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

not their sires;
And the torch which would light them on
victorys way
Must be caught from the pile where
their country expires.
Unfortunately for Ireland such men
formerly did sit in the House of Commons,
men who did not hesitate to betray their
country and shame their sires for the
miserable little reward such perfdy
earned.
The labors of the Irish nationalist party
in parliament are being ably supplement
ed by the Gaelic league in Ireland. The
purpose of the Gaelic league is to revive
the Irish language, to inculcate Irish sem
timent and promote Irish arts and indus
tries. 1t would be fruitless task to at
tempt anything like a history of Ireland
in these pages, but suffice it to say that
Ireland has a history, a language and lit
erature equal to those of Greece or Rome
When a defendant of the O's or Mac
hears a descendant of a May1ower's cabin
passenger talking about ancestry he feels
like telling the story of dialogue which
took place between a Mrs. o and a Mrs
Mac, In the course of which Mrs. said
her people were in the ark with Noah
and to which Mrs. Mac scornfully replied
that at that time the Macs were not be-
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

holden to Noah or anyone else as they
had a boat of their own. Ireland is not
a country of yesterday or the day before.
Its people have survived the pillage and
plumber of Scandinavian pirates and re-
PEELED Danish invaders. Neither the sword
of Cornwelrs fanatics nor the religious
prosecutions of Elizabeth, nor the coniis'
cation of the Henrys and the Edwards
nor fire and famine have awaited to crush
that little handful of people whose ances-
tors came TO that island when the Ptolom-
eys ruled Egypt. After seven centuries Of
English laws, language and literature it
is but natural to suppose that the original
characteristics of the Irish people would
be entirely obliterated, but such is far
from being the case. Although the cap
itals of the two countries are only 10 hours
distant and although there is a constant
intercourse between these two peoples,
their national characteristics differ as
much as If they were antipodean. And
therein is to be found the cause of the
failure of England to successfully govern
Ireland. Fresh water fish will not live
In salt water.
A noticeable feature in Ireland today
is the spread of temperance and modera-
ton In the use of intoxicating drink
There was a time when the typical Irish
man was represented as having shille-
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

Gladstone attempt to end that internecine
strife by complying with the Irish de-
nands while safeguarding England's
rights, but the hostility of the House of
Lords and the treachery of Joseph Cham
berlain defeated the benehcent efforts.
ireland said Gladstone in advocating
the home rule bill of 1886, ireland will
one day be souce of strength or source
of weakness to England; why not tear up
this paper union and make union of
hearts?' Today, when the prospect of q
German invasion menaces every English
mans home, would it not be well for
Englishmen to remember Gladstones
words and even at this late hour, try to
n AXE an union of hearts.
1t could not be otherwise but that with
a century's unrest agitation and political
warfare the Irishman was bound to Oh
tain liberal education In the art of gov
eminent and msgovernment. 1t may be
safely said that there are no people bet
ter informed upon questions of home and
foreign policy of the British government
than are the Irish The daily press pub
fishes verbatim reports of parliamentary
debates and the public speeches of cabinet
ministers, all of which are carefully read.
Hardly Sunday or holiday passes with
out its open air meeting addressed by
some member of parliament. Candidates
for all electoral offices must express their
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

views openly and fully upon all questions
in which the people are interested and be-
fore a man is elected member of parlia-
ment on the nationalist ticket he takes I
pledge to sit vote and act with the Irish
party according to the instructions of
the leader. This pledge was part of the
plan of action devised by Parnell to pre-
vent detection from the party, and SO we'll
has it worked that since it's adoption not
one member of the Irish parliamentary
party has accepted any office of honor or
emolument from the government for polit-
ical services rendered. In that respect the
Irish nationalist party stands unique in the
world and especially Is 1t made so when
1t Is remembered that the nationalist par
ty has had in its ranks, and has at pres
ent, men who are capable of discharging
the duties of the highest offices under the
crown. These men have given their time,
their intelligence and their labor without
pay or hopes of preferment from the
British government, and by their knowl-
edge of Irish affairs and their advice
upon parliamentary measures they have
materially helped to solve many intricate
questions 1t was of Ireland the poet
Moore wrote:
Unblest are her sons till they learn to be-
tray,
Undistinguished they live If they shame
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03
IRELAND ADVANCING TOWARD HOME RULE-By F. l. Monks
Monks

lah in one hand and a bottle OF whisky
In the other. A visitor may travel today
from one end of the land to the other
and not see person under the influence
of drink. This IS not due to any prohi-
bition law or the abolition of the saloon.
hut to natural change. brought about
largely by tie teaching and principles II
the Gaelic league. Every person joining
that league takes pledge to elevate him
self, his country and his people. He is
reminded that the world judges a nation
by the habits and manners of its inhabi-
tants and that he must not do anything
to bring diseredit upon his country In
short the Gaelic league seeks to inspire
a love and pride of country by awakening
the people to a sense of their glorious
past and their prospects of an equally
glorious future if they are a sober and
Industrious people. This is a moral up
lift in which a mans better and nobler
nature is called upon to assert itself and
not penal enactment held over the
heads of the people like a rod over I'M
ruly children. There are hundreds of sa-
looms in Dublin; no dinner table is with
out its liquors: there is no sly or secret
drinking; there is no drunkenness. When
prohibition Is mentioned 1t must be ex-
planned and then the question is asked,
why is it neeessary?'
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

fascinates. The character of Heathcliff
is that of incarnate horror. Shakespeare s
logo, and George Elot's Tito are what
Mr. Roosevelt would call desirable citi-
zens," compared with the human panther,
Heathcliffl
q desire to make personal statement
here. I have called Heathcliff "the human
panther" I never knew when / wrote
that description of him that anyone had
ever SO likened him. I afterward found
that the biographer of Emily Bronte"
had referred to the ''panther-lke nature"
of Heathcliff)
Where did that delicate girl. pale as
a flower, find her suggestion of Heath
cliff? Had he been suggested to her in
Brussels? There Is no evidence of it. Had
she seen his prototype in her country
village? It is not likely. Yet in the quiet
sanctuary of her parsonage-home she pic
tured human demon. Night after night
from the window of her little room faint
ly cleaned the lamp of Emily Bronte,
while she wrote Of the career of one of
the most repulsive' Villains that ever trod.
the paths of Imagination and of plots of
crime most startling. How could she do
it, reared as she had been? The only
answer to be given is, that while her
physical body occupied the little room in
the rectory, her imagination fed out into
the night away and away; now ascending
lofty heights and battling with the
fiercest elements of human passion; then
plungng like lost soul into loathsome
scenes of crime with q familiarity only
equalled by that Of Eugene Sue in THE
Mysteries of Paris" In her girlhood En-
lily was like lonely soul engaged in her
own abstraction. She had no intimate
friend or comrade. Her dogs were her
companions in lonely walks over the wild
moorlands. The peasantry thought her
peculiar
Charlotte thought it well enough to
draw such characters as some of Emily's
WERE but added 1.-THE writer who pos
sesses the creative gift owns something
of which he is not always master. some
thing that at times strongly wills and
works for Itself" Notwithstanding the
ponderous intellect revealed in this amaz-
ing story, I fail to see that such novels
add anything of value to the sum of
things To have read one such story is
enough: to have, written two such would
have been too much.
The youngest of the three sisters was
Anne. Her novels are unlike those of her
sisters. yet they show unmistakahiA
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

points made in the following paragraph,
you may find it worth while to reflect
upon them for they are of character
to touch the life and conduct of almost
every rational soul
We Americans, and especially us South
erners, can scarcely understand how a
profound philosopher like De Tocque-
vile could ever have perpetrated SEN
tence like this: Il have frequently OBJ
served the domestic influences gradually
Transforming a man. naturally generous,
noble and unselfish into a eowardly,
commonplace, plaee-hunting, office-seek-
er, thinking of public business only as a
means of making himself comfortable,
and this simply by daily contact with
well-conducted woman a faithful wife
and an excellent mother, but from whose
mind the grand notion of public duty was
entirely absent" The question with us
is, how could such woman be faithful
wife, and am excellent mother? But we
must not forget that the remark was
made by a Frenchman, and in and OF
France. If the observation be true, 1t
goes a long way in explaining why
France has found it well nigh impossible
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03
THE SISTERS OF HAWORTH PARSONAGE

had never consciously written a line
that could offend the sensibilities of the
purest reader. Coarseness in her books
she Indignantly denied, and said: 81 trust
God will take from me whatever power
of invention or expression l may have,
before He let's me become blind to the
sense Of what is fitting or uniting 10
be said" Yet, she pursued her calling:
bravely fighting her critics and her own
bodily weaknesses. She. could not change
her methods and delineations of char
acter and yet be true to herself. She
was, therefore,. natural and true, and
in a high sense a realist. In our times
the critics who laud such realistic novels
as have been written on the worst phases
of social life by Mrs. Humphrey Ward,
Tolstoi, Thomas Hardy and others in
Charlotte Bronte's works ewould scarcely
finds hint at realism, while these same
critics will refer to the English classics
by Fielding, Smollett, Sterne and Swift.
0, consistency
When Jane Eyre appeared it startled
the reading world. No woman had SO
written before, casting away the con-
ventional. There are scenes and juxtapo-
sitions in the story which one can never
forget. 1t is amazing how it holds the
sophical, at times, it gives 1.-The creeps."
I remember no other book that has so
affected me. 1t is fiction, and yet 1t is
history 1t Is fiction in setting. but truth
in that which by fiction is Unframed. 1t
is a story of the unconventional side of
life, and of this phase the author wrote,
"Conventionality is not morality self
righteousness is not religion. To attack
the first is not to assail the last. To
pluck the mask from the face of the
Pharsee is not to lift an impious hand
to the Crown of Thorns." The story dis
closes a master hand playing upon every
emotion of which the soul Is capable
pathos, beauty, strength, sympathy, sim
certify, honor, love, light, darkness, in
tellect. insanity and all other emotions,
except one. humor. There is a bare CLINT
of humor now and then, and that is all.
There Is more lightness in Shirley. In
deed, the first chapter of Shirley might
have been written by the writer of Nancy
Stair, SO like her style is it. But in Jane
Eyre there is but little scope for humor.
There was an opportunity for wit, and it
was seized. The minister. Mr.. Brockle-
hurst, asks Jane Eyre what is hell?"
She answered, "A pit full of fire" "What
must you do to avoid it?" II must keep
in good health and not die
The strongest character that Charlotte
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03
NOTES AND COMMENTS-By J. c. Hidden, D. D.

trial had fairly begun Peter had denied
him, and the rest had forsaken him and
fed. It was a strange time-a juneture
that could come but once in all the ages
and the devil seems to have determined
to make the most of it, If he cannot
destroy. he may greatly mislead and
seriously disturb 1.-The very elect"
Buckle, in his famous History Of Civ
ilization In England" quotes from
bright Frenchman who had spent some
time travelling in Russia, the tart re-
mark that lin Russian society it is a
rule never to say anything that can pos
sibly interest any rational soul" 1t seems
that the Russians have not taken out any
patent upon this invention; or, If they
have, that the Society people in other
parts of the world are open to the charge
of infringing upon the patent rights of
the Russians.
One of the most beautiful odes in our
English hymnology Is Come we Diseoa-
soate," and it was composed by that
fashionable diner-out and man-about-
town, Tom Moore. 1t is a query for the
curious what motive such man could
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

-, II. .,, ,.4 ~. ~
unln write soihelnins apou' 'oi''i ra''-
dolph OF Roanoke discussion OF that
matter.
In 1901 Marshall became chief justice,
and the next dav he set about his life
work IN turn tho renuhlic info n nation
-. -,
anu lHae Is "iiae ne ulo' AS Juuse'
holdlnS the scale between citizen ana CIT
izen in matters of "meum ct tuum," he
was not nearly as. great as Taney. for he
Ta,a1. h,,t NJ, n 800 70 +ha ,,rinoirIa
~ tba thing he Voc ,,neoraIad ard IN
ri,-a1ad Ee wonld Give bis dic+,1n ard
smiling1v t,,r,, 70 Ute sa,,ior assooiata &c
t;oa ord ih1orai,, CO.., s.rrho+ A. a. To-,
l7,o+ha,. cto,,, LII .,,, 10, ~ 49,
dent',. and vet ba fo,,nd stow ieffer-
sonion and nod 10 bold IN tbe decisio,
in tbe Dartnoutb collage case ,,,ora tho,
a vear 10 conx,ert hin, ord n,a,orit,,
Of the court 10 Bic onin;on mt i,tanJ
10 ta11, abo,,t tha+ - ,,o1 ~ o. -
Randolnb of Roanolse
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

times the crown for Frederick the Great.
When a youth of 10 Marshall Joined
the Continental army. Here Is how he
looked, according to his biographer:
''He was about six feet, straight and
slender, of dark complexion, with eyes
dark as blackness, strong and penetrat-
ing, beaming with intelligence and good
nature; an upright forhead, rather low,
was terminated in q horizontal line by
a mass of raven black hair of unusual
thickness and strength
And thus he was of that citizen SOL
diery of whom his kinsman and SUISSE
quent political enemy, John Randolph OF
Roanoke, said: "They were raised in a
minute, fought in a minute, marched in a
minute, fought in a minute, and van
quished In q minute Marshall was with
Washington at Monmouth, with Wayne at
stony Point. and with Light Horse Har-
ry" at Powles Hook.
In 1880, at the age of %, John Marshall
was admitted to the bar, and of all the
children of Adam and Eve, no one was
ever endowed by nature with qualities
that better fitted him for the legal pro-
fession than John Marshall. He was
natural born lawyer. just as Shakespeare
was a born poet and Napoleon a soldier.
He served no initiate but went to the
front at once. I believe It is Writ who
tells of his strolling into hotel in Rich
mond one morning eating cherries from
his hat. He had been recommended to a
guest Of that hotel who had an important
suit before the supreme court The old
fellow refused to employ SO undignified
and careless young man, and went off
and gave the retainer to a solemn old
lawyer, in powdered wig and black coat.
The first case on the docket was one in
which Marshall and the old lawyer were
the opposing counsel, and the young man
showed such superiority to his dignified
adversary that our old litIgant went to
him. frankly stated the case, and saying
that he had but So left after paying the
old lawyer 800, asked II he would under
take the case. Marshall laughed, ac-
cepted the So and won the case.
That may or may not be a true story,
but 1t was eminently characteristic of
the man.
When 81 years of age Marshall was
counsel in one of the greatest legal con-
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

memory, the vacancy thus made in tho
club was never filled.
One day after court adjourned, a little
boy of s, afterward a leading member of
the American bar, carried some papers
from his father. a great lawyer, to the
home of the chief justice Marshall saw
at glance how much the child was in
awe of him, and proposed. Harry, come
into the back yard and I'll beat you play
ing marbles" And so they went. and in
two minutes that boy was as frolicsome
as was the then greatest jurist in the
world, with whom he was playing mar
bles.
Did you ever hear of school butter?r
When | was shaver of 7, one day n
fellow named Hardy, weighing 200 pounds.
passed our school house and hallowed
school butterl' Our teacher turned us
all lose with orders TO duck him. That
| some 90 of us did. Nobody knew what it
! was all about but all of US knew "school
| butter was a mortal affront II is re-
| lated that 1t was simply impossible for
Marshall TO pass a school house without
, crying school butter" and many was the
fine he paid in hard cash to escape duck
ing.
One more. One day in April when the
supreme court was in session two emil
nent practitioners at that bar were walk
ing along Pennsylvania avenue near
They were rivals and Necessarily enemies
and now they We're in heated discussion
when sudden heavy shower came up and
they took refuge in tailor shop conduct
ed by an old and eccentric Irshman
named Brock. There the quarrel con-
tinued and they came to blows, after
which both were arrested and carried be-
fore the police court.
Old Brock was the sole witness, and ne
deposed: IT was sitting on my bench.
sewing on a garment. entertaining an idea
and cogitating thought, when 1 heard =
voice say, An yes a - rascalp and an
other voice answered, AN yes - ras-
cali An then 1t wint, An We a - ras-
call! An yes a - rascalp An yes a
rascalp An yes a rascalp An faith [
got to think my shop was full of -
raseais, but whin looked round, 10, there
was but twoi'
That was as far as the trial ever got.
Everybody burst out laughing, and for
80 years it was the stock aneedote of John
Marshall. who laughed thousand times
over it,
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03

have had for writing such hymn. Was
he sufficiently far-sighted to know that
this exquisite little gem would become
familiar to millions who would never
hear of "Lalla Rookie" nor of "The
Loves of the Angels?" This would be
rather a wild conjecture. The motives
which have actuated eminent writers do
not always lie on the surface. Dean
Swift confessed that he wrote for fame,
that Is. in order to be talked about. Sam
Johnson not only confessed that he wrote
for money, but he held that there was
little sense In writing for anything else.
There Is little reason to believe that
Shakespeare had any idea of making
great epoch In dramatic literature by
writing his matchless plays. His princi-
pal motive seems to have been to bring
money to the "Blackfriars' and the
"Globe." the theatres in which these plays
were originally performed.
From Seminary Notes." published in
a Baptist paper, comes the following
sentence: Jonah did get stuffed into gas
trio quarters, where spern-oil odor was
somewhat unpleasant, but he never got
into anything like our Hebrew examina-
tions" Now, the youthful theologian who
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03
JOHN MARSHALL-By Savoyard

tests an American court ever adjudi
Gated. Associated with him were Patrick
Henry, Alexander Campbell, and James
Innes, and on the other side was the
great John Wickham, aided by Roland,
Stark and Baker, giants Of the Virginia
bar. 1t was from that litigation that
grew our colloquium, "old British debts"
The act of the Virginia legislature dur
ing the Revolutionary war worked the re-
pudiation of every debt owed by Vir-
gilman to an Englishman, but by the
treaty of peace recognizing our indepen-
dence, debts owing by q colonist to an
Englishman were to be recognized In the
courts of both countries. IL was q the
construction of that clause of the treaty
that was before the court presided over
by Chief Justice John Jay, Justice Iredell
of the United States circuit court, and
United States District Judge Griffin.
Marshalls speech in the case is a mar
vel of judicial logic. / have never found
anything like 1t except in some pleas of
jeremiah 8. Black, some decisions OF
George Robertson of the Kentucky court
of appeals, and his speeches in the legis-
lature when the "old court" and new
court were rife; some of the speeches in
the Senate of the United States by Rob
ert Toombs, and other speeches in the two
houses of Congress by Ben Hill. Marshall
contended that Virginia was a sovereign
nation when the legislature repudiated
those debts, as a war measure, and that
the moment the legislature SO acted the
debts no longer existed, and consequently
they We're not in contemplation in the
fourth article Of the treaty of peace.
But the court held differently, and the
Virginians were made to pay for what
they had bought, and the court was pre-
cisely right. Every man should be made
to pay for what he buys. But IL one will
read Marshalls speech he will be. much
struck with its wonderful ingenuity.
Here is a passage from Kennedys life
of William Writ:
'From what have heard of Campbell
I believe that for mere eloquence his
equal has never been seen in the United
States. He and the future chief justice
went to Philadelphia. to argue a cause.
They were opposed by Hamilton Lewis
and others, great luminaries of the north
ern bar. Campbell played off his Apol-
lonian airs. Marshall spoke as he
always did, to the judgment only"