davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

In 1897 Marshall was nominated with
Coatesworth Pickney and Elbridge Gerry
a commission to compose our quarrel with
France, with which nation we were at
actual, but not declared, war. There they
found at the head of foreign affairs Tai
ieyrand, without exception the most adroit
and consummate scoundrel preserved in
letters, since Lucifer and his crowd were
hurled from The pattlements of heaven.
For months this miscreant besought the
Americans to bride him; but they would
not, and it was not until Maj. Gen. Andy
Jackson got to be President that France
was bulled into being a gentleman and
paying its debts.
In 1900 Marshall was for Burr for Pres
ident against his kinsman, Jefferson, but
a letter from Hamilton warning him that
Burr was the most dangerous man in the
country reconciled him to the election of
Jefferson, which he looked upon as 4
calamity like unto that Ben Tillman
viewed in the election of Theodore Roose-
Welt 104 years later.
At the personal solicitation of George
Washington, politically adverse con-
stituency returned Marshall to Congress
in 1898. Patrick Henry supported him,
and that elected him. During the exist
Light Horse Harry Lee, a member, in
t1oduced the resolution of eulogy, closing
with First in war first in peace, and
first in the hearts of his countrymen," and
Marshall supported them in a speech that
l wish every American school boy woulf
read, ponder, digest. 1t would make of
him a better citizen and better man.
In Congress Marshall FLASHED with that
gigantic democrat, Albert Gallatin, whom
by the way, my friend Joe Bailey, in his
assault on the democratic idea of the
tariff, this session of Congress just closed
elected to fight as an anonymous, and
Galatin, as Webster with Calhoun, frank
ly admitted, 81 will not answer him, be-
cause l cannot answer him. 1t is nota-
BILE that in this Congress Marshall voted
to repeal the most offensive section of the
"Allen and Sedition laws"
Adams chose Marshall for secretary Ct
state, and later nominated him for chief
Justice of the supreme bench, and he got
much of the odium for the ~the midnight
judges" In this connection L shall defer
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

ditions The sentences are less rugged
and the exquisite touches of description
are made numerous and there is absent
that tornado-like sweep of passion found
in Jane Eyre. One is apt to fancy that
Mrs. Ward, before writing Robert Els
mere, read over again Charlotte Brontes
descriptions of natural scenes, while many
other writer's, who describe Strikes and
riots in factory settlements, seem to owe
much to Shirley. Haworth was a fac
tory village, and the account in Shirley is
a graphic and exciting recital of what the
Brontes saw around the parsonage. Shir-
ley was taken from life. The three
curates Mrs. Prior, the Yorkes and Shir-
ley himself, all We're actual persons Shir-
ley was an idealized portrait of Emily
Bronte.
A likeness is easily discovered between
Shirley and George Eliot's masterpiece,
Middlemarch. In such comparison Shir-
ley suffers not at all. 1t is more salts
flying and more optimistic than Middle
march. Dorothea ever finds disappoint-
ment Even Mr.. Cassaubon fails her. as
her great intellect establishes its lofty
ideal. Shirley is SUMMER and in the love
of Louis Moore she finds a world full OF
song birds. Shirleys philosophy of hap
piness is less like that of Dorothea's, and
more like that of Romola's after her sor-
rows had left her soul chastened and
life full lof peace.
have not the space to write anything
of Villette Charlotte Bronte's last novel.
therefore, I now shall have something to
say of Emily Bronte. Her name Is dent-
fed with the fortunes of Wurtherng
Heights, her chief work. In some re-
spects she was superior genius to her
sister Charlotte. Matthew Arnold, Maui
rice Materlinck and Swinburne exalt her
intellect. Her mind even when she was
a child was startling and almost super
humanity penetrating. Her observations
and deductions were remarkable acute
and accurate. Later on her mind chose
the speculative and weird things of
thought for it's food. l say, later on
by this | do not mean that she lived
many years, for she did not. AT 30 she
died.
or Wurtherng Heights, Mr.. Clement
X. Shorter, of literary fame, said: 1T is
the greatest book ever written by q
woman" Emily's sister. Charlotte, said:
s'Wurthering Heights is dark frowning
colossal, terrible and goblin-lilSe." 1t is a
story of crime desolation and misplaced
love. II discloses massive Intellect with
but few parallels; 1t appeals, and yet
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

billow after billow of sorrow, even to his
old age.
In the Bronte books there hangs an
atmosphere of sadness and through them
runs a weird minor note. II would be
remarkable were it otherwise. There was
the dreariness of the Yorkshire hills out
side the home, while within there was
experienced again and again the sorrow
of bereavement Besides, there was a
living sorrow. There was son in the
family whose weaknesses and slavery to
his degrading habits brought to the
home indescribable grief. He died young.
When death approached, the young man
insisted upon being permitted to stand
up that he might die in that attitude. He
was supported, and died standing. When
we consider the terrible havoc that dis
ease and death wrought in the family
year after year, we can easily under
stand the shadows in which the pages or
the Bronte books all lie.
A short while before his death Gen. Lew
Wallace wrote an production to new
edition Of the old romance, "Salathiel,"
and took occasion to name the six great
est novels in the English language.
Among the six he placed Charlotte
Bronte's Jane Eyre. As | am writing
fl ION memory | do not know by what
rule he determined books value ana
its right to be cassed with the greatest.
However, this was his estimate of Jane
Eyre. | should not include 1t among
the six best books in the English Ian
guage, but beyond all question it takes
high rank among the works of the best
geniuses. Swinburne says that perfect
trinity of English female fame is com
peted by the names of Charlotte and
Emily Bronte and Mrs. Browning. When
the great story of Jane Eyre appeared
the critics declared that no woman wrote
1t, SO masculine was it in strength. In
vigor it surpasses Sir Walter Scott, and
In passionate emotion it is more vivid
than Balzac. Charlotte Bronte could
never have written romance. 1t was not
within the nature of her temperament
In this day she would be classed with
the realistic writer's of fiction of the bet
ter sort. Some of the critics and reviews
pronounced her coarse and one wrote:
"She must be one, who for some suffi-
Gent reason, has long forfeited the So
ciety of her SEX" Many criticisms of
like nature appeared. An acquaintance.
who was a writer of books, SAID 10
Charlotte: 'You know, Miss Bronte. that
you and 1 have written naughty books"
This was cause of deep pain to the
demure and delicate little woman who
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

penned that sentence evidently meant il
to be smart but it is not probable that
he intended to be irreverent. And yet the
tendency to irreverenee is so obvious that
we feel it painful to reprint the with
cism." Our young brother, if he has
learned much at the seminary, or any
where else may have had occasion to note
that the story of Jonah, as reeorded in the
first and second chapters of the book,
gives no color to the suggestion of sperm
OIL The record says nothing of a whale,
and in Matthew 12:46, where the word
whale" is used IN our "Authorlzed' YER
sion, it is manifestly a mistranslation Of
the Greek word which means sea-mon-
ster, or a huge fish. Natural history Is
not taught in the seminary and our
young brother, in common with great
many other people, may be ignorant Of
the class of creatures to which the whale
certainly belongs. 1t Is not fish, but
belongs to the class of mammalia, that is,
It nurses its young. The story of Jonah
has long been a mark for the SCOTS OF
the infdels, and it is not edifying to see
a seminary" student falling so nearly
and dangerously into line with the SCOT
fers.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

no you know what blue blood
means? Of course you know that
- 1t is an aristocratic distinction
Col. John A. Broadus used TO say. very
wisely, that you never really know a
thing unless you know its history; and
here is the history of ''blue blood" As
one might naturally guess, the phrase is
of Spanish origin, Spain having been for
centuries the headquarters of pride. 1t
is well known historical fact that Spain
was once occupied by the Moors-a peo-
pie of dark complexion. During the Moor
ish occupation of the country some of
the Moors intermarried with the Spanish
women; and the offspring of such mar
riages had darker blood than that of the
pure Spaniards. whose veins were blue
So, after the Moors left the country these
blue veins came to be an aristocratic dis
tlnction, because they were visible marks
OF unmixed Spanish blood. The phrase
blue blood seems to have travelled
from Spain to England, thence to America
and has come to mean old aristocratic
families who are proud of their ancestry
Whether you agree or disagree with the
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

body adjourned as he closed without a
formal motion. So far as I am advised,
no such tribute has been extended any
other modern orator. unless it was Sher-
idan.
But Marshall was a forceful character
and the one man who could have de-
feated him in that convention was absent
Thomas Jefferson. These were the two
absolutely sane intellects of the revolu-
tionary period By the slenderest of ma
jorities, Marshall, Madison, Pendleton,
Randolph, Innes, Henry Lee-"Light
Horse Harry, father of Robert &c. Lee
carried the constitution, and thus made
the Union but not until George Mason
and Patrick Henry had put the first ten
amendments into the thing.
And in after years John Marshall was
to take this house of cards and lay 1t
over again in the concrete of his giant
understanding and make a nation of a
government our fathers intended for o.
confederation, league, an alliance. The
thing is vet an experiment, and nobody
knows where it is headed.
Sentemher "a, 1855. John Marshall was
horn the eldest of a family of 10 chill
dren in Westnoreland county. Virginia,
aud there were bern Washington. the
Lees, the Masons, the Talliaferros, the
Madisons, the Monroes, the Graysons, the
Roans. the Beverleys, the Bankheads, the
Balls the McCleatys, the Blands, and last,
but by no means the least, the Carriers 1t
is a fact that Thomas Jefferson John Mar
shall. John Randolph of Roanoke, and
Robert e. Lee were all sprung from
common ancestor of the past middle Of
the seventeenth century.
1t is disputed whether the Marshalls
are of English, Welsh Scotch or Irish
ancestry, Doubtless all these bloods were
in them commingled. The father of the
great iurist was Col Thomas Marshall,
a companion-in-arms of washington, who
fought valiantly in the regiment of Col
onel Woodford in the Revolutionary war,
and who had done his devoir with Wash
ington in the earlier French and Indian
war In 1880. when a prisoner on parole,
he went to Kentucky and there estab-
lshed the county of Woodford. so famous
in the history of that commonwealth. His
wife was Mary Isham Keith, a Scotch
woman of the blood of that grim old SOL
der, Marshall Keith, who saved a dozen
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

sneaking, timid and superstitious Hefod,
attempting to make show of the Son of
God; the weak and double-faeed Pontins
plate, anxious to keep his place and yet
to maintain some show of justice in his
decision; the inscriptions Caiaphas,
bounding Christ to death; the bowling
mob of priests and scribes, all mad with
envy; the rough and brutal soldiers; the
plant slaves and the scowling Barabhas
AL meet US in few pregnant sentences.
Policy, as well as misery, makes strange
bed-fellows. When that trial began, Pr
late and Herod hated each other cordial
ly. When it ended they were friends.
Bill Sykes and Flash Toby CraclSit can
not afford to be long at variance. The
combination between Blifill and Black
George was perfectly natural. When
that trial began, Judas Iscariot was de-
lighting his rapacious soul with the sight
of his ill-gotten gains. Soon after the
trial closed, he was dangling in mid air
at "a ropes end, a corpse. Just before
that trial, Peter and all the rest of the
disciples, except Judas Iscariot, had de-
clared that they would go with their
Masterio prison and to death. Before the
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

Bronte ever drew is that of Fairfax Roch-
ester. A man of Herculean strength, and
yet on another side of his life as weak
a child. Yet, this contrast of char
acteristics makes him none the less real.
He Is not lay figure; he is a living
active personality. Repellent at times is
this Rochester, but he finally commands
the highest admiration. Married to a
hopeless maniac who would take his life.
while he actually saves hers; saves, in
deed, the life that cases its sorrow and
misery into his own. Was his love for
another wicked? Yes, and despise him
for it If you will, but recall his purifica-
ton as by fire. All the sin of Rochesters
heart one forgives as he sees him after
the great crisis of the story and hears him
say, AZ did wrong; 1 would have sui
lied my innocent flower and breathed
guilt upon its purity. OF late, Jane, only
of late, began to see and acknowledge
the hand of God in my doom. began to
experience remorse. repentance. l began
sometimes to pray; very brief prayers
they were, but very sincere"
It has been long, long time since read
Jane Eyre for the first time, but as I
write these lines some of the old emo
tions are ouickened by the power of men,
ory. l advise you, dear madam, if you
have not read Jane Eyre not to attempt
it at the ghostly hour of midnight, for
as you ascend to your room even the
creal1ing of the stairs will alright you
into alarm.
In 'The Professor" study of Belgium
life. Miss Bronte has given us some sub
lime sentences of passion and eloquence
that are most wonderful. They at once
arrest the mind of the reader and hold
him bordering. She had pronounced
views on the subject of love and marriage
which caused the professor to express for
her. The professor says. 81 am no Orien-
tal-white neclSs, carmine lips and cheeks.
clusters of bright curls do not suffice for
me without the Promethean spark, which
will live after the roses and lilies are
faded, and the FURNISHED hair grown gray.
In sunshine and prosperity the flowers are
very we'll but how many wet days there
are in life-November seasons of disaster
when a mans hearth and home would be
cold indeed without the clear, cheering
CLEAN of intellect" This was her way of
saving: ''In wedlock there must be one
ness of soul, taste and sympathy or the
ideal marriage is not attained"
Some Of the critics have found more
merit in Shirley than in Jane Eyre. This
fact, doubtless. grows out of several con-
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

Z I UNDERSTANDING the great inn
N proVement which the land laws
- have made in the condition of Ire
land the demand for home rule is as i'm
perative as ever and nothing less than
self-government will ever fully satisfy the
hopes and ambitions of the Irish people.
The right to make their own laws in their
own country by and for their own people,
is the uppermost idea prevailing In the
minds of all 1rishmen and every step for
ward is a step in that direction.
The union of England and Ireland was
effected in the year 1900 and it is an I'M
controverted fact that the vote in the Irish
House of Commons which was given in
support of the union was obtained by
fraud and bribery of the worst sort. Sir
Jonah harrington in his book, 1.-THE Rise
and Fall of the Irish Nation very graph
ically describes the scene in the chamber
preceding the taking of the vote, and even
to this day the visitor to the Bank of
Ireland, in Dublin, the building which
was then the Irish House of Parliament,
may see the overturned chairs and tales
still lying scattered around as they were
after the scene of excitement and con-
fusion which followed the announcement
of the vote. Among the members of that
assembly who fought and voted against
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

John T. MORSE, Jr., in his preface
to his edition of Magruders Life of
~ John Marshall, says this ut may
be an interesting matter of speculation as
to what would have been the result If
Marshall had held Jeffersonian views If,
among other things, he had declared
Hamilton's financial policy TO be uncon-
stitutional. In that case, what would
have become of the greet doctrine Of
protection? What possibility of national
solvency would have survived such a de-
cision?'
Well, we might not have had as strong
a federal government; but it would have
been honester. We might not have made
as mucn money, but 1t would have been
more equitably distributed We would not
have had SO many millionaires. but we
would have had fewer paupers. We
would not have had SO many people, but
they would have composed better citi-
zenship. And as for the national sol
vency." Jeffersonism was as good to
purvey that as Hamiltonism, and better.
More than any other individual. John
Marshall was the founder of our govern
ment. Virginia. with aid from the for
eigner Hamilton of New York. Oliver
Ellsworth of New England. and that
John c. Calhoun-states rights pro-saVery
statesman, Roger Sherman of Connecti-
cult, made the constitution as it was
adopted; but the thing would never have
been ratified if John Marshall, repre-
senting constituency opposed to the
instrument had not been a member Of
the Virginia convention. He did not
deceive the people of Henrico county,
but such faith did they have in him that
they made him a delegate, though they
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

to establish a settled government which
can carry out the principles of constitu-
tional liberty. A Frenchman is said to
have entered a bookstore in ndris and
asked for copy of the then existing con-
stitution, when the proprietor replied:
1--WE don't deal in periodical literature"
De Tocqueville's remark recalls very
wise one, which we have heard attribu
ted to the eminent John Randolph of
Roanoke: LET no gentleman marry an
ignorant, vulgar girl, and imagine that
he can raise her up; she will always pull
him down."
''The ups and downs" of human life
here upon this earth have often engaged
the attention and awakened the interest
of philosophical thinkers and writer's.
1.-The Philosophy of Crime" is a pro-
found subject, worthy of the study of
our greatest thinkers. The following
brief sketch illustrates some of the phases
of this great subject: The various phases
of human depravity which met Jesus in
his hour of trial are a striking common
tsry upon his own words: This is your
hour and the power of darkness" The
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

genius, and now and then one comes upon
paragraph that closely resembles the
work of Emily, Agnes Gray embodies
much of Anne Bronte's experience of per-
sonal suffering. 1t is strong, regular in
its processes of development and pathetic.
but 1t cannot be classed with "Jane Eyre
and shirley" Anne was of a strong de-
votional nature. She wrote much religious
poetry, thus expressing the truest senti-
ments of her soul. Her poems were far
more didactic than those of Francis Rid
ley Havergal, being more like those of
Hannah Moore. Yet they breathed a
spirit of quiet religious confidence like
those of the sweet singer of Ashley rec
tory In view of the delicate, sensitive
and exalted nature of this quietly relig-
ious girl, can anyone account for the in
vention employed in her story Of 1.-THE
Tenant of Wildfell Hall'? For II one,
should want to find one of the most dis
gushing and revolving scenes OF debauch-f
cry and drunkenness he need not go other
where than to the pages of this novel.
Dickens has described many scenes in
which excess of wine is conspicuous, but
neveftdid he draw such picture as Anne
BrQnte has given of Mr. Huntingdon and
AUS FRIENDS.
pN'rN VIC thicS poohS mat nave VIII
Ten most about, Jane Eyre" 'Wurther-
ing Heights and THE Tenant of Wild
fell Hail." and consider these facts. They
We're written by three pure, lovely girls.
whose lives had ever been protected from
evil: except for the brief time spent in
Belgium at school they had not lived be-
yond the moors of Yorkshire; they were
reared in an atmosphere of religious do
nestle life; and yet each of them gave to
the world a story or stories whose pages
are darkened with the recital of terrible
deeds. To what heights and depths gem
ius leads its captives Yet, this must be
said, never do these writer's make evil to
appear good, nor do they ever let sin es-
ca ne some sort of nunishine snrrnW-
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

TO find a real genius in home is
rare occurrence, for geniuses are
strangely uncommon; but it is
most extraordinary to discover in the same
household two or three children of the
same parentage whom nature has en-
dowed with that remarkable quality of in
telect called genius.
Yet some families have been thus hon
ored Ellis Howe, the inventor OF the
sewing machine, was one of three broth
ers, each of whom was a genius in me-
chanics. Cyrus w. Field, to whose ge-
MUS the world is indebted for the At
lantic cable was brother to the cele-
brated jurist, David Dudley Field and to
Henry Field, the renowned writer, trav-
eler and divine Sir William Herschel,
the astronomical genius was exceled in
his own sphere of study by his two chill
dren, Caroline and Sir j. r. Herschel.
The kembe family. so famous in tho
chronicles of the English stage, is bril-
liant illustration. OF Roger Kemble's
children John Philip Kemble became the
greatest Hamler after Garrick his BROTH
err, Charles, also, was an actor of more
genius and ability, while their sister,
Sarah Kemble Siddons, worthily wore the
title Queen of Tragedy" In the histri-
onic world oftener than anywhere else, I
think, do we find the transmission Of
genius from father and mother to more
than one of the children. Witness the
Keans, the Booths, the. Jeffersons, the
Drews and many others whose names will
suggest themselves to the reader
I have employed these illustrations to
prepare way for me to write Of the three
sisters who lived in the quaint old par
sonage in Haworth, in Yorkshire Eng
land. The three Bronte sisters, Char
lotte, Emily and Anne, were three ge-
muses. who have left an imperishablc
fame. Their abilities were not of equal
power but so interlinked are their names
that to think of one is to remember the
others.
Haworth is a little village situated
among the moors of Yorkshire. At tho
time the sisters were growing up Haworth
was a crude village and had many char
acteristics that marked the English VII
lagos in the Middle Ages. The world was
shut out and the bleak moorlands. the
dreary, bald crags and the general air or
weary desolation surrounding the village
did not inspire the world with the desire
to come in. The father of the sisters was
the rector Of the parish of Haworth, a
good man, though possessed OF some pc.
culiarities, over whose heart there surged
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03
N the Country Gentlemen.

From The Country GentIemen.
There are days in season when the
wind and waves are too much for the
helmswoman, but these are very few AMI
far between. and II would be difficult to
point to case in which race had been
given up by yachtswoman through lack
of pluck Through want of strength:
Yes, perhaps. But never through want
of courage.