davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

he returned to that party in 1872. and died
in the odor of party sanctity. Bryan
studied law and politics under his tute-
lage. He served three terms in the Sen
ate, and had he, instead of Greedy, been
remominated for President by the liberal
republicans in 1872, it is quite likely that
what was prophesied of him by an old
citizen, when, a youth. he left the Con
necticut village where he was born, with
a light purse and a small pack contain
ing all his chattels, and set out to teach
school in Georgia-it was prophesied
THAT boy will some day be President of
the United States" If Frank Blair had
stayed away from Cincinnati. TrumbuT
would have been nominated.
Stephen A. Douglas was thrice elected
senator, but he died when he had served
q few months more than IA years. John
A. Logan was three times chosen SEN
ator, but he died when he had served
less than a year of his third term. But
Cullom has been five times returned to
the Senate, an honor Illinois has con-
ferred on no other of her sons He Is
not brilliant or snowy man. Douglas
all in all, while not so able a man as
Calhoun or Webster or Toombs was per-
haps the greatest debater the Senate
ever knew, ignorant man that he was
in all branches of learning except Amer
lean political history, which he knew
from lid to lid as well as John Quincy
Adams, whom he disastrously overthrow
in a debate on the Mexican war in the
House of Representatives. Trumbull was
great lawyer, ranking with the leaders
of the American bar. Palmer understood
all the principles of our system of gov
eminent, the powers and duties of the
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02
WATCH YOURSELF GO BY.

Strickland w. Gillian in Success Maya
zine"
Just stand aside and watch yourself go
by;
Think of yourself as he" instead of IT."
Note, closely as in other men you note,
The bag kneed trousers and the seedy
coat
Pick flaws; find fault forget the man is
And strive to make your estimate ring
true.
Confront yourself and look you in the
eye
Just stand aside and watch yourself go
by.
Interpret all your motives just as though
You looked on one whose aims you did
Let undisguised contempt surge through
you when
You see you shirk, o commonest of menl
Despise your cowardice; condemn what er
You note of falseness in you anywhere.
Defend not one defect that shames your
eye
Just stand aside and watch yourself go by.
And then, with eyes unveiled to what
To sins that with sweet charity you'd
cothe-
Back to your self-walled tenement you'll
go
With tolerance for all who dwell below.
The faults of others then will dwarf and
shrink,
Loves chain grow stronger by one mighty
link
When you. with 'he." as substitute
for IT,
Have stood aside and watched yourself
go by.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02
POEMS FOR SUNDAY READING

AS dry as a big bass drum,
l stop the hole with a tourniquet.
And plaster of capsicum.
In case of a war with old Japan
I'll wallop the foe on sight,
For l have a strictly novel plan
For winning a naval fight.
I'll load all my guns with capsules filled
With gallons of opiates,
Which fired by marksmen brave and
skilled
The foeman asphyxiates.
And when he's thoroughly etherized,
And lying around in heaps,
I'll board the vessels I've thus surprised,
And while the enemy sleeps,
With my trusty knife I'll operate
In fashion both skilled and neat;
And both of his legs I'll amputate,
Thus cutting off his retreat.
So here's the good ship Epicac,
And here's to her Admirell;
The finest bottle-ship in the pack
Do you hear In your dreams a long
With her druggist mate and her clinic
crew,
What better old craft than she
To lead the cruise through the damp and
ooZe
OF the deep and surgeon sea?
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

to Illinois that he had done, in contempt
of law and violation Of the constitution, to
Texas and louisiana but Palmer gave
Sheridan and Grant to understand that
Illinois was sovereign state, and in no
humor TO be gcN elDcc by bayonets, Wih
the result tha. Sheridan subsidized aid left
Palmer to run RE show. There Was The
states rights dem c.acy cropping out in
the republican governor
In 1872 Palmer left the republican party
and supported Greeley, and four years
later he was a pillar of the Tilden cam
paign in the middle west. He had got
back to the democratic camp, and in 1890,
after a struggle of more than u weeks
when ,on 152 ballots he got 101 votes in
joint session of the Illinois legislature,
he has chosen United States senator as
democrat on the 153d ballot.
1t was a national affair. the chief item
of political news in every community Of
months. On the night of his election
Springfield swarmed with democrats from
20 states, all drunk with enthusiasm, and
many of them pretty full of the cup that
inebriates as well as cheers. They made
a progress throughout the town, and here
is what they sang:
We're after Shelby Cullom next,
Cullom next, Cullom next
We're after Shelby Cullom next;
You bet we're after Shelby
But they didn't get Shelby. On the con-
trary. Shelby got them, owing to the in
terposition of the panic of 1888, which was
laid on the democratic party
Palmer was a very able man, and a
senator to ornament rather than to be
ornamented by that great place. Not
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

cious people will decide, with Sheri-
dan, that easy writing is often eX-
tremely hard reading, and so the book
will die an early and natural death.
The life of James Madison by Will
liam C. Rives is a valuable work. TIL
accomplished author brought to his
task great ability thorough culture, II
high appreciation of his subject, eX-
tensive research and a polished style
These qualities, together with his can
dor and truthfulness, will make the
book live. 1t ranks among the few
American biographies that deserve the
title of Classic" Still, 1t is not strict
ly biography, as its title, History of
the Life and Times of James Madison"
would indicate.
Why did not some literary Roman write
a life of Cicero; get it advertised in the
"Romanus Praeco;" procure an editorial
flourish of triumph over the talented au-
thor" and 1.-THE enterprising publisher?'
Nothing of the kind has come down to us;
and yet Cicero was Il notable nan in his
day. The task WAS eftfto be pcrfollne d.
in a Questionable manner at best, by an
Englishman, some 1890 years after Cicero's
death, and in a language which was
Ciceros junior by 10 centuries.-see Mid
dleton's History of the Life of NJ. Tul-
Illus Cicero" two volumes, London, 174l.
If our modern biographers could be in
duced, in their headlong book-making, to
pause long enough to reflect upon these
facts, they might find them suggestive.
The religious biographies of our day are
especially open to the objections noticed
above. They are too numerous, and in
many cases the authors have slim equip
ment for their self-imposed tasks. Most
of them are fine examples of the phe-
nomenon so ably discussed in one of John
Fosters finest essays; the object of which
was to show why men of taste are so
generally averse to evangelical religion.
Foster indicates that one reason Is that
evangelical preachers and writers are too
often not masters of style and possess
little in common with mind of cultivated
powers, and of a pure and discriminate
ing taste.
The Scriptures indicate to us the i'm
portance of finding out acceptable
words in which to communicate the
truth. OF course, we are not to pander
to a vitiated rhetorical taste Partridge
at the theatre, thought that the striding,
mounting, bawlng fellow who played the
King in Hamlet" was a better actor
than the consummate artist who acted The
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

part of the Prince; but when Mr.. Gar
rick came to the interview between Ham
let and his fathers ghost, Partridge
turned pale and fell a-trembling. Being
charged with cowardice, he said that the
Prince himself was scared, '1f ever I saw
a scared man in my life Partridge
praised in the wrong place, but he trem-
bled in the right place; and it is better
to make men tremble than to make them
praise.
But the evil just noticed is not the only
one, nor the saddest one that results from
a vicious style. We might say, and many
do say: "Well, we are not writing for the
professors of rhetoric, nor for university
graduates. We do not expect to reach
them" And then will come that extreme
ly convenient, and much abused text about
not many noble, and not many wise
being called. The fallacy here is glaring.
To say nothing of the Importance of re-
lgiously impressing the cultivated minds
of the country; to discard the idea of so
using literary effort as to enlist the at
tention, and appreciation and moral
weight of the learned and making them
powerful for good. and not for evil; in
short to learn the educated world to
shift for ITSELF and go
1.-The primrose way to the everlasting
bonfire"
Still the argument is egregiously faulty.
The common people can appreciate a
high style of art. They may not be able
to give critical reasons for their appre-
citation; they know nothing "of rhetoric" +;
but they do know that some books are
dull and others interesting; that some
keep them awake and others put them
to sleep, and this is a practical appre-
citation of the difference between art and
inanity which no writer can ignore but
at his peril.
The clown knows the difference be-
tween the weight of feathers and that
of lead. He appreciates it. True, he is
in blissful ignorance of all Professor
Bartletts scientific equations laid down
in the Mechanics" and showing the re-
lations between weight and density
volume and mass" He never heard
of gravity; he knows no more of La
place and the "Mecanique Celeste" than
he knows of Lord Kanus and the "Ele-
ments of Criticism; but he does know
that lead is heavy, and that feathers are
light. Even "The Tough Subject" 10 of
Tom All Alonis, knew that "a broom
was a broom, and that it was wicked
to tell lie" but he could cite no author
tiles on either point, and when cross
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

federal establishment and the delegated
and reserved powers of the states. What
he believed he believed with his whole
heart. mind, soul and strength. and he
brought a powerful intellect and sin
cere conviction to support any position
he might take.
But Calhoun leaves doctrines to others.
He is a practical man, and seeks tho
goal. He knows what he wants and how
to get it, If he were 10 years younger,
it is more than likely that he would be
the next President of the United States.
He was a pioneer in national legislation
for federal control of railroads in the
interstate traffic, and his vast expert
ence has made him one of the safest leg
islators in either branch of Congress.
Senator Cullom Is chairman of fereign
affairs, a place coverted by Mr.. Lodge.
who is reckoned the heir, as he is the
successor of Charles Sumner. AS chair
man of that committee, Sumner would
have engaged us in a war with England
when we We're ill-prepared for 1t, and
when Boston would have fallen within
a month of the beginning of hostilities;
but Grant and Fish said him nay, and
the Senate summarily deposed him and
put Simon Cameron in his place. When
Mr.. Lodge gets to be chairman he Will
delight the Senate with some brilliant es-
says on our relauons with all the world
and the rest of mankind.
Senator Cullom is no Sumner and will
not get his country into hot water with
any power. He is a level-headed man,
always thinks before he acts. and our
foreign affairs are safe in his and Bob
Cousins hands
Copyright. 1905. By E. w. Newman)
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

IERR NJ. RENSNER. professor of
international law, has furnished
L L the following extracts from let
ter received from General Kuropatkin,
former minister of war in Russia.
II am following with special attention
the Japanese American diplomatic reia-
TONS / am able to do so now after
certain experiences and away from my
official position. The Japanese-American
relation is at the present time just equal
to ours previous to the war. The Amer
leans themselves might not be able to
conceive it as deeply as an experienced
foreigner, therefore l wish to give you
certain facts.
1.-The psychology of the Japanese is the
reverse of ours and of the Americans
1t is very important to know that fact
When a Jap says to you he likes you
and is your intimate friend 1t Is not true.
The Japanese are the most sly nation
ever can imagine, and you ought to
take in dealing with a Jap Just the re-
verse what he assures you. Such is the
behavior of our merchants in the east
dealing with the Japanese business men
and that should be considered also in
the politics and great national affairs
will show the facts.
Several years before our war with
japan there could be noticed a hidden
hostility toward the Russians, but we did
not pay any attention to it. The hidden
hostility was intensified and the Japan
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

without his genius for war or courage
for battle, was master of the state-the
ever Infamous Stephen G. Burbrldge. a
very great man was governor Thomas
T. Bramlette a federal soldier Bur-
bridge caused hundreds of prisoners Of
war and citizens to be tried by drumhead
courtmartial, condemned and executed,
and Gen. Frank Wolford, a pillar of the
union cause, went to his grave believing
that it was only the interpositon of
chance that enabled him to escape as
sassination at the hands of the monster.
The correspondence between Lincoln and
Bramlette on the subject of Burbridges
buteheries is a fascinating chapter in the
history of the war, and whether he meant
1t or not, the impression was created that
Governor Bramette contemplated calling
from the front every Kentucky regiment
in the Federal army to drive Burbridge
from the state, and it is certain that he
organized some thousands of militia, and
it is equally certain that he was in the
humor to employ them against the
butcher
Abraham Lincoln had more common
sense than anybody else then in public
life, and after carefully studying the sit
uation, he relieved Burbridge of his COM
mand and appointed John NJ. Palmer in
his stead. From that day it was civilized
warfare in the state, except in some of
the counties on the border of Tennessee.
where the war ceased to be for the Union
or the Confederate, and degenerated until
1t became a work of murder and rapine.
In 1868 Palmer was elected governor of
Illinois, and governor he was when the
great fire of 1871 destroyed Chicago. Gen.
eral Sheridan came on the scene and pro-
posed to take command and do the things
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02
ADMIRAL PAREGoRIc.

John Kendrick Bangs in Harper's Week.,
o I'm the Medco-Admirell
And I rule the big Navee.
Whenever the ocean gins to swell.
Or kick up a nervous sea,
1 give 1t dose of castor-oil
Done up in a big fat pill;
And all of the beastly mad turmoil
Is calm as a mountain rill.
When out in the briny wet | go,
And meet with an arctic blast
That covers with ice and sleety snow
The main and the mizzen mast,
give the vessel a gingerade
To keep her quite free from chills.
And soak her keel in a mixture made
OF caraway seeds and squllls.
Whenever my good ship springs a leak
BY giving her nose bump,
1 pipe the crew with my siren squeak
To handle the stomach-pump;
And when the water is baled away,
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

ing and calling the achievement good.
Better the restoration of even the old
time heroine. whose frequent lapses into
Inconsistencies now excite to laughter.
than our latter-day one who says all
things, dares all things. Surely We need
a partial "reversion to type" lest our lib
erty grow into license. Realism has gone
mad and the literary impressionist Is
laying on the eolors, with rough and ruth
less brush We long for one who with
magic touch will with the ideal brush
one hairs breadth off the dust of the
actual" and give us purity.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

", that even when the deceased person
deserves a biography, and the materials
are at hand, it is frequently and unfor
tunately the case that the wrong person
writes it. The writer is often self-cho-
sen and without "call," or else he is
urged to the task by the relatives and
while these circumstances may not, of
themselves, constitute an insuperable OBJ
lection to such an author, they are, in
practice, likely to have a serious and
damaging influence upon the work.
1t would be interesting to know just
how many lives of George Washington
have been published, and still more in
teresting to have the opinions of some
such critic as Carlyle on the question,
(Which of them is worth reading?' L in
cline to the opinion that Washington de-
served a biography; but my opinion of
him must be greatly lowered before can
believe that he deserved any that l have
seen. There are a great many people
who do not known how to write bio
graphy. Indeed; very peculiar powers are
required for the work. History is not
biography, though biography is a spe-
cies of history. very successful his
torian may be-probably will Debut an
Indifferent biographer. The field is much
the same and the two departments fire.
quently run into each other; but the
method of cultivation being different, so
also are the peculiar powers necessary to
success
The historians main business is with
events, and their philosophy; the biogra-
piers with individual life, and it's phi
losophy. The historian looks at man as
the architect of events; the biographer at
events as the architects of men. Thus,
while the historian and the biographer
are close together in some points, they
are antipodes in others. A life of john
son by David Hume would probably
have been as worthless as history of
England by James Boswell.
These considerations would indicate a
priori the difficult nature of the biog-
rapher's task. Macaulay, with his great
fondness for paradox, would almost make
us believe that the greatest biography
in the world was written by a drunken
fool but, just before his marriage.
James Boswell composed the following
lines:
'In the blithe days of honeymoon,
BY Hates allurements smitten,
l loved her late, loved her soon,
And called her dearest kitten.
But now my Kittens grown cat
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

weight. while the members of any or
ganization known for distinguished mem
tai ability, like those of the Royal Soci-
ETY. of England, will be found to be above
the average normal height and weight.
AN experiment bearing indirectly on
this question was made in 1898 by DR.. VIII
liam I. Porter of St. Louis. He examined
10000 children and found that, among
pupils of the same age, the average height
and weight of those who were in the
higher grades were greater than of those
in lower grades. Those who were mental
ly most precocious were also physically
most precocious.
IF we are to maintain the improve
ment that has been made in physique,
we must introduce compulsory physical
training into the school as we'll as the col
lege, and give it credit In the system of
marking said DR.. Sargent in conclusion.
ut is customary to forbid students to
take honors in athletics unless they have
a creditable standing in their studies. In
order to be consistent this requirement
should be coupled with another, |. e., that
no students should be given honors N
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

Just to be child again, filed with boy
ish glee,
Free from all the ills 1 bear, and from
sorrows free"
ROM dthe corner lay boy fretting in.
his bed,
Gee! | wish I was a man." dismally he
said;
Every winter seems to bring some dis
ease somehow.
Had the scarlet fever last-got the
measles now.
yes, I've had the chicken-pox and the
jaundice, too
S'pose I'll have the mumps the next-al-
ways something new.
When you're sick there amt no fun,
cause you feel so bad;
When you're well you go TO school-Gee,
but life is sad!''
'Just to be a boy" the man murmured
with a sigh;
Free 10 frolic as I pleased, all things yet
to try.
All, how small mems triumphs are What
price we pay
For the little that we get as we scheme
away"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

"HOMAS Carlyle quotes same one
as saying 81 never pass a man on
4 the street without wishing to know
his biography" This sound extravaganza;
but there is in human nature a real
craving to know how departed men have
lived-what were their adms-how it Jared
with them in their struggle for existence
and what the aggregate result may be,
after all the additions and subtractions
are made In the problem of moral arith-
metic.
The biography of a living man, too,
has its interest, though this is apt to be
diminished by our remembering that he
has not yet completely solved the prob
lem. and that there are still other adj
dtions and subtractions to be made be-
fore correct result can be reached.
We are all mariners on one sea-
sailing in different banks, indeed, but
still impelled by substantially the same
winds; liable to the same storms; fear
full of the same breakers; and it is but
natural that we hail one another in
passing, and ask, Brother, from what
port? Whittier bound? How long out?
What sort of weather."
But really this passion for biographies
latter days; and as the public will read
them, men will, of course be found to
write them and to print them. 1t may
therefore, be worth while to glance at
the general character of the biographies
of the day, and to notice some of the
prominent defects, especially incident to
this department of our literature.
And, in the first place: These books are
too numerous. Every man has a life
of some sort, it is true; but it does not
follow that it should always be written
Nor is it necessary to the development
of Christian character that the life of
every good man should be made into a
book, printed, advertised, hawlSed and
peddled Throughout the land. A man may
and many a man does-live an excellent
Christian life, discharge his duties with
earnestness and fidelity, and yet leave
behind him little material for valuable
biography, even suposing that some sur
viving person can always be found capa-
BILE of preparing the materials, and mold
ing them into a useful and readable
form; and it must be admitted that the
last supposition is an extremely improb-
able one.
This suggests our next objection. name
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02

the unelean and unhealthy within the so
cial structure. Dipping the pen IN mud
cannot fail to produce uncleanness, and
the sin seems double when the writer is a
woman.
been for the purity and beauties of living.
When things vile and unspeakable have
come her way, 1t was her wont to brush
aside her skirts lest she be contaminated.
Now we see her juggling with the Seventh
Commandment, dressing its infraetion in
all the purple and fine linen" of a smooth
literary style, and other women applaud
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-02-02
COMPULSORY EXERCISE-By DR.. Dudley A. Sergeant

their studies unless they have attained a.
certain grade in their gymnastics and
athletics
Master ]. f. Casey of the Boys high
school, who has had an unusually good
opportunity to watch changes in the ply
steal appearance of schoolboys in the last
20 years, said:
Whenever a graduate of the school re-
turns he always remarks that the boys
have grown small since his day. But that
is all in the point of view" and Mr.. Casey
smiled humorously.
I'VE now have a large representation of
foreigners, many of whom are under
sized. perhaps because they were underfed
before they came to America. But of one
thing l am certain, there is a great differ
ence between the boy who enters here
and the boy who graduates three years
later. That is due to the military drill
They do not take on extra inches, per-
haps, but they learn to make the most
of the height they already have. 1t is