davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07
JOHN A. .JOHNSON-By Savoyard

courage to employ 1t. Johnson's politics was not made to order. He studied the issues as they presented themselves, and while yet drug clerk he learned to be democrat. He came In personal contact with the common people daily. He was one of them, and they trusted him, and when the time came they honored him. He was elected to the state senate, and astonlshed the electorate when he dis covered capacity for stump speaking that was simply marvellous. He Is no brilliant orator like Clay, or Blaine. or Bryan, but a plain, blunt man of homely speech and powerful reasoning. He gives an audience food for thought rather than food for applause. What he says clings to the minds of his hearers, and that 1t is which has twice elected him governor of the republican state of Minnesota on the democratic ticket, once by the tre- mendous plurality of 77,0OO votes. and the year Roosevelt carried Minnesota by 161.- GOO Johnson carried 1t by 5000.
 One of the important things in politics iss to get the majority. It is the only principle" the g. o. D. has, or ever had, 1t 1t would not know what to do with any other. If the democratic party had the practical sagacity the republican party has there would be but one name presented at Denver, and that the man who has twice carried the republican state of Minnesota. ticket composed
 of Johnson and Culberson would run like
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

laid upon his mouth, and he was as- sured by the heavenly messenger that his iniquity was taken away, and his sin purged.
 The same great poet-seer who poured forth the plaintive wall, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto disobedient and gainsaying people" was the author of those soul-stirring and encouraging words; As the raiu cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that 1t may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void but it shall ac- complish that which I please, and 1t shall prosper in the thing whereto [ sent It."
 That remarkable philosopher to whose acutely speculative mind we owe that profound sermon, the book of Ecclesiastes, evidently intended an encouraging exhortation in those words: Tn the morning SOW thy seed, and in
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

tastes dictated. Ben Franklin, Patrick Henry, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay. Andy Johnson-these and many others of Americas great men were educated exactly as John A Johnson educated himself. He loved to read and he knew how to think. Such men are independent Of the college, and can snap their fingers at your Harvards your Yales, your Vir- ginlas, and the rest of them. Your col 1ege Is q great institution for your dunce. Francis Jeffrey oplned that our homely old Ben Franklin would have been ruined had he been licked into shape at Harvard. and quite likely Abraham Lincoln would have been an obscure man all his life if he had been graduated from Princeton. l don't want to be understood as railing at the college because I am not a collegiate. A college Is a good thing and did won ders for Rufus Choate, John Randolph Tucker, James A. Garfield. John James Ingalls, James G. Blaine, Henry Cabot Lodge, Theodore Roosevelt and William J. Bryan, but I do believe that Frank lin, Lincoln, Jackson and John A. John son would have been dwarfted had they been graduated from a college.
 And so, instead of going to college, our friend Johnson borrowed some money and bought a newspaper, and that Is what made him. What a great office !t is--editor of a newspaper, if he have the God-given gift of truthful speech and the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

closer together in tn ose hours out there on the dark battlefield than we could have gotten in as many years any where else. I learned among other tn hings that he had enlisted as a private and was then second lieutenant. He said 1t was because he stood in well with one of his commanders; but as he had been in two or three fights before Shiloh I knew well enough how he had earned his promotion. He was the fel- low that had been holding me back, with his 40 against my 60 men. all day.
 "As we lay talking there, in spite of our hurts, it seemed a very short time till oclock-Willoughby had a watch. But then I heard a man walking our way. Hoping 1t might be a hospital patrol I called out to him and in a moment the fellow-he was dressed in blue-bent over me.
 Shut up, he said, sort of half frightened. Who are you?
 "A little more light came from be- tween the coulds then, and before I could answer he went on. Oh, it's you Billings he said. Why can't you keep quiet? Johnston's been shot and Beau regard has sent me to find out Just what Is left of the Tanks and what they're going to do. Sorry I can't send you in; but you'll appreciate my posi- tion just now. But I'll see what I can do for you In an hour-if they don't
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07
BILLINGS OF '4o-By Edwin Balmer

We could talk pretty comfortably at that distance, however; so as neither of us seemed mortally hurt we managed to cheer each other up bit.
 " 'Confed' he said before long, every now and then there's a familiar sort of adulteration in that southern tone of yours. Most of the time you reckon but you've guessed at least twice in the hour. So I guess he laughed, that you've been north of Louisiana more than once.'
 Guessed or reckoned right I said. T went to college north.'
 'Where?" he asked.
 Harvard I told him.
 'I could see him making some sort of an effort with his body; but 1t was no use. Shake he called presently. That is, just imagine you're shaking hands with me. I can't get any nearer; but I'm from Harvard, too. Willoughby' !. my name. Would be through next year; '63 was my class. I knew some thing was bringing me here in the right direction
 remember I moved my hand to- ward him the way he was doing to me. It seems funny now, but It was serious enough and somehow helped a lot just then. I'm Billings of '49,' said
 We both got talking fast then steadier and faster than was good for worth losing a little more blood for Think of it After 12 years, a Harvard man and in that position. It opened us both right out, somehow; and some how, to me at least, 1t seemed we got
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

catch and hang me meanwhile,' he added grimly.
 "We were at the extreme right, you re- member, and as that was where the Fed eral position came nearest to ours, he moved quickly away without giving me chance to say anything. He seemed not to have noticed the Union officer, Will loughby, who likewise hadn't said any thing. But, 'Billings,,' 'Willoughby said to me after a moment, I think I ought to tell you something Just now you and I were just two Harvard men together and If we weren't, anyway they'd be no call for just you and me to fight this war over between us here in the dark. But-but-Tm sorry, Billings he went on slowly. but when that spy of yours comes back, I'm a Unionist and you're Confederate, and he's a Confederate spy. Do you understand?
 Understand what?' I said.
 "'Why,' he said, I mean I can't let that spy of yours get back to your lines thing by which your army could wipe us crossed the river yet or Lew Wallace comes up. Of course I don't know what's happened with us; but I can't risk any thing on account of that. I've one good hand yet and my revolver So when he comes back Pm going to warn him and you-I can't murder even a spy-and then I'm going to shoot. Do you understand, Billings?' he said.
 1T don't remember what I said at first but 1t wasn't long. I remember, before I
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

\ T is computed that there are in the
 city of Chicago 5000 Scandinavian A voters-Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and Finns-of whom more than S0000 never cast a democratic vote; but it is confidently asserted that if John A. John son shall be nominated for President at Denver he will get above 90 per cent of the Scandinavian vote of Illinois. That would mean a democratic Illinois in 1908, something that has happened but once in a presidential year since 1S56 As earnest of this a Scandinavian newspaper, the Swedish Times, published in Chicago, with the largest circulation of any news paper in the world printed in that tongue, and that has been republican in politics all its life, will support Governor John son if he shall head the democratic tick ct. Besides that the Scandinavian vote is big enough to decide the result in Wis consin, Minnesota and the two Dakotas.
 Here are 59 votes in the electoral col lege that the nomination of John at Den- yer would make almighty doubtful. whilst the nomination of any other man will make them absolutely safe for the republican candidate, whoever he may be. We know what a practical party like the republican would do in a case like that It would seize the opportunity and enjoy the usufruct But the demo- cratic party is not practical 1t is noth- Ing but a bundle of emotions. At Den-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

which the corset Is hammered into shape out Of two flat sheets of aluminium. The original plaster shell, if the bandages have been wound over a foundation of stockinet may be fitted with clasps and used for the same purpose. They are infinitely cheaper, but far heavier, and are hard to bear.
 Hip braces, which the hospital work shop turns out in such quantities as to lead one to look for a cripple on every block in the city, are more familiar to persons in general. Their whole scheme ie, roughly speaking, a set of slender, straight or slightly curved rods of steel with leather-bound loops for holding the thigh and the knee. and with a brace at the foot They are designed to separate the diseased parts of the joint and give them an opportunity to heal. There are other braces, equally as curious, for bow legs and for bad ankles. They are not entirely unlike the hideous Spanish galter of oden time, which was designed 70 press unevenly with knobs upon the wearer's leg and cause the bones 10 break.
 Another orthopedic device reminiscent Of ancient torture is the jury mast, a contrivance generally worn with the pas- ter or aluminium corset. It is made of a bar of steel, curving over the head from behind with a cross bar on its tip from which hanging straps support the chin On either side This device relieves weak neck of the necessity of supporting a too heavy head. In the middle ages a somewhat similar contrivance was used by the executioner's assistant to lead to the block, or to the stake, destined candidate for fire or the sword.
 In those days, too, a rack was used to stretch a. victims body, under stress of which he might be prevailed upon to yield up choice secrets of state, or confess the delinquencies he had not committed. In the modern big hospitals one may see at the foot of some of the beds in thu surgical and orthopedc wards, an ar engagement of pulleys and weights adjust ed to the foot of the patient, who, being fastened into a certain position in bed, is incapable of relaxing the tension which the pulley exerts upon the limb. The object of this mechanism Is that of the nip brace>vto prevent contact in a dis eased joint, to obviate pain and permit fl ustrated nature to set in order her heal ing process.
 A curious product of the orthopedic workshop is technically termed cuirass, and Is suggestive of the treatment ac- corded to an Indian papoose 1t IS used for infants and young children and Is cut from flat piece of wood into the sem blance of gingerbread man. with the arms left off. It has round end for the head, and two legs little apart, with end pieces nailed thereon, against which the feet are braced This object Is well padded and covered with linen. The child is placed upon 1t and plaster or paris 's made to hold 1t. The infant then 's wrapped about with bandages but With the arms free. The apparatus is used on children with weak backs to prevent them
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07
IN GILEAD-By J. C. Hiden D. D.

Is that 1t gives the awakened soul some- thing external and visible which he Is to do, of and for himself. and thus chimes in with the natural feeling of the sinner, who is anxious to do something to relieve himself of his anxiety But alasl It Is seriously to be apprehended that all this mechanical drillng-this ecclesiastical manual of arms"-thls singing on the knees. and what not-is too likely to heal the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly" and to make the sinner imagine that he has got rid of the burden of his sin, when In reality he has got rid of nothing but the sense of his sin.
 Our old-time preachers used to talk great deal about being under convic- tion." We seldom hear the phrase from our pulpits of today. It is to be hoped, however, that the thing has not, like the phrase. gone out of use; for it will be an evil day for the church and for the world when people can get religion without knowing what 1t means to be under conviction.
 Are you troubled about your personal sins? And are you looking for a real remedy2
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

difficulties than those which confronted
 the prophet Jeremiah. His messages were delivered to a weak and timid king, sur rounded by a tickle and time-serving court. He lived in the midst of powerful noblemen, who were plotting against his liberty and his life. Weddings in high authority were prescribing worthless rem edies for the deadly diseases of the state and healing the hurts of the people slightly. crying Peace, peacer' when there was no peace. It was under cir cumstances of this character that the wailing preacher cried: "The harvest is past; the summer is ended. and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am l hurt I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm insGlead? Is there no phy- sician there2" It is not necessary, nor is it my purpose, to make this passage 9Messianic." There Is, In the connec- ton, nothing to show that the prophet was here referring to Christ. He was thinking of the moral and spiritual dis cases, tho distresses, the calamities then pressing upon his beloved country, and out of the depths of his patriotic and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

and our support. I do not know what we could have done without his aid. He was always kind and tender with all of us and In every true sense was the main- stay of our little home. He cheerfully turned over his money to me on every pay day, and before he was 14 years old he was making enough so that I was no longer compelled to take in washing. never have been prouder of him than I was the evening he came home and told me bis salary had been increased and that he would no longer permit me to do this sort of work. think. too, that this was one of the proudest moments of his life. He took care of us in times of sick ness and death paying all the expenses. and doing it with a spirit which has made him doubly dear to all of us. Very few mothers have been blessed with such a son, and to all who have been so blessed I offer my sincerest congratulations. He has been one son in ten thousand"
 And here is what a man who has known him well all his life has to say of him:
 "Once let the American people get close to this man. learn his early history and struggles. as know them; feel his friend ship, as l have felt 1t; see his intense love and kindness for his fellow men. as l have seen it. and no power on earth can deter them from placing him at the head of our federal government"
 Hasn't the democratic party been a sentimental old fool long enough2
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

from becoming permanently deformed. Although a child treated in this way looks far from comfortable the only hard ship really involved in its use falls upon the poor mother who has to lug about the ungainly bundle, and not being edu- cated to it as is the American Indian mother, carries it awkwardly under her arm.
 The one instrument in this queer work shop and museum most suggestive of medieval horrors Is the big, steel ortho- redclasp, familiarly known as the bone breaker, for in the surgical routine t sometimes becomes necessary to make d fracture. But in comparison with the truly barbarous method 1t superseded, tho bonebreaker is beneficent machine. In the early days of hospital practice-in fact an instance was reported as occur ring recently in Paris-the method was to llace the limb to be broken upon some object that would serve for a hammerlng block perhaps the footboard of the bed. A wooden hammer was taken in hand snd with mighty blow aimed "by guess and by gorry," the bone was broken all to smithereens.
 The orthopediclasp consists of pair oI curved steel Dars as thick as a girl s wrist designed to hold in position the arm or leg. Pressure is directed against the desired point to be broken, at the end of a hammer-shaped lump of steel moved and controlled by a heavy screw. The operation Is comparatively painless, and its after effects are perfectly endur- eble.
 Instruments of the middle ages for try ing the temper of political or debted xxtte@ C..
 this, the cruelest in the service of Es- culapius. but their mechanisms, though fearfully ingenious. are much less cum ming than some of these products of the surgical workers handicraft. So compli- cated are many of the hospital instru- ments. not only in their mechanism but in their application, that their use re- Quires separate code and special train ing A medico of the staple family va riety, who has given no time to surgical specializing, often finds himself at a dis advantage in his established practice for want of the very knowledge of modern orthopedic appliances which would facil- itate the handling of cases frequently oc- curing in every physicians experience The New Yorl. medical schools and hos pitals are now the recognized leaders of the schools of the world in the invention of these mechanisms of advanced sur- gerry, and in institutions like the post graduate, physician students not only from all parts of the United States, but also from such remote places as Japan, Egypt, Australia, Hawaii and Alaska come to learn the usages of the various formidable instruments of the surgery If today. and even to contrive some of the local adjustments to fit definite cases com ing under their observation. In this way the modern torture chamber serves far more useful purpose than its ancient fors- turner. -,a. L
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

ped and looked up. "Hellor' he called. "oh. hello! Walt minute Have you man of the class of '4s up there? Who is he?"
 Billings leaned far out of the window, but Burton answered for him. 'Yes; we have one," he called proudly. We have a man of '49 up here It's Billings-Bll- lings of '4s. Are you of his class?"
 They stared down at the man in the yard. but he seemed paralyzed and uu- . able to move. Finally, however, with an effort he raised hs voice, and his lone, though hoarse and indlstinct. yet came full of happiness and joy.
 My God! Billings?" he cried. "BiI- lings, you say? No. mol I'm not of his class I'm not '49. But tell him I'm Will loughby," he called. I'm Willoughby os 63l"
 He hastened then as fast as he could across the yard. but the old alumnus in the window leaned so far out that the two young men beside him took hold and pulled him back; but those in tho crowd even those who were standing upon the white steps of University hall on the other side, could hear the voice distlnctly-yet it was not loud, but deep and penetrating and full of feeling.
 Come upl Come up herel Oh. come up! ' Ou-au down there, why uon you let him through? Oh, send him up to me. He's Willoughly don't you understand? willoughby of '63. And am Billings Roger Billings of 49!''
 But the great crowd did not under stand at all; they could not know why Billings of '49 should be interested In Willoughby of '63 They knew only that he was a Harvard graduate and a very old one. But, as that was enough for them, they sang louder and louder till the thousands of voices within the an- cient quadrangle took up the song; till the sounds filled the yard from Grays to Holworthy and from Hollis to Thayer, and till the echoes sent 1t out to the sleeping city beyond: Here's to Roger Billings. Roger Billings,
 Roger Billings.
 Here's to Roger Billings, he's with us
 today.
 He's with us-God bless him,
 He's with us-God bless him. Oh, here's to Roger Billings, he's with us
 today!
 (Copyrlght.)
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-07

New York, June 6.-(Special.)-If the ancient inventors of the time when fight ing was the only occupation considered respectable and when mechanical genius devoted itself to devising racks, thumb screws and other refined methods of tor ture could visit the workshops of mod ern big hospital they would recognize the essential features of some of their choicest products employed today not In destroying life but in helping to save 1t. In fact the great collection of kingly instruments of torture in the royal cas- tie at Nuremberg could almost be equaled by the variety of strange and gruesome instruments in the collection of some of the big New York hospitals which deal with all sorts of unusual maladies and remarkable deformities. Physicians admit that some of the appliances that they use may have been suggested by the equipment of the medieval torture chamber, although the purpose served is so diametrically opposite.
 In a hospital such as the Post Graduate in this city which Is located close to that seeming human ant-hill, New York's east sde all sorts of queer apparatus which the ordinary physician never finds 1t necessary to use must be kept on hand and new appliances are constantly be- ing designed for special cases. Such a hospital maintains a workshop With skilled men to turn out these devices, not only for it's own use but to be sent to all parts of the country and abroad. It is easy to imagine that some future ex- plorer, thousand years hence, digging in the ruins of New York and discov- ering one of these unprepossessing col lections may write a book on the strange and horrible methods of torture practiced by Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century.
 One of these odd productions is an aluminium corset that reminds one of the unyieldng embrace of the famous Iron Maiden of Nuremberg, whose arms opened to clasp the visitor and never reopened upon him alive. But though the aluminium corset is like the iron maiden in that it unclasps It's hinged halves and grips the torso of its wearer immovably, its en- brace means life, not death. It Is most considerably adapted to every bulge and dent of the deformed human body for which it Is designed. An array of such corsets in fact, presents a shocking spec tacle of bodily distortions which the hos pital is called upon to deal with from time to time.
 The method of their manufacture does suggest torture. The patient stands with his hands raised above his head and tied to an apparatus depending from the oeil- ing. The body then Is in It's most nearly normal adjustment, and plaster bandages ere wrapped close about 1t, around and around, until a stiff covering Is formed, within which the body is firmly held. When the patient then drops the hands, the distorted vertebrae are as nearly in correct position as possible. From this plaster shell, cut in halves from the body, when almost dry, . cast Is made. to 1t