davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

"HE almost periodic visitation OF
panics to commercial and industrial
i communities emphasizes more and
more the safe harborage behind the
threshold of the old farm homestead.
In the crowded centers panics bring
anxiety and uncertainty, and these con-
sequences are not alone confined to those
who ffepend upon their daily labor for
livelihood.
The recent furry in the business world
has been short lived and all are confident
that within the next three months every
trace of uneasiness will have disappeared,
but II serves to remind us all of the alb
soute uncertainty of the countrys great
business system.
Out on the farm there is comparative
peace and plenty and the people have
but little fear for the future. The hen
still cackles noisily over new laid egg IN
the barn and the rich Jersey cows chew
their cud in sublime contentment at the
barnyard pump while the rosy-cheeked
farmers daughter draws usurious dlVi-
dends from their prosperous udders.
Time has been and in the memory OF
men who live today, when farm life was
looked upon with contempt. The hrst
ambition that stirred the heart OF the
farm lad was to hurry away as early as
possible to the cities where there was
life action and promise of wealth and
position. He also hungered and virtu-
ously, too, for the companionship of in
tellect and the association of higher
society. Considering the conditions OF
farm life at that time we cannot con-
denim the boy but these conditions are
changing rapidly, and there is a strohs
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

have been guilty. And yet owen Mere
dith is a reputable name in literature, and
his works are to be found in gilt-edged
style, on the parlor table of many a
Christian home!
The New York Tribune is one Of the
most sober and morally decent of our
great dailies. And yet in one of its ed
itorials I find an account of a mock
trial of the devil, said to have been con-
Quoted in Cincinnati. The piece shows
some wit and gives some palpable hits at
the ignorance often displayed by wit
nesses and jurymen in a legal trial. One
Witness a Kentuckian, had heard that
the prisoner went about like a roaring
lion" He thought he saw the statement
In Louisville paper" Evidence rejected
as hearsay. l do not like to print even
thus much of the Tribune's editorial; and
this is a favorable specimen of its wit
Upon the whole, there is serious reas-
on to believe that the devil greatly pre-
fers not to be taken seriously; for If he
can succeed in deluding people into be-
1ieving that he is a Joke, he will proba-
bly, have them just where he wants them.
To get rid of the personal devil by
calling him the impersonation of the
spirit of evil'' is neither wise, safe nor
logical. Moral evil exists only in persons,
and all spirits are personal. An imper-
sonal spirit is a contradiction in terms.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05
A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

By Charles Dickens.
| care not for spring; on his tickle wing
Let the blossoms and buds be borne;
He wooes them amain with his treacher-
GUS rain,
And he scatters them ere the morn.
An inconstant elf he knows not himself
Nor his own changing mind an hour;
He'll smile in your face, with wry GRIM
ace,
He'll wither your youngest flower.
Let the summer sun to his bright home
run,
He shall never be sought by me-
When he's dimmed by cloud can laugh
aloud
And care not how sulky he be!
For his darling child is the madness wild
That sports in fierce fever's train;
And when love Is too strong, it doesn't
last long,
AS many have found to their pain.
A mild harvest night, by the tranquil
light
OF the modest and gentle moon,
Has a far sweeter sheen. for me, | ween,
Than the broad and unblushing noon.
But every leaf awakens my grief,
AS it lieth beneath the tree;
So let autumn air be never so fair,
1t by no means agrees with me.
But my song I troll out, for Christmas
stout,
The hearty the true, and the bold;
A bumper | drain, and with might and
main
Give three cheers for this Christmas
Well usher him in with a merry din
That shah gladden. his joyous heart,
And We'll keep him up. while there's bite
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

Ben johnson pronounced on Francis Bacon.
your only fear was that he should
make an end"
About 1872 or 1878, Congress perpetrated
what was known as the salary grab"
My recollection is that Carpenter sup
ported it; but some weeks ago l read
very entertaining narrative about him in
which ii was asserted that Carpenter
voted against it, However that may be,
he defended it on the stump, and made a
most audacious speech in one of the Wis
consin counties, then inhabited by staid
Puritans from New England, that cost
him his election He was himself a
Vermonter, and in one of the first cases
in which he has ever retained his adj
versary was Senator George F. Ed
munds.
Carpenter was a Douglas democrat,
later war democrat. later yet a repub-
lican. Had the south adhered to Douglas,
how different might have been our his
toryl Had the south not gone rabid in
1S93-97 what a different story might be
told! When the south goes out to Den
yer, next July, she ought to put the
thinking cap in the suit case. 1t will be
needed.
Thomas w. Ferry of Michigan sue
ceeded Carpenter as president pro tenn
pore of the Senate. Dom Piatt declared
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

that Dick Merriek, a great lawyer of that
day, was the only man in America who
could wear chin whiskers, shave his up
per lip and stay virtuous. He was writ
ing of and concerning a certain chapter
in Ferrys life at that time. We all
recollect what a great big load Of re-
sponsibility it was sought to put on Fer
ry-that he should count the vote in the
election of 1876. 1t was an absurd prop
ositon that the two houses of Congress
were to be convened a certain Thursday
of February, 1871, just to look on while
the president pro tenn. opened such GER
tifcates as he deemed legal and counted
the vote without appeal from his decision.
And yet that Is what Morton and Ed
munds and Sherman and Logan insisted
on. Conkling revolted or it would have
been attempted and violence would have
resulted.
A way was found to perpetrate the
outrage no less effectively. however-the
partisan electoral commission. All the
democrats had to do was to stand pat
The republicans knew that. They knew
that the vote of the disputed states could
not be counted for Hayes unless the
House of Representatives, overwhelming
" democratic assented to it. SO they
got up the electoral commission. Tiiden
opposed it in "a letter to Hewitt that
showed that he was prophet, as well as
a sage. Here is a passage: why sur
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

1t is a well known fact that if, in the
recent crisis, the farmer had promptly
put his crop money into circulation the
day would have been saved. But the
farmer acted as all men would act UNI
der the same circumstances. He barri-
caded himself with his substance and
waited in his own security for the clouds
to clear while bankers and manufacturers
pleaded for his assistance. Giants of
finance got on their knees to him and
for once he was ruler of the situation.
And it is the farmer who Is at last re-
leving the tension.
His cotton in the south hurried $750O0,-
900 in gold across the Atlantic ocean in
the beginning of the panic and 1t was
this more than any one other thing that
brought temporary relief to the country.
This money trickled through the veins of
the country's financial system down to
the pockets of the farmer but as it cir
culated through the veins and arteries 1t
gave life and confidence and warmed the
tissues preventing actual atrophy of the
body. But it is the return of this money
circulation from the heart (the farmers
pocket) that must bring the return OF
full life and vigor.
This return circulation has set in, aug
mented by millions accumulated from
other crops and the farmer is at last
saving the situation.
Therefore no one can deny that the
farmer is the savior of the country and
that his trade is an enviable one. Secure
in time of storm and master of the floods
of panic that threaten every other occu-
patton in the country, he can afford to
look the world in the face with manly
courage and feel truly that he Is the peer
of any man.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

N the city of Paris, in the year 1921,
a certain J. A. Naigeon thought prop
= er to publish an edition of the works
of that portent of wickedness, Denis Di-
derot, and to accompany these works with
what he was pleased TO call memoirs
historical and philosophical on Diderot's
life and works. This work, in % volumes
octave, fell into the hands of that very
acute and sagacious critic, Thomas Car
lyle, who reviewed it in an essay, pub
lished in the Foreign Quarterly Review"
1888
Carlye adored genius and he was not
squeamish as to the moral character of
his heroes. He canonized those monsters
OF wickedness, Goethe and Frederick the
Great, and he even went so far as to
wink at, palliate and whitewash the enor-
mites of Voltaire. But even Carlyes
elastic liberality could not stomach saint
Denis," and so in the review just now
mentioned he expresses himself thus:
''Alasl a written life, 100 like many an
actual life where hope one thing, full
filment quite another! Perhaps, indeed, Of
all biographies ever put together by the
hand of man, this of Nageon's is the
most embarrassing. Foolish Naigeon!
We wanted to see how 1t stood with the
bodily man, the clothed, boarded, bedded,
working and warfaring Denis Diderot, in
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

Sawyer Patent Refrigerator Hot Air Con-
vertor was still unperfected-that some
time would elapse before 1t could be per-
fected. For this reason il was possible
to still offer the stock of a par value of
500 share at $40. Thus everyone could
get in on the ground floor and make a
tremendous profit, for there was no doubt
that when the Sawyer Patent Refriger-
alive Hot Air Converter was perfected
the stock in the company would be worth
$500, $500 or $1,000 a share.
Talk about lunatics," said Perkins to
me when We were getting the incor-
poration papers in shape, 'old Sawyer
is sane compared with young Sawyer
What do you think he said? Said lie
wasn't just sure there was anything in
Hot Air, and he thought l ought TO
have all the money we made out of 1t.
What did Perkins say? Perkins said,
No. sir! Your pater might be as sane as
a post, but If he let me work such
a deal, people would think he was crazy.
No, sirl Your old man insists on half for
himself"
We never sold all the stock. We had
printed too much of it.
But we did very well. We got r.d Of
about S0,OO0,00O at SO a share, which
netted us $S,00O,O0O; $40O0,O00 for old Saw
yer and 100000 for Perkins and me.
the right thing by the stockholders. or
course you couldn't expect a multi-mil-
lionaire to dig among crucibles and re-
torts and things, but he hired a couple
OF bright young fellows to continue with
the experiments, and every week or SO
he went around to the laboratory and
objected to the slowness of their work.
But somehow the report got abroad thar
the Sawyer Patent Refrgerative Hot Air
Converter was an impossibility. People
began to believe that Professor Sawyer
had put up very clever job on them, and
In short while he was considered re-
markably bright fnancer. No one doubted
his sanity. A man who can cheat the
public out of $S0Oo,000 is sane enough to
suit anybody. Even his son admitted
that, and young Sawyer's sweethearts
parents almost crowded him to death in
their eagerness to have him in the fam
lily.
As soon as she returned from her we'd
ding journey young Mrs Sawyer came
down to our office and thanked Perkins
for what he had done for her and Gerald.
and just as a little token she gave Per-
kins her portrait in all her wedding
finery. But Perinks never really enjoyed
that picture, although 1t always stands
on his desk. He constantly regrets that
he cannot use it In advertising Van
Stems Radical Hair Regenerl1or, and 1t
is only of late that he has had little
compensation. As a very special favor.
and because he is such an old friend OF
the family, he has been permitted to use
another portrait. For there is now a
baby Sawyer, and it Is fat and pretty;
thanks, In part, to Vandeventer's Food
for Infants and Invalids, which Perkins
is advertising extensively at present
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

the democrats were able to elect Thomas
F. Bayard president pro tenn; but it
was rot for long. When the vacancies
were supplied and Malone renegaded the
republicans were able to depose Bayard,
but not with a straight republican. David
Davis got the place.
A little later the quarrel between Conk-
ling and Blaine was fought to a stand
still over New York patronage; the
democrats, for Mahone's scalp, came to
the rescue of the administration; Conk-
ling and Plat resigned the President
was assassinated, and these and other
things like them brought about the DEM
oeratic victory of 1884, when Grover
Cleveland was elected President over
James G. Blaine.
George F. Edmunds was the next pres
dent pro tenn, 1885; followed by
John Sherman. 1861 John j. ingalls,
served from 1887 to 1891 and Isham G.
Harris came in, the third democrat SO
honored since Benjamin Fitzpatrick, 1851
81, counting Bayard, who was in the chair
only a short while. i omitted C. f. Man.
der, 1S91-93, who preceded Harris, whom
Mr. Frye, the present occupant sue
ceeded.
A volume containing accurate and con-
else biographies of all the presidents
pro tenn. of the United States senate
would be a valuable contribution to
our political history.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05
DAWN.


BY Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The night was dark, though sometimes a
faint star
A little while little space made bright.
Dark was the night and like an iron bar
Lay heavy on the land; till Ger the sea
Slowly, within the East, there grew
light
Which half was starlight. and half
seemed to be
The herald of a greater. The pale white
Turned slowly to pale rose, and up the
height
OF heaven slowly climbed. The gray sea
grew
Rose-colored like the sky. A white gull
flew
Straight toward the utmost boundary of .
the East,
Where the slowly the rose gathered and
increased.
1t was as on the opening of door
BY one who is in his hand a lamp doth
hold
Cts flame yet hidden by the garments
fold)-
The still air moves, the wide room is less
dim.
More bright the East became, the ocean
turned
Dark and more dark against the bright
ening sky
Sharper against the sky the long sea line.
The hollows of the breakers on the shore
Were green like leaves wherein no sun
doth shine,
Though white the outer branches Of the
tree
From rose to red the level heaven burned,
And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun,
Earth, with her thousand woices, praissei
God.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

Perkins effervesce. He meant right.
Now" he asked, soberly enough now
much money have your
II have $500 In my own name," said
the young man YEARLY.
Fifty thousandp' exclaimed Perkins.
with $4,000 a man can marry any girl
on EARTH crowned heads excepted. Why,
boy, with $4,000 Perkins the Great made
Van Stems Radical Hair Regeneration a
grand success, smell and all. If $1,000
will make people wash their heads with
passe onion juice, for $4,000 any man
ought to be able to marry any two girls
he chooses. Give Perkins the $4,000 and
he's guarantee to ring the wedding bells
in u months or money refunded"
Sawyer looked disguised.
Believe him!" begged. II don't know
how he will do it, but do it he will
In any other case, Mr.. Perkins," said
Sawyer, with more respect than he had
hitherto shown for my illustrious friend,
you might succeed, but my case is hope
less. I am barred by insanity"
'Ill take the job Perkins cried
why, boy, for $5O.00o-but there! Are
you insane or is she insane?"
The young man shook his head.
Neither" he said. TT is my father
And as her parents fear it may be hered-
itary, they refuse to let her marry me,
and she feels they are right, and, heaven
help mel l, too, feel they are right
l dare not marry her."
"A little out of my line" said Perkins.
Just a little out of my line, but I'll
take the job Promise you won't shuttle
off for 80 days, and If 1 can't do any,
thing I'll never smile again."
"Oh, as for that said Sawyer, with
month longer if you wish it, but it will
do US no good"
I "All right" Perkins said, its a bar
gain. And now where can 1 see that in
sane parent of yours?"
II.
-@'Say," said Perkins as he came into the
office the next day, I've been to see
that young mans old man."
''Well?" l asked, but without fear of
drawing an answer unfavorable to the
hopes of young Sawyer, for Perkins was
beaming. He drew off his Patent Self
Opening Gloves slowly.
Crazy he said at length. Crazy as
a bug! Crazy as Perkins the Great! Case
of red hot monomana. Bump of invent
iveness swelled to the size of a quart
cup Hopeless case
My face must have fallen, for Perkins
leaned over and patted me on the Shout
der.
Bats in his belfry. Slang term. but
appropriate What? People object to bats
in belfrys. Why? Because valueless.
Good Old Sawyer considered crazy be-
cause his belfry is full of valueless bots.
What's the cure? Give the bats value
give them market quotation, sell them,
make people cry for them! Result: Old
Sawyer not crazy-a genius!"
81 seei" l said you think his invention
has value-at least a market value, and
you are going To-
Advertiser cried Perkins. Advertise
the old man sane again. Advertise two
fond hearts to beat as one. Advertise joy
into that sad-eyed kid
But" asked, sis the elder Sawyer's
invention of any practical sanity? What
is his special mania?'
Perkins ran his fingers through his
hair and waved his hands broadly.
Greatest thing in the world! he ex-
claimed. Revolutionary scientific dis
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05
A FORTUNE IN HOT AIR-By Ellis Parker Butler

ment for Van Stems Radical Hair
Regeneration her portrait would makei
And she would never stand for it; she
isn't that kind of a grill"
III.
A few weeks later there appeared a
full page illustrated article headed, THE
Mystery of Hot Air" The pictures were
views of the laboratory of Professor Saw
yer, with the professor pottering over u
collection of glass tubes and bulbs and
things-a very indstinct view of a bottle
said to contain negative hot air, and a
large portrait of the professor. The ar
ticle was very grandiloquent, and crowd
ed with errors. Perkins had been partic-
ular about having the errors regarding
the professor and his plans inserted, in
order that it might seem more like a
genuine scientific story, and less like a
paid advertisement.
AS soon as it could be respectfully done
the other papers took up the subject, and
a progressive monthly magazine had one
of their special writer's prepare an article,
with illustrations, entitled, Hot Air. A
Modern Wonder
Professor Sawyer was asked to lecture
on hot air before a number of scientific
societies, but pleaded the necessity of
keeping his secret for a while, and as a
substitute gave them talks on the germ
theory of the cause of freckles on rus
set apples
In short, Perkins skilfully managed to
give Hot Air vast amount of the most
valuable kind of publicity-that which IS
not paid for and which cannot be bought.
In a few weeks he had inculcated the
idea that hot air was not only a scientific
fact, but valuable commodity.
Interviews with noted scientists regard
ing the possibility of freezing air to hot
ness were in great demand, and with the
well known scientific reticence the great
men managed to admit the possibility Of
Hot Air. One said that there could be no
doubt that Professor Sawyer was right
In stating that water began to expand
instead of continuing to contract when it
reached freezing point. and that If his de-
auctions from this fact were logical there
could be no doubt that he had made log
ical deductions. Another said that $780,
900 degrees below zero would be SO cold
that almost anything could happen. An
other said that there could be no doubt
that 1900, 900 degrees below zero was theo-
retically possible, and that all that was
necessary to bring air to that temper
ature was to make 1t cold enough. Out
Of these, by taking a bit of each and ar
ranging them In proper order, Perkins
produced an indisputable mosaic of ac-
quiescence in Professor Sawyer's theories.
Then he suddenly placed before the in
vesting public the opportunity to buy
shares In the Sawyer Hot Air company,
corporation, etc, etc. In the full-page
advertisements that appeared simultan-
eously in all the journaA and magazines
that had written up Hot Air, due atten-
ton was called to the wonderful possible
ties of Hot Air. But the strongest point
in its favor was the fact that as yet the
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

render before fight? After defeat is the
time to surrender" Hewitt did not dream
that Is incentive senators, five represen-
tatives and five members of the supreme
court chosen as the act provided, could
be found who would decide for Hayes.
Had he thought so, he would have made
public Tilden's letter. there would have
been no electoral commission; the vote
would have been counted in constitu-
tonal way, and Samuel ]. Tilden inau-
gurated President.
Thomas ". Ferry's name will always
be associated with that great contest. lie
bore himself well, and to this day the
public is at a loss to know whether he
intended to take the revolutionary advice
of Oliver p Morton or hearken to the
warning of Roscoe Conkling. During the
entire controversy-three long months of
suspense-he never gave a hint as to
what he would do. No doubt it was
great relief to him when the electoral
bin passed and lifted off his shoulders
the great load of responsibility.
The 46th Congress was democratic In
both houses. Samuel J. Randall was
speaker of the house and Allen G. Thur
man president pro tempore. One day
the senate was in a parliamentary per-
plexity when Carpenter rose and said
that in such difficulties he always sought
the counsel of the senator from Ohio,
and in his absence he turned to the sem
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-01-05

TT is safe to say that no dramatic
or musical attraction in Birming-
l. ham ever gave such general Sat-
;sfaction as Madam Butterfly" which
was presented at the Jefferson Wednes
day afternoon and Wednesday night;
and the best test of its popularity was
that many who attended the matinee
were present again at the second per-
Torrance. All seemed to agree that the
composer wrote an artistic work from
beginning to end, but that in doing this
he was less severe than Wagner, tech
nically speaking, and therefore more
within the range of the average theatre
goer In other words, the opera was
light enough to please everybody, yet
entirely free from trivial treatment.
l refer to Wagner because Puccini,
in composing the music for Madam
Butterfly" adhered to the modern
school, with its leit-motifs and it's
weird orchestral effects, which the
great German master developed and
made virtually his own.
Inasmuch as the Madam Butterfly
performance as whole was exception
ally meritorious adverse criticism of any
part Of it is hardly called for, but it may
not be out of place to say that tine or