davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
From the Chicago News.

From the Chicago News.
 ONE of the reasons why Ivan, @N czar of Russia, was called "The O Terrible" have been retold by k. Waliszewsld in his recent book Per sons who displeased him he would saw asunder by the constant rubbing of rope around his waist, or sprinkle alter nately with ice-cold and boiling water. He marked his sense of a bad jest by deluging the perpetrator with boiling soup and then running him through with a knife. He rebuked an unman- nerly envoy by summoning a carpenter and ordering him to nail the mans hat on his head. There were also wholesale orgies, as at the punishment of Nov gorod, when he had a hundred persons roasted over a slow fire by new and ingenious process and then run down on sledges to the river to be drowned.
 At Moscow the czar had disappoint- ment. There was to be a great execu- tion of 300 victims, who had already been tortured to the last extremity, and loyal subjects had been summoned to the func- tion. ITO Ivan's astonishment the great square was empty. The instruments of torture that stood ready-the stoves and red-hot pineers and iron claws and needles. the cords the great coppers full of boiling water-had failed to attract this time.
 But there has been too much Of this sort>of thing lately, and the execution CTS were growing too long armed. Every man sought to hide deeper than his neighbor. The czar had to send reassur- ing messages all over the town. Come along, Don't be afraid Nobody will be hurtl'' At last. out of cellars and garrets the necessary spectators were tempted forth, and forthwith Ivan, inex- haustib1e and quite unabashed, began a lengthy speech. Could he do less than punish the traitors? But he had prom ised to be merciful, and he would keep his wordl Out of the 300 who had been sentenced 1SO should have their lives. Torture and execution were, however, in the case of Ivan, very much more than the mere instruments of barbaric jus tice They were his recreation and de- light As boy his amusement was to lhtOW uOSS uoWIl the lOp or one of the castle terraces and watch their dying agonies. As a man he used to go the round of the torture chambers after dinner. One of his first crimes was the execution of his earliest friend Eco dor Vorontsov: one of his last was the murder of his own son.
 According to Waliszewski it was the recognized thing in Russia for the upper dog to make things as uncomfortable for the under dog as knouts and slow fires could make them. So ''The Terri ble'' only talked to his subjects in the language they could most readily un- derstand. Ivan was by no means un- popular with the people, In many ways he was an enlightened and progressive monarch. He took the first steps to- ward the founding of Russians great eastern empire; he made more or less
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
THE WAITING.

By John Whittier. wait and watch; before my eyes Methinks the night grows thin and gray;
 wait and watch the eastern skies To see the golden spears uprise Beneath the orifamme of dayi Like one whose limbs are bound in trance
 I hear the day sounds swell and grow, And see across the twilight glance, Troop after troop, in swift advance The shining ones with plumes of snow! 1 know the errand of thy feet, I know what mighty work is theirs; can but lift up hands unmeet, The throshing floors of God to beat. And speed them with unworthy prayers. I will not dream in vain despair The steps of progress walt for met The puny leverage of a hair The planets impulse well may spare. A drop of dew the tided sea. The loss, if loss there be, is mine. And yet not if understood; For one sha and one resign, One drink 3. and one its wine. And G,f Ike the balance good. Q nowe baffled will O r~ ioni ye are one. w e. may yet fulfll
 standing still
 he'd with ood-is.doux
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
LONDON IS PICTURESQUE.

W. D. Howells in Harper's Magazine.
 One reason, I think. why London is so much more striking than New York is in the unbroken line which irregularly di- vided streets often present to the passer. Here is a chance for architecture to ex- tend, while with us 1t has only a chance to tower, on the short uptown block which Is the extreme dimension of our proudest edifce, public or private. An other reason Is in the London atmos- phere. which deepens and heightens all the effects, while the lunar baroness of our perspective mercilessly reveals the facts. After you leave the last cliff be- minds on lower Broadway the only inci- dent of the long straight avenue which abstracts you from the varied common place of the commercial structures on either hand Is the loveliness of Grace church. but in the Strand and Fleet street you have succession of edifices which overwhelm you with a sense of q life in which trade Is only one of the incidents. The tremendous volume of life that flows through the narrow and wind ing channel, past the dim cliffs and pin nacles. and the lower banks which the lesser buildings form. is such that the highest tide of Broadway or Fifth avenue seems a scanty ebb beside It. The swell ing and towering omnibuses, the huge trucks and wagons and carriages, the inn petuous hansoms and the more sobered four wheelers, the pony-carts donkey carts, hand-carts, and bicycles which fearlessly find their way amidst the tur- moil, with foot passengers winding in and out, and covering the sidewalks with their multitude, give the effect of single mon- strous organism, which writhes swiftly along the channel where 1t had run in the figure of a flood till you were tired of that r,atanhor
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
Our cnuntY ConuIots.

Under the present indefensible fee system of this state the number of county eonvicts is unduly large. In Jefferson county alone the number ranges from one hundred to twice that number. and the handling of so many convicts is perhaps the most difficult piece of business that comes before the board of revenue.
 A five-year contract for the leasing of the convicts of this county expires with the present month, and the board of revenue proposes to ascertain if possible the best plan of handling them-whether to lease them to the highest bidder, whether to adopt the system of the state convict board, or whether it Is best to keep them em- ployed on the roads of the county.
 The last named plan offers the most advantageous. In the first place it is in line with the action of the ad. vanced states, which never hand over contracts to the tender mercies Of mercenary contractors. The county convicts are not as rule old offend CTS or hardened criminals, and hu. manity demands that they be kept within the full control of the county. Any cruelty or neglect toward them on the part of petty officials can then be quickly remedied.
 Then, too, Jefferson county needs the services of all it's conyicts, no mat ter how many are sentenced. It needs their work on the county roads, which have materially deteriorated. They are not what they should be. They are not what they will readily become if the convicts of the county are kept at work on them.
 The county has at all times enough convicts to put its roads in excellent condition and keep them tip to the standard and no other application of tnelr labor would be so remuneratiye to the public. Not one. It is the ex- perience of all countries and all local ities that good roads are the best in- vestments that are open to public au- thorities. Jefferson county has at hand the best of road-making material, and if it's convicts were kept at work on it's roads they would soon become famous, attracting this way population and even capital Good roads through out this big county are especially needful, because it is to become the home of 1ully han a million people. It would be short-sighted and even thoughtless to neglect our two hundred miles of public roads when we have the best of materials and ample labor at command.
 The Age-Herald trusts the board of revenue will disregard temporary ex- pediency, and will plan with an eye to the sure future of the leading county of the state. We should not permit convict of the county to do days work off the countys own highways, for this county has busy present and a great future.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
THE KISS IN MISSOURI.

From the Kansas City Journal
 A Missouri paper gives this description of kiss: ITO one piece of dark piazza add little moonligh. take for quanti- ties two people. Press into two strong ones a small, soft hand. Sift slightly two ounces of attraction, one of romance, add large measure of folly, stir in fioat-ruffle and one or two whisl1ars. Dissolve half dozen glances in a well of silence: dust a small quantity of hesitation. one ounce of resistance. two of yielding, kiss on flushed cheek. or two lips; fla vor with slight scream and set aside to cool. This will succeed in any climate if directions are fully followed
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
THE. AMERICAN HOTEL CLERK.

"r. P.'s Travel Talk in T. P.'s London
 Weekly.
 He stands at desk upon the counter which fronts your entry. He is usually a man in the prime of youth. He wears diamonds, according to general rumor. and usually lives up to his reputation. He assigns your room. To the Londoner he appears as a magnificent parsonage, who combines mysteriously the duties of the man at the door of the Carlton and the privileges of the president of the United States. You require information as to railway route or stamp, and the hotel clerk is ready with 1t. You pro- pound to him all your difficulties, and he solves them with snap of the lips and a shift of his cigar. for within his circle he is omniscient He is not subservient. There is no reason why he should be. Indeed, 1t was a little startling when the hotel clerk at Chicago overlook me as I was going Into dinner, linked his friend ly arm in mine, and said: Well, sonny, how are you making outP Bully?" We have nothing like the hotel clerk in England, for the hotel manager is more aloof and the hall porter Is more sub seryIent. Whence the hotel clerk gets his diamonds I cannot imagine. Not from tips. I would as soon think of drop ping a "quarter" into the palm of MT. Roosevelt after an interview as of offer Ing a tip to an American hotel clerk.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR

From the New York Press.
 A woman is mighty truthful not to be suspicious about what makes man swear off.
 For every one way there is to make a friend there are several thousand to make an enemy.
 First you spend lot of money to give a boy a college education and then a lot more to support him in living up to it.
 A woman considers herself a natural born financer when she goes over her bank balance again and finds 1t is a dol lar more than she made it the first time.
 A man thinks he Is very tired and must stay abed on Sunday morning to rest up when 1t is only because everything else you can do that day is terrible bore.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
ODD INDUSTRIES OF PARIS.
Man Who Takes Drunkards to ThelI
 Homes One of the Lot.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.

From the Pail Mall Gazette.
 The ramasseur de mutt is the humblest member of the ragpickers. corporation. He is generally laborer out of work and collects whatever he can find and judges salable, from a scrap of paper or an orange peel to a dilapidated stove. Take old boots for example. However bad, they have a market value, for they contain in the instep one sound piece that can serve again. and generally two or three more at the heels and the back.
 Old provision tins, again. are full of money; the lead soldering can removed and melted into cakes. while the tin goes to make children's toys. There are about 5000 of this class of night birds iu Paris.
 Another quaint night bird Is the guar dian angel" The guardian anger' is a person attached to the establishments of some mastroquets-low barkeepers and certain public houses, for the purpose of looking after the safety of drunken cus- toners He accompanies them to their l homes, defends them in case of need, as I often as not has to put them to bed and leaves them only when they are without the reach of mischief. He earns about 5o cents a day. Cases are also on record where grateful drunkards have remem- bered the "anger' in their wills. To re- turn the compliment. the "anger' has invested some of his funds in the pur- chase of a barrow, the object of which l is but too obvious
 An important night bird is the member of the guild des pattes mouillees. He deals in tobacco manufactured from stumps of cigars and cigarettes picked up in the street and holds assires on the Place Maubet by the statue of Etlenne Do1et. twice week at a. m; on these days the square is called the market of wet paws" me industry is quite re- munerative. on modest scale, of course, and would be even more so were 1t not for the governmen, who stepped In with characteristic greed and on the grounds of monopoly it holds proceeded to tax the tobacco collected with so much painstaking care.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
A Hotel Town.

"Richmond is now noted for its fine hotels" said travelling man. Ten or twelve years ago the Virginia capitors botel accommodations were inadequate, because of the advertising the city was getting the late Maj. Ginter and asso- ciates built the Jefferson at a cost of nearly s2,O0O,0OO In recent years two or three of the old hostelries have been en- larged and two handsome hotels erected. and work is about to begin on a twelve- story hotel on Grace street. Ali these hotels seem to pay and Richmond is not yet in the O0O class.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
SOMETIMES PARpoNAsLE.

From the Chicago Tribune
 The customer was looking at the stock of canary birds
 This is your best singer. Is itr'. she said.
 ''Yes'm," replied the proprietor of the bird store.
 Has 1t an amiable disposition? Does it ever get the sulks?"
 ''No oftener, ma'am, he said than you would naturally expect in the prima donna of the establishment"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
iNFALLIBLE.
From the New

From the New York Sun.
 There couldn't be any higher tribute to the infalibility of motherhood than this from a little street boy. who was discovered in a red-hot argument with a fellow arab.
 Faint sol' said No. 2.
 Iris so!' cried No. 1. My mother says it's so. an when my mother says it's so, It's so, even if 1t ain't so!'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
GOOD FOR BIRMINGHAM.

From the Huntsville News.
 Birmingham never loses an opportuni- ty to advertise the vast resources of that district. The immense iron statue or Vulcan that was on exhibition at St. Louis is going to be sent to the Louis and Clarke Exposition at Portland. Ore. Good for Birminghami
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

CT, the housewife" All very true. whether it be within or without the terms of the constitution. It is at least a comfort to know that while the President had time and space to discuss a vast range of subjects, he had no time or space to waste in dis
 cussing Crumpacker hot-air schemes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

public lands, irrigation, forests, and our dependencies abroad receive at tention in the message and reference to each shows thorough familiarity with existing conditions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

The New York gentleman who got into a fight with his wife and his mother-in-law, and was supported in the fray by his sister, probably reached the climax of domestic infe- licity.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Governor Odell thinks buckwheat breakfasts are not good places at which to select a United States sen ator. He proposes to defeat the buck wheat nominee, our own esteemed Chauncey of the house of Vanderbilt.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
BARBARIC GEAR LOVED
 TO BOIL HIS SUBJECTS

successful attempts toward political and legal reform, and he had a certain gift oi leadership and instinct of statesman shrip which he used to the best advan- fage. Personally he was a coward. as was shown at the siege of Kasan, when he kept diligently to his devotions in spite of the repeated entreaties of his men to come and help them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

The Christian Science lecturer who had her 5000 coat stolen while deliv- ering a lecture in New York probably has less faith in human nature than she has in Christian Science.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Georgia now has Judge Lynch who will not cause talk in the east. A gentleman bearing this suggestive name has just been elected to office in the watermelon state.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

The Ameer of Afghanistan has just bought 200 sewing machines for the inmates of his harem. It is lucky that he does not have to buy his wives Easter bonnets.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Newport is shocked to learn that saloons there have not always been closed on Sunday. Saloons are so ple- beian!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Tom Lawson and Mrs. Chadwick should collaborate, but some word stronger than "frenzied" should be in. vented
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Quacks are reported to be alarm ingly on the increase in Germany Perhaps the birth rate of suckers has been increased
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

"Usona" does not gain ground from time and usage. The word America" will stick. and our English cousins may as well accept it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

The 400 of Newport are now in the hands of a London tattooist, who is proceeding to tat them in true English stvIa
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

The scarcity of water is playing havoc with Kentucky dairymen. Water has become almost indispensable to milk dealers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Secretary Shaw has subsided. prices having risen to level that suits his idea of things. He should buy an au- tomobile.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Mrs. Chadwick's finance is fierce rather than frenzied. She gets what ever she wants.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Helen Mathers," the English au- thoress, has come to America to rest. She stopped off at the wrong place.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
Dec. Estimate commer'l crop
The Anniston Hot Blast has discov.

The Anniston Hot Blast has discov- cred a resident of Cleburne county who is ST years old and has followed the blow IS years. It is expected that a great many people who desire to live long will immediately take up blow
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

Congress has had an easy time of it thus far.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07

have barred these two books from the library on the ground that they are too strenuous" for Des A1oines boys to woman and not a man who originated such an ideal Very naturally a woman could see very little good in such a book as From Sawyer or "Huckleberry Finn but thousands Of healthy American boys now growing up and other thousands of American boys who are grown and have followed the adventures of MT. Clemens heroes with keen delight will not sub scribe to the views Of an unfortunate "schoolmarm" who ought 10 know bet ter Rather. they are apt to call an in- dignation meeting.
 The old days when pirates were merrily shuffled off Into posthumous fame have passed but a man has just been tried. convicted and sentenced to life impris- onment by Detroit court for piracy on the high seas" This man was not a roistering buccaneer who walked the decks with a pistol in each hand and Q cutlass in his mouth and swept the Spanish main with his crew. Oh, no. He was simply a sneak thief who entered the stateroom of woman passenger on lake steamer and after chloroforming her robbed her of diamonds and money. His methods were far different from thA old way of robbing on the water His sentence was also somewhat different and it seems that he has been given too much honor In being convicted of "pi- raoy on the high seas"
 President Francis expended the munifi- cent sum of $S.s5 to keep the Pygmies at the fair all summer. To their king was given barrel of salt costing s2 and to their queen an "elaborate'' necklace worth fifty cents, while to each of the nine Pygnes a watch fob worth fifty cents and three five cent pieces were presented. Thus again we see the bles- sings of savage life and the fact that where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise. Had President Francis so desired he could have given the little strangers three bright pennies apiece and ten cent string of beads ana they would have been equally delighted. No doubt these queer little people VIII tell marvellous tales of the glory and generosity of Uncle Sam's subjects. When one con- siders the money that was spent to se- cure other foreign exhibits for the expo sition tho Pygmies were very inexpen- sive attraction.
 Tt is announced that the Boer war spec tacle which was such prominent fea- ture of the Worlds fair at St. Louis, will make a tour of the south, when the na- tives will see a show that will make them sit up and come to the conclusion that in a circus the half hath not been told. The Boer war If presented on it's original scale, would be a sight for the plantation darkies of the south that would never be forgotten and would finger in their memories even after the last clown and the slow moving pachyderm had per ished from the earth.
 Santa Claus pictures and a general Santa Claus atmosphere remind one that the glad Christmas times are near at hand. Even the disgruntled cynics and the pessimists find the ground slipping from beneath their feet ana their croaking goes unheeded. It is hard for a man to preach cynicism when Christmas is in the very air. P. c.
The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1904-12-10
EXCURSION STEAMBOAT REGULATION.

Several bills for the regulation OF excursion steamboat travel
have been introduced already 1t expected the
rbe Socum disaster would lead general consideration OF amend
to the laws concerning travel
resumed its session The investigation made the disaster
dated however that proper inspection under the laws already
force might have prevented the terrible calamity Some OF the bills
presented il feared would make the of
steamers expensive that the securing of the capital
would be difficult, if not impossible
OF the main object reasonable
oundness when built and kept such condition They should
be equipped with adequate fire fighting csaving apparatus
Ii is possible OF to draw law regard
the requirements OF construction but if the changing
congress should hesitate take There popular
that the majority Of excursion m the purposes
for which they used and while accidents have
have been necuabe that general demand that
something be done to them in the future
1t might be well for special regular vestigae
whole subject regulations and pass upon
the merits OF the various bills offered Some good laws would
doubtedy result from such course.
The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1904-12-10
R00SEvELT'S
PLURALITY
IS 41,605

When the state returning board took
an adjournment last night about o'clock
it had completed the count of IS districts
OF the state for president and had the
official popular vote for Roosevelt and
Fairbanks In Rhode Island as Al 6O5, as
against 4S29 for Parker and Davis, max
ing the plurality 1876
This plurality, large though IL was, was
overtopped TO the plurality accorded the
late President Mckinley In 1896 who re-
ceived q, ,97s votes more than Bryan.
The total Roosevelt and Fairbanks vote
was more than ever given any candidate
for president at previous election.
The wardens' figures gave the Roosevelt
and Fairbanks electors 707 less than they
received by the official returns.
The boards count gives CorTigan and
Cox. the Socialist Labor candidates, ass;
Debs and Haniford, Socialists, so6 votes.
and Swallow and Carroll, Prohibition can
didates. 76s votes.
The Democratic vote this year was
nearly 5000 more than the party received
I'm 1900. and the vote for Roosevelt was
1921 more than the Republican vote in 1900.
The returns OF Secretary Jennings of
the board show 1864 defective ballots out
of the total state vote of Y460. the re-
turn OF the presidential vote giving about
il50 blank ballots.
Most OF the defective ballots for the
presidential electors were caused by the
mon who wished to vote for other than
the men whose names were printed on the
ballots.