davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
White Plantation Labor.

Two planters of Hale county went to New York last fall and brought back a supply of white labor. They selected some Italians, some Swedes and some Hungarians. This they did last fall, and their new help, or rather tenants, are working today contentedly and happily. The experiment. is an inter- esting one. and Hale at least is watch ing the outcome.
 The two planters did not, It seems, hire men as laborers, but they induced them to go to Hale county to become tenants-to work land in other words on the sharing plan. How they did this is not told. As a rule immigrants insist uopn having an offer of a given amount a week payable in cash each Saturday night. A southern bidder meets in New York bidders from other sections of the country, and as gen eral rule he must in order to secure desirable immigrants offer $1.50 a day, payable in cash each week.
 Doubtless the two planters in Hale had to guarantee that amount of pay to each of the men they secured, and if the season be favorable they may make the money on the tenancy plan, for they are proving themselves sue cessful farmers who do not loll about in working hours. They do not even loll out, says correspondent on the spot, the noon hour As soon as the midday meal is completed they go laughing back to the fileds.
 The experiment is interesting in Hale county, and doubtless it will be- come so to all other counties devoted to cotton growing, for all have com mon labor problem, and are seeking a solution of that problem. The two planters in Hale should relate their experience with white labor next fall, so that all may know what Ellis Island can do for distressed cotton farmers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
Rlchmond,s Exnanslon.

"Riehmond's limits have been eXtend- ed, said member of Birmingham's Vir- sinia colony but the supreme court Of the state which has just passed on the measure, knocks out the greater part of the territory sought to be annexed and in the next census the population of the city will be little larger than if the limits had not been extended.
 Tn the census of 1900 Richmond had a population of about s5OOO The greater Richmond had 1t was claimed, a popula- tion of 100000. The capital of the Old De- minion, like all growing cities has exten- siye suburbs and ever since 1900 public spirited citizens have been working on a measure for extending the limits. Nearly all Henrico county was included In the plan and 1t was thought that by the cen sus of 1910 the population would reach l2o,OOO. But the supreme court exclud- ing Barton Heights Chestnut Hill, River side Park and Maj J. H. Dooleys prop erty. Tax payers in the suburbs fought annexation and won. As 1t Is Richmond will have population of 100000 in the next census"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
A Cow Story.

'I have heard often about the wisdom of Solomon" said former Mayor of Birmingham last night, but some years ago there was justice of the peace in this county who obtained results some- what unexpected when he adopted a rule along the lines set down by his wise pre- decessor.
 "A COW had been causing trouble in the vicinity, and was finally taken in by one farmer and claimed as his property A neighbor became incensed and had the adopted owner of the COW hauled into the justices court. When the case came up for trial, there were many witnesses pres ent, but none could identify the COW. Each of the two farmers claimed 1t, and neith- CT could prove his claim. The justice was nonplussed. but only for moment or two.
 " Tell you what I'll do he said. 'Untie that COW, and let her go where she pleases. If she goes to your house, Jones, she belongs to you. If she goes to Smith s house, she is his. She is the property of the man to whose barn she goes
 "The court adjourned, and followed the COW, being in turn followed by the parties to the court scrape and by the witnesses and ordinary spectators Finally Brindle turned down a path and went right up to the door of the justices barn, where she 'moo-oo-ed for admittance. The justice had not recognized his own COW, and he was almost compelled to quit business because of the ridculing he received"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
Literature In Derby Neck.

Derby Neck is in Connecticut, and 1t has a public library. All towns re- gafdless of size, in Connecticut have public libraries. They are built be- fore hospitals or even good roads.
 But we wander. The library at Derby Neck sets itself up as a general reg ulator of the public conscience and public education. for it recently posted the following notice:
 ''As Jack London publicly announces he is an anarchist, deVoting the constitution to hell and the government to destruc- ton. we have ordered all his works with drawn from circulation; and we urge, not only other libraries to do likewise, but all lovers of their country to cease buy ing his books or taking magazines pub. fishing his stories"
 This boycott put on by the Derby Neckers is money-big money--to Jack London. for those who have never read them will read them again to discover what they did not when hurried along by their strenuous plots. It is a wind fall for Jack London, and his publish CTS will not fail to work it for all it is worth.
 The intolerance of New England sems to be bred in the bone. It came down from Puritan times, and tradi- tion is one of the most powerful in- fuences in this world. But tradition never had harder task than it has at present. It is being sifted and ques- tions are being asked that would have been pronounced almost criminal one hundred years ago. The Derby Neck CTS are in fact exploiting their notions a century late. They cannot harm Jack London, and if they are insistent they may yet boom his books in liberal and tolerant age.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
NEW GAME ON TRAINS.
Man With Cards and Far Too Sure
 Thing Bet.

From the Kansas City Star. A forlorn individual with telescope" grip in one hand and an empty pocket book in the other enlightened the detec- tives at the union depot the other day concerning the latest wrinkle in confi- dence games. The melancholy one had just been relieved of $50 by couple of | chance acquaintanoes on train.
 "This is how it happened" said the traveller: 'T was coming from Oklahoma and after leaving Fort Scott sat in the smoker with a man who got on at that station. We chatted bit and were watching game of cribbage among some travelling men across the aisle when q man came through the car with pack of playing cards in his hand. He stopped by the cribbage players and asked them to buy the cards. They refused, so he turned to our seat.
 " Gentlemen he said, I'd like to sell these cards. They are of unusually good of an ordinary deck.
 " Let's see, said my seat mate, taking the pack. I don't see anything remark able about these. They look like ordi- nary 25-cent cards to me-
 q" All right replied the owner of the cards in an offended tone; if you can't distinguish the difference in the quality of cards, there's no use in my wasting time talking to you.
 "IIe reached for the pack and as ic was handed back to him one of the cards fpll to ha ffoor by the owner My seat mate. however, saw the card fall and said banteringly: Those cards may be extra fine, but I'll bet there's not a full pack there
 "The owner of the cards glared indig- nantly at my seat mate.
 |" You say you will?' he exclaimed. Now, what will you bet on that?
 My companion had already covered the card on the floor with his foot.
 oh. I'll call anything you've got he laughed
 without more ado the card salesman lugged out a bundle of bills and an- nounced that he didn't like to take candy from infants, but that he would bet Q hundred, even money, that the paste boards in his hand composed full deck of fifty-two cards, not counting the joker. This of course, looked like Christmas expenses to us, who knew that one card of the pack lay on the floor
 I'll let you in on half of the bet, said my seat mate generously, and, of course, I jumped at the chance.
 ''The money was posted, the cards were counted and the deck found to be com plete My seat mate and the card sales man left the train at the next station. Of course I see 1t all now-that is, all but one thing:
 ''Why did it not occur to me that there was something odd in a man having s1o0 who had a moment before been trying to peddle a two-bit pack of cards?"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
Eyla in inc Sprinqtime.

On warm days of late the peep of the hyla has been heard in Dixie Land. The hyla is not by any means a new animal. It is but the beginning of a frog, and is one of the earliest har. bingers of spring.
 Some frogs live in water, and some in trees. The hyla are born like all other frogs and toads in water, the parent hyla having laid it's eggs in the mud. When first matched it appears equipped with a tall, and as it clings to grasses or shrubs it peeps in mild way. This it does in the springtime, and on warm afternoons in this sunny land the first chirps of the newborn hyla may even now be heard. They are very small, and few have ever seen these creatures of the early springtime while the hyla will drop it's tail and seek the land, and then 1t will be a mere toad or small frog that seeks old fences and messy stones.
 The hyla is never tadpole and never becomes big frog. The latter are matched latter in the season. The hyla comes early, and it peeps as it comes. Listen for the hyla on warm days, when you are near swamps or still water, and you will soon be recom- pensed by his quiet chirps, but you will never see him, for he is very elusive and shy when visitors are about. They
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
Eeatnras of the situation.

The Wall Street Journal does not think the commercial sky is wholly free from distant and possible clouds. It sees in a superbly balanced business situation these things:
 1. Railroad rate legislation.
 2. Prospect of bank investigation. 8. Possibility of a coal strike.
 4. The open winter and it's effect on the winter wheat crop,
 5. The Moroccan conference
 6. The possibility of gold exports.
 T. A credit situation that may be over-extended.
 None of these anticipations are, how ever alarming or even probable. A rate bil has already been fully dis counted. The proposed bank inyesti- gation will be confined to the state banks of New York. The coal strike may never crystalline. The crop sltua-
 
 tion is always with us. The Moroccan matter is really none of our business. Gold exports scare no one, and the seventh trouble is after all the only one to fear. Too much speculation may spoil the commercial broth.
 The average reserve in the New York banks is low, and perhaps credit needs a stronger basis. But no one who sees a busy people engaged in all the productive activities that wonder fully endowed country is capable of, will go out of his way to conjure up trouble because of crops whose out come cannot be foreseen. or of a credit than can be braced up in weeks time. Wealth is coming out of the soil, out of mines, out of industries of all other sorts, and it is not probable that the spectators and promoters can upset the grand aggregate of honest work.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
From the New York sun.
Ipl1 lnC ANCW l LOlh pun. EUBEN R. BROOKS, better ~ known as Ruby Brooks, the pro- N fessional banjo player, and as an


 N EUBEN R. BROOKS. better D known as Ruby Brooks, the pro- N fessional banjo player, and as an exponent of the musical possibilities Of that instrument perhaps the best known in this country, died on Saturday from cancer in the New York hospital. Brooks was a member of Brooks and Denton, a team that made fame for themselves all over this country, and abroad as we'll Of the two, Brooks was the better known, and 1t is doubtful if anyone ever was his equal with the five stringed instrument.
 Brooks was born in Stamford, Conn, and was 45 years old. He picked up the banjo when a boy and taught himself. The music seemed to grow in his fingers. Banjo playing had reached the height of it's craze when he came to New York and, with only his self-acquired proficiency, entered as one of the contestants in the great contest for the championship of the world, as 1t was called, which took place at Chickering hall in 1887.
 Banjo players had come from all over the country and some from abroad. Brooks easily took the prize. His technique and the extent of his repertoire amazed a great many people who had no idea the banjo could be made to do so much. Harry Denton, Brooklyn boy too the second prize Brooks and Denton then and there formed a partnership, which lasted until Brooks death.
 Brooks won the medal three successive years and was proclaimed the premier banjo player of the country. In 1890 he went abroad for the first time. Banjo playing was something of a novelty over there and he was in demand. Mrs. Ar thur Paget invited him to her house to entertain the Prince of Wales, now the King Baron Leopold de Rothschild was another who took him up. Upon a subse- quent visit which he made abroad the Prince of Wales requested Brooks to play for him again. Brook s last trip abroad was made in 1893
 Brooks and Denton went on the vaude- vile stage for while but they found that they could make more money by teaching and playing for society. In fact, society for' time had quite a rage over them. For a number of seasons 1t was a fad to dance to the music of their banjos. Brooks played at many private dances at Newport, on one occasion for the Grand Duke Alexis.
 One of his pupils was Miss Virginia Fair, now Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt. Jr. Another was the Princess Charles of 1senburg, whom he taught while she was on a visit to this country. Brooks also taught many professionals. He could play anything on his banjo from almost the entire score of one of the great operas down to the latest ragtime piece. His ver- satility was remarkable. It has been some years since society two-sepped to the tinkle of his banjo, but up to his death he was in demand for private concerts. At the luncheon of the captains of in dustry' in honor of Prince Henry at Sherrys on February 26 1901, Brooks and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18

tria-Hungary, nor Japan. nor any of the lesser nations that shared the loot of Pe1in in 1900. Only Russia and the United States! Can We afford to join Russia in a crusade against China? Will this country stand for any such proceeding?
 The explanation is that the admins tration is dealing in "hot air. empty thunder. But all the present talk az grayates the situation. and renders the boycott of American goods, especially of coarse cottons made in the south, more nearly complete. It pains the Chinese, who are becoming each year more and more sensitive to the worlds opinion of them.
 We make a mistake if we do not con slider that a new China is rapidly talk. ing the place of the China of 1900. The national spirit of China is rising rap idly, and a reorganized Chinese army will meet any army that America or Russia may send to that country. A correspondent of the London Times witnessed the fall maneuvers of nearly 100000 men and he declares that the new army will prove efficient. He goes on to say:
 In the tomorrow of the political calendar China will have a standing army of 36 divisions, with Q reserve of a quarter of a million men in other words. field army of half million. That means that no single country in Europe, except Russia dare threaten China with armed aggres- sion. Even Russia or Japan, who are on the spot, would hesitate to tackle China, for neither will care to involve them selves in a war of the first magnitude during the next ten years. In twenty years China will be able to stand alone, and the far eastern problems, so far as Europe Is concerned will be permanently solved.
 If this country-or Russia-were without fault in the treatment Of China if we had in no manner maltreated the Chinese who had come to this coun- try. our case would be better As things stand We have not leg to stand upon, and public sentiment in this country will never approve an alliance with Russia on any subject or in any move ment.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
COURAGE.

By Julia Nicely Finch.
 Look up and all about you. See How shines the midday sun How warm. how kindly are his beamsi Free to all Free as the air That all the summer thro is sweet With breath of blooming bowers And if, thro all the days long hours Labor's portion is you own Doth not the night bring sleep as sweet- Ay, sweeter far than comes to bless The pillow of the idle one? And dream-Ah me! those precious
 dreams
 That shadow forth the blessed past That are as some rich cup a-brim And jewel-bright from rim to rim With memories too sweet to last; These are your very own alone! Does not your loved one often go From you into another room And softly close the door between? Iris but a door 'twixt that unseen And wondrous world of which we know So little, and this world a-near. drifting curtain that shall blow Aside for you some certain day. Is there not set within your soul A something sacred sweet and sure; A thought that may not prisoned be Tn this poor human speech of ours. That tells yoh this is not the whole Of life? of love? Of all that's best And highest. purest in each one? Growth is life's keynote; growth and
 change
 First the seed and then the root; The flow'rlng forth. the final fruit; Fruition followed by decay; On and on the endless range In sequence wise and wondrous strange In this great scheme and mystery Each hath his little place and part, Body soul and beating heart Live for others. There's the cure For human wounds that throb and smarts
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
STATE POLITICS

Selma Times: The Times will bet the treats that Governor Jelks will make a double-barreled appointment when it comes to filling Judge Meclelan's place.
 Scale Register: Politicians all over the state sat up and took notice the other day when Senator Pettus was report ed i'll.
 Sheffield Reaper: Some candidates are like ground lhogs-they come out of their holes see their shadows and hasten back.
 Marion County News: They say that Joe Johnston has written to all his friends in Alabama to find out what they think about his becoming a candidate. This is bound to be untrue, because the captain could not do the work in months, and he invariably writes his own letters.
 Columblana Sentinel: The announcement of Hon. John B. Knox for senatorial sue eess.on seems to have met with popular favor all over Alabama If we may judge of the many good things heard and read of him in the past two weeks. A brainy man. a capable man, a worthy man, he will be one of the chosen next November just as sure as that time will arrive. In many years of earnest work for and loyal support of his party, this is the first time Mir Knox has ever announced hlm- sell a candidate for public office.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
ALABAMA PRESS

St. Clair Herald Nick can get consola- ton out of the fact that therell De no hair pulling scrapes in his.
 Opellka Post: An automobile that can travel a mile in twenty-eight seconds would seem to need only pair of wings and a rudder to be flying machine.
 Anniston Star: Chief Engineer stevens says that the Panama canal can be dug in seven years Nobody Is disputing that but what we would like to know is when the digging will commence.
 Attalla Mirror: 4he Mirror joins with the good people in deploring the lynch ing in our county on last Sunday morn ing and we trust our civilization will soon rise to the point that restraint of passion and prejudice will be esteemed the badge of honor for the citizen.
 Montgomery Advertiser: Among the causes of reorganization to which Miss Roosevelt Is justly entitled the greatest Is that she did not set her head to cap ture a foreign nobleman. True, she has not enough millions to make her an ob- ject of strong solicitation from the scions of decayed nobility but she might easily have captured one if she desired. She is to be specially congratulated for good sense.
 Mobile Register: The President has a pretty good ear for discovering the course of a political wind, but his musical ear is all astray. Hot Iime' and ''Ye Banks and Braes' sound alike to MT. Roosevelt, although he has never confessed 1t. He has tackled every other subject under the sun, with more or less success, and now he has broken into music. He declared to a colored glee club on Wednesday that out of the capacity of the negro race for melody would come some school of Amer ican music. In this he was echoing the declaration of a French literary author ity that there were only two chances for a school of American music, the Indian and the negro races. We don't know which will feel worse, the Indian or the negro, but between the plantation melody and the tom-tom we should get some school of music.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
Knox Gratified.

John B. Knox of Anniston, who arrived in Birmingham Friday returned yester- day afternoon. He was accompanied on his short visit by Mrs. Knox and Miss Knox.
 Since Mir Knox announced for the sem atoriaI succession he has been over whelmed with letters offering support.
 'I am naturally much gratifed at the expressions of the state press" said MT. Knox, "and over the fact that my mail brings me warm letters of encouragement from every part of the state. My friends write to me, and what is especially pleas ing is the fact that many men with whom have no personal acquaintance write letters that are warm-hearted and reassuring"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
SCHOOLS FOR WILD ANIMALS.
Academies for Lions, Elephants and
 Other Wild Beasts.

A most lucrative branch of traffic in wild beasts is the sale of performing ani- mals, says W. G. Fitz-Gerald in his arti- cle Romance of the Wild Beast Trade" in the Technical World Magazine. At Stel- lingen there are regular "schools' or "academies" wherein wild animals are educated, whether they be boxing kang- aroos, wrestling lions, elephants that are their own chauffeurs in motor cars, polar bears that drink toasts at festive parties. tigers that draw charots as though for jovial Bacchus himself, or seals that jug gle fiery brands. Hither come the great circus companies buying agents in search of novelties; and such is public appre- ciation that new feat, a clever idea in training, may actually double a wild beasts value in the market.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
It's all over now.
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 The oftener a man swears off the easier he thinks it would be to live up to it.
 Once in while the world has as good an opinion of a man as he has of him self; but it is after he Is dead.
 About the meanest thing people do in the world is the way the red-headed ones pass it along to their children.
 There is hardly anything so surprising as ;o kiss a girl when the lights go out and find 1t was somebdy else.
 A man would have to be mighty rich not to begin to grumble about the stock market when he suspects somebody is going to strike him for a charitable sub scripton.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
Will Sinq Tonight.

The Vanderbilt Glee club will arrive today at noon and will sing at the First Methodist church tonight at 7:45 o'clock. It will sing Crossing the Bar, by Tenny- son. It will also sing The Vanderbilt ode. by MT. Washburn. MT Washburn ac- companied by Miss Mccoy on the organ will render solo, The Vanderbilt Glee club will give concert at the Jefferson theatre on Monday night.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-02-18
IN HOTEL LoBBIEs
Sunday Musicales.

''The Sunday afternoon concerts at the Birmingham conservatory are attracting the attention Of the most representative and cultured people of this city said music lover yesterday. "The programmes are always artistic and the music heard on these occasions Is slngularly uplift- ing and humanizing.
 Last Sunday afternoon l had a great treat in listening to MT. Bowrons read ing of Enoeh Arden and Mrs. Gussen' rendition of the musical setting for the plano by Richard Strauss. Mir Bowron is an exceptionally fine reader and Mrs Gussen. as every one knows, is an artist of high rank"