davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
Great violinist comino.

Birmingham will not be treated to as much fine music this season as it was last, yet a number of first-eiass attrac- tions are booked for the Jefferson. Ko- elan, the brilliant Bohemian violinist who Is receiving ovations in the large cities of the east and north, will be here In Feb- ruary. Another strong attraction will be the Banda Rossa, one of the most popu- lar brass and reed bards on the concert stage. Creatore, whose band made such a hit here last week, tried to secure a return date at the Jefferson, but was un- able to do so, owing to the Ben Hur en- gagement. The only time he had spare for Birmingham was in the week that Ben Hur comes.
 Birmingham Is perhaps the most musi- cal city irs the south." remarked d music lover yesterday" and vet the people did not turn out well to the concerts given by virtuosos last season. But neither did Atlanta and Nashville show their appre- ciation of the big artists, hence the small number routed this way now
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
Long Names.


 "The enormous length of the names of some of the native recipients of honors in connection with the durbar has given rise to the suggestion that the possessors of these should be known at official fune- tions by number" said a man who reads the London papers
 "One can imagine, for instance, the em- barassment of the servant who has to an- nounce to the viceroy the advent of his highness, Sir Padmanabha Dasa Vanji Sir Bala Rama Varma Kulashekhara Kir- itapati Mani Sultan Maharaja Raja Rama Raja Bahadur Shamsher Jang of Travancore. As many of these titles are recurrent 1t would perhaps be wise of the authorities to Initiate the example set by country clergyman. It fell to his lot to have to read the third chapter of Dan iel in which there is frequent reference to the sound of the cornet flute, harp, saekbut psaltery, duleimer and all kinds of musick,' and having, as he thought, done full Justice to the composition of the orchestra on the first reference, he skilfully avoided all further detail by sub stituting the words and the bands as be- fore '
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
UNIFORM TEXT BOOK LAW.

From the Enterprise Weekly.
 We do hope the legislature will take no backward step in this matter. Other states have adopted the uniform system and are not only pleased, but delighted with the upward and progressive movement in the cause of education. Ex-Superintendent J. w. Abercrombie recommended legisla- ton which raised the standard of the qualifications for teachers in the public schools and put the teachers to studying as they never had before, and If enforced our teachers will soon be text books of themselves The teacher who confines his teaching to certain line of text books is narrow in his scope and far behind the progress of the age. We are so much in terested In the matter, that we would make any reasonable sacrifice to hear a discussion of the subject by Messrs Aber- crombie and Hill. Turn on the light gen. tlemen, turn on the light and let the peo- pie know where you stand. You need not fear the verdict of the public If your cause Is just. We voted for Mir. Hill and feel that we are justified in calling for an expression from him.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
MIR. cuNNINoHAM,s BILL,

From the Selma Times.
 One of the seven representatives from Jefferson is a barber and he runs a shop in Birmingham. He is immensely popu- lar with the labor element of the Birming- ham district, and that accounts for his being member of the legislature at this time.
 The name of the barber member from Jefferson is Cunningham, and he seems to have plenty of gray matter In his cranium He has introduced a bill in the legislature looking to have barbers under go an examination before they can ply their trade. and looks to keeping shops clean, and provides for other precautions for the prevention of the spread of con tagious diseases through so many men shaving in the same chair and by the same barber.
 MT. Cunningham's bill is good one. It should not be passed over lightly by the members of the legislature. MT. Cum ningham is a practical barber and he comes in contact with the danger of contagious diseases every day and he Is trying to have law enacted that will be a blessing to humanity. If he would re- quire, in his bill, that all razors, brushes, etc, be sterilized after use, compel every barber to wash his hands and dry them on a clean towel before he touches 8 mans face, and compel the use of clean, white towels for each man who sits down l.. a barber's chair, he will have done a good thing for every man who has to un- dergo the ordeal of sitting In a barbers
 ia st.. IA penalty for a barber to pull a fellows beard out by the roots with dull razor. he will accomplish still more.
 The Times halls MT. Cunningham's ad- vent Into the legislature with delight and hopes heartily to see his bill become law. Men who sit In barber's chairs would be better citizens if they were shaved by good barbers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
RecoIlections of the Civil War.

Each year the Confederate Veteran camp of New York city gives a ban quet in honor of the memory of Robert E. Lee, and at these annual gatherings there is apt to be toast 'To the Memory of Abraham Lincoln" The toast was responded to last night by Henry Watterson and William Hep burn Russell, and The Age-Herald prints this morning summaries of the speeches of those gallant supporters of the Confectionery. Both spoke kind ly, even approvingly, of Abraham Lin coin, and the report of MT. Watterson's speech deserves careful reading throughout, and MT. Russells remarks, dealing more with Jefferson Davis and the Lost Cause, should not be over looked.
 Charles Francis Adams discussed at the same banquet. Robert E. Lees services, and the nature of the mighty civil war, which was inevitable, and he predicted that the time would come when by gifts of those wearing the blue or wearing the gray, a statue will be erected to the peerless soldier, and that congress would assign it a place at the national capitol
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
From the London paIlv News.

From the London Daily News.
 Fez is chiefly interesting at the moment because sultan is beleaguered there in his palace. The chief town of Morocco has many older titles to fame. It stood godfather to a notable type of headgear. For-as everybody ought to know, though not everybody does-a fez is called fez because so many were made In Fez
 Mature and art" wrote Purchase two centuries ago. have played the wantons and have brought forth this citIe. the fruit of their dalliance." Much has been written in praise of Fez and it's river, whereof the waters. drunk fasting" are reputed to render the senses sharper" The history of the town. ssys MT. Bud gett Meakin, "has been checkered, as no less than eight times during the first ZOO years of it's existence 1t was besieged successfully, yet only once has 1t known foreign masters. when, during the strug- gle between the Beni Marin and the Sa' adj shareefs in 1854 the Turks took possession of the old city without siege
 On arriving at Fez Dr. Leared rested In d kdTQ6Ils Ol HliCli AtC saw ehOCC AAApA SS- sions: "As far as concerned luxuriant verdure, irrigation the gift of the adjoin- ing river made the place paradise The orange groves were magnificent, but what struck us in particular was row of myr- ties In full bloom. having trunks like for est trees. fully forty feet in height. The jessamines were also gigantic" The town, he continued, was divided by the river Into Old and New Fez, the former being by far the most extensive and the seat of the great industries of the place. We rode through a very long street, but only about seven feet wide, running east and west through the whole of Old Fez-the Ok ford street of the place. It was paved in some parts with stones the size and shape of cocoanuts and actually polished by actual traffic. . The shops were the usual square cells. raised some feet from the ground. open entirely in front, but larger than in other towns. They were well stocked with all kinds of merchan- disc. The Moorish shopkeeper, who sits in precisely the same way as the Turkish, with all his wares within easy reach, is less dignified parsonage being more astute and eager to make sales. The Fez trader is however, polite enough, and will ask you to take coffee-always obtainable from a neighboring stall-to induce you to stay and bargain for his goods"
 Many of the streets we read further on, were covered with an open roof of interlaced reeds, over which vines spread In great luxuranee. These roofs and any projections from the houses, were festoon- ed with cobwebs. while the pathway be- low was covered with dust and dirt
 The wealth of the place is considerable. It's chief industries consist in weaving, tanning and potteries. The red cap. for the production of which 1t Is famous, is universally known by the name of the place itself. The stifing heat, increased by the crowd which always followed us, made shopping in Fez irksome work. But we were treated always with courtesy and respect"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
TIE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ALABAMA
Ills beard grew thin and hungerly and seem'd to ask him sops.
 Flaming of the Shrew.
SoweIl Sophlstry.

"A well-known Montgomery county official" whose nane is withheld from the public, appears as the champion of the stamp tax. He is also a prophet, for he predicts many things without stopping at all to explain how those things will come about. For example, he dogmatically says:
 The effect of this measure, If adopted, will be to materially reduce the taxes on solvent credits and will make the burden equal on all It will also reduce the rate of interest, regardless of the contention of the banks.
 He does intimate that the stamp tax will be paid by the banks and by lend CTS from other states, when as a mat ter of fact no lender eyer did or ever will pay any such tax. It is an illu- sion, and tn Montgomery student of solvent credits tries to maintain it.
 He has much to say about widows, guardians and trustees, and he endeay- ors to strengthen his peculiar appeal by asserting that the Sowell scheme would compel the banks and outside lenders to pay taxes on all loans they make in the state, when in point of fact they would do nothing of the kind. The borrower pays the freight.
 He does stop long enough to admit that the borrower might pay the pro- posed stamp tax, but he says he will save one or two per cent In interest. This is another prediction with noth- ing to sustain it. But he soon flies back to the assertion that "the banks" will pay the tax. As the banks will do nothing of the sort, nor the foreign lenders either, his whole argument falls to the ground, even if he does use the words solvent credits" in many places.
 He poses as the friend of widows, guardians and trustees, and the enemy of banks and "forign" lenders, but as he, at no point shows that the latter will pay the proposed stamp tax, he does not make out case. He is lame because under the Sowell provision the banks" and the "foregin lenders" would not pay dime of the proposed tax. It will fall upon the borrowers of the state and the assertion that this would reduce interest charges is not and cannot be made plain or even plausible. The chances are that inter- est charges would for the present stand at present figures, and that the borrower would have an additional charge of ten cents to pay on each one hundred dollars he borrows
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
HYMN TO THE NIGHT.

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I heard the trailing garments of the
 Night
 Sweep through her marble hallsl l saw her sable skirts all fringed with light
 From the celestial wallsl I felt her presence, by it's spell of might Stoop OCT me from above; The calm. majestic presence of the Night As of the one I love. I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight, The manifold soft chimes That fill the haunted chambers Of tho
 Night,
 Like some old poets rhymes. From the cool cisterns of the midnight My spirit drank repose; The fountain of perpetual peace flows From those deep cisterns flows. o, holy Night! from thee learn to bear What man has borne beforei Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
 And they complain no more Peace, Peace! orestes-Iike I breathe this Descend with broad winged flight. The welcome. the thrice prayed for. the
 most fair, The best beloved Night
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27

where It Is a recognized branch of educa- ton. This is strange. indeed. for 1t has many advantages over all other forms Of self-aid toswhich the deaf fly for assist ance Lip reading not only iessens the strain on the jared nerves caused by
 listening to shouting. but renders the lives of the deaf so much brighter and more useful that one wonders why more people do not avail themselves of it.
 There Is a certain amount of fascina- ton in learning the art of hearing by sight which is in itself unique. Most teachers take one through the system in few lessons, showing how the sounds are formed on the lips; how the facial muscles and the tongue take quite as leading part as the lips. An eager pupil will quickly discern the difference between the labial and dental sounds and the nasal and guttura1. The system of 9ip reading Is founded on phonetics, so that one sees the sound, not the spelling, on the lips. Naturally the context of the sentence tells the llp-reader the sense of a word which has two meanings, Just as it does those who listen to conversation. In time pupil learns to lip-read auto- matically, just as one conquers the tech- nical difficulties of a foreign language
 People ask why do not detectives take up this art? Why not, indeed?A lip read CT can gather what is being said across room, or even across lawn and through a closed window. It will easily be under stood that intercourse through the medi- um of finger spelling has many draw backs. For instance, 1t Is slow work and comparatively few people can use it. still fewer can understand it. Another aid the deaf are tempted to use is the hearing trumpet. With all it's assumed conven- fence it, too. has it's drawbacks. Apart from the injury 1t does to the nerves of attract attention? Again, the numerous quack advertisements which look so att traetive to sufferers from deafness are nothing but frauds to be summed. Seeing the disadvantages of the usual aids for deafness, it becomes of paramount im- portanee that the deaf and partially deaf
 should accept the inestimable boon of fered to them by the means of hearing by sight In conclusion, a word of warn ing to friends of the deaf: Beware of speaking unnaturally to a lip reader. It is impossible to form the sounds which make words if the mouth is contorted
 Lip readers would not have 10 contend with this difficulty if those who hear them would consider the matter seriously.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
Question of constltutIonaIity.

There is some doubt in my minde said a prominent corporation official yes terday "as to whether the insurance clause in the proposed revenue law now before the state legislature is constitu- tional or not. The state laws allow a merchant to insure his stock for ten per cent more than it's valuation. The consti- tuition also says that all taxes shall be equitable. There is nothing equitable about tax which burdens one class of men by taxing their property on an as- sessed valuation of more then seventy five per cent and letting off others, such as real estate owners, with tax of twenty-five or thirty per cent valuation of their property
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
Panama Canal Treaty.

The long-desired treaty between Co lombia and the United States has been signed and it will doubtless soon be ratified by the senate, and later still by the Colombian congress. It prac- tically removes all serious obstacles from the work of building an isthmian canal, and public sentiment demands that congress and the administration shall dig a. canal without a day of un- necessary delay.
 The trouble in the way all along has been the price to be paid by this coun- try for six-mlle strip across the isth- mus for perpetual canal purposes. The Colombian government has long been receiving port dues at either end of the proposed canal amounting to $500,000 to $600000 year, and it did not see why it should cede strip of land and revenue also. So 1t was finally agreed -4between Secretary Hay and Minister Hern@n that Uncle Sam should pay colomb bia s1o,ooo,oOo down, and after nine Jears have expired rental of s250,oOt a year. This will give the United 6tates police and sanitary con trol of the strip. although not absolute sovereignty, but the latter is not need ful. Panama and Colon are to become free ports, and Colombia agrees to re- tain all it's islands and harbors adja- cent to the proposed canal.
 Prompt action is now needed, for on March 4 the option upon the French canal rights. including control of the Panama railroad, expires. The treaty will no doubt soon be ratified, and then the administration can proceed to ex- ercise the French option, and the work of actual construction can soon be be- gun. The canal begins to loom up in real life, instead of dream which it has been fifty long years.
 The cost of the canal cannot be
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
IN HOTEL LoBBIES.
A Great Trust Company.


 The fact that the Alabama Trust and Banking company. which now operates bank at Sheffield under a charter and which likewise applies to Birmingham Is to open it's main establishment in Bir- mingham means that thls city is to be the home of one Of the greatest trus. companies In the south. It is understood that this concern Is not to co a eommer- eial banking business, but IS purely to perform the functions of a trust eom- pany and savings bank, handling invest ments and underwriting for Alabama manufacturing concerns, railroads or any other corporations for the development of Alabama and the south.
 While the original capitalization may not exceed perhaps two hundred thou sand dollars, the fact that the directory is composed of some of the wealthiest men in Alabama = men interested in its greatest industries and large hold CTS of stocks of the different local banks = means that all the capital necessary will be supplied and that if business warrants the capitalization may be increased to a half-mliiion or even a million. Besides the local men. headed by G. B. Mccormack. the president of the new institution and one of the wisest, wealthiest and most conservative busi- ness men In Alabama or the south, 1t is said that a number of very wealthy New York and New England people are now and will be largely interested Indeed. 1t IS known that several large holders of stock in very conspicuous eastern trust companies are interested in this one-all of which goes to show that Birmingham will in the near future be the home of great trust company second to none in the south.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27

From the Mobile Item.
 The matter of the use of uniform text books for the public schools of the state seems too well established to need any further argument. The late methods have proven beyond doubt that the book trust has had the right of way and that the schools should have no choice In the promises. But we have now a legislature, elected upon different lines. and If they arc brought under the ban of the trusts we will vote for the change of the name of Alabama to Dennis
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
Colonel Deitsch Was Popular.

Cincinnati, January 26.-The funeral of Col. Philip Deitsch, late superintendent of police, was one of the most notable in the history of the city For four hours a steady stream of citizens of all classes and professions poured through Scottish rite cathedral at rapid rate to take last look at his remains. At o'clock the impressive funeral ceremonies of the Masonic fraternity were held with the auditorium crowded, and dense throng in the street unable to gain ad- mission. The. remains were escorted to the cemetery by body of police and a detachment of the Ohio National guard.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
THE ART OF LIP READING.
Hearing By Sight Discussed By Brit
 lsh Authority.
From the London Charity Organization

From the London Charity Organization
 Review.
 To the question "Can long-standing deafness be cured?'' the answer must un- fortunately be given that, although occa- sionally this condition may be improved by treatment, in a large proportion of cases it is incurable. Though much has been done of late to alleviate deafness, stil medical authorities are not as ad- vanced in this as in other branches of science. The intricate formation of the ear renders it difficult to investigate; be- sides. the variety of causes which pro- duce deafness is very large, and among them must be included influenza. The system of lip reading is not so much known among the deaf or partially deaf in this country as it is on the continent,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-27
STATE NEWS ITEMS.

D. J. Toomey has just completed the third iron bridge for Russell county.
 State Examiner John T. German is en- gagged this week in the examination of the books and accounts of the county officers of Randolph county.
 Jackson South Alabamian: Bettis Danzy brought to this office on Thursday tur- nip of the cowhorn variety, which meas- ured IA inches in length and IA inches in circumference.
 Bessemer Herald: The Rev. s. P. Pryor, pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian call to the pastorate of the Cumberland Presbyterian church of Huntsville.
 The Wholesale Grocers association of Selma held meeting yesterday afternoon at which the proposed new state revenue law was discussed, and resolutions pro- testing against the stamp tax feature were adopted:
 Selma Journal: The grand jury for the spring term of the City court adjourned Saturday sine dis( about the noon hour. The body was empaneied last Monday, and it's session of only six days is some thing of a record breaker.
 A paper has recently been circulated among the business men of Evergreen calling attention to the necessity of some kind of an organization for the promo ton of the commercial and manufactnr- ing interest of the city and county.
 Selma Journal: The immense eleven inch we'll which is being bored at the Selma Water company's pumping station Is now forty feet deep. Work is neces- sarily slow but one of the biggest wells in the country will be the result of the labors.
 Florence Herald: The Memphis Scimi- tar says Memphis needs may be sum- med up in seven words: More horse sense and less personal politics Florence is not half so needy as Memphis; her wants could be fully covered by the last three.
 
 The building and finance committee of Selma Lodge No. 1e7, B. P. o. E., held an enthusiastic meeting Friday evening for the purpose of taking action on and se- curing a home for the lodge. It was de- cided to call for plans from architects for a building to cost from $l2.0oo to $l5,00O.
 Tuscaloosa Times-G Gazette: Alabama was left out -of the Chicago exposition and 1t must not be .he same thing over again at St. Louis. Fifty thousand dol lars is lot of money. but Alabama can not we'll be represented at St. Louis for less, and 1t will be of benefit to. the state that cannot be counted in dollars. Nc state can put up a better showing than Alabama, and she should certainly be represented at St. Louis
 
 Mobile Item: An enthusiastic meeting of the executive committee of the Mobile Carnival association was held Friday night at ! o'clock at the rooms of the looking at many designs. closed the con- tract for the floats for the Felix III. pa- rade, which promises to be on more elaborate scale than ever before. The committee also closed contract with the military bands of Sparta, Ill, con- sisting of leader and twenty-five pieces A communication was sent with the band contract, stating that about fifty citi- gems of the Illinois town. including the