineer of the road.
 There Is an named Rosser," said he, ''under you as a construction boss"
 'Yes, and one of the best ever had. Anything wrong about him?''
 "No,' replied Custer, "but he was at West Point with me, and afterwards be- came major general of cavalry under the Confectionery. Can't you give him something better than the work he is do- ing?"
 Why, I have been looking for just such a man. said the engineer.
 And so Rosser, through Clusters kindly offices, became second in command of the engineer corps. A few months later he was promoted to be chier engineer. He made good use of the opportunities his position afforded for profitable investment and today is accounted one of the wealthy men of his native Virginia.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
THE eUBoNIc PLAGUE.

From the Boston Herald
 No one should fall into mysteries on ac- count of the opinion of certain physicians that this country will be swept by the bubonfc plague. Perhaps it will be and perhaps it will escape. In any case. it is unlikely that the plague's ravages will be so serious as in eastern countries. Our population is better protected by climatic and sanitary conditions. These doctors say that 1t is prevalent in San Francisco; that many deaths (how manyD have oc- cured there, and that it is in New York and at other points, That it has been lurking in San Francisco for severt' months. and that city, state and nationts authorities have conspired together to conceal the truth has been asserted be- fore. It may be true. But if it be true, 1t is also plain that it's spread has been slow. If it existed there to the extent and with the degree of malignity observed in the cities of India or at Cape Town, it would seem to be impossible to conceal the
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
The Real Hero of Manila.

Hon. Samuel Earle Greene, the dis tinguished senior pudge of the Jefferson county criminal court, one of the most eminent of all the judges of Alabama, and probably the best loved, has returned to Birmingham from Talladega county, whither he goes every year for his brief rest and recreation.
 Judge Greene is in perfect health, but his youngest child, Dora, aged ten months, continues i'll. This enfeebled lit- tie one remains with her mother, Mrs. Greene, near Chandler Springs, and slow ly she grows stronger-though very slow ly The child has long been i'll, and her condition for some weeks has caused her parents grave anxiety. But there IS now every promise of her recovery, 1act which will please everybody in Jefferson county, for every honest man and woman in the county feel warm and friendly personal interest in Judge s. E. Greene.
 Master Sam" Greene the younger continues to be an ideal of young ooyisn strength vigor, healthfulness.
 It will be recalled by the home folk here in Jefferson that little Sam 5 uncle, Lieutenant Joseph Greene or the United States navy, was subaltern un- der Dewey in the naval battle of Manila One day little sam's mother showed him newspaper picture of the liustrious admiral.
 ''whose picture Is that?" the peautilui mother asked her beautiful boy.
 That's the man that heldped my uncle | Joe lick the Spanards at Manila" he said sweetly and with decision.
 The story was told in this place at the time, and 1t wentthe rounds of the Amer ican press and charmed millions of pat riots who are lovers of Dttle children. No excuse Is needed for repeating 1t now.
 Little Sam, who Is one of the brightest and most loveable of all American boys, Is the son of the ablest and best loved of Alabamas criminal judges. His lovely mother is the sister of Judge Knox Miller of Talladega, who is a relative of Hon. John B. Knox, president of the Alabama Constitutional Convention, and thus he Is a boy in which all Alabamians are inter- ested
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
EDGAR STANTON MACL
 AND HIS RISE TO FAME.

his first volume It was while at Cornell that he conceived the idea of writing a naval history, having come to the conclu- sion that there was none in existence worthy the name When he left the uni- versity he had little money, and he went abroad for data. There he made use of what knowledge he had of French and German and searched the libraries
 One day after Maclay had learned all he could he found himself in Germany with just enough money to pay his way to New York City on the steamer. He had three days in which to get the stea- mer. How to live without eating those three days was a question, and how to get to the steamer was another Some how he got on a boat going down the Rhine. and on that boat he found bags of roasted coffee. The bags were of can vas and his knife was sharp enough to cut holes in the canvas He laid in a store of green coffee beans and he had not starved to death by the time he reached the steamship.
 Maclay always believed that writing was a low art, and that no matter how well a man could write he could never achieve fame unless he really had some thing to say. When he got through writing the first volume of his naval his- tory he got Erwin Wardman. then copy reader on the Tribune, to go over it for him. Wardman was Harvard man and was considered an authority on English language and literature. wardman often 1...k l. xxo~lr .4 editing the volume, and when 1t appeared in print 1t had smoothness to 1t.
 In 1894 Maclay left the Tribune and be- gan writing naval editorials for the New York Sun. When he got ready to write the second volume of his history he ob- tained an appointment as lighthouse keeper at Setauket. L. l., and got mar hied. He has children. Maclay kept plugging along until Assistant Secretary co. Maclay wanted to be his successor. He is now a clerk in the Brooklyn navy yard.
 Maclay was one of three hoppefuls on the Tribune from 1890 to 1893 Harry Du Souchet was working on a play and J. Parmly Paret was working on book on  "women in Sports" When Paret was not reporting or playing tennis he was thinking about his book. The same was true of Du Souchet when he was not tel egraphing. Du Souchet became famous with his My Friend from India" Paret got his book into print and Maclay has come up with a push because or his criticism of Schley.
 facts. Nevertheless. the policy of con- cealment by officials is bad and perilous. It Is far better that one dty be quaran- tined for as long as may be necessary, if the dreaded disease can thereby be pre- vented from spreading, than that all the cities of the land shall be subject to ravage by it. Guardians of the ppublic health should be neither towards nor liars in the presence of peril.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
Piq Iron Production.

The American Iron and Steel Asso- ciation's statistics show that Alabama turned out 605,977 tons of pig iron in the first half of the year 1900, against 678,360 tons in the second half of that year. and 627,214 tons in the first half of the present year. These are gross tons of 2,24O pounds each. The produc- tion of the Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky furnaces has in each case fallen below that of the first half of last year, and Alabama alone in the South has increased her production.
 Pennsylvania is easily the leader, Ohio is second, with Illinois and Ala ,bama struggling for third place. IlIi- uois' production in the first six months If this year was 7ss,4os tons, or about
 ,aoOo tons more than Alabama's.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
BLIND.

Marian Warner wildman in Harper'a Magazine. ,rh,s much I know. Before the sky grew
 dark,
 When died the sunlight like candle And left my soul to strain and grope and A captive, locked in some black tower
 alone; Before the curtain fell that shut me out From all had been-all hoped to be- There was a glad green world, joyous
 shout
 Of strong winds blowing over the laugh-
 ing sea; And there were green-gold fields of head
 ing wheat, That ran and rippled in the passing
 breeze; And there vert frail pink roses wild and
 sweet;
 And there were mist-blue hills. and toss-
 ing trees; And over all. a breeding heaven blue. Where martins circled in the sunset
 light, And where the crying killdees flashed and
 flew,
 And great stars shot their glory through
 the night. se All this know. And for the power divine To dream such pictures on the midnight
 walls Of this unwindowed prison-tomb of mine, bless the Hand from which the blessing
 falls. am content, o God, content to know Tta sky still shines above my sightless
 eyes, That though my feet flown darkened
 pathways go, Unseen the brightness kcund me lies.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
Arkansas VIII ExhIbl+

Little Rock, Ark, August IA State meeting was held in this city today to devise plans for a creditable exhibit of Arkansas resources at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1903. Representatives from all parts of the State were present and plans were con sidered to supplement the appropriation of s30,0O0 by the recent Legislature with funds to be raised by the four hundred honorary commissioners appointed by Governor Davis. The opinion was ex- pressed formally that the next Legisla- ture will make an additional appropria- tion,
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
A NEW INVENTION.
Spanjard Has Discovered Method of
 Getting Fibre Out of Plant.

Mexico City, August 1.-Senor Preto, 0 Spanlard who invented machines used successfully for extracting fiber Of the henquin plant or sisal grass in Yucatan, has just perfected machine which prom ises to solve the long pending problem of getting out the fiber of the magueyplant, which yields pulque and grows on the Mexican table lands in enormous quanti- ties. First trials of this machine have been remarkably satisfactory and speci- mems of the fiber sent to Europe are pro- nounced equal to henquin, and German importers say that all the fiber Mexico can produce will be taken at good prices.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
Mir. croker Resents Inslnuatlons.

A New York newspaper says that the reporter who goes to interview Richard Croker for the first time realizes he Is confronted with serious obstacle, when MT Croker puts the usual question to him: why should you come to me for this in- formation any more than you should ask any other citizen you should meet?"
 When William J. Bryan arrived in New York on his first visit during the last Presidential campaign, MT. Croker and an- other prominent Tammanyite were on the committee to meet the Democratic leader at the Grand Central station. There was an enormous crowd present, and the police had hard work keeping 1t order. At one time the crowd pressed in on the platform. MT Croker and the other gentlemen were seated on truck well up the platform.
 A police captain in charge of the squad approached the chieftain and asked:
 MT. Croker do you want me to keep this crowd back in the street?"
 MT. Croker surveyed him moment with hls piercing eyes, and answered:
 You see that man over there sounding the car wheels? You go ask him, and if he don't know you go down to Mulberry street and ask your chief"
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
TRAIN WREcKERs.
One Man Has Been Arrested Near Pal
 estine, Tex.-Others to Follow.

Forest City, Ark, August 1-Charles Waterford. aged 20. has been arrested near Palestine and placed in jail at this place charged with complicity in the train wreck on the Choctaw. Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad which occurred at Palestine last Friday night, in which an engineer and fireman lost their lives. Other arrests are expected. It seems to be the prevailing opinion that the train was wrecked by robbers.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
Youna Sid Jones III.

MT. Sid B. Jones, the elder son of Mir. P. Sid Jones' the famous and honored pas- senger and immigration agent of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Com pany, Birmingham, Is dangerously i'll of typhoid fever in his fathers home, by Beeler's station, South Highlands.
 Young MT. Jones' condition is perilous. For eight days he has been kept to his bed, and the crisis is not yet come, though 1t will be reached within the next eight and forty hours, maybe.
 Young MT. Jones' illness will appeal to the sympathies of all Birmingham, and to the sympathies of great multitude who dwell outside of Birmingham, in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana; for there isn't railroad man in all the South who is better loved or more worthily loved than P Sid Jones!
 The young Sid is loved by all men who know him, only there are not so many who know him as know and love his father.
 He is one of the best of good fellows in the world this same young sid; but he can't reasonably hope to have as many friends as his father has. He'll tell you that, for he Is a most modest and unas- suming youngster
 Yet young "Sid" has a whole lot of friends" who will grieve to know he Is grievously III.
 MT Jones, the sick man, Is the nephew of President Milton H. Smith of the Louis- vile and Nashville Railroad system.
The age-herald., 1901-08-02
Judged Age By He Pipe.

A story was told the other night by friend of United States Ambassador Choate concerning that statesman and jurist's encounter with young college man years ago, says the New York Times. Mir. Choate had gone to New Ha- ven to witness one of the famous boat races between Yale and Harvard, and was returning to the city alone, when he was approached on the car by Yale student, who was brimming ever with en- thusiasm and smoking huge pipe. The loquacious student sat himself down be- side the lawyer, and recalled to him the fact that he (Mr. Choate) was an old friend of his Ghe student's) father. The older man acknowledged the acquaint- ance with pleasure, and spoke a few kindly words when he was interrupted by the loquacious student, who talked on and on without rest, puff1ng on his huge pipe and blowing the smoke continually into the others face. The lawyer coughed and choked violently over the fumes and then put his eyes over the pipe and kept them there The student noticed this finally, and, mistaking the look for one of admiration for the pipe, removed 1t from his mouth and gazed at 1t lovingly
 "A birthday present." said the owner, proudly regarding the reeking bowl.
 "Indeed?" said the lawyer, quietly, SUD- pressing a cough. 1T had no idea you were so old.'
 There was a laugh all over the car and the college man finally withdrew, taking the ancient pipe with him.