davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
TEST ON LORDS PRAYER.

pr. J. H. Phillips, in the Educational
 Exchange.
 'I had occasion recently to test the re- liability of the verbal memory in young children. About 5000 pupils of the Bir- mingham schools above the second year were requested to write the Lords prayer from memory. There were good reasons for suspecting that some would prove unequal to the task, but no one could have foreseen the results obtained. About 15 per cent handed in blank papers About 5 per cent submitted a substitute, which they mistook for the Lords prayer Among these substitutes were the twen- ty-third Psalm, Now I lay me down to sleep and few other prayer songs.
 The versions of the prayer written by the third, fourth and fifth year pupils afforded an opportunity for some very interesting studies in child psychology The language of several of the petitions was so distorted as to give them won- derfully strange meanings. Some of them were simply ludcrous; some were strange associations of the meaningless word with the familiar fact all were more or less significant and embodied much of home and local coloring. I shall not attempt their reproductions I should probably be charged with sacrilege, In the sixth and seventh years of the schools there were comparatively few errors.
 The practice in written reproductions. together with the greater maturity of the pupils. had enabled them to grasp the meaning of the language. It is fearful to contemplate the number of children who leave the Sunday schools with dis torted and mutilated versions of familiar songs, prayers and scripture passages.
 It is true they will be corrected if they remain in the schools long enough, but what of the number who leave school at a tender age and carry with them into life these disjecta membra of religious train ing? Let the teacher apply the written test to the childs Sunday school memory treasures and while some interesting rev citations will be the result, it will hasten the child's appreciation of rich store of words already acquired, and invest some old familiar phrases with new mean ing
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
Our very eyes are sometimes, like our Judgments, blind.
 -cymbeIlne.
BeSsemer Needs a Courthouse

The Montgomery Journal rises to re- mark that Jefferson county and Bir- mingham are both getting big enough and great enough to give their little outside and surrounding towns a chance. A county site and courthouse would be a great thing far Bessemer, and could not possibly do Birmingham any harm. More people should be lib- eral and unselfish than they are and give the other fellows a chance"
 This is all right. It is a reasonable and just view. Good advice may not come out of Gilead, but it can, it is plain, come out of Montgomery.
 Let the people of Bessemer proceed to put the matter in way to be pre- sented to the people of the county. They. need not fear a negative vote upon it. It is just and reasonable proposition, and Jefferson is a rich and populous county.
 This end of the county-and the middle-will support the proposition, for it wants Bessemer and the south end of the county to feel at home in Alabama's imperial county, and no s1O0,000 appropriation will be permit ted to stand in the way. Bessemer is proceeding on correct lines when it asks for courthouse, and The Age Herald proposes to push the project along. But Bessemer itself must take the first steps-must render its propo- sition a live issue, one that can be put before the people for final determina- ton.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
TOday'S Parade a Great Event

This is the day when the people and the railroads meet to join hands over the completion of the Terminal. The railroads have built at an expense ex- ceeding $2,000,0o0 a beautiful and spa cious station that should remain use- full and satisfactory at least genera tion, and the people will assemble to- day to celebrate it's formal opening
 The opening of the Terminal is addi- tional evidence that Birmingham is fast becoming the chief railroad center of the southeast, and pretty soon our commercial bodies will be able to in- duce the railroads to grant stop-overs on all tickets issued via Birmingham. The stop-over privilege is enjoyed by many cities that do not possess the railroad advantages that Birmingham does. This, however, is a matter of the future.
 Today we meet to celebrate, and the entire city will no doubt join in the spirit and joy of the occasion. The railroads permitted no discouraging circumstances to interfere with the building of a great Terminal here, and we meet today to celebrate the compile tion of building that passed unsinged and undiminished through a panic, and we should celebrate all the more be- cause of the pluck, broad-mindedness and determination of the railroads.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
Military In Fine Shane.

Things are looking up in military way in this district now said man yesterday who is an enthusiast.
 '9rhe strike of last summer and subse- quent encampment at Chickamauga had a detrimental influence on this particular branch of public spirit. but that is wear ing off by degrees.
 "The troops of this district have just gone through one of the most rigid of in- spections and came out with colors fly ing. The battery, Companies A of Wood lawn, and of Birmingham all made most excellent showings, with probably Company A excelling in numbers.
 "At an officers banquet given last Tuesday night in honor of the inspecting officers, Adjtutant General Graves made the statement that of all the companies so far inspected none had come up to the standard of Company G. Jefferson Volun- teers, in regard to general military knowl- edge. This statement was highly grati- fynig to both the officers and supporters of this, Birmingham's oldest military or ganization.
 'In the course of his remarks General Graves deplored the lack of support given the military in this district by the busi- ness people in general. many of whom do not allow their employees to participate in the same. This is especially to be de- plored when we take into consideration the fact that Birmingham, with the ex- ception of San Francisco. has seen more military duty and been benefited more by the same than any other city in the United States.
 However, military is taknig on a new impetus. It is very much like baseball sap, in that 1t rises in the spring, cold and rainy weather being it's greatest enemy.
 There is another thing that gives it new life, and that is the new rife range that has just been completed. This not only furnishes great sport but gives much needed training to men who would prob ably never have cause to fire one of these army guns, but If occasion dema anded would be there with the experience"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06

who control the republican party re- fuse to present an income tax!
 These two things-the increase in the cost of living and the refusal to bring in an income tax-will seal the fate of the republican party. All prom ises have been broken-the promises of Mir. Taft as well as of MT. Roosevelt and the day of retribution will come in 1912. When the wage-earner sees what has been done he will strike back. He may not be very alert, but he will see the whole truth by 1912, and he will vote accordingly, and no one can deceive him. He will then know that the cost of living has been increased and he will know who did it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
IN HOTEL HOBBIES
Not So Denendent.


 We are all cheered at the thought of the steel plant at Ensley continuing in operation throughout the rest of the spring said a prominent business man. Tt will probably not shut down at all. But even if it should close later on 1t would be for a short time only. I under stand that the prospects for continuous operations grow brighter every day.
 When it was said a few weeks ago that the rail mill would shut down March 2S or whereabouts, merchants grew sorne- what depressed; but really depression of the sort referred to Is based largely on sentiment Of course, the temporary stop page of any concern with aslarge pay roll IS felt to certain extent, but in a district as well off as this there will always be enough money in circulation to keep retail trade from suffering. It used to be that when the Birmingham rolling mills shut down for few months, mercantile busl- ness was directly affected. But as indus tries multiplied and commercial interests expanded the business public ceased to have the old time concern about the closing of any one plant. The rolling mills have boen shut down for over a year, but the merchants have gone along just about the same. Trade has come to them from new sources. The larger Bir- mingham grows the less it will depend upon this or that industry.
 ''ln spite of industrial depression, Br- mingham is growing steadily. One of the Birmingham letter carriers, who serves an outlying section. says that within the past few weeks sixty-fiye families have been added to his route'' ,f
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
Another Tariff Revision In 1913

The Payne bill as 1t stands permits no increase in the tax on beer and no repeal of the countervailing duty on Illuminating oil, yet it provides heavy duties on the necessaries of life-on stockings, coffee, tea, cocoa, candy, gloves and spices. "It is estimated" '" says the New York World, that under the new tariff schedules the heads of families will have to pay $171, 100000 more for necessaries than under the Dingley tariff duties. The increases on coffee would amount to $50 ,OO0, ,00O i; on tea, $S.OOO.0OO; spices, s14,O0O,O 900; i; cocoa, $4,OOO,000; cotton stockings and other cotton goods, $2,000,O0O; on women's gloves, s1,351,oO0. These are samples of increases which, when added to the oppressive taxes on other necessary articles, will heavily burden the poorer consumer"
 The bill in this shape would increase the cost of living and the increase will come from the poverty rather than from the wealth of the country, and yet the administration and the men
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
Finds Business Better.

Early in the year I visited Cleve- land, Chicago. Detroit, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Louisville and found in each of those cities busi- ness dull" said Frank A. Shepherd of New York "but on return visits to most of those places within the past two
 "In Chicago, Cincinnati and Louis- vile business conditions are good and there is a feeling among bankers manufacturers and merchants that by the coming summer something like real prosperity will be in evidence once more. Certain it is that if we have big crops nothing will retard the progress of industrial and commercial revival"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
ANCIENT AND MODERN LUXURY

From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
 Signor Ferrero has told us a good many new things about the people of ancient Rome and given us a lot of new views concerning events with which we were familiar His latest effort is a descrip- ton of luxury in the days of Rome and in the present. It seems that we are wrong in supposing that the Sybaritio conditions so poetically described by ancient writers are to be accepted in the light of modern instances. The Romans at their richest were rather poor peo- pie. Their luxuries were few and less facilitating than we imagine. They drank no spirits and their wines were light. Their homes were celebrated In their day for their wonderful luxury but Judging from the ruins now extant they were small and disagreeable palaces in which to live. Even their temples were poor compared with those of modern or even medieval times. The finest palace in Rome was on a street 12 feet wide.
 The distinguished historian insists that in these days there is not only actually, but comparatively much more debauchery than in the 'palmy days of Rome." He thinks that we ought to learn a lesson from the past, that Rome fell largely through its love of such oriental luxury as was imported-even innocuous as it was by comparison with modern stan dards. All of us remember the plaint of Vergil that 1t was the invention of ships which ruined Roman people because it made eastern luxury too easily attain able.
 f fs a Iria hut xxvIf fo1, may be contemplated with interest and profit. That the Roman senator in the days of Nero really lived less comfort ably than the average mechanic of today, is statement that offers food for re- flection and eongratulation.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
A PLEA FOR CURVES.
le Cincinnati Enquirer.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
 Why should fashion drop art and delve in geometry? Does the freakish damc think she can persuade us that the severe straight line is more pleasing to the eye than the undulating contour? Let her drape the Grecian slave in a box case put plank skirt on the Venus di Milo and then pause for reflection.
 Whence came the clamor for this radical change in periphery7 Has the artistic glance ever wearied of the swell from smallness to superfuity? Rather has not the eye travelled with delight over inshoot and curve. while the straight delivery has been a subject for mock and jest?
 It will be sad, sad day when femin- inity shelves the line of beauty and be- comes a walking parallelogram.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
Liked Cuba.

Walter Hooper, the popular young credit manager for Loveman. Joseph & Loeb, re- turned a few days ago from a pleasure trip to Cuba. He is enthusiastic over Uncle Sam's island ward.
 From what I had heard from persons who visited Cuba a few years ago I ex- pected to find nothing but dirty towns, but to my surprise I found Havana and other cities as clean as any of our cities" said MT. Hooper. ''The American soldiers in their fight for cleanliness have made the Cuban towns ideal places to live in. The temperature was.-steady a few de- grees above 70 and that was delightful The Americans in Havana add slight touch of the metropolitan air to the town, but the easy-going natives will apparently never develop that hustle which prevails in Birmingham."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL.

By Hans Christian Andersen. Little Gretchen, little Gretchen wanders
 up and down the street; The snow is on her yellow hair, the frost
 is on her feet The rows of long, dark houses without
 look cold and damp, By the struggling of the moonbeam, by
 the flicker of the lamp. The clouds rise fast as horses, the wind
 Is from the north, But no one cares for Gretchen, and no
 one looketh forth. Within those dark, damp houses are
 merry faces bright. And happy hearts are watching out the
 old years latest night. With the little box of matches she could
 not sell all day, And the thin. tattered mantle the wind
 blows every way, She clingeth to the railing she shivers
 in the gloom, There are parents sitting snuggly by the
 firelight in the room; And children with grave faces are whis-
 ering one another Of presents for the New Year, for father
 or for mother. But no one talks of Gretchen, and no one
 hears her speak; No breath of little whisperers comes
 warmly to her cheek. She remembered her of stories her moth
 CT used to tell. And of the cradle-songs she sang, when
 summers twilight fell, Of good men and of angels and of the
 Holy Child, Who was cradled in a manager when win
 ter was most wild; Who was poor, and cold, and hungry and
 desolate and lone; And she thought the song had told her
 He was ever with His own, And all the poor and hungry and for
 saken ones were His srdow good of Him to look on me in such
 a place as this!' Colder it grows and colder, but she does
 not feel 1t now, For the pressure on her bosom, and the
 weight upon her brow; But she struck one little match on the
 wall so cold and bare. That she might look around her, and see
 if He was there. The single match was kindled; and, by
 the light 1t threw, It seemed to little Gretchen that the wall
 was rent in two. And she could see the room within, the
 room all warm and light, With the flre-glow red and blazing, and
 the tapers turning bright. And kindred there were gathered round
 the table richly spread With heaps of goodly viands, red wine,
 and pleasant bread. She could smell the fragrant odor; she
 could hear them talk and play; Then all was darkness once again-the match had burned away. She struck another hastily and now she
 seemed to see Within the same warm chamber glo- rious Christmas tree. The branches all were laden down with things that children prize; Bright gifts for boy and maiden they showed before her eyes. And she almost seemed to touch them and to join the welcome shout: Then darkness fell around her, for the little match was out. The chilly winter morning breaks up in the dull skies, On the city wrapt in vapor on the spot where Gretchen lies, They lifted her up fearfully and shud- dered as they said ''It was bitter, bitter night! the child Is frozen dead" And they shivered as they spoke of heI and sighed: they could not see Euw much of happiness there was aftel that misery
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
Ilnuor ouestion In Virqinla.

''The prominent men of Richmond have called mass meeting for next week to protest against local option campaign in that city," said Henry /S Vale Of Washington. D. C., land among the names signed to the call are bankers, law yers, doctors. merchants, manufacturers and capitalists.
 "A few months ago 1t looked as If the Virginia legislature would force prohioi- ton on the cities. but sentiment seems to be changing. I believe the local optiel law will hold in the Old Dominion for some years to come.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
AN ARKANSAS POET

From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The denizen of the Ozarks has often poetry in his soul. A Wabash box car on the house track" at Morrilton bore this effusion. inscribed with chalk. It shows the true poetic fire in the soul of the man who was stuck on the contract to un- load 1t:
 'T was bilt fer a battle ship, but i cudnt cary my guns; W 50 they leesed me tu tho wobbash rode tu cary sixty tuns,
 an then sum ..
 dammit
 Aaxnvil ark
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
From the New York World

From the New York World.
 1%HE class in kissing will rise
 l0 and tell us which country
 leads the league in tossing osculation. Prof. Frederick Starr of Chicago university thinks the Mexican curves are the most graceful and ef- fective.
 "It takes @ young Mexican to toss a kiss with perfection" says MT. Starr, anthropologist. "He brings the tips of his fingers together, touches them gently with his lips and. spreading his hand out as he makes the throw, waits five sweet kisses to his lady love by five different routes"
 We shall now hear from Senor Cayetano Romero, consul general from Mexico. Senor Remero smoothes his bulging shirt-front and begins; "Mexicoi Kissingl At last my dear country comes into its own. The pro- lessor Is correct. We lead the world in love, kissing and all forms of romance The sunny fields and the balmy air of that dear Mexico make osculation our principal industry; and this throwing kisses, Is that not an export? Ha! Ha We take the hand, close it, we make one long look at the sweet senorita and l then we plant on those five fingers one long sma ok. We make another look al the senorita, and poufl off she goes like your man Gallagh CT. We are the great race"
 Wrong" chirps Senor A. Diaz MI randa, who looks after the welfare oi Spaniards in New York. "If those Mexicans know anything about kissing believe me, they took 1t from us. We invented kissing. It Is our first nature We leave off work, eating. sleeping everything, to give the kiss. It is ar I art with us. To do 1t right. one must be a Spaniard. First you are tilted te an angle of 23 degrees. Then you bunch the fingers of your right hand slip them into your facial aperture ane smack. Then you hold your left hand
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
THE WHITE HOUSE COW.

From the Washington Herald.
 When dear old "Uncle Remus' visited the White House a year or so ago. ne fouir, if memory serves alright, condi- ton of affairs therein and thereabouts very much to his liking, save and ex- cepting a few of the domestic arrange ments. He found the Presidents nome life very pretty, and sweet, ana Wnoie- some-but he noted the absence Of the
 family COW with profound disapprovai,
 and the situation moved him to the few remarks pitched in a minor Key that came from him in respect of that memor-
 able occasion.
 Well. 1t is different now, and we are sorry "Uncle Remus" is not with us on
 earth no wadays to tell. in his quaint and
 soothing way, just how glad he IS to know that it is so- He still might not De quite satisfied of course. His soul would
 hanker for a garden. and some chickens, too. mayhap. But he would indorse the COW fully, we doubt not Uncle Remus' could get a whole lot of solid comfort and real pleasure contemplating COW about the place.
 We think the displacement of Pete at the hands-or, rather, hoofs. of course-ot'
 a peaceful, gentle, well-groomed co" nus
 brought a large measure of satisfaction
 to all parts of the country. Somehow' IL seems to argue less strenuous times aneau more sunshine and roses about the White House, and fewer thunderstornis' Not that a thunderstorm does not serve
 2 good purpose now and then, to be sure for if does. It clears up an uncertain at-
 mosphere wonderfully at times; and whie
 tbunderstorms have interfered temporar- uv with many a picnic in this world, .hav have. nevertheless, only emphasized Ina happiness incident to the calm that inevitably follows. But sufficient unto inc day are the thunderstorms thereof and that more restful days than those l inst passed are to be the order of the immediate future we apprehend few will | regret to. know. . We extend the assurance of our most distinguished consideration to "Mooley,"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR
From the New York Press

Ground-1oor investments seem to have mighty deep cellars under them
 The way to become able to afford to keep an automobile Is never to do it.
 most awful disappointment when you kiss a mans sister in the dark is to have her turn out to be your own.
 A woman has such an imagination that If her head were as bald as ivory she could think it only appeared so.
 The most pride a mother has about the baby Is that if it weighed three pounds more and was an inch and half shorter t would exactly fit some scientific theory,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
Will Use Latin.

"The festival chorus Is making excel lent progress" said Fred L. Grambs. the chorus director. We are rehearsng Rossini's 'Stabat Mater and 1t will be sung in the original Latin. It was tried in English but as it is so much more rhythmical in Latin we will stick to the latter
 Capt. Frank P. O'Brien, who Is a member of the chorus, assisted those singers not familiar with Catholic music, by readying the Latin of 'Stabat Mater aloud and pronouncing it and phrasing 1t as 1t should be done for musical effect. The entire chorus now greatly prefers the Latin words to the English"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
Accumulated Harpist,

Mrs. Lucia de Forest Eastman, an &C., complished harpist of New York, will ar rive in Birmingham this week and will remain here for several days. She has been engaged to play at wedding in Easter week and she will also take part with the orchestra in the Church of the Advent on Easter Sunday.
 During her sojourn visit here Mrs. East man will be heard also at song recital to be given at the Advent parish house.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-06
MaIIorv's Strenqth.

Bert Gordon of Mobile spent few hours in Birmingham yesterday. He positively declined to submit any remarks regarding the prohibition laws in his town. but said that he could tell whole lot if he should ever decide to talk.
 In regard to the outlooK TOT the next gubernatoral campaign he said:
 ''Of course, know nothing of how mat ters stand in north Alabama, but 1t hap pens that I have covered the southern