davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
2le)0,oea~
THE MUF2MUR OF THE WORLD.

bound, and dance to the voluptuous swell spirit, and to ripple in laughter the live long lay of love, and ever ripple, ripple ripple!
 You, O youth, beautiful re-ncarnation of golden-haired Apollo in all the ravishng spendor of his godship-you know that these things are true in but small measure less of all the madens who dance with you along the primrose path that dalliance doth love to tread; and when you doff your cap and bend your knee to their little majesties they sweep regally by in the imperial richness of young years and innocence, you do but follow an instinct as old as man. kind, and that you worship that which Is nearest the heart of the Maker, human purity!
 Illusions, my boy? These are not illli- sions. They are sacred truths forever freshed by the blessed dew of youth. And as they are spoken unto you by him who loves you, also he would speak as from and for those maidens whom he loves the more; and for the mothers and the grand mothers for they are all as one in the beauty of life and the reverence of man. hood the most cherished possession of which is their gentle goodwill.
 
 It were better to go join the beasts of the field than to set oneself up as snarl- ing and grumbling destroyer of illusions: better to go and hide from man than to scoff at and seek to dispel the human and the spiritual mysteries. The most beautiful mystery of this world is a maiden, and next to her a mother. The divine mysteries one may adore only. @
 And thus it is not for to sit in judg- ment; it is not for us to constitute Sour selves judge and jury and court of justice to prove false the illusions or falsifY the faith Of one another: not for us toshold ourselves right and all others wrongAsNise and all others foolish; not for us tospre- sume upon the patience and gentleAess of any one in order to pain and outrage sens- bilties that are perhaps above our mental grasp; not for us to blunder in upon the soul privacy of any man or any woman. any little child; not for us to take the forIns of the vulgar in those rude familiaritics denied by sense of self-respect; not for us to trespass upon the holy places of eany human soul! 4sA
 But 1t is ours, my beloved, to give glad greetings and turn faith-fair faces to ouP fellows, whomsoever they be, man, woman, maiden or youth, or little children, and through sunbright days and nights of dark ness hold ever fast to our illusions!
 THE MURMURER.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

constructed by the bank, but by a separate stock company. The bank will, of course, be a stockholder, and will occupy the ground floor. hear the building alone is to cost s150,O0O and that it is to be gem of beauty and convenience.
 The good women interested in the Hill man Hospital are again bestirring them- selves enthusiastically. All the other churches in the city are to be closed to- night and a mass meeting is to be held at the First Methodist Church to consider ways and means for the building of the IIillman Charity Hospital. It promises to be an enthusiastic meeting and may lead to early success in the construction of the great promised hospital.
 In and about Birmingham there is a per- feet network of railway and street car tracks They cross here, there and every where. Accidents have been frequent re- gently Street cars have been run into and people injured. Yet the city officials and the railroad and street car officials are each in turn standing back for the other fel- low to act towards protecting human life. A railroad official argued to me recently that ms rdlifOdQ was HeTe llTSl lHtleloiO he should not pay all the cost for gates at every point his road crossed a street or street car track.
 The public don't care who pays for the gates, but they do want gates or compe- tent flagmen with police powers at every crossing in the city. Let the city, and the railroads, and the street car company share the expense if necessary, but act and act quickly. Mayor Drennen should push the matter Promises are no longer of practical use. If there be not quick action any day may bring the news of a fearful fatality.
 In the Commercial Club meeting of Fri day an effort was made, evidently by re- quest, to put through a resolution endors ing the pending shipping subsidy bill, and the club was about to endorse it, by re- quest, without knowing it's provisions Ac- ton upon it was, however, postponed when opposition developed.
 As a matter of fact few people here un- derstand this bill
 A shipping subsidy bill based strictly up- on tonnage-carrying capacity would be of great aid to the Birmingham district. It would enable ships to carry our steel and wire and nails and iron and coal to foreign ports. It would cause the building of Amer ican vessels to handle those products and enable them to do so at moderate cost, and yet make a profit.
 A subsidy is the simple payment by the government of a certain amount for each ton of freight carried, per hundred miles travelled, to each freight carrying vessel sailing under the American flag and plying between an American and a foreign port. In other words the government would courage the establishment of freight car rying steamship lines by paying each vessel a fixed sum per ton for the freight it car ries. For instance suppose there was a navigable river from here to Mobile, and there was steamboat line on it. The city government of Birmingham would by act say to investors, build steamboats and
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
Rural Free Delivery.

The report of the Postmaster General in this country is coming up to the standard established fifty years ago in England and nearly seventy-fve years ago in France. It is of long standing, too, in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and other European countries IL is only three years old in this country, but 1t is extended each year so rapidly that the United States will soon be abreast of the most advanced countries .n this respect.
 Rural free delivery is in all countries confined to districts that have good roads, and in this country road reform must precede it. The good roads of lief ferson County enabled Congressman blessing for the entire county.
 On July 1, 1899, there were but 391 rural free delivery routes in the coun- try; on November 1, 1900, the number had risen to 2551, serving 1,S01 ,524 peo- pie. A route averages about twenty-five miles in distance, serving about 100 families. A carrier on such a route is paid $500 a year, he or she furnishing the conveyance and making deliveries and collections each day of the week except Sunday.
 There are 215S petitions pending, and the Postmaster General estimates that at the end of next June the service will be extended to 3,500,000 persons. In the cities and towns 31,OOO,OO0 people are now served by free delivery, and the Postmaster General thinks 21,00O000 more can in the long run be reached by free delivery. This will increase the cost of the entire postal service by about $14,000,000, but the increased 8scost will be far below the value of the new service to the people. The appro- priation for this year is $1,750,O00 and the Postmaster General asks for S3,- 500000 to cover the cost of rural free delivery in the next fiscal year.
 Rural free delivery is welcomed in all part of the country. It is an unmixed blessing on the farms and m the small towns. It leads to good >roads. It pro- notes intelligence. It makes better citi- zens. It enhances the value of farms. It keeps the boys away from the towns. It is needed in every community, but every community that desires IL must first look to it's roads. The carrier must have roads that he can traverse in all kinds of weather.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

@ HE Board of Revenue of Jeffer- son County is composed of good
 men, but they are on the wrong
 N track when they seek to divert from the road fund of Jefferson County something like twenty thousand dollars in order to use this money to make up de- felt in the revenues of the county. The Board of Revenue should not be permitted to take one single cent from the road fund to make good any deficit It there be temporary deficit let them borrow money temporarily to make it good, but don't permit them to deprive the roads of lief ferson County of that work which is nec- essary to keep them in perfect condition. Had it not been for these good roads Jef- ferson County would not have gotten free rural mail delivery from the United States government. The good roads are in a measure responsible for the governments giving us daily mail delivery in the coun- try To destroy the roads now, to let them wash and get full of holes and become mud dy and difficult to drive over, might cause the government to put stop to the promis- ed extension of free rural delivery
 do not blame the members of the Board of Revenue for wanting to make good showing in financiering the county, but they must make it by some other means than by practically tearing up the roads to do so. As much as I think the county officers deserve good large salaries, I would even prefer to see a cut in salaries and saving in other directions than to have the road fund touched one iota. It really should be greater than it is. if it tn lyn are the greatest possible blessing to any community or section.
 
 In this connection, the plan of Mayor Drennen to issue improvement bonds for paving the streets of Birmingham is a good one. As a rule the streets of Birmingham are far inferior to the county roads. Much paving is necessary. Much paving should be done at once, and this method of giving the citizens ten years time in which to pay for paving streets is practical. If the work is pushed Birmingham should be a thor oughly paved city within the next two or three years.
 like to see ambition displayed by man as we'll as by a corporation It is we'll for people to be up and doing and ambitious to succeed above their associates. The banks of Birmingham have been bestirring them~ selves considerably of l e. Changes have been made in the officers of several One big bank has bought out a medium-sized bank and has now become the largest bank ing institution in seven or eight southern states. second bank is to erect a mag nhcent banking building on Twentieth street. It is to be of massive stone, only two-stories in height and is to be of rare architectural beauty. It is to be used for no other purpose than as bank.
 About the time the construction of this building is begun I hear that great ten story office building is to go up on the site of another existing bank, It is not to be
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
Hamlet or No Hamlet.

Is it true that public taste in this town no longer demands the plays of Shakespeare?
 Shakespeare has not changed He is still the master of the great problem of life-its passions, it's trials, it's joys, it's griefs. He is still the chief interpreter i of its various moods He is still the un- rivaled prince of expression. His lines are still in everybody's mouth, as they will be while the language endures. No one else ever had such faculty of ex- pression on one else perhaps ever will. He stands today where he did three hundred years ago, the one masterful interpreter of human nature, without a 1 rival or even a nearby colleague. All gather wisdom and wit from his unap- proachable lines now as they ever have since they were written. Shakespeare has not changed. His position in litera- ture, and as a revealer of fife, has not been assailed, and cannot be. The  change, if any, is in the people who go to the theatre.
 The patrons of the theatre are in good part young people of the spooney age. Without these young people the theatre would be starved out; it's doors would be closed. Have the tastes Of these young people been changed by the novel of the day or the pray of the day? This is the real question. Tine slangwhanging novel, filled with slaugh- ter, and the sentimental play, tiled with tears and fearful situations, both full of action and empty in every other re- spect, may have created a craving that leads away from the immortal lines full of the secret springs of life
 The change, if change there be, is in the direction of degeneracy, and the chances are it will run it's course in a few years, and the plays of Shakespeare will be again demanded by playgoers Spectacle and sentiment, the one as empty as the other, will pail upon the public taste, and the stories that are as fresh and vivid and true today as they were three hundred years ago will be recalled, and there will be installed again a Shakespearean revival, if one may use the language of the stage. At any rate, we may be sure that the lines of the dramatist stand imperishable and unapproached and if we drift away from them we may be equally sure there is something intellectually awry in us. We are mentally crooked, not the immortal bard.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
pr. Barclays Health Report.

The annual report of pr. U. w. Bar clay, health officer of Jefferson County, was perhaps necessarily based on old figures of population, because the fig ures of whites and blacks in the county have not been published, although the populations of the different civil di visions have been. It would perhaps have been better to have deferred the annual report until the census figures could have been procured, for Dr. Bar clays percentages are misleading.
 For the county they are based on a population of S6,0O0, when in fact the population was 140,420. The lower basis throws all percentages out of proppr- tion and out of truth, and there is not a percentage in the report that is not misleading. This is unfortunate, and it might have been avoided by waiting for census figures. There was and is noth- ing that calls for an annual report at this season of the year. Even if Dr. Barclay had been compelled to wait un- til midsummer, it would have been bet ter to have done so, for the report as it stands is without value so far as it's percentages are concerned.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
Pays Schools in the Senate.

It would be downright cruelty in the Constitutional Convention to establish as condition precedent to voting the ability to read and write when at the same time pay" schools exist that the self-respecting poor cannot attend. Sen sratement, but Senators cannot always ";st themselves in the places os the
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
AT THE PLAY.

By T. E. Brown, in. McClure's Magazine. AS in theatre the amused sense Beholds the strange vicissitudes of things, Young Damon's loves, the fates of clowns
 and kings. a And all the motley of the gay pretense- Beholds, and on an acme of suspense Stands vibrant till the curtain falls, door
 swings, sa Lights gutter, and the weary murmurinss Of o'er-watched varlets intimate us thencsI Even so we gaze not oh the things that are, Nor aught behold but what is adumbrate. The show is spacious and we laugh and
 weep At what is only meant spectacularss~ And when the curtain falls we may not
 wait;
 Death takes the lights, and we go home to
 sleep.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 If woman only loves a man enough he can make her do anything she wants to.
 Probably If they didn't give them pain fond of wearing high-heeled shoes. her soul was wearing out her body, she goes around trying to look like something ailed her.
 A woman spends half the time wondering what the Lord thinks of her husband ard the other half wondering what the heisii- bors thing of her.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
MUST COME TO ANDY.

From the New York World.
 Andrew Carnegie will hold the reins in any steel combination. The others must always buy his material or find him com pettor in their line of finished products.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

When Mrs Nation declined an invitation to visit Atlanta, she probably was under an impression that Mayor Woodward was still in office and was doing his best to consume all the strong drinks in sight.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
HER WALL.

From the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.
 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the grand satellite of the Concatenated Cats, says that woman is still under the heel of man. Still we observe that Carrie is able at times to poke her head out and make a few marks
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

EX-Senator Towne seems to have counted too rapidly when he counted the literates in the Philippines. Instead of 80 per cent per cent is nearer the mark
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

The brown delegate from Hawaii will be the nearest approach to a colored man that the next Congress will include.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Governor Yates thirty colonels are now engaged in undermining General Miles per sonal appearance in uniform.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

General Wade the new commander in the Philippines, ought not to object to cam- paigning in the wet season.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Senator Chandler can now realize the meaning of the poets remark: How sharp CT than a serpent's tooth is a thankless railroad"
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

The saloonists of Kansas do not like Mrs. Nations style of hazing. They will take tobasco sauce instead.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Merely the names of the employees of the city of New York-its office holders-f1ll a volume of S9S pages
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

MT Nation. No. ?, is baldheaded. No. 1 died long ago. He passed away peacefully. even joyfully.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Mrs. Nation is the George Washington of her sex. Each did 1t with a hatchet
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

The war in the Philippines is so nearIs over that Secretary Root refuses to let 10
 900 volunteers come home until he has F, ,00 more to take their places. z
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

The Duke of New York took the German measles out of compliment to his cousin of Germany.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Governor Yates should ship his thirty colonels to the Philippines in order to break them in.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Mrs. N .tion would be bankrupted if she patronized clipping bureau.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Delaware may have to blast her peac crop this year as consolation against Ad dicks.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03
SHOTS BY MIR, BRYAN.

From the Commoner
 Why not subsidize the Snake Creek h. dians into being good.
 The transcontinental railroads are very well satisfied with the status of the Nica- ragua canal
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Mrs. Nation may attack Governor Stanley and the saloons simultaneously.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Nebraska has sensational deadlock, and also a Pat Grove deadlock.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Editor Bryan is filling all positions on the Ccmmoner, and is not overworked at that.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

If some genius will invent a greenbaci with an interest coupon attached it is be
 lieved that MT. Secretary Gage will soon b, able to look it in the face without growing faint
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

It is now held that Mayor Van Wyck lowered himself instead of the flag.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

The money already expended in a vain effort to subdue the Filipinos and grab their lands would have made ullable more land in Western America than there is in the whole Philippine group. This would have created larger market at home pro- vided homes for millions of people and made unneccery the sacrifice of $500 Ameri- can lives on the altar of commerce" The Philippine game is not worth the candle.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

tobasco sauce instead.
  Merely the names of the employees of the city of New York-its office holders-fn a volume of Sss pages. MT. Nation. No. 9 is baldheaded No. died long ago. He passed away peacefully. even joyfully. The Duke of New York took the German measles out of compliment to his cousin of Germany. Governor Yates should ship his thirty colonels to the Philippines in order to break them in.
 Delaware may have to blast her peach crop this year as a consolation against Ad dicks.
 Editor Bryan is filling all positions on the Ccmmoner and is not overworked at that The Nashville American thinks Mrs. Ma ton should be sentenced to West Point.
  It is now held that Mayor Van Wyck lowered himself instead of the flag.
  Mrs Nation may attack Governor Stanley and the saloons simultaneously. Mrs N .tion would be bankrupted if she patronized a clipping bureau.
  Nebraska has sensational deadlock and also a Pat Grove deadlock Kansas is the only state that has negroes to burn.
 The book trust is counting noses in Mont gomery.
 Measles is no respector of royal heir ap- parents.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

The Nashville American thinks Mrs. Ma ton should be sentenced to West Point.
The age-herald., 1901-02-03

Kansas is the only state that has negroe: to burn.
The age-herald., 1901-05-08
Murphy 6 Co.'s Grain Letter.

Chicago, May 7.-Wheat opened active and strong, selling up sharply at the start of cables on reports of unfavorable weather. Buying was active. followed by reaction. Cables were strong, prin- cipally the French. The advance was ac- companied by reports from the west. showing that wheat was coming up very thinly on the ground, but some cables stated good weather might repay the damage. With both the German and French crop showing damage, Europe may later be good buyer.
 Offerings were light with foreign de- mand The close was firm.M
 The corn market was fairly active and somewhat easier Cables were steady but the foreign demand has been of little i'm portance. The selling appeared on larger receipts west. Chicago getting 5OS cars and 126 cars were reported on contracts. Contract stocks there increased 2ISooO bushels and the total is S,S71, 900 bushels. The colder weather in the northwest was a bullish factor. Small local deliveries were made. Corn was very steady. The close was firm.
 The provision market was fairly active. but very steady, opening at about last nights prices. Nothing of importance in the meat market. Provisions closed dull.
The age-herald., 1901-05-08
Cotton Letter.

c. w. Lee & Co.'s Cotton Letter to II. D.
 Cothran & Co.
 New York, May 7.-Another weak and lower market today. The first decline was on the cables, but later the market had a severe break on the large port re- ceipts and liberal estimates for tomor- row for New Orleans and Houston. Values getting down considerably below the pre- vious low point Minor shorts covered early on the reports of unsettled wealth CT and hail storms in portions of the South. The larger shorts showed no in clination to cover at any time, in fact helped along the decline with offerings but did not have to sell much. The mar ket seemed to sag of its own weight and on each decline stop loss selling was the feature. Looks now as if July will be forced under 7.50. There seems to be nothing to stop 1t. not at least until re- ceipts movement lets up.
 The greatest weakness was in the July and August again, but we do not think sales for short account of either are ad- visabe Port receipts 1S,608 bales vs. 2415S and cess same day a week and a year ago. At New Orleans 5000 to 5000 bales are expected vs. 2368 and 1509.
 At Houston 4SOO to 5200 are expected vs. 4547 and 572.
 | On the whole crop news was more fa- vorable today though some very bad re- ports are being received from some sec tions, notably Alabama. Showers were reported in some parts but a good general rain Is needed. Crop Is not coming up well and were it not for the weakness displayed for several days past in the old crop months we rather believe the distant months would have sold steadier and advanced. As they work below the present level purchases would seem all the more profitable.
 New York Cotton Futures. rau Private Wire to H. D. Cothran & Co