davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
Anticipating time with starting cour age.
 -Troilus and Cressida.
Panama Scheme Dead.

Today the limit of time named in which the Hay-Herran treaty could be ratified expires and the country is anxious to know whether President Roosevelt proposes to abide by the Spooner law, or whether in response to strong interests he will construe that law in vague and indefinite manner. All reason and reasonable legal construction calls for negotia- tions looking to a canal on the Nica- ragua route, but no one feels sure that the Spooner law will be obeyed promptly.
 It is the plan duty of the President to obey the Spooner law, which directs him to dig a canal on the Nicaragua route whenever he finds he cannot dig one at Panama. He will know today officially, what he knew practically a month ago. Congress desired no un- necessary delay, and so it directed the President to adopt the Nicaragua route if he ascertained that a treaty with Colombia could not be made within a reasonable time" He knows now that the treaty has been rejected by Colombia, and that no treaty can be. negotiated which would be at all acceptable to this country. The 1, Spooner bill leaves no room for dis cretion. It is mandatory. If the Presi- dent respects and obeys the law, he must proceed at once to adopt the Nicaragua route.
 Congress expressed the will of the people when it directed the President to build, if possible, on the Panama route-if not, then on the Nicaragua route. If the will of the people is supreme-it law is law in the White House as well as in the streets and homes of the people-f long and needless delay is to be avoided, then President Roosevelt will at once adopt the Nicaragua route, now that the time limit is reached. It will expire today, and tomorrow the Nicaragua route should be considered the ac- cepted plan of the great American republic.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
LONDON OBITUARY OF NAPOLEON

When the great Napoleon died there were doubtless among the readers of the London Globe many persons who would have liked to read a full account of his life. but, if so, they were disappointed, for the Globe, in it's issue of July 4. 1s2l, contained only the following brief notice:
 'Death of Bonaparte. We announce the death of Bonaparte. The official an- nouneement was received this morning at the admiralty. His death took place on May 5. His health had been declining for a long time, and the cause of death was a cancer in the stomach He was born in 176O. The cost of his mainte- nance at St. Helena was each year be- tween 9200,OOO and eS00, OOO"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
Pending Measures.

The Hon. John H. Bankhead, Jr., chair man of the committee on ele,.i,Es in the house, stopped over in Birmingham last night en route to Montgomery from his home in Jasper MT. Bankhead is one of the most aggressive members of the low CT house and has made a brilliant record during this session. In sAskiag of the general election bill that was passed by the senate Saturday, Mr Bankhead sad that he thought .he house woulc concur in all the senate's amendments with DC s. sibly the exception O. the one abolishing the booths and the ne providing for appointive county solicitors in counties where special provisions are not made to the contrary The sense 3. the house, he said. was In favor of retainIrg the old and tried custom of booths and elective county solicitors.
 MT. Bankhead said that the gen srai
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
IS MAGAZINE PICTURE
 REALLY OVER-REFINED

apparent everywhere. Stories of the frontier or of the country used to be H. lustrated with pictures of men and women who seemed to fit the particular environ ment to which they were assigned. But nowadays they smack of the type which sits in. drawing room or maintains valet. The characteristic and appropriate lines are smoothed out, the harshness Of figure is toned down, and a sort of glamour is thrown about the whole scene which removes it a thousand miles from the authors conception.
 chase of thief down Broadway may be drawn correctly enough by the up-to- date illustrator. all the figures may be nicely sketched, and the conventional marks of excitement may be every one in place. But there Is no life in the picture. The most susceptible person may look 1t over without a thrill. Perhaps. the best instances of the failure of the average modern magazine artist occur in the DOT traits of cowboys. The horseman may be dressed in most approved fashion, clad in shaps and with handkerchief about the throat and a belt full of revolvers, while. his mount may be arched in terrible fit of bucking. But 1t Is difficult to repress the feeling that Sir Hugh ought to be back in evening clothes at the dowager's party, although you may feel sure that such bucking broncho wouldn't hurt child.
 To be sure the artists who worked in the wood cuts days had their faults. They filled their pictures with needless detai. and many of them drew badly But it is a pity that their successors could not have retained their spirit while improving on their methods.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

From the Kansas City Star.
 IN CHANGING over the midsummer
 issues of the better magazines one cannot avoid being impressed with the technical excellence of the numerous illustrations The old-fashioned wood cut has, of course, disappeared, and the zinc etching is used sparingly. The bulk of the work nowadays consists of the en- graved half-tone plate, and it must be admitted that this form of reproduction is handled with amazing skill The art of the engraver is combined with that of the draughtsman to produce some remarkable effects, especially in delicacy of tone and in touches of high light.
 But if these modern pictures be com pared with those in the bound volume of some magazine of fifteen or more years ago, the result is not altogether to the advantage of the later work. Much progress in the mastery of technique Is shown in the average modern illustra- ton. There are no glaring crudities in the drawing by So-and-so, half tone plate engraved by So-and-so." At the same time life and vigor seem to have gone out from the picture. Of course, there are exceptions. A few modern magazine illustrators are turning out strong draw ings. But the average illustration lacks the vitality which redeemed the technical defects of many of the older wood cuts.
 There has been an over-refinement. a worship of mere prettiness, which has vitiated the quality of much that is done. III, nf ", and woman which become popular a few years ago seems to have made a clean sweep of the magazines. Its influence is
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
FATAL HOURS.

European Edition New York Herald.
 It is a fact that certain hours of the twenty-four which form a day are more fatal to life than the rest? A solution of this question has been attempted by a physician who. having set down in writ ing the exact time of the deaths of 2sSo persons of all ages, among a mixed popu- lation, and extending over many years, easily perceived that the most fatal hour was between and o'clock in the morn- ing. On the other hand, the minimum morning. The mortality at the first named hour was 40 per cent above the average, in the second 61s per cent. below it. Between 10 and o'clock during the day the mortality was not high. The most fatal hours were between and 6 O clock in the morning. The fact is there- fore proved there are fatal hours. Why? The explanation is easy. In fact. the statistics of 5000 to coco deaths, collected by MT. Haviland. and laid before the British Medical Association in 1864. show ed that in the great majority of cases death supervened between o'clock and 8 o'clock in the morning, and that the minimum number occurred between 1 o'clock in the afternoon and midnight. Hence the practical deduction that death most frequently happens at a time when. generally speaking the sick are neither fed nor looked after. Hence. also. the therapeutic deduction that those who suf- fer should be watched increasingly
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
Building Operations.

We used to think that 1900 new houses a year made pretty good record fer the Greater Birmingham, but I think that the official count for the Commercial club next spring will show the namber erect ed during the year 190s-O4 to be nearly 5000, said an investor in real estate. v have recently been looking eyer the city and suburbs and have been 9fnazad at the extensive building operations In my ten years experience in Birmingham l have never seen anything like the number of new houses and houses in course of con struction. In no previous year nas there been so large a number of handsome buildings erected as this year. Prosper ity certainly never was so much in evi- dence here as it is now
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
Music and Rag Time.

"I am a lover of Beethoven. Brahms and Wagner, buC also like many of the light DC pular tunes of the day, and even enjoy a coon song now and then" said a well known amateur musician. T have long thought that much of the opposi- tion to rag-time on the part of high class musicians was affected. In this connec- ton these extracts from the New York Sun may prove of interest to many per- sons: "A gentleman, who confesses him self not sufficiently informed to discuss the subject effectively, writes to say that he has been engaged in a brief but point cd controversy with an English friend on the matter of musical taste and proouc- tvity in the United States. The gist of the Briton's assertions was that 'Ameri cans know nothing about music and that they compose nothing but rag time and care for nothing else. Whereupon our correspondent beseeches us to tell him whether America really is guilty or being the inventor of rag time and whether it is actually true that we have no composers of music of the better sort.
 "'Our corraspc ndent confesses his lack of musical knowledge. and therefore we shall not call him to account for his too ready admission that in opera the cld country is far superior to ours Ws un- derstand him to mean England. Has he never heard of silas G. Pratt's zenobia nor John K. Paine's Azara? Not SIT Arthur Sullivans Ivanhoe nor Goring Thomass Esmeralda outdid either or these. Did he never hear of The Scarlet Letter by Walter Damrosch? This opera was actually performed and listened to-"
 But, as our correspondent truthfully says, this is young country At the age of the old world" he continues, 'it may prove to be as musical" It may
 I've are unable to say who ''invented' rag time, but 1t Is much older than Am erica. When Columbus was battling with the court of Ferdinand and lsa- bella. the Bohemian gypsies of Hungaria were playing rag time in it's rudimenta- " form and Scotch mothers in the Highlands were singing their babes to sleep with it. The truth IS Indl ho oiie invented it. It is like Topsy It never was born. 1t "jes' growed." It "growed and "growed" from the parliamentary form of the Hungarian and the Scot till it became the exaggerated thing which Is now supposed to be a Hfelke reproduction of the negro song, but Is nothing of the sort. The same little trick of throwing the accent into unex- pected places was practsed long before the negro took it up and he employed IL in his slave songs just as the older races had before him.
 'It remained for the American writer of music hall dtties to formulate the theory that 1t was the exaggeration or this peculiarity that would tickle the fancy of the masses and to compose ac- cordingly. As for the Englishman assertion that we care only for that sort of music, an answer containing just as much truth would be that England loves only the English ballad. beside which a good hearty "coon song is as cham pagne beside bottled vichy.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
PENALTIES OF BEING A
 MARRIED MAN OF TODAY

| into matrimony. As soon as his intention becomes known he is tried in the club court, with the president as judge, when he is allowed to plead in extenuation Of his offense. On the skill of his pleading and his excuses depend his fine, from s1OO to s250.
 This fine is devoted to a dinner. at which all members appear in mourning garb. At it's conclusion the president reads the sentence of expulsion. and the delinquent is led from the premises to an accompaniment of groans and lamenta- tions.
 Only last winter a recreant was con- demned to swim twice across the Seine at midnight in his night shirt, with the result that severe attack of rheumatic fever nearly robbed him of the bride, he had paid such a heavy price to wed.
 While the bachelor sometimes has to pay dearly for a wife, in at least one country it scarcely pays to remain celi- bate. In Argentina the man who prefers single to duplicated bliss has to pay a substantial and progr essive tax. If he has not taken a wife by the time he reaches his twenty-hfth birthday he must pay fine of $5 a month to the excheouer; if at S5 he has not seen the error of his ways the fine is increased to s1o month and at the figure it remains for fifteen years.
 If at 50 he still jbes at the altar he is looked on as hopeless, and the fire is d.- unfinished every year until at 80 he is ex- empt Only last month a man who had paid his fine cheerfully up to the mature age of exemption celebrated his free dom by getting married.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
Obey the Constitution.

The legislature has no more right to disregard and to trample upon section 254 of the new constitution than it has to turn down any other section of that instrument.
 Section 254 calls for appropriate laws providing for bank examinations. It does not say the legislature may" pass such laws, but it says the legis- lature "shall' pass them. The section is mandatory, in other words-not simply permissive.
 Any member who today votes against examinations and statements of state and private banks violates the constitution of 1901, although he has taken a solemn oath that he will up- hold this foundation law of the state. It is perjury in member to vote against bank examinations, and it is also wrong to the owners of eleven million dollars of deposits to vote so that another Cornwell grab can occur at any time.
 The people are bigger than the ring of private bankers who are gathered in the Hobbies at Montgomery and they desire to see section 254 of the constitution of 1901 put in operation, regardless of the wishes and plans of the wildcatters and Cornwells of the state.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 A woman can take heap more interest in her husband if she finds that other women do, too.
 Rich uncles have helped many a man to amount to something by being some body elses rich uncle.
 When man is down in the world even those who are still further down want to see him come lower yet.
 When there are married women around you could put an icicle down widow s back and she wouldn't shiver.
 Just as soon as man moves back 10 town he begins to kick to his wife against the things he complained he didn't have when he was in the country.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
From the Boston Post.

fTOm l0e 6oSIon 3OSls
 TZN ATRIMoNY is considered pun I\QI ishable onense in some conn munities. These circles of so- ciety are small. but their ediets are takes cognizance of mans single state, usually imposes a fine for not getting married. as in Argentina. where bachelor hood requires the payment of an increas- ing tax to the government.
 But in certain circles marriage is re- garded as an offense. At Oxford Uni versity, for instance, a fellow of All Souls college fcrfeits his fellowship if he takes to himself a wife while he is supposed to be studying the classics.
 He not only must pay his penalty, but he must present his college a memorial in the shape of a silver cup, on which is inscribed the words: ''Descendit in matrimonium"-He blacksilided into mat rimony."
 The aristocratic Bachelors Club of Picadilly, London, ostracises members who forget themselves so far as to marry. Instant expulsion is the punishment for this offense. The backsliders must leave the company of the bachelors forever. As an act of grace they may pay a fine of $l00 and become honorary members of the club, but that is their only salvation.
 Not only England has these anti-mat- rimony clubs. Their formation in Chicago has been treated as joke. as it has in other American circles. Bachelors in other countries have lent an air of seri- ousness to their endeavors
 It is serious for a member of a certain Junggesellen club in Germany to lapse
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
PRETTY NEAR IT.

From Judge,
 Now" said the man who was always getting his words mixed. my calculation about the yacht ra ,e Is that the Asphalt will take the cup
 "The what?'
 "The Asphalt"
 Why, there's no such boat in the race"
 But aint Lipton got a boat O that name?"
 No. It's the ShamrocS."
 Well, Asphalt nalns the same thing, doesn't it?"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
MEANS $500 FOR SOMEBODY.

From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
 The governor of Missouri has offered $500 reward for the arrest of the briber who distributed 5000 bills among the leg islators. Isn't there something out of proportion about this?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Mr Carnegie favors moderation in protection" but before he sold out he was like all the rest of them; he wanted all of it he could get, and he got a lot.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

The administration. is thoroughly partisan, and even cliquish in Dela- ware, whatever it may be elsewhere. Huldah Todd is still headless.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

John Temple Graves is in the mar ket for a state full of opossums-more correctly speaking, of possums, with out the apostrophe.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

raised an issue concerning fourth-class postmasters that will be felt from "eend to eend" of the republic.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

The crop liar is abroad in the land He lies the crops up and his neighbor lies them down, and the truth lies just midway between them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

The music of the Salvation Army is often picturesque, but the Army has been merciful in not fitting any words to "Hiawatha."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

President Roosevelt is up against union labor, and he is hearing from the union men in a way he does not admire.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Over the Mexican border there is plenty of yellow fevor. Our Mexican neighbors should keep abreast of science and the anopheles.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
Baseball Player Dies of Locklaw.

Marion. Ind, September 2l.--John Stoe- bel a former player in the Evansville baseball team of the Central league. died today of lockjaw. He broke fin- ger while playing two weeks ago and tetanus followed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Senator Carmack hopes no doubt to hold seat in the senate until he has repealed the Fifteenth amendment.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Typesetting machines should not be used in the government office, because they would lead on to larger editions of the esteemed Congressional Record.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

The theatrical season is progressing now without so much precipitation. 1t had a warm opening in this section.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Memphis is '1t," and Birmingham securely holds down a place in the second division.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Oyster Bay announces that the Lip ton incident is closed. It should never have been opened.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

MT. Maxim is also going into the airship business, but he will endeavor to keep out of the Langley class.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

MT. Carnegie's library bonds may yet need better endorser than the steel trust.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

It now appears that the referees were called to Oyster Bay to get a jaeking-up.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Editor Stead is said to be losing his grip, and he no longer attempts to swing the world by the tail.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Senator Beveridge's railway pass has eclipsed the lost passes of Sena- tor Tillman They all have 'em.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

The Turks are killing all the Chris tians they can before the powers call a halt.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Montgomery and New Orleans at any rate cannot crow over us.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22

Miss Ruth Bryan preferred an art ist to choice of the Hobson sort.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-22
About Persons.

General James B. Stanley, editor of the Greenv.lle Advocate, is at the Florence. General Stanley is one of the most widely known and most highly esteemed men i'll Alabama and he never fails to meet with a warm welcome when he visits Birm.' ingham.
The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1903-02-18

0NE tall rcd hound. white tip on toll, g.
" BuliOrd on collar Return 70 zion
Compress md Warehouse Co., foot dar-
DIV ST aud get reward Il
The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1903-02-18
GRAIN MARKETS RATHER DULL
WHEAT CLOSED FIRM
ON COMMISSION BUYING
ha Corn Market Developed strength
and an Advance Was Made-Liquida.
ton Weakened Oats.

chlcago' February 17-Trading In the
grain pits was rather dull today ana after
weak session wheat closed firm, May be.
ing Is higher. May corn was up IsGiI4 hut
oats were h6fA lower. Provisions closed
irregular the May products being from 21s
lower to 1oal21a higher
Wheat ruled dull during the greater part
OF the session and weakness prevailed until
near the close, when fair buying by com
mission houses and local traders caused an
upturn and the close was firm. The open
Ing was easier, on Indifferent cables. May
being down shade to lsdh at TTSs to TIN
Selling for Southwest account aided TO
the depression and the market declined,
there being no supporting features. and
May sod % 20 TN The impression go
abroad that the leader Of the bulls was
trying to huy wheat around the low point
and this gave some strength 70 the situa-
ton, which was helped later IN tle day
uf the strength in coru and by fair x
port demand. After selling up to TsS,
May closed " higher at TSsslLIS4, Mn
n1EioAs ana Dullta reports receipts Of
3fb ears whirh with local rncripJS VI
| thirty two cars, two of contract grlie
| m9de the total re, ciptr for the tatAl points
az cars against 40 last week nni 49 q
frHl ago
Aftcr an easier opening the corn malstt
| prices prevailed throughout the dav ii
! spite Of heavy selling nv oi4urassioU b ua",
and short selling by scalpgrs. Tho moot
was Influenced to some extent by the sma'
| receipts. while a good cash dcmini rat
! responsible for much Of the hrmncss The
! close was firm, with May lsai4 higher al
| 453s after selling between a. and 45ss
Local receipts 356 cars.
Tho increase I'm fine contract stocks OF
| oats caused renewed liquidation in tina
| pit and the market ruled rather easy, al
! though q slight recovery was made late II
| the day ON the strength In wheat and corn
| Commission houses were the best sellers
| while the buying was scattered. TIT
volume OF business was small and no spc
| ciai features were manifested. The clos
was easy with May BQA lower ut 96AG