davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
TO DECREASE NOISE.

From the New York Tribune.
 The recently constructed elevated rail- road in Berlin Is being complained of by nearby property owners on account of the noise of its trains. It has resorted to various devices to deaden the noise, which are of interest to persons familiar with the din in this city. Consul General Mason describes them in a recent letter to the state department: These experiments included, first, inserting three layers of felt between the rails and the wooden ties on which they are laid. This made some improvement, but did not satisfy the compliments of the police. Next. in place of wooden sleepers. hollow iron girders were put beneath the rails and filled with loose sand, which. it was expected. would take up the vibration and thus deaden tially effective but not wholly satisfac- tory A third plan has been to abandon the use of cross ties, and instead lay the rails on long longitudinal wooden sleepers, with cushions of lead beneath the rails. Finally, the car wheels have been in some way lined with wood so as to break the continuity and consequent resonance of q metallic structure. All these experimental remedies are still on trial but no definite conclusion concerning them has been an- nounced'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
OuadrenniaI Sessions.

The Florida senate has passed bill providing for quadrennial sessions of the legislature. The lower house Is in- clined to defeat the bhl, but a popu- lar agitation now in progress In Flor ida may induce the house to accept the bill.
 It Is indeed a serious problem--one that no American state has tried. The constitution of Mississippi anticipated quadrennial sessions, but the legisla- ture defeats the plan by holding an adjourned session in the second year. Alabama is about to try the plan, but there are many persons who have misgivings over this provision of the new constitution. Its wisdom is yet to be demonstrated.
 Much depends upon the thorough ness of the session that will meet in September It has but twenty-two days in witch to complete its work, and put the state in condition to get along four years without additional legislation. It is plain that many urgent needs will arise in that length of time. It Is easy to say that there is too much legislation in all the states, but it is not yet plain that sessions four years apart will not prove ob- structive to progress and development
 The proof of the pudding is, how ever, in the eating, and the people of Alabama must await the termination of the first interregnum before sure and correct judgment can be formed relative to quadrennial sessions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
Horse Shows.

Birmingham is hardly showing as much enthusiasm in the coming horse show as Evansville Ind.," said director of the Alabama Fair association.
 "Isjust returned from there today and they are talking of nothing but their horse show. The same animals which show here are to be taken to Nashville and from there to Evansville, so that their events will come some time after ours And yet you see the posters every where Ladies are wearing red and white ribbons, which are the colors of the show. The same colors are flying from every buggy whip one sees. Men are wearing red and white neckties. In fact l have never seen such enthusiasm and interest as those people are showing in the com ing event"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Said literary man. 'The tooth anni- versary of the birth of Ralph Waldo Emerson, which Is to be duly celebrated In Boston next week, will cause an Emerson revival When I was college boy everybody, that Is, every one who made any pretenslons to culture, was reading Emerson; but in recent years the famous author has been much neg lected.
 q enjoy Emerson's mystical writings, but much that l have read struck me as vague, and I suspect that many persons who talked Emerson had little appre- henslon of the philosophers meaning. 1 have yet to find one who could give clear statement of just what Emerson's transcendental philosophy was. While the Concord philosopher Is sometimes classi- fled with the metaphysicians, he belongs, more strictly speaking, with the poets.
 "Emersons charming little volume styled Nature is in every library now, and 1t Is very generally read by educated men and women; yet when it was first published 1t did not meet with ready sale. Twelve years passed before as many as 800 copies were sold"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
COMMERCIAL MATRIMoNY.

From the Galveston News.
 While we are less to be censured than the self-conceited idiot who wastes his time striving to keep up the dignity Of defunct title, and even marries with this pitiful end in view, we are not all free from this weak and wicked habit of mar rying money Now and then we hear of some buxom beauty of sweet sixteen wedding some old pensioner of three-seore and ten, who has to be propped up during the ceremony. Is it love? Hardly. In other cases we find enterprising women of mature years bringing into play all their charms and exerting all their wiles 10 capture some rich youth with the pip still on his nose. The thing has really been carried so far, even in our own country, that a great many Americans have been driven to conclude that 1t Is safer and better all around for both boys and girls to begin the battle of life with out fortunes to mislead them and to tempt. the designing.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
A c,vILIzINo TELEGRAM.
n the Kansas City World.

From the Kansas City World.
 Excellent!
 The Audubon society and the Millinery Merchants Protective association of New York have made compact which agrees that after January 1. 1904, the 'importa- ton. manufacture. purchase or sale of plumage of gulls, terms, grebes, herons' pelicans, humming birds and all song birds shall cease.''
 This is the first real sign to show that man-the god of the beasts and birds will stop the slaughter of the innocents for purposes of gain
 Tally one for the press.
 The press has preached in season and ont of season against the merciless kill- ing of the birds which appear on women's hats. Occasionally preacher has Joineo in to help the protest-occasionally.
 Here and there conscience-stricken tender-hearted woman has discarded the unworthy trophy on her millinery. But the murder has gone on. A million song birds a year have been killed for hat adornment.
 In ihe year 200s that statement will not be believed. Our grandchildren will say: That was sixty centuries after Gains fell passion to slay showed itself. Our grandparents were not barbarians."
 The great wonder is that God Almighty has left single song bird in this cruel world. We don't deserve to have soli- tary sweet songstress.
 But
 The slaughter is to be stopped as to the New York milliners. And New York is power in American fashions.
 Exoaffaptf
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
Total.... .... .... .... 21S

In the solid south West Virginia is not included, because the millionaires now carry that states vote in their vest, or rather brooches, pockets. New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware are not free from political doubts, but the right sort of ticket, aided by inter- ests unfriendly to MT. Roosevelt, coul1 perhaps carry all three states. But the carrying of Connecticut and Indiana would be still more serious task. Nevada and Montana are both demo- cratic, and they are botl needed in order to carry the vote up to 240. If West Virginia could be shaken out of the pockets of ring of millionaires Connecticut's vote would not be needed.
 One trouble in the way is the new apportionment, which requires 23o electoral votes to elect. Four years  ago 224 votes were enough. The table printed in this article explains the en- tire situation, especially if it be re- membered that West Virginia casts seven electoral votes.
 It is only necessary to keep in mind the fact that New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and the solid south cannot elect a President. They cast but POS votes, and 31 more must be obtained elsewhere, and the possible elsewhere seems to be confined to Del aware, Maryland West Virginia, h. diana, Nevada and Montana. These states cast 39 votes, and we could spare West Virginia, but no other state It is this state of things that induces the independent Springfield Republican to say:
 "It is hard outlook for the democracy from any point of view. It's chances for success would seem to be quite as good with radical candidate appealing espe- cially to the great central west as with a conservative candidate appealing to the northwest. In both cases great odds are to be overcome and in both cases states now to all appearances hopelessly republi can are to be gained. It is toss-up which course promises the largest immediate results"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
BULL TREES FOUR GIRLS.
Glasses Them as They Cross a Field on
 Bicycles.

From the New York Times.
 Mabel Marshall 20 years old; Louise Duncan and Jennie Hoffman, both IS years old and Clara Howland 19 years old, of New York, who were visiting Mrs. w. K Hopkins, keeper of a boarding house at Lake Hopatcong. went for ride on their wheels one morning recently to Budd's lake, and had startling ex- perienee with an enraged bull near Ken vii on their way home.
 The young women were wheeling along the highway when they noticed road leading across a large pasture to another highway which would take them to their destination in time for dinner at the home of a friend. Opening the gate, they started to cross the field, but had not gone far when a large bull pursued them. The race was an exciting one fer some distance, the girls making better time than they had ever done before, but screaming frantically as they sped on. The bull continued to gain slightly on them however, and fearing they would soon be overtaken. the young women sprang from t--eir wheels under large tree with low dropping branches, and scampered up to places of safety just as the infuriated animal reached the tree.
 Two of the girls while climbing had dropped their hats. These the bull soon destroyed. Then he turned his attention to the bicycles. which. he tossed hither and thither until they were mere wrecks. The young women remained prisoners among the branches of the tree for nearly two hours, until two farmhands, James Ran ston and Joseph Pearsall, who were work ing in a field some distance from the place, arrived to their rescue and drove the bull into another field. Then, hatless, their clothing torn and carrying their broken wheels, the young women trudged four miles back to the boarding house.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
TONED BY WHALE ONE
 HUNDRED MILES TO SEA

the sea that torrents of water pourfd over the broad fiat stern. Captain Hill- man was forced to bail continually to keep the small craft from being swamp ed.
 Captain Hillman was unable to cast off the lines that bound .he nets to the boat, nor could he cut them, having lost his knife overheard when the boat was rocked by the swing of the whales mon- strous tail After being towed for four hours in the direction of Europe the Thelma was suddenly freed, and by the whale itself. Captain Hillman says 1t all happened so quickly that he cannot ex- plain it, but he thinks that the whale must have slackened its speed and then dived. The Thelma and her two occu- pants were alone on the Atlantic, more than 100 miles from land.
 Seeing that he was freed from his un- comfortable and uninvited whale com panion, Captain Hillman went to the as' sistance of Correlro. The Portuguese was unconscious. When he was thrown down he struck his head against a fluke of the anchor. He was soon revived.
 Captain fIillman was two days in bring ing the Thelma back to port He says that hereafter when he goes fishing he will carry a whaling gun and a supply of bomb lances with him.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
No Prlyates at New Orleans.

When General Gordon named a com mittee to arrange for closer relation ship between the United Confederate Veterans and the Sons of Veterans, he named seven generals, and when an Alabama delegate asked that a private be made a member of committee, no ore was able to recall the name of a private from Alabama The com mander-in-chief was compelled to take more time in which to find an Alabama private who would serve with the seven generals already selected.
 This is a matter that the various camps could remedy. Instead of send Ing officers only to the reunions there Is no reason in the world why the pri- yates of an army that once numbered 100000 men should not be well repre- tented. As things stand, Private John Allen enjoys in the public mind an anique distinction. Blu. there are plenty of privates well equipped men Ally. morally and monetarily to go to ! reunion as delegate, and the va
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
TILL DEATH US PART.

By Dean Stanley.
 Till death us part.
 So speaks the heart, When each to each repeats the words of doom;
 Through blessing and through curse. For better and for worse, We will be one till that dread hour shall come. Life with its myriad grasp
 Our yearning soul shall clasp. Aye, ceaseless love and still expectant wonder;
 In bonds that shall endure,
 Indissoluby sure. Till God in death shall part our paths asunder.
 Till death us join,
 O, voice yet more divine! That to the broken heart breathes hops sublime
 Trough lonely hours.
 And shattered powers, We still are one, despite of change and time. Death, with his healing hand, Shall once more knit the band. Which needs but that one link which none may sever.
 Till. thpugh the only good
 Heard, felt. and understood. Our life in God shall make us one for ever.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
FINDS SUBSTITUTE FOR RUBBER

Colorado Springs Telegram to the Chi
 cago Record-Herald.
 John Muir, of John Muir & Sons, Beith. Scotland, claims to have invented pro- cess for tanning hog hides so as to make them a perfect substitute for rubber in cushion tires for vehicles He says the process makes the skin harder, more durable and equally satisfactory.
 Muir is here direct from New York, where he says he sold American rights to manufacture to a syndicate He says a demonstrating plant will be erected inn mediately. A factory will then be built to supply the demand, which is expected to be large. Similar rights have already been sold for Germany. Austria-H Hungary. Switzerland and other European coun- tries.
 MT Muir Is confident of immediate and general recognition of his Invention, which. he asserts is cheaper and better than rubber.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
New York,s Anniversary.

New York city will celebrate it's 250th anniversary next Tuesday, and the World is calling upon the people of that great town to Illuminate their houses on Tues day night" said a New York man at the Metropolitan. If Chicago were having an anniversary the whole city would be ablaze with lights. But 1t Is doubtful whether New York will do much in the way of spontaneous jollincation. New York has less public spirit probably. than any city in the country. This lack of public spirit Is often attributed to the fact that New Yorks vast population makes 1t impossible to stir the people up on any great patriotic or local sentiment. But the real reason is New Workers are devoid of anything like enthusiasm when 1t comes to celebrations. The city has not been illuminated since the jolification at the close of the civil war"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
speclal to the New York world.

1R~ea0A lo ttAc ANgW l Olh WOIlQs
 S DGARToWN. MASS. May 20.- 0T0) Capt Horace Hnlman is a re-
 tired whaling master He owns small catboat, the Thelma, and one day last week he and his Portuguese as- sistant, Manuel Correiro, were engaged In examining some nets which they had set off the southern shore of Noman's Land. small island lying to the south of Martha's Vineyard. Suddenly a f1n- back whale leaped out of the water with in ten feet of the Thelma. The boat rocked violently and both men were thrown prostrate
 At the same instant the whale started out to sea, fouling the lines which at tached the nets to tbe little boat and towing the Thelma seaward
 Correiro did not rise, being buried un- der heap of nets that had been over- turned when the whale fouled the lines. Captain Hillman was stunned by his fall, but regained his feet in a few seconds. He attempted to go to the relief of the Portuguese, but was unable to do So, as the situation was so perilous that he did not dare to leave the cockpit. Captain Hillman estimates that the whale was towing the Thelma at a speed of thirty miles an hour.
 So fast did the little boat tear through
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
William Halls, Jr.

William Halls, Jr., vice president of the Hanover National bank of New York, and the largest stockholder in the Bir- mingham Realty company, who spent several days here this week, left last night. He visits Birmingham frequently and is one of the strongest believers in the grand future of the Birmingha mdis- trict.
 q see marked Improvement in Birming ham every time l come" said MT. Halls yesterday. When I was here in January I was impressed with the rapid strides that Birmingham was making, and even in the few months since then l remark steady movement forward. Birmingham is already a great business center, and in ten years from now 1t will be one of the largest cities in the country. I have long been a prophet of Birmingham. and everything l have predicted has come to pass"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
INEXHAUSTIBLE MINERAL
 WEALTH OF CLAY COUNTY

From the Talladega Mountain Home.
 the extent, variety and value of its.
 mineral productions, Alabama Is sur passed by few states in the union. And in the generous distribution of its natural resources for economic uses 1t Is surpassed by none.
 And when 1t is recalled that of the six ty-seven counties of Alabama, Clay coun- ty stands first in the variety of its min eral productions, the great latent, unde- veloped wealth of our sister county be- comes manifest. For with the exception of coal and lime all the mineral products found in the most favored counties occur in Clay, with a number of other minerals found In few other counties of the state. but there are mountains of pyrites, which may supply the base of cheap commercial acids for ages to come, and inexhaustible quarries of granite, the most durable of all building materials Gold is profitably mined in Clay, while the yellow metal is not found in paying quantities in half a dozen other counties in the state. Plum bago, a mineral of rare occurrence but in- dispensable In the arts, is one of the min ing industries of Clay. Iron ores of great extent and variety occur within her bounds. hitherto unmolested by the min CTS pick These are but a few of the many resources of the mineral wealth of Clay, to say nothing of her wealth of for est and field.
 In alluding to the great natural wealth of Clay county the stranger Is led to in- quire why it has not before this been tributary to the commerce of the world. The answer is plain-the want of trans portation. Perhaps no county in the state has benefited so little by railroad trans
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22

portation. And certainly could few other counties give a larger or more constant tonnage for liberal railway systems. The three or four miles in the southwest part of the county traversed by the c. and w. railroad is the only important railway line touching the territory of Clay county
 Topography has largely contributed to this seeming neglect of Clay county. Ly- ing,as 1t does, on the southeast of Blue mountain. with only two passes, and these approached with difficulty, the railroads traversing the country from the Atlantic coast to Birmingham have sought easier passes through this moun- tain. which led them north or south of that county.
 But this disadvantage under which Clay county has so long labored is believed to be nearing it's end. The railroads from the Birmingham district to the southeast Atlantic seaboard are becoming congested, while it Is plain that the western roads having terminals at Birmingham will eventually seek outlets by the most direct route to the Atlantic. These conditions will necessitate the building of one or more lines between these points, and the only logical route is through Clay county.
 Meantime the approaches to the two passes in Blue mountain are not found so formidable as once imagined. The East Alabama railway has made it's way south of the mountain by Taladega Creek Gap, and in a few weeks will be completed to Pyriton. It will doubtless be extended in time through the northern part of the county to connect with Atlana. It is only a question of time when another line will be built by Porter's Gap and on through the county to Savannah or Brunswick And then the latent wealth of Clay county will be felt in the commercial world.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
About Persons.

Congressman Charles W. Thompson Is at the Hillman.
 J. H. Fitts of Tuscaloosa is stopping at the Hillman.
 Claude Seals of Sheffield, is registered at the Metropolitan.
 F. H. Cross of Gadsden was at the Morris yesterday.
 B. Goodman of Philadelphia registered at the St. Nicholas last night.
 A. N. Hadley of Indianapolis Is at the Hillman.
 George K. Wilson of Anniston is regis tered at the Metropolitan.
 T. A. Toms of Montgomery is at the Morris.
 M. oster of Cincinnati is stopping at the St. Nicholas.
 T. F. Davis of Nashville is registered at the Hillman.
 J. c. winn of New York registered at the Metropolitan yesterday.
 F. K. Perrow of Lynchburg. Va, Is registered at the Morris.
 A. D. Archibald of Chicago is stopping at the Morris.
 Among the capitalists now visiting Bir- mingham is c. Harrison of Manchester England. He is In America for the first time and is making quite an extended tour of the country He spent yesterday
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
HOW HE KEEPS coNTENTED.
From Leslie's Weekly.

run l<cSiic W NNNnASr
 w. H. Truesdale. president of the Della ware and Lackawanna railroad, was dis cussing the question of happiness with a friend not long ago. Various arguments were advanced as to the best way to find contentment. q was greatly i'm pressed" said MT. Truesdale, with little talk I recently had with the presi- dent of one of the largest banking insti- tutions in the country. I met this man about 6 o'clock one night on an elevated train in New York city, and expressed surprise that he should have been work ing at his office so late in the day. This is nothing unusual for me- said the bank president; I am downtown as late as this every day. and very often l remain until o'clock I have tried good many ways to find contentment in my life. and have decided that the only thing that brings it Is good. hard, steady work. day in and day out These words have stayed with me ever since. There are many people in this country whose one aim in life seems to be to get money by hook or crook without working for 1t, and there are many others who inherit large fortunes. These persons spend their lives in dawdling in this corner and that corner of the world, trying to spend their time without doing anything in particu- lar and they fail utterly to find the peace and happiness of which they are Tn search. Young men, and old men, too' should learn the truth that the only real lasting pleasure in life comes from be- ing actively busy at some work every day: doing something worth while, and doing it as we'll as you know how. The more we appreciate this fact the more will we be able to make the most of our
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-22
PAINTING DOME OF CAPITOL.

From the New York Tribune.
 The dome of the capitol at Washington is being painted. Every five years its coat is renewed and 1500O gallons of white lead are used in the process. The work is being done by eighteen men, under the direction of Billy Lewis and ZAP Ports. The latter has been employed for nine years. Ports is the only man who ever climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty surmounting the dome He did this on Labor day, 1894, and fastened a garland of electric light bulbs around the neck of her majesty.