davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

and less than a mile wide at it's widest part
 As one approaches it from the sea one sees many port holes here and there along
 the sides. They come from the tunnels within. The whole rock has been tun-
 neled. It has eighty miles of gaiseries burrowed through 1t and it is 0 honev- comb of chambers. The Qualifications have. of course, the finest of modern guns and other war machinery. Only a few parts of them are shown to visitors and only the British soldiers and war office
 know just how the works are construct ed and defended. There are undoubtedly
 some big twelve-inch guns and some
 which could probably land shot in Africa
 across the way. The strait is something
 like twelve miles wide at that point, and
 there are modern guns which will shoot J twelve or thirteen miles. Among the
 guns known to be at Gibraltar are two
 of one hundred tons each, so heavy that
 1t would take about two hundred horses
 10 haul one of them. Those guns are
 each thirty-two feet long, and each will
 throw shot weighing a ton a distance
 of eight miles,
 Gibraltar is practically a free port, and
 tobacco and everything else is cheaper there than in Spain, which is only two
 miles across the isthmus. The land be-
 tween is called the neutral ground" and 'iSAc ID iOW ulBn WONGn-Wlro 1enCd
 across it, which is guarded day and
 night by the Spanish customs officers. The fence was put up in order to pre- vent tobacco being carried across without paying duty. The smugglers had trained dogs to carry parcels from one side to the other The way they did 1t was to dress up one of their number as a Span lsh customs officer, and then having tied a bag of tobacco to the neck of the pup
 they wished to train they would drive
 him fin the direction of the bogus official As soon as the dog came near the man in the customs uniform would give him a
 good thrashing. The pup soon learned
 that all men so dressed were his enemies and he naturally gave them wide berth The dogs were brought from the Spanish
 side to Gibraltar and there loaded with i tobacco. They would start home on the run and no customs official could get within a mile of them until this fence
 was erected.
 The British have now $6ooo soldiers at Gibraltar. The place is a crown colony
 and 1t has a governor general, who Is also commander In chief. In proportion to the area which he rules the governor
 of Gibraltar is one of the best paid off, cials on earth His princpality covers about two square miles and his salary is
 S25, 900 a year. That is half as much as President Roosevelt gets, and he gov erns about 3,6oo;ooo square miles, If our President was paid at the same rate per square mile as is the governor gen. eral of Gibraltar he would be receiving the enormous sum of $45, ,ooo, ,ooo, ,ooo a
 year.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

he was very enthusiastic over the prospect. He said he loved to come home from the Office and dress and go out to Dinner
 Alice offered to lay out his Things for him and put the Studs in his Shirt. But he said no-he knew just where everything was and it was really a, Pleasure to get ready.
 Alice and Hubby came down all dressed at exactly the same Moment and each praised the other for promp' titure.
 Hubby noticed that Alice wore her new Gown. He admired it very much, He could not understand how she had managed to get such a Corker for a comparatively Small Sum of Money.
 At the Dinner Alice found herself next to Nice Young Man who was highly Conversational without being Gabby.
 Several times she requested Hubby to tell the Company some of his Funny Stories, and each time he told one she laughed heartily and said 1t was New.
 After dinner the Men refused to loiter around the table and Smoke, as they wished to be in the Front Room with the Ladies.
 Inasmuch as Alice and some of her Friends were going to the Theatre, they hurried away, because they did not think 1t Good Form to enter Play House after the Curtain had gone up, lest they might disturb some who wanted to see the whole Show.
 They sat in the Box all evening without conversing aloud. In looking over the assemblage Alice noticed that all the women had taken off their Hats without compell- ing the Ushers to come down the aisle and argue with them.
 Also the Men did not walk over per sons the moment the curtain went down.
 i The Stage Performance was very entertaining. The acrobatio Song and Dance was received with Dead Silence, but the Quiet Love Scene evoked Thunders of Applause.
 After 9S per cent of the Audience got tired of Song the six Encore Fiends with the Iron Hands would subside immediately and permit the Dialogue to be heard.
 The only unpleasant Incident of the evening occurred when a beautiful Soubrine, assisted by eighteen Broil-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

| side of the rock facing the Atlantic ocean. It is there that the town of Gibraltar lies and there also are the bay and the 1 landing places for ships.
 I spent some time at Gibraltar on my way to Morocco, and had good chance to inspect the outside of the fortihca- tions and the new improvements. A deep harbor of two hundred and sixty acres is being formed and about fifty acres of water area has been reclaimed for a new dock yard. The largest of the naval war vessels can be dry doclked there and the harbor is big enough for the whole British Atlantic fleet
 The rock of Gibraltar lies at the end of a narrow neck of land which connects 1t with the Spanish peninsula. Ono
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17
SunfIower Philosophy.

From the Atchison (Kan.) Globe.
 Easy money'' is usually that which your neighbor makes.
 A drunkard feels very virtuous when abusing a dope fiend.
 A few months after a man loses his job you hear of a new baby at has house.
 A bob tailed dog not only looks bad. but 1t is hard for him to express fear or gratitude
 You can't please everybody. A cheer ful person is a pessimist's idea of a fool.
 A man is considered more insignifi- cant at a stork party than at his own wedding.
 A sad, sweet-faeed woman is almost as valuable to the defense in a criminal case as expert counsel.
 Most men are a great deal more par ticular about not being called a liar than they are about not lying.
 The man who is really in love pays very little attention to the ability of his sweetheart as a bread-maker.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

Copyright, 1907, by Frank c. Carpenter)
 Melila, Spanish North Africa, T AM in what is about the last of
 spains colonial possessions. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries she owned the best part of the new world She had the cream of North America. if we include the Louisiana purchase, which we got by way of France, and she had almost the whole of South America excepting Brazil. The best Of the West Indies were here. Cortes poured the treasures of Montezuma into her royal coffers and Pizarro, shoeing his horses with solid silver, robbed the Incas of Peru of their gold by the ship load. The Philippines added to these sources of wealth, and for d long time great golden streams rolled across the Atlantic and Pacific to benefit the Span tards. Spain was then the richest of all the powers In her colonial possessions. Today by mismanagement and oppression she has become the poorest and since her war with us. when she lost Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. there have been none so poor 10 do her rever- snce.
 Spanish Africa.
 Indeed, all the land which Spain has left outside her own boundaries is in Africa, and even here her possessions are ragtag and bob-tail of the continent. They may cover perhaps two or three hundred thousand square miles, but they are all desert. sand or fever swamps. and the tillable lands suitable for white men which they contain are not as big as an Ohio county, and their total population will hardly equal that of Washington City.
 In contrast with this the other great powers of Europe have been quietly gob- bling up the fat things of this mighty continent. France has the biggest share fl we include the Island of Madagascar She has almost 1000 square miles, or more than one third of all Africa. A vast deal of her territory, however, is in the Desert of Sahara. It is made up Of stone and sand which might form good building materials but which are of no value where they lie. Great Britain comes next among the national land owners She has close to another third of the con- tinent, if we consider Egypt and it's Soudan as a part of her possessions. Germany has not quite one-eleventh of the whole and Portugal almost one-thlr- teenth while Turkey itself in Trpolf, has about as much land as Spain.
 What Spain Owns.
 Before I describe this God-forsaken spot where I now am I would like to tell you just what Spain has in Africa. She owns the Island of Fernando Pc and small tract on the mainland on the Gulf of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

(Copvright, 1907, by George Ade in the
 United States and Great Britain.) I1~ ANY years ago Alice visited I(V1 Wonderland. The things that happened to her were about as much on the Circus Order as those that happened to Lawson.
 If Alice had not been an innocent little Tike with Flaxen Gurls one would be led to suspect that just be- fore visiting Wonderland she had smoked a Green Pill about the size of D Hickory Nut.
 By counting up the years you will know that Alice is now in Full Bloom. She is beginning to look a little bulky around the Shoulders and is interested in the Ads. of the Beauty Doctors.
 Never again will Alice keep on two stepping until rose light suffuses the eastern sky. Once she was Queen of the Coterie known as the Young Mar ried People, which for Speed and En- durance makes the Kid Set look like a bunch of disabled Quitters.
 Now she is wearing Blanket and lets a new Generation of Recent Brides do the Schorching.
 Alice's notion of good, lively Elm ployment at the present Moment is to be Patroness of something. She is keenly interested in all Charitable En- terprises that will keep her name in the nosey old Newspapers at the top of the Column and next to Pure Read ing Matter.
 Years ago she discovered that in or der to enjoy all the up-to date Privi- leges of her Sex and acquire the full est Liberty she would have to be a Married Woman.
 Many friends gave her the Tip that Matrimony was advisable, the same as being Vaccinated. Accordingly she did, and now she has q Home of her own, Rope of Pearls, an Angora Cat portable Vapor Bath, a private Brougham and a couple of Children.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

had it all ready for him. His Uniform was neat and the appearance of his hands did not arouse the suspicion that possibly he had been putting in a ton of Soft Coal.
 He stopped the car at the Right Corner without being reminded sec ond time. As the passengers alighted a large odorless Automobile waited re- spectfully until the Pedestrians were safely out of the way
 As Alice entered the Department Store she was not boosted from be- hind by the Revolving Door.
 She found the proper Counter with
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

Guinea. Her country there contains, I be- lieve, about 9)00 square miles, or a little more than the state of Massachusetts The land Is swampy and so unhealthful that it has become known as the White Mans Crave It is covered with lux uriant vegetation and produces some India rubber and palm oil. The o1ly foreigners there are a few Spanish, French and Eng fish merchants. The natives are among the most degraded of the Africans They are negroes of the lowest type and slav- cry is common. Fernando Pc Itself has convict settlements, and the criminals sent there seldom return.
 North of the Gulf of Guinea, between Morocco and the French Soudan, Spain has a wide strip of land which is ruled by the governor of the Canary Islands.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

could walk across this neck In a few minutes. The town of Gibraltar, which contains something like thirty thousand people, is situated upon it and it's houses extend from it along the lower side of the rock itself.
 This rock is a gigantic piece of solid limestone, which rises almost straight from the water on the side facing the Mediterranean sea, to a height almost as great as that of the Blue Ridge noun tains in Virginia. If you could put two Washington monuments, one on the top of the other, and on the top of these spire as tall the dome of the capitol you have just about the height of Gibral- tar. The rock Is about three miles long
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

Frank G. Carpenter and MeliIla Jew.
 ~~~~~~~~~~-~1~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~~~ It stretches for several hundred miles along the Atlantic coast but it is one of the worst parts of the whole Desert of Sahara It has no rivers nor any oases of value and is very thinly populated. t begins in the neighborhood of Cape Elan co, and it's chief town is Rio de Orc, Convict Colonies of Mediterranean. which is golden only in name.
 In addition to these possessions, Spain has several convict colonies on the Mo- roccan coast of the Mediterranean sea. The first Is Ceuta, just across the way from Gibraltar. I passed 1t on my way to Tangier It can be reached from Alge- ciras by a government steamer which takes over dispatches and mail every day It consists of a rock on which the town
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-17

Copyright, 1907, by George Ade in the
 United States and Great Britain.)
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-23

reeted 1t and not let 1t go as a fake pre- tense to the governor that there was a conspiracy on the part of the officers 10 make this man serve a double sentence. Il he had had courtesy he would have asked me for the correspondence and received 1T, instead of demanding 1t of the sheriff, with the intimat ton that he would have it whether or no.
 % The intmation made that our object was to persuade Johnston to leave the jail and then indict him for an escape IS so fanciful and absurd that to a req sonabe man it scarcely needs Gen al. So far as I can conceive 1t could have originated In no other place than the fer vent imagination of the author.
 Judge Pelham in his published state ment has given true history of this case, and it Is not necessary to go Into further details. 1 dislike very much to be drawn into a controversy of this kind, but when such charges are made by a man of Colonel Johns supposed high standing without any foundation what eyer, there is nothing else left for me Go do.
 Tn conclusion l might state that my whole connection with the matter Of Johnston's sentence has been by corre- spondence. except the conference l had with Judge Pelham and Mir Whitson ds to the course we should pursue. Of this correspondence l have copies of all of the letters and the originals of all of the let ters except the ones sent to Colonel John, which sta ted that Johnston would not he required to serve hard labor sentence, and this correspondence speaks Tor itsclf and fully justifes every action of Judge Alston Judge Pelham. Sheriff Fulton and myself in reference 10 this matter.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-23
Seven Feet of Nails.

From Tit Bits.
 A scientist has estimated that in life time of 70 years man grows nails which, if 1t were possible to preserve them un- cut, would reach the phenomenal length of feet inches. Exactly on what ar- guments this statement is based 1t Is hard to say for a little observation will show that during the greater portion of man life he cuts his nails on an average once a week and at each pairing removes sixteenth of an inch, or the equivalent of a quarter of an inch per month, working out at three inches in year. This would give him growth of seven feet six inches during the thirty years he lives between 20 and 50 In the other forty years, when the growth is less rapid. he would cer- tainly produce four feet of nails, so that eleven feet is better average for the nail-producing capacity of man.
 It should be noted however. that the growth of the nails on the right hand IS, in most people, more rapid than those on the left and it may be that the scientist in question has based his argument on the slower growth of the left hand nails. An other curious point is that the rate of growth of the nails depends directly on the length of the finger; thus, the malls on the two middle fingers of man grow more rapidly than those on the first and third finger respectively, and these in turn are more speedy in their growth than those on the little fingers. Again, nails ''ripen" quicker in summer than in win ter, when the cold seems to render them harder.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-23
A Queer Calculation.

From the Baltimore Sun.
 Statisticians sometimes have queer ideas One of them amused himself by calculating how much energy. water and coal 1t would take to move the earth n foot supposing that 1t was subjected throughout it's mass to force equivalent to terrestrial gravitation. This is a gratultous supposition. for in spite of it's enormous mass the earth weighs noth- ing.
 Starting with the fact that the earth mass Is about 6100 million -mllion-m million tons our statistician calculates that we should require 7O,000 0O0,0OO years Tor a 10000 horse power engine to move our globe a foot. The boiler that should feed this engine would vaporize quantity or water that would cover the whole face or the globe with a layer 300 feet deep. The vaporization of this water would require 1000 million million tons of coal. This coal. carried in cars holding ten tons each and having q total length of thirty feet. would require 400 million million cars. which would reach S0.000.000 times around the earth This train. moving a [ the rate of forty miles an hour, would take more than 5000.000 years to traVei IFS own length It would require for storage d sheG that would cover 1000 times the area of Europe.
 If we realize that this fantastically huge amount of energy is nothing at all com pared with what the earth possesses m virtue of it's rotation about Its axis. It's revolution about the sun and its transin- ton in space with the solar system, Of which the earth is but an intnitesinal part of the universe, we may get some idea of the importance of man in the uni- verse and estimate his ncommensurapie prlde at it's just value.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-23
STRONG SENTIMENT
 FOR PROHIBITION Petitions Are Being Circulated
 in Morgan County
NO SPEECHES YET MADE
Anti-Prohibitionists Are Sounding the People of the County on the Whis- key Question Preparatory
 to Election.

Decatur. September Special. )- Mayor Sam Blackwell of New Deca- tur. chairman of the campaign com mittee of the prohi movement in this county, has just returned from a trip to the eastern portion of the county, where he went with other members of the campaign committee to deliver petitions to the committee men of the various precincts of the county. said last night that he found a strong sentiment in the eastern DOT tion of the county in favor of proht- bition in spite of the fact that it has been talked that this section of the county would oppose prohibition.
 Under the law it requires twenty five per cent of. the legal voters of the county to sign a petition to the pro- bate judge before he is authorized to call an election. Captain Blackwell said that the prohibitionists would in his opinion, secure more than DO per cent of the legal voters of the county on the petition "and we are going to carry the county for prohibition" said Captain Blackwell
 These petitions VIII pc clrculateu aii over the county at once. It will De perhaps the latter part of November or the first of December before the election takes place. It will require several days to circulate these peu- tions and after they are filed with the probate judge he has ten days In which to order an election and thirty days notice of the election has to be given.
 As yet no speeches have been made in the county, but the anti-prohiol tionsts have been making still hunt over the county with a view to as- pertaining the sentiment of the peo. pie. In the Decaturs a majority or the business men will favor prohl- bition and will so vote. It is believed that most of the precincts in the coun- tv will 20 prohibition and that the county will give majority for prohl- , bition.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-23
TEACHERS INSTITUTE. Citizens Show Great Interest by Large
 Attendance.

Montevallo, September 22.-(Special)- The Shelby County Teachers institute met yesterday and today at Ebenezer, six miles from Montevallo. This is farming community so interested in the cause of education as to have secured for their new school house the 200 appro- priation authorized by the last general assembly. The citizens manifested their interest in the institute by large at tendance, by a bountful dinner, served upon the ground, and by entertaining the visitors overnight. Montevallo was represented at the institute by President Palmer and Miss Haley, Professors Moore and Chestnut of the Alabama Girls h. dustrial school, and Principal J. w. Ellen berg and Miss Bessie Matthews of the village school. MT. and Mrs. James Yea ge., MT. and Mrs. Broadhead, and several former students of the Industrial school who are now teaching in the county.
 Miss Sallie J. Hardaway has gone to Se mt to spend few days with her fathers family.
 Miss kosalie Poole of Butler Springs, has re-entered the Girls Industrial school.
 Mrs. D. W. shivers has been quite ill for the past few days.
 Miss Annie Dee Sampey of Evergreen is the guest of her sister, Mrs. w. P. McConaughy. Miss Sampey was for sev eral years d student in the Girls lndus- trial school and is returning now for her second years work as a teacher in the Burkville, Va, High school
 Captain Rainer of Union Springs is the guest of his daughter, Mrs. Thomas W. Palmer.
 Next Monday evening Dr. Scale Har- ris, d distinguished physician and sur geon of Mobile, will lecture on Heath" in the chapel of the Girls Industrial school.
 This school stands for the ideal of efficiency, not only in scholarship and character, but also in physique and in the power to manipulate things, and it seems quite fitting that the first lec- ture of the session should be upon this very important. practical subject, of the sound body as the basis of soundness in the mental and spiritual life.
 The Rev. H. E. Wheeler pastor of the Methodist church in Montevallo, besides being a consecrated student of the Bible and general literature and a faithful pas tor is also an enthusiastic collector of minerals and fossils; in short he is sci netist of no mean ability. He has centiy discovered T new fossil shell from among the deposits in Greasy Cove. discovery in which the pateontologists of the Smithsonian institute are greatly n- terested.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-23
DRIVING CLUB IS
 BECOMING ACTIVE New Members Are Enrolled and
 Races Are Planned
CONDER SCHOOL MATTERS
Prof. S. R. Butler Has Declined to Take Charge of the Deserted School-New Stock Laws
 May be Enacted.

Huntsville, September 22.-(Special)- The Piedmont Driving club which was in- corporated several years ago for the pur- pose O. operating a race track and hold
 ing fairs here, is taking on new life and from two to three hundred new mem bers will be enrolled The club is going to make a specially of outdoor sports, including horse racing and baseball snd a club house will be establishel in or near the city. A deal will probably be made for the use of the race track of the Tennessee Valley Fair association.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-23
Condition of Cotton.

The hot sunsh;ne of tae past week has been a benefit to the cotton crop of this section and has eausei the bollS to open rapidly. The pirntars and their farm hands are busv ga'h--ins; the fleecy staple and the cot.tn season IS on witi a rush. Probably fifty bales were re- ceived in the Ii intsvllle market in the bale or in the sssd on Sarur1ay From II to II 80 cents was paid ior e.iton Tn the bale and 3.75 to 6.95 in the See l. Ie there s a late frost, thera will nr happy Christmas in the Ten le-sse val-