davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
Peaches In Alabama.

T have sold my peach farm out on the Central railroad" said Colonel E. L.. Higdon. Tt was a success financially, and I know that my successor will do much more with it; but I had an idea that l should get nearer to Birmingham. Therefore l have purchased twenty acres of land between this city and Gate City, am clearing 1t up, and will make a real model fruit and poultry farm of it.
 My judgment is that nearness to mar ket is the thing, and I am going to dem onstrate the fact that every acre of land within ten, twelve or fifteen miles of Birmingham Is worth very near the dol lars that can be placed upon it. Just wait a little while and see that demon stration, and if it does not induce immi- grafton and capital to come with us I will give up my efforts for industrial development"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
May Be Top.Heavy With Age.

"The annual report of Rear Admiral Converse, chief of the bureau of naviga- ton, in which attention Is called to the fact that our navy is top-heavy with age, should result in congressional ac- tlon providing for the retirement of cap tans at an earlier age than the law now provides" said a man who takes keen interest in naval matters
 Admiral Converse says that the duty of commanding battleship and fleets of battleships is one which requires, not only large experience, but energy and nervous endurance which are found, as a rule, only in men much younger than those who will command for several years to come. In the British navy the youngest captain is only 34 and the old- est is 55 In the German navy the youngest captain Is 46, the oldest 55, and the average age is IS. In Japan the youngest is 37. the oldest 52, and the av- craze age A. In the United States navy the youngest captain is 55, the oldest e2, and the average 5S.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
PUMPKIN PIE.

By John G. Whittier. On the banks of the xenil the dark Span-
 ish maiden Comes up with the fruit of the tangled
 vine laden; And the Creole of Cuba laughs out to be-
 hold Through orange leaves shining the broad
 spheres of gold; Yet with dearer delight from his home in
 the north, On the fields of his harvest the Yankee
 looks forth, Where crooknecks are coiling and yellow
 fruit shines, And the sun of September melts down on
 the vines. An, on Thanksgiving Day, when from
 East and from West, From North and from South come the
 pilgrim and guest. When the gray-haired New Englander
 sees round his board The old broken links of affection re-
 stored. When the care wearied man seeks his
 mother once more, And the worn matrons smiles where the
 girl smiled before. What moistens the lip and what bright
 ems the eye? What calls back the past like the rich
 pumpkin pie? Then thanks for thy present. None
 sweeter or better Fer smoked from an oven or circled platter Fairer hands never wrought at pastry
 more fine, Brighter eyes never watched OCT It's pax
 ing than thine And the prayer which my mouth IS too
 full to express. Swells my heart that thy shadow may
 never be less, That the days of thy lot may be length
 ened below. And the fame of thy worth, like pump
 kin vine grow, And thy life be as sweet and It's last sun
 set sky Gold tinted and fair as thy own pumpkin
 niel
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
Roosevelt and the South.

J. H. Bankhead, Jr., a son of Repre- sentative Bankhead talked interestingly yesterday at the Morris regarding the expected visit of President Roosevelt to the south, the appointments to federal offices made in Alabama under MT. Roosevelt's administration and the ten dency of cotton growers to speculate in cotton.
 MT. Banl1head, who Is on hls way to Montgomery, where he will argue in favor of the constitutionality of the Fourteenth circuit act, said:
 Like every thinking southern man, I am glad that the president has deter mined to visit the southern states in the early future. I am quite sure that the people of Alabama will welcome MT. Roosevelt most heartily. If for no other reason, the mere fact that he is chief magistrate of the American people en- titles him to every manifestation of re- spect and good will from all our people.
 "So far as Alabama is concerned, 1t is not to be forgotten that MT. Roosevelt has treated the people of this state not only justly, but generously Hostile crit ieism awakened by his appointments and his, actions in other southern states, can not reasonably be expected to be levelled at the president by the people of Ala bama. In selecting Judge Jones, Judge Roulhac and Judge Kyle, all of whom are democrats and men of the highest character, to positions of weighty respon- sibllity in the federal government, MT. Roosevelt, although republican, has not only satisfied. but gratihed, thinking per sons in the state, irrespective of political affiliations I believe we should recog- nlze that. in this respect, the president has been extremely considerate of our general welfare. In view of this fact Alabama should greet the president most cordially.
 "Cotton growing is all right for the cotton planter" continued MT. Bank head "but speculation in cotton Is quite another thing. In this world each man is given his especial work to do. Some men produce, others speculate. It won't do to mix the two things up together. The cotton planter has no more business dabbling in speeulations than has pro- fessional speeulator in trying to run a cotton plantation. As general rule both fail utterly and miserably when- ever they try to do what they are not qualified to attempt"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
court Houee In cleburne.

I anticiapte a rather strong hghe loi the removal of the court house or Cie- burne county" said Colonel J. B. Mer- rili who is stopping at the Metropolitan hotel for a few days while looking atter some legal and real estate matters In Birmingham.
 The fight Is to be made on Edwards- vile by Hehin, and since the Hehin end of the county has a little the better In the way of population, it may be ex- peeted to be a vigorous fight. We have a very good court house at Edwards vile now, and the only reason for re- moval is that the people of Hehin want it. The fight has not opened up yet, but l anticipate that 1t will just as early as the list of 500 petitioners for the election can be gotten in readiness and presented to the probate judge"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
Cotton Considered.

A really great convention is to be held in New Orleans about the middle of next month--a convention of spe. cial interest to the people of the south. It is to be real cotton convention.
 Four important papers upon the all absorbing topic of the boil weevil are there to be read. This terrible insect is gradually encroaching upon all cot ton states. In Mexico 1t has destroyed many fields and this year Texas has suffered its ravages to terrible de- gree. Its onslaughts against the staple have not as yet been stopped and it moves along to an alarming degree.
 At the proposed convention Baron Specl won Sternburg, German ambas- sador to the United States, will read
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.
From the New York Press.

From the New York Press.
 It Is easier to be a good husband, as a woman understands the term, than a good man.
 A woman is awfully careful not to dress so that she can possibly be warm in cold weather.
 Getting rich may be the result of chance, but being poor is the careful arrange ment of the devil
 The more a mother keeps her daughter from learning from her the more she will learn from others.
 It seems very cruel to think that girl who is reading in bed about the heroine who marries dude with such beautiful love-making next turns over and snores.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
From the New York Sun.


 s7N R. MORLEY has been received
 G(NA in the United States with some
 thing more than the somewhat too ready and undiscriminating cordial,ty with which Americans are wont to greet distinguished visitors. His friendliness to America his disnterested services to liberal opinions, his independence and courage and his high distinction as man of letters give him unusual titles to respect and liking. One illusion about him has been lost sight in his present travels. He has been regarded as some what too austere and uncompromising, character a little too good for human natures daily food doctrinaire in pol itlcs, too stern, too logical, too devoted to the right as he sees 1t, too deficient in that singular mental elasticity, not to say sophistry. that characterized the Peo- ple's William in a great part of his long career.
 MT. Morley has twice held high office and he is an eminent figure in parila- ment. an eminent figure, too, in the in- coherent and disorganized liberal party He Is not an opportunist. He has an in- convenient continuity of political belief
 Perhaps he has been injured little by his literary fame. It is so easy to insist that the scholar Is better fitted for the study than the cabinet.
 Whatever of truth there be in the theory that Mir. Morley is too lofty and unbending of character to win the great prizes of politics, he has shown here that he Is a pleasant, witty and agree 1 able person, a good fellow, if we may say so. and an attractive speaker. Nothihs of the essayist, nothing of the biograpner' nothing of the severely literary person. He speaks frankly, simply, winnlngiy' A pleasant, human, "clubaole 1onn Hioi lev has been seen in America.
 If Americans have learned something | about him. he has learned something ahout them. The writer of the standard life of Golden has found that no sacro- sanctity invests the protective tariff in | Aroarican eyes. The Americans are open
 minded. They like to hear man like MT. Morley say something and not put forth mere molasses. Americans now
 know something of the real MT. Morley.
 no hgurehead. no portrait of gentleman,
 but a man with ideas and a sympathetic way of expressing them.
 The Life of Gladstone" the most re-
 cent and laborious of Mir. Morley's writ ings, is his work best known to Ameri-
 cans. It deserves a little higher praise
 than was given it at the Lotos club din-
 ner by an illustrious Princeton poet.
 '.The best biography that the twentieth century has yet produced" said Mir Van
 Dyke It is a book indispensable to the student of English politics for two-thirds of the nineteenth century. It shows an immense industry in the examination of correspondence and a great gift of selec- tion and presentation. But 1t is monu- ment to MT. Morleys self-effacement. We would direct the reader who has the happiness to be coming fresh to this admirable writer to his books on Burke, Rousseau, Voltaire and Diderot and to his Critical Miscellanies." MT. Morley
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
New Nav fn Be Kannv.

Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who thinks she knows the alphabet of do- mestic economy, has promulgated a
 new scheme for making home an idyl- lie and unalloyed bliss. In short. Mrs. Gilman thinks that the best way to obtain felicity, though married. is to segregate all the children and estab- fish cooperative kitchens. Home is no place for cooking and it is poor place for babies. Thus, at one fell swoop,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
An Old Coin.

w. H. Faulkner, the well-known cigar salesman, has received a coin from a friend in the Philippine Islands which is probably the oldest in Birmingham. The date of the manufacture of the coin, which is one cent brass piece. is 1904.
 The penny Is about the size of the large one cent pieces which were made in this country a number of years ago, but which are scarcely ever seen now. On one side are some characters very sim liar to shorthand. while on the other ap- pears the words: "Sultanate of Brunei, 1904" The nationality of the coin Is not known.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29

H HE modern playwright stops at kOD nothing. The dramatization of a
 department store scene or a se- ries of cartoons is a comparatively small matter for him, regardless of what the result may be- The animal Kingdom has been raided for subjects and fairyland has been invaded by the hungry crafts man in search of new ideas to put on the stage. Some of the most beautiful and spectacular productions of recent years have been such extravaganzas as Beauty and the Beast" Mir. Bluebeard" Babes in Toyland." and half dozen others that could be mentloner. while 'Woodland," and "The storks," are tpyical of latter day musical shows In which the principals take the parts of birds Nowadays the man who plays the part of a scarecrow, a wooden figure, lion, an eagle or frog is reck- oned an artist of no inferior attainments. Ills pictures are conspicuous in the Sum day papers and he Is fruitful subject for interviews. There seems to be no limit to the extravaganza of latter day theatrical managers in their craze for novelty. It would appear that every possi- ble source has already been tapped but all the animals have not been utilized yet and the fishes of the sea remain for dra- matic treatment. A musical spectacle of the future will certainly have it's locale in the bottom of the sea, for the idea is not a new one on the stage. While such productions are not meant for schol-
 Co moved from the classic drama, still they entertain they are pleasing to look at and they draw the public's dollars. What could a manager wish?
 An Indiana parson thinks that boxing under Queensbury rules is far preferable to football, since in the former sport a person will at least Know what kills him." Now that the President has creat- ed talk by hiring Professor Mike Don ovan to teach him the manly art dis cussion of boxing has been rife. It will be noticed that the people who decry boxing are as numerous and as noisy as those who deprecate football. Both are pessimistic at heart and the results of their preaching are not evident in the | prize ring or on the gridiron.
 That is a picturesque and interesting vernacular which is spoken by the man behind the lunch counter when he passes an order back to the cook. It has been truthfully said that English is the most polyglot language in the world, for every walk of life has it's own particular mode of speech. When a waiter shouts, Two men on a raft, toes up, draw in the darks for two poached eggs cooked soft and cup of coffee; when the theatrical man dlscourses 1earnedly about bunch Of junk" making good" and rotten turn;" when the college youth speaks vernacular that is almost unintelligible to the layman and the crop of slang is uni- versal foreign visitors can not well be blamed for being appalled, at the task of learning to speak United States" Eng fish.
 The handwriting expert seems to have had his day. It was not very long ago when this gentleman was much In evi- dence at important murder trials and in other cases that demanded the attention of very smart people, but he Is heard or
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
DREADFUL THOUGHT.

From the Philadelphia Press.
 Miss Ascum-Your poems are beginning to attract wide attention, aren't they? should think 1t would scare you.
 Miss Passay-Scare me? Why?
 Miss Aseum-Because if you get famous they'll be wanting a biographical sketch of you for some anthology, and then you'll have to tell the year of your birth.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
Marked with a blot, damned In ths look of heaven -Riehard H.
Our Next Mayor.


 George B. Ward is practically elected mayor of Birmingham. The people have fairly chosen him to that office. There is not the least suspicion Of fraud on his title to office. He Is the nominee of the democrats of Birming- ham, and now only awaits the formal ity of a regular election to take the position. That election does not occur until next May.
 George Ward Is a man of strength. He is honest; he Is intelligent; he is i've in spirit, pronounced in his views and fully appreciates the responsibili- ties which will rest upon him as chief executive of great city when he as- sumes the duties which have been placed upon him at his own request and at the instance of the people.
 That he will perform these duties well no man who knows George Ward can for an instant doubt. He Is na- tive of young Birmingham, and his youthfulness will be no hindrance to his earnest devotion to city whose protege he is, and for the aegis of whose rearing he is fully grateful.
 
 MT. Ward has before him an ardu- ous task. Under Birmingham's sys- tenn of government his powers, though limited, are important For any error of majority of the eighteen aldermen who go in power with him he will be held largely responsible, not that he can control the majority, but because the people think the mayor should be the controlling power, whereas, he Is not, except In so far as his vote, his personal influence and respect of the high office is concerned and considered by those who are associated with him in an official way. He has sense enough to command this consideration, and if he does not exercise proper judgment the people will ever believe that he should do so.
 The task of the incoming mayor Is not an easy one, as MT. Ward well knows. He has, as an alderman, studied our municipal conditions, and, therefore, knew what his herculean task was to be before he ever sought to assume it. He knew that BirIning- ham could not stop on It's onward march. He knew that the city must protect it's credit, and that it could not reduce it's police force, it's fire protec- tion force, it's sanitary lorce, it's school work, it's work of street improve ment. nor the most important work of keeping cleanly the city. He knew that the present income would not sustain and improve these depart ments, and that the real hope of the city lies in continued growth and de- velopment which are speculative.
 The Age-Herald has confidence in the good judgment and the business acumen of MT. Ward, and believes that he will give us a wise and prudent ad-
  ministration. His ambition was worthy of the man, his administration will likewise be so. One thing which should be exceedingly gratifying to him is that he will enter upon the dis charge of the duties of mayor with the assurance that his administration will be unincumbered by anything like op- position. It will have no enemies among those of his fellow-citizens who are concerned, much to the success of that administration and in the gen eral progress and strength of our mu- nicipality.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
Poetry In Mobile.

From the Mobile Item.
 The present autumn weather In Moplle and along the gulf coast is beautiful be- yond description. The bright sunshine on the dancing waters kept in gentle mo- tion by the soft winds from the south' fringed by forest in gorgeous hues' once seen and enjoyed is never forgotten.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
A NATURAL QUERY.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
 q see that a movement has been start minded"
 "Gracious Whats to become of the American heiresses who want to marry effete foreigners with moth-eaten titles?"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
REVENGE.
om the Chicago News.

From the Chicago News.
 Mrs. Bifl1ins-Oh, John, the cook left this morning, and I had to get the din- ner myself.
 Binkins-That,s tough. But if she were here now you could get good and even.
 Mrs Biffkins-How?
 Binklns-By inviting her to stay and dine with us.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
COMMENTS ON MENfAND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

no more It seems that the handwritingex- pert has fallen into diseredit here of late. Whether his downfall is deserved or not Is a question that has given rise to diff ference of opinion, but there is a very pro- nounced notion that humanity, being fraii and apt to err, the handwriting expert stands fine chance to make mistakes and get innocent people into trouble through his efforts to maintain his repu- tation at all costs.
 One of the new liquid paralyzers that has achieved notoriety is called the Third Rail" The potency of this poison is said to merit It's name and the man who tries to get the best of it is doomed to failure from the start. Many picturesque titles have been bestowed on drinks across the bar In loving or facetious moods but the Third Rail' Is assuredly most unique For the benefit of tie initiated It may be stated that this pleasing concoe- ton Is a mixture of whisky, gin and cider. The most redoubtable colonel who ever drank wassail in the Bluegrass state would fall before Third Rail"
 It is rumored that Harry Lehr Is get ting fat. Ills pulchritude is fading be- heath the onslaughts Of Father Time, and a metropolitan writer says that his figure is actually getting ''matronly.' Call out the beauty doctorsl Let alchemy reveal its most exclusive secrets and sei- ence rush to the aid of soeiety's fading idol! What would the smart set be with out Harry Lehr? What would the pert paragraphers do if he were to retire from the limellght and sink his interesting personality to the level of commonplace men? Surely, the secret of perpetual youth was never of greater import than at present when Harry Lehr is getting fat.
 It is rumored that a fifty-story sky scraper is soon to be erected in New York. Such building would have population when occupied of something hike 60, 900 people; it would have to be at least GOO feet high, would weigh 4OO,OOo,OoO pounds and would cost about $25,OOO,OOo. Verify, it is wonderful to contemplate what will be the future Of architecture. For a time 1t was said that the limit III bky-SCIdpCAS Ao0 bSSA AS--~--~~' this does not appear to be considered by the projectors of the new building. Such structures will be useful as landing sta tions when airships begin to navigate the air with certainty and regularity and when dozens of sky-scrapers in city have individual populations equal to large town the old discussion about over crowding in cities will be resumed with vigor
 The professional whistler. who assists the choir with his liquid notes, is the latest adjunct to church worship, and he is proving popular. There was time when pious persons objected to the in- troduction of a wheezy organ, but that time has passed and high-priced sing CTS, expensive orchestras. magnificent pipe organs. numerous soloists. both vo- cal and instrumental, make the church the next best thing to an opera house. The world is moving right along in re- ugious matters as well as art and the sciences, although 1t Is hard to note ad- vancement in modern literature. P. 0.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
Had Rabbits Foot.

From the Bessemer Rustler.
 Ward must have found Roosevelts rao- bit foot from the way he hustled out votes in Birmingham last week. It IS hinted that Dr. Hurd has the foot ano intends to roost in Hueys chair or know the reason why.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-29
NEW IN MANUFACTURES.

From the Cincinnati Commercial-Tribun
 You say Charley Spender is a manu- facturer? I thought he was just a plain loafer What line Is he in?"
 He makes trouble for his father?"