davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
She Is a woman; therefore to be won. -1 King Henry VI.
Mr. Woodward's ElIaibiIity.

The federal constitution says that Tho person holding a position of trust pr profit under the United States shall be appointed an elector." The New York democrats have named as a can didate for elector-at-large James T. Woodward president of the Hanover National bank, and the question arises, . 'Is he eligible?"
 Many persons have resigned in the last forty years offices in national banks in order to assure their eligibil- ity to serve as presidential electors, and the republicans have been careful to make no nominations that would in- volye such complications.
 The question is one of doubt, because 1t Is not clear that an office in a na- tional bank is not a position of trust and profit under the United States. It may, however, be considered a position or trust under the United States, and until the question is adjudicated there will always be an element of doubt in it. There is so much doubt in it at present that the best lawyers in New York are not agreed that MT. Wood ward is eligible.
 MT. Woodward is well known in Bir- mingham, where he has large inter- ests. All who know him say that he will speedily withdraw his name if there is an element of doubt as to his eligibility. He has never shown politi- cal ambition. He is a good democrat, and man busily employed in manag- ing large affairs, and the office of elector is to him but as a fly on a wheel.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
Goinq to Alaska.

Y. A. Brady and party of Birmingham
 boys will leave about May 10 for San
 Francisco, where they will sail for Alaska
 in search of gold. It is the purpose of the party to remain during the sumn CT season and come out next fall before tie territory becomes icebound. Br. Brady is a brother of Governor Brady of Alaska and has had much experience in search
 ing for the yellow metal in the distant land. He is owner of several valuable claims abopt Cape Nome, which he in- terds working on his return. MT. Brady was formerly chef at Delmonic's in New York and has travelled about the world a great deal. He Is still confident that there is much wealth hidden away in Alaska and is going back with the deter minat;on of fully developing his prop ertv there When at Cape Nome he will also act as special deputy sheriff for his
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
The Age-HeraId's Position.

The Montgomery Advertiser in an editorial in it's issue of yesterday plain ly endeayors to make 1t appear that The Age-Herald is opposed to the adop- tion of the unit rule to govern Ala bama's delegates to the national dem ocratic convention. The Age-Herald has plainly and distinctly stated re- peatedly that the unit rule should be adopted, but that Alabama's delegation to the St. Louis convention should be uninstructed. The Age-Herald has been persistent advocate of the unit rule. Without such, delegation would be totally ineffective.
 The Age-Herald is opposed to an in- structed delegation because it desires the nomination of a democrat upon whom the party can unite and one who can be elected.
 The Advertiser sarcastically inti- mates that The Age-Herald has a dark horse. The Age-Herald could well re- ply that the Advertiser would yet like to have Grover Cleveland as it's dark horse
 But this is no time for contests with in the party. The Age-Herald has re- peatedly made it's position plain. It does not believe that either MT. Cleve land or MT. Bryan are available. Nell ther does it believe that democratic delegations throughout the country should be instructed for Judge Parker simply because New York democrats, after a fight among themselves, have instructed for him. Judge Parker Is a gentleman of great ability and high character. The Age-Herald would ad- vocate him with all the ability and enthusiasm at it's command if it were certain that he is the most desirable candidate As it is now, The Age-Her- aid believes it probable that Parker will be the man, and if certain discord- ant elements in the party can be pacified, Judge Parker can both be nominated and elected There are like wise other candidates, notably Senator German, who ma. be strong in the St. Louis convention. The Age-Herald, therefore, believes that the Alabama delegation should go to the convention uninstructed as to candidates, but in structed to vote as a unit on all ques- tions. In no other way can the delega- tion be effective
 The Advertiser, in it's excited edi- torial, has gone off half-cocked so to speak, and further reply to it's state ments is unnecessary.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04

and it would not be felt by the tax payers. It would carry the aggregate of taxation to seyenty-fye cents on each one hundred dollars of valuation, where it stood before the adoption of the new constitution.
 Not only would the children be benefited by the lengthening of school terms, but the additional ten cents would be kept at home instead of be- ing distributed in good part in rural counties.
 At present Jefferson county is voting to each child for school purposes but $1.93 year. This is not enough. This will not educate the children of the county. This will not keep the rural schools of the county open more than four months in the year. The move. ment in favor of an additional county tax of ten cents on each one hundred dollars should not encounter any op- position, and certainly will not from the parents who have children to edu. cate. Let Jefferson lead the way in the adoption of county taxation for schools up to the limit of the new con stitution.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
MAKING A MISTAKE.

From the Nashville American
 In refusing to advertise the games in the Montgomery papers and also declin- ing to grant the usual courtesies to news papers, the Montgomery Baseball asso- citation Is standing in it's own light. News papers are the backbone of sports, and when they decline to use their columns for baseball, racing and other sporting reports, sporting events will prove un- profitable. Nothing gets so much free ad- vertisng as racing and baseball. The newspapers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in booming these sports, and it Is only fair that racing and baseball as- sociations should be liberal toward them. There is not a newspaper in the south that makes a dollar out of its sporting department because the expense of such reports more than counterbalances all the advertising returns.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
In the Business World.

Railway earnings are not holding up well, and the general volume of trade shows some decreases. There is much waiting upon news from the growing crops, and upon the effects of gold ex- ports in connection with the Panama payments. No fears are entertained in connection with the latter, or with the settlements of presidential cam paign. The trade future seems iu short to depend as heretofore upon cotton crops.
 The winter wheat crop will soon be ready for the harvesters, and before this month is ended the harvesting ma chimes will be a. work in Texas and other gulf states. It is difficult to say at present what the crop will be, but indications point to at least an aver age crop. Spring wheat seeding will be late, and the cotton crop encoun. tered in April cool, dry weather. There are, however, no signs of poor crops either in the north or south.
 Pig iron production is heavy and home consumption is almost abreast of the better months of last year. All branches of the iron and steel industry are not prosperous Some are idle, while some are busy. Other manufac- turing industries are equally spotted, It is a waiting period in the textile mills and shoe factories.
 The dullness of the season and of a presidential year may be said to be the chief characteristic of trade and manu- | featuring at present, and this will prob ably be the case until the crop outcome is determined in the fall. In November, too, new President will De chosen, and about all this year can do will be to get ready for better one after the November. election, provided of course the crop returns are ss' 'ory. The
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
"BEYOND THE HILLS"

By w. D. Nesbit. T can hear the drums as the army comes From beyond the hills,' he said And he leaned and smiled like happy
 child
 As he shook his snowy head. And he clutched his cane while the far
 refrain
 Came in murmurs to his ears But they whispered low: He has dream
 ed 1t so, And it is no drum he hears" '.I can hear the fife as it leaps with life. And the drums roll madly. too Was the old mans sigh as with kinding He would hum the war songs through. Tt Is Jimmy Shea-that is how he'd play When the road was hard and long; And it's Billy's drum that is calling,
 'Comer
 As it keeps time with the song" And his fingers slim beat tatto grim On the stout arm of the chair, While his lips grew stern and his eyes
 would burn With the fire that once was there. 70, the bugle call, and the drums and
 all!'
 He would say, Their music fills All the night and day; I can hear them
 play
 In the march beyond the hills.'' 'I can hear the drums and the army
 comes
 From beyond the hills" he said, With his eyes aglow he saluted slow And he touch his snowy head Then his eyes were closed as If he but
 dozed,
 And his day of days had dawned, For the low drum beat had allured his fal To the hills-and far beyond.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
NOT A SPANISH CUSTOM.

From the New York Tribune.
 The San Francisco Argonaut has found in a Spanish review polite but pointed return of joke. The work under discus sion is Two Argonauts in Spain," and the review says; Dos Argonautas en Espana' makes an agreeable impression; it leaves pleasant recollections when you close 1t; it is one of the few books of travel which we have lately seen that may be read with pleasure. But we can not refrain from commenting on a curious joke of this American traveller. He says. We were told that Spain is a land where everything is fried, where the grid iron has never been known, excepting for broiling heretics Mir. Hart will pardon us for pointing out to him that the cus- tom of cooking human beings alive is no longer practiced in Spain, but seems to be highly popular in the southern part of the United States.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
Electricity at the Carnival.

'I notice that the lighting facilities of the Orphans Home carnival are much more superior to those which usually characterize street fairs" said a gentle man last night. Not only are the grounds and the various amusement tents bril- liantly lighted up, but the general effect is decidedly artistic and at a distance Is pleasing to the eye. A Ferris wheel all ways looks pretty at night, sparkling with its myriad lights, and in addition there is the lofty pla form of the diver the inclined plane of the loop -the-loop man and hundreds of other lights scat tered about at a height sufficient to be seen from afar.
 Nothing so helps fair like the car nival than plenty of lights. Like charity they cover a multitude of sins. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that they make amends for a multitude of de- fciencies but the fact remains that peo- pie place lots of confidence in exterior ap- pearances."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
A VISITOR WRITES ABOUT
 SPRING IN COTTON BELT

The main roads here in the black belt are poor, rough affairs, which often de- viate to take you around a slough or a wash. The plantation roads," which lead to the negro cabins, are rougher and poorer still. Often they are only footpath or a mule trail. It must have caused profound shaking up of the ne- gros character to uproot him from the Quarters on the old plantation and banish him to these detached shanties in a wilderness of scattered woods and cot ton fields. He lives here a life in which he has hardly the company of even the animals. for the black belt Is unfenceable save for little inclosures, and one sees very few cattle. But he has at least the company of a beautiful land scape, which no doubt he enjoys in an minimizing way.
 In this level country you do not notice one thing which is evident farther north in Alabama and which is characteristic of the whole Piedmont region-the washing of the soil, and the efforts to restrain it. Wherever the land Is let alone a little while in this section, deep gashes in the slopes begin to appear. There Is no turf, and there are few solid woods to prevent erosion. Often 1t seems as if the whole country were washing away. It is hid eous and disheartening. But wherever there is general and organized agricul- ture the farmers make successful head way against the erosion by heaping up ridges of soil running laterally on the slopes and winding about as the levels change. These turn the water to one side and prevent down-hill currents from forming. They are also a sort of irriga- ton, for they prevent the rainfall from flowing away on the surface.
 
 All the south, below the mountains, has one, common aspect-the aspect of broad expanse, of green patches and stretches of timber, of hazy distances, of far dreamy ridges on the horizon, of scope. and also of some sort of natural or human occupancy of the earth. There is no suggestion of vacancy, of waste, and little of wildness The look of the land when the cotton and corn have covered the earthly nakedness of plant ing time, is one of tenderness and TO- nance.
 A young negro piloted me over the country here. The first sight of the young cotton, not an inch high, puzzled me. What was 1t? I asked the boy. Oats cotton, sahp' he answered, open- ing his eyes wide. Then he went on to tell how the crop was cultivated. When 1t gets a leetle hgher,'' he said. we takes a hoe-does yo' know what hoe is. sah?-and cl'ars it out" Evidently. in his mind, man who did not know cotton could not know any thing else. Presently a big black bird flew up from the path. Oats what we call crow, sah.'' the boy said If he . had noticed that my attention had been directed to a tree I should have expected him to say: ..Dats what we call a tree, sah."
 You see we were all on an educational tour in the south.
 Birmingham. April 26, 1904.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
RUSSIAN VILLAGERS.
Not a Hair Left on Their Heads and
 Faces.

 Special cable to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
 Copyright. 1904, w. R. Hearst)
 St. Petersburg.-A story comes here from the town of Dubovo In the south ern part of Russia which shows how strong a hold superstition still has on the lower classes of the Russian people.
 One morning an elderly man appeared In the street of Dubovo with a beardless face and head shaven as close as bil- Hard ball. The inhabitants of the town, which is scarcely more than village, to their surprise recognized in him the Star osta," or headman of the town.
 A meeting of the Common Council was immediately called to consider whether a headman without any beard or hair could be allowed to hold office. The headman. Taras Artasoff, appeared before the meet ing and declared that the shaving of face and head was a patriotic duty and that in the night Abraham had appeared to him and told him that hair on the head was a covenant of original sin, and that if Russia desired victory in the present war her sons must sacrifice their hair, mustaches, boards and eyebrows and even pull out their eyelashes. Each hairless Russian meant death to hundred Japa- nese.
 The Council thereupon immediately de- cided to initiate the patriotic headman, and the next day every man, woman and chl.u In the district was absolutely hair less
 A few men who were too proud to sacri- flee their whiskers were expelled from the town and all their property confscated by the council.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

I; In Which a Woman Tells the Truth About Herself,' and says, i've are in- clined to believe, since it Is evident from the text that woman did not write the story, and 1t is quite certain that no man could have written 1t, that the author is Edward Bok."
 Senator and Mrs. E. w Pettus have returned to their home in Selma from Washington. Alabama's vigorous old statesman is in the best of health and spirits, and is prepared for another stren- uous session of congress at the capital
 It is needless to say that he received . cordial welcome from his fellow-towns- men, fortunate in being able to do honor to two great men who call the black belt metropolis home-Pettus and Morgan As an afterthought 1t may be stated that Sen- ator Pettus has been prolific in anecdotes this session. He has been the subject for a number of good stories ana everything
 from his quid of tobacco to his unex-
 pected burst of poetic fantasy the other day, has been written about.
 Earl Leonard, the man who had one of
 his fingers grafted to his face for a nose.
 has been literally deluged with letters | from young women who want to marry 1 him. The unfortunate victim of news l paper notoriety announces that he is distinctly tired" of being annoyed by
 "artless young women" writing letters to | offer their hearts and hands, and ai- 1 though some of them announce that they
 have money enough for two, he will not answer their misslves because stamps cost too much. Just why any woman should desire to marry a man in Leon- 1 ards condition is rather hard to see,
 but perhaps this is another sample of the
 female vagaries that induce some women
 to carry flowers to man condemned to
 death for brutal murder.
 Great caravans of beer are now journey
 ing every day to various portions of Ale l gheny county. Pennsylvania, to quench
 the thirst of the citizens. A contract has
 just been entered into with the Cincn-
 natl and Columbus, Ohio, breweries by the Pittsburg Brewing company to supply its
 trade in the county for fifteen days as a
 result of the action of the county in hold l ing up the licenses of the Pittsburg and
 other breweries It will require two train | loads of beer from Ohio every day to queneh the thirst of Allegheny county, | and even as 1t Is a panic among the sud sippers'' was narrowly averted.
 | great many papers in the country are very much excited over the presiden- | tial expense account. They are of the 1 opinion that MT. Roosevelt comes exceed ingy high for an accidental executive, and they question whether the country
 wants to lease him for another term. In
 a matter of this kind the public is apt to 1 overlook just whattit secured along with | MT. Roosevelt In the first place the | White House has had more attacks of ] 'heart disease" than at any time before
 in it's history. and the moneyed interests
 have been kept guessing. Then the Presi- | dent has combined picturesque strenu- osity with cratic independence in such | an admirable way that his regime has
 been most spectacular, and he has kept | the people wideawake waiting for some l thing new to happen PC.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
J. E. c. in the New York Mail and Ex-
 

J. E. c. in the New York Mail and Ex-
 press.
 @NE who lives in the northeastern (V)part of the United States never
 O thinks of bare and more or less loose earth as being the characteristic thing in the landscape. Nature in the north veils her face modestly with abun- dant grass, shrubs and trees perhaps), allowing a wrinkle of gray rocks to ap- pear. some times as frown-wrinkles and sometimes as 5mile-wrinkles, according to her mood But In the far west and south you generally see rather more bare earth than anything else That is true of the cotton belt, though the belt is nowhere arid. In Alabama much of the cotton land Is as red as blood. Its color gives one little shudder at first. It al most seems as if it had been reddened by war.
 This does not prevent the country from being beautiful The cotton belt Is land of gentle slopes, of far, hazy reaches of timber lands interspersed with hundreds of cultivated fields, laid off, at this sea- son, in alternating trenches and ridges by the blow. From the top of hillock of the crest of a long wave-like knoll you see many hedges of shrubs and trees,
 many small pines and oaks many patches of luxuriant woods. But the fields are the characteristic thing And in the fields now the patient mule draws the blow or the cotton planter, followed by
 the patient negro. In many fields the negro women are hoeing the cotton. Here and there, almost always off the main road alone and irrelevant, you see the negro cabins-little shanties of logs or old boards, with chimney made or brick or of sticks and mud. Nothing near them but the low we'll curb-seldom even shed or tree. They are the intensest possible expression of loneliness, these | negro cabins.
 But the country Is not desolate, py any means. The streaks and patches. or tim- Der contain beautiful spreading sweet gums and dozen sorts of oaks. Earher in the spring than this they are apiaze with the blossoms of the red bud. Here in southern Alabama the field may be bordered with the dark lustrous forms of magnoiias, upon which the great white blossoms are appearing. Under the trees flowers are fairly abundant of various sorts-laurei and azaleas, and many little blooms unfamiliar to northern eyes. All the southern people seem to be fond of flowers. and they may often be seen bringing them to their houses in quanti- ties
 And everywhere the mockfng bird s song fills the air with enchantment. You cannot get away from 1t. Sometimes the birds, in pairs fit and glide before you along the ground. The negro loves the "mocker." His song Is tender, cheering thrilling. Away down here l have heard a dozen times in one day of wandering through the woods and scattered cotton fields of the black belt, the sweet call of the blue bird and the bell-like note of the wood thrush. It seemed to me that these birds wore a thousand miles away | from r si .Here came to me a sense | of ltl tie thought os s-e lon t nd ta make.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
Hour for Fires,

Have you ever noticed that the early morning hours seem to be marked out for fires in BirminghGm?" asked an ob- servant citizen. For the past year all the big fires that have visited the city and there have been several-have oc- cured after midnight and a majority after 8 o'clock in the morning. l have often noticed that frequently a certain part of the day or night seems to be set apart for accidents and the rule holds good sometimes for several years. Of course it is nothing more than coin cidence but Brminghams fires certainly have tendency to break out at night"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
Local Taxation for Schools.

Jefferson county should lead the rest of the state in adopting all the local taxation for schools that the constitu- tion of 1901 at present permits. That constitution sadly needs amendment in that respect, but amendment is tedi- ous process. It is not possible before 1908. and in the meanwhile thousands of children in the rural schools are be- ing dwarfed by three or four months schooling only
 sA county vote of ten cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable value would be a great boon to theschildren,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR
rrom the New York Press

From the New York Press.
 It's as natural for a girl to want tc have beaux as for boy to want to read dime novels.
 What a woman likes about frequent changes in fashions is that she has to get new clothes every time.
 Give woman fine feathers to wear in this world and she'll trust to luck for the wings to wear In the next
 It's absolute proof to a woman that she is a good mother to her children when their uncles and aants tell her she is spelling them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-04
Abou.s Persons.

R. O. Watson of Anniston is at the Nor ris.
 w H. Fuller of Union Springs is regis tered at the Hilman.
 N. H. Hood of Oakville is at the Co., lonial.
 R. P, McNeil of Warrior is stopping at the St. Nicholas.
 D. c. Almon, T. F, AImon and R. M. Byars of Moulton are at the Morris. R. F. Alley of Bridgeport is registered at the St. Nicholas.
 Sam c. Cook of Sheffield is at the Hill man.
 w. H. Joseph of Memphis is stopping at the Colonial.
 J. NJ Pearson of Alexander City is at the Hillman. W. A. MeCalla of Tuscaloosa is at the St. Nicholas.
 A. S. Gray of Suligent is at the Morris. F. B. Webb of Talladega Is stopping at the Colonial