davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
IN HOTEL LoBBIEs.
The Late Harry L. Merrlek.


 Harry L. Merrick, who died in Wash ington on Saturday last, and who has been for fourteen years connected with the Washington Post. was probably the best known editorial paragrapher in the United States.
 His paragraphs were always fresh and crisp and have been copied all over the country. They seemed to improve the longer he continued the work. and the writing of them instead of being toll for him was a pleasure. Indeed, he was never quite content when separated from hls work. During his annual vacations he sometimes kept up his work at long range for weeks, often, for the sake of fresh ness supplementing the matter sent by mail with a budget of paragraphs by wire
 He was engaged in newspaper work practically all his life, beginning as re- porter in xenia, Ohio, and later going to Zanesville. The Washington Post says of his paragraphing:
 Partisan politics never influenced his humorous comments in the slightest de- gree. He would make merry with one party as readily as with another. There was never a trace of Ill nature or malice in anything he wrote. He saw the funny side of everything that had funny side to 1t. His paragraphs as already stated, were quoted far and wide, and contributed in no small way to the holding of public sentiment. By common consent in recent years he was accorded the distinction of being the best newspaper paragrapher In tho country. Naturally offers came to him to transfer his services to other pa pers, but these never tempted him. He was devoted to the Post, his surroundings were most congenial and he recognized that Washington afforded him the best possible f1eld-the ideal field-for his line of work. He had grown with the paper, and his talents received liberal recognition in pecuniary way.
 Personally MT. Merrick was compan- ionable and lovable always. Those with whom he was daily associated had the tenderest affection for him"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
Effects of lntemperance.

From the Boston Post.
 Mary Noailles Murfree of Murfreesboro. Tenn is better known as Charles Egg bert Craddock, for 1t Is under this male pseudonym that her tales of the Ten nessee mountains have appeared. Miss Murfree Is the great granddaughter of Colonel Hardy Murfree, the revolutionary hero, and she has on the tip of her tongue a number of stories which, according to tradition, Colonel Murfree used to tell with great success.
 One of these stories concerns a judge and drunken barber. The judge was be- ing shaved and the barber, whose hand was unsteady from drink cut him four or five times. Regarding gravely In the mirror his countenance bleeding from all those cuts, the judge said:
 Friend, you now perceive. I trust, the evil effects of intemperance.''
 'Intemperance does make the skin rather tender sir was the reply.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
FISH THAT COME WHEN CALLED.
First Specimens of the Anabes lr- ported from India by New Yorker.


 From the New York Mail and Express.
 Otto Eggeling, a naturalist of this city, has finally succeeded in importing from Asia the first specimens of the curious fish known as the anabes ever brought to this country.
 The special peculiarity of the anabes which inhabits the streams of interior land In search of water when the streams are dried up. Lovers of aquariums have for years endeavored to secure specimens of this fish. but without success, as they always died in transit, especially when in the vicinity of the Suez canal, owing to the intense heat. MT. Eggeling conceived the Idea of placing the fish in earthenware vessels. containing a sufficient quantity of water-soaked earth, and two moHths ago he corresponded with friends in India, who secured several fine specimens and shipped them. The fish arrived last week, and when the earthenware pots were opened, the earth therein was found per- fectly dry and the fish were in lifeless state. Several hours after being placed In water, however, they came to life and are now as well as ever.
 These fish are beautifully marked, ana when the light strikes them at certain angles their whole bodies assume all the colors of the rainbow, They average about two and half inches in length. and, unlike other fish breathe through the lungs instead of the gills. thus en- abling them to live on land.
 It Is said that the anabes can be tanned as any domestic animal, and come when called to, eating food out of ones hand. These fish have what might be called "crawlers" on the lower part of their bodies, thus enabling them to travel over land,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
BRIBERY AND REPEATING
 IN THE SMALLER STATES.
From the New York Mall and Express.

From the New York Mall and Express.
 ~ RIBERY and repeating have been Er11 the most fragrant and frequent N crimes against the franchise in large American cities. Bribery or other form of immoral suasion is still the chieh of the dark agencies employed by un- scrupulous machine" organizations to win at the polls access to municipal loot Colonization Is another method of affect ing the voting In dense centers of popula- tion where floating tenement house popu- lation makes easier fraud in registration and more difficult the Identification of H. legal voters. Repeating has been made more difficult, while ballot-box stuffing or falsifcation of returns is now in most cities a perilous experiment.
 It is a development comparatively re- cent in domestic politics that the purity of the franchise, formerly assaiied most scandalously in cities. is now notoriously smirched in the smaller and older states. This condition has become especially con- spicuous in three of the original thirteen states-in Rhode Island. Connecticut and Delaware. The stain of bribery has tainted the electorate in each Of these states to such a degree as to cause the rebuke of pulpit, press and platform and to excite the open alarm of thoughtful, patriotic citizens Moral disintegration seems to have permeated, by subtle and slow degrees. the social fabric and po- litical thought of these three states. Pro- lessor Mccook of Hartford estimates that there are 2o.000 purchasable voters in Connecticut, and asserts that the balance of power in that state is thus purchas- able. Rev Willard C. Selleck denounces political bribery as Rhode Islands pub lie shame" George Kennan's revelations of corruption in Delaware are too recent to need recounting, although 1t Is a novel disclosure that he made his inquiry with the encouragement of President Roose- welt.
 Thus 1t would appear that problems of municipal reform are now associated with the patriotic task of retaining the purity of the ballot in three small east ern commonweaiths. The spread of political disease from cities Into villages and towns urgently invites an active campaign for It's cure. The disease Is insidious because the methods of it's propagation are essentially secret. A few of its symptoms. together with its environment, must be examined to form a diagnosis and to prepare for It's treat ment. There Is a similarity of symp- toms both as to method of propagation and as to the voters affected, in all three states. There is yet more striking sim ilarity of environment
 All observers of this noxfous develop ment agree that 1t Is not the foreign element" that is most affected by this form of corruption. There Is a large foreign element in the factory towns of both Rhode Island and Connecticut. This element is less in Delaware. But in all three states It is agreed tat 1t is the native American part of the voting popu- lation that has become most affected by political bribery. It Is the descendants of the oldest stock, whose decline in birth
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

rate has been the text of many a socio- logical essay, who have l zen led by slow degrees to regard their votes as merehan- disc.
 The methods of this decadence have been most gradual and sinister. In Rhode Island, we are told, some of the families of this old stock are like Scotch clans. Their members vote as their chiefs dic- tate. That political corruptionists may secure the support of the chief of a clan by various methods There are endless forms of bribery, from the payment of a price for a frankly but secretly specified purpose, through the guarantee of days wages on election day, or the promise of a petty appointive office, to the seem- inly innocuous furnishing of a carriage for free ride to the polls or some dis tinctly local social recognition. The in- fluence of the women over voters of their families may thus be cunningly invoked. In Delaware this art Is described as hay ing reached the perfection of adroit sub tlety, so that it's victims do not know that they have been enmeshed. In Rhode Island 1t is said that the majority of bribe takers undoubtedly accept bribes ''as innocently as children, without a real ization of what the action meant" In Connecticut the appeal seems to be made to that narrow thrift in the lives of ham, lets, of which Mary D. Wilkins has pict- ured types, though not in that aspect
 
 Inis rural corruption is further associa- ted with cities, because it exists in states that lie right in the track of a rapidly growing seaboard population. This in- creasing congestion, in the view of Dr. Giddings of Columbia university will within half of this century become in ef- feet, If not in municipal organization. the largest city In the world, stretching as a continuous settlement from Lynn, Mass, to Alexandria, Va.-the latter a charming ly picturesque, sleepy little town whose customs receipts once exceeded those Of New York, and that George Washington believed would grow into the commercial metropolis of the nation. This seacoast city, whose beginnings are already seen in the trolley-eonnected suburbs of Bos- ton, Fall River. Providence, New Haven and Bridgeport, New York, Newark, Tren- ton, Philadelphia. Wilmington Baltimore and Washington, will have facilities of the most -rapid transportation and com munication in which the tunnels and via ducts to connect Long Island and New England with the south and west will bt only link.
 thus the political regeneration of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware be- comes a task of present duty and of in caculable future importance. It is easier to study the disease tan to discover rem. edies. But the most obvious are faith full attendance at the primaries by those reformers who cry aloud but neglect theiI own civic duties, and an organized prop uganda of political ethics that shall make it impossible to assert in the future that bribe takers accept consideration for theiI votes with the innocence of children"
 E. c. H..
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
HOME THOUGHTS FROM ABROAD.

By Robert Browning. O, to be in England now that April's
 there: And whoever wakes in England sees
 some morning, unaware. That the lowest boughs and the brush
 wood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf. While the chaffinch sings on the orchard
 bough In England-nowl And after April. when May follows, And the white-throat builds, and all the
 swallows! Hark! where my blossomed pear-tree in
 the hedge Leans to the field and scatters on the
 clover Blossoms and dewdrops-at the bent
 sprays edge That's the wise thrush; he sings each
 song twice over, Lest you should think he never could re-
 capture The first fine careless rapture! And. though the fields look rough with
 heavy dew, And all be gay when noontide wakes
 anew. The buttercups. the little children's
 dover. Far brighter than this gaudy melon-
 flower.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
Production of Steel.

James M. Swank of the American Iron and Steel association has just published the statistics for 1902 relat- ing to the production of open-hearth steel ingots and castings. In 1905 the country produced but 1,137,1S2 tons of open-hearth steel; last year the pro- duction was increased to 5,687,729 tons. It had been more than quintupled in seven years. On the other hand, Bes- semer steel in the same time had not quite been doubled, figures for 1895 being 4,909,12S tons, and of 1902 being 9,306,47 tons. At present only one new Bessemer plant is in course of con struction, while the new open-hearth plants are too numerous to mention" i"
 In 1902 open-hearth steel was made in ninety-eight works, located in Mas sachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, Ala bama, Ohio. Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri. Eight plants were added to the list in 1902, and this year the large plant in Colorado will be brought Into operauon.
 The steel trust makes a little over  three-quarters of the Bessemer steel production of the country, but its share of the open-hearth production is but 52 per cent. Pennsylvania practically
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
HIS LABoR-sAvINe PRAYER.

From the Chicago Record-Herald.
 A little Chicago boy was most per sistent in his demands for a toy type writer before Christmas. his constant cry being "It will save me lots of work"
 His parents could not understand why 1t would save him work, as his lesschs have not reached the wIhng stage yet However. Santa Claus was notified and Christmas the toy typewriter was the first object seized upon. After the Christ mas excitement had died down Tommie spen. the rest of his day mastering the typewriter When his mother put him to bed he pointed in triumph to a paper pinned on the wall by the head of the bed.
 There, mamma" he said, T told you the typewriter would save me lots of trouble; now I don't have to say that every night
 The mother read:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
Peonliarltles of People.

"Did you ever notice the peculiarities or people who ride on the street car," said a man who observes things. Tt is one of my favorite pastimes when on the cars to watch people pay their fares. My ob- servation has been that you can tell whether a man or woman Is niggardly or free with money by the way the fare Is handed to the conductor.
 "The person who doesn't care for money and who doesn't really know it's value hands the conductor money with the palm turned downward. On the other hand the person who Is inclined to think twice before making an expenditure and who in fact wants to hold on to every cent he gets, extends the money with hls palm turned upward.
 T don't know why this Is, and see no special reason why it should be so, but you watch some time and see If I am not right. Of course, there are excep- tions. but I am speaking of the rule"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
SENATOR HoAR's FINE OPTIMISM
From Wilshire's Magazine.

From Wilshires Magazine.
 My creed in general is this:
 First--I believe that the great things that have been gained in these countless ages in which men have been dwelling on this planet-and l think that we nave gained great things-have been accom- plished by very slow growth Indeed. So let us have the patience of God.
 Second-I believe that things are tend ing toward what is good and not toward what is bad.
 Thlrd-I believe implicitly that the de- sires of the American people are for jus tice and righteousness, however much they may be mislead at times. The per manent things are the stars and the sun. and not the clouds or the dust
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
A VANDERBILT RETAINER.

From the Chicago Chronicle.
 It was touching and pleasing to see Chauncey M. Depew lined up with the other old servants at yesterdays Van derbilt wedding. Chauneey has just the physiognomy for an old retainer of the kind seen on the stage who throws his hat in the air and calls upon the ten antry to welcome the bride to the baron ial castle with three cheers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Ross and wife and Miss Ella W. Baer of Anniston are registered at the Morris.
  John B. Lagarde of Anniston is at the St. Nicholas.
 John M. Mcc1eilen of Chicago Is stop ping at the Morris. H. M. Miller Of Chicago is at the St. Nicholas
 Mayor w M. Drennen has returned from short visit to Montgomery.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
Saving Money.

"Eome one has said that 1t is impossible for man to acquire several million dol lars during his lifetime and be absolute ly honest" said & lobby philosopher.
 Whether that be true or not, he can't do 1t by working on a salary and saving up something every week. Now, Adam is supposed to have lived 5000 years ago Isn't her Did you ever stop to think that if he had put s3 in the bank every week during his lifetime and had lived to the present day he would not yet have saved up million dollars?
 Ut is a little diseouraging to us fel- lows that are trying to save up until we become rich, isn't it?'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

No doubt Bessemer steel will hold it's own throughout many years to come, but the time is fast coming when 1t will play second fiddle to open-hearth music In five years the chances are that the larger of the two streams of hot metal will come from open-hearth furnaces.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Prophet Parry is to be bulwarked in with rebuke and a correct public senti- ment. Such radicals and cranks thun- der, however, chiefly in the index. Their tongues are their biggest parts.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

makes, however, the steel of the coun- try, aud the steel trust makes 65 per cent of the entire output.
 We present by years the production of steel, thus showing the rapid rise to 15,00O ,OO0 tons in the first two years
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The rural editors of New York state propose to gobble up for themselves some of the south's congressional rep resentation. The rural editor of that section wants anything from cordwood to a barrel of hard cider,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR
From the New York Press.

From the New York Press.
 Set reformer to catch a reformer.
 When men are the ihes women are the molasses.
 Penitence depends a great deal on the condition of the stomach.
 The older man grows in experience with them, the fresher grows his inno- cence about woman's ways.
 cynicsm doesn't keep man from get ting fooled by women; it helps to keep him from being disappointed about 1t.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The negroes go right along making cotton without any reference to the fact that they are a problem. The chief problem with them is the watermelon oron
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
ALL ABOUT METAPHYSICS.

From the Tyre.
 A Seotchman thus defines metaphysics; When mon wha' kens naething aboot any subject takes subject that nae mon kens anything aboot and explains It to anither mon still more ignorant than him self-that's metaphysics.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

While Guam is rising Heligoland Is wasting away, and the kaiser will have to locate a buoy in order to have any jurisdiction over his island at all.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

President Parry has subsided and Indiana should keep her wandering son at home hereafter. His tongue Us longer than his brain.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
Between Friends.

From Judge.
 Gladys-"Has Jack asked Edith to mar ry him?"
 Ethei-'I judge so She says he is not like other men"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Secretary Shaw is considered "an old money lending shyster" at home., A prophet Is not honored in his own coun- try-not even 'Lige Dowie.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

MT. and Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt are travelling incognito, and the Chi cago Record-H Herald thinks they should register as "Mr and Mrs. Rocks"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The country is so prosperous that an anti-merger decision operates on 1t as tonic.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

All of the country will miss the genial paragraphs of the late MT. Mer- rick of the Washington Post. He was a stranger to malice.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The F1lipinos are still insurging re- gardless of proclamations to the con trary.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Runaway trolley cars are almost as bad as runaway automobiles. Freight cars stand no chance if they get in the trolley's course.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Shamrock III is willing and will soon be ready to follow in the wake of it's esteemed predecessor.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
Regardless of Consequences.

From the New York Telegram
 A woman who lived to be 102 years old in her formula fer attaining great age gives the paradoxical rules. Let nothing worry yc nafried-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The trusts are simply waiting to catch hold in new place. They never dispair They simply find line of less resistance.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The long rains are ceasing to fall, and baseball can no longer be con sidered an aquatic sport.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Tho biglamily issue is now fad of the churches as well as of the White House and the colleges.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Governor Odell is doing the boss act in New York at present, and Senator Platt is doing the back number act.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

New Workers demand two-cent fares for those who have to stand up and grasp strap.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The people who throw banana skins on the sidewalk should be slipped into Judge Feagin's select hotel
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The consumer of hard coal does not see where he comes in under the com. missions decision.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The Northern Methodists have caught the merging disease and are trying to combine their book concerns.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Little Miss Armour is not only mil lionairess, but better still she skips a rope.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
The Best Record.

The Boston Herald of Saturday prints the following special from Pensacola re- garding the craftsmanship of the gum ners on the battleship Alabama:
 ''The gunners of the battleshp Ala bama now hold the honors as best marks men in the American navy. having scored in one weeks target practice an average of 59.7 per cent. This includes every size gun in use on the battleships and tops the record of the Massachusetts, which was 56 per cent.
 'The Alabama went into the gulf on the 10th, returning late this afternoon. The Kearsarge has yet about forty shots to fire before she finishes her weeks work and reports are that she is making an excellent record. Some of the battle ships have excelled the Massachusetts with certain pieces, notably the Indiana with her thirteen-inch guns"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The Goebel murder case Is to be one of two centuries at least.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
The mother read

Now I lay me down to sleep.
 I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If l should die before I wake, l pray the Lord my soul to take.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

The Buffalo date line is taking a well-earned vacation.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21

Instead of hunting mountain lions President Castro is hunted by noun tain revoluuionists.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
About Persons.


 J. c. Street of Anniston is stopping at the Hillman.
 G. T. seaberry of wetumpka is at the Metropolitan.
 H. P. Gibson of Corona is stopping at the Hillman.
 T. F. Harris of Altoona Is at the Morris. l. Pickens of Greensboro is registered at the Metropolitan.
 Ed Gross of Baltimore is at the St. Nicholas.
 E. H. Thayer of Kansas City is stop ping at the Hillman.
 B. Majors of Fl Paso is registered at the Metropolitan.
 Charles Atkins. ". A. Davis, W. F.