davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
In Old vIrolnla,

Virginia is not known as a reactonary state, but many of my friends there tell me that not few democrats want to re- turn to the convention plan of nomi- mating party candidates" said J. M. Ja- cobs of Baltimore. q spent last week in Virginia, and while there heard much talk about the small primary vote on August 5, when Judge Mann beat Tucker for the gubernatorial nomination.
 ''The primary vote has been falling off steadily and the republicans have some chance of carrying the state in Novem- Der.
 The prohibition sentiment is not so strong now as 1t was six months ago. There is no probability of Virginia hav- ing statewide prohibition The state widers will doubtless keep up their fight but in the opinion of many conservative temperance people without avail.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
William Winter and the Tribune

One Hart Lyman, of whom the aver age man knows nothing at all, has con. trived to drive William Winter from the post on the New York Tribune that he had filled since 1865. The av- craze man does know and does respect William Winter. No dramatic critic in this country outranks him. His judgment, his honesty, his skill in han ding subjects relating to the stage are known of all men, and all will regret to hear that the man who was appointed by Horace Greeley has been turned out by Lyman Hart.
 The change will not, however, injure William Winter. It will not lessen the field of his activities. He Is an old man, and possibly he does not care to do as much work as he has been doing. The injury will be the Tribune's alone. The criticisms that vast numbers ac- cepted without question or dissent will no longer appear in that paper. Some other paper will publish them, how ever, and the interest that once turned to the Tribune for discussions of new stage problems will turn elsewhere, for there is but one William Winter in this country. There are many Lyman Harts.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
THIS WAY TO THE JAMES FARM. ADMISSION 25 CENTS.

The road then leads through pasture and over a hill to a low, rambling house. new at one end and old at the other. At the gate another sign nailed high upon a weathered tree announces that this is the James farm, and that stran- gers who enter the picket gate are ex- pected to pay 25 cents for the privilege and what goes with it. Two doors face the visitor, and at one stands white haired, white-waisted woman, stern faced and wrinkled, who requests that
 You curiosity seekers come right in this way" Mrs. Zeralda Samuels, mother Of the James boys, now s4 years old. and with nothing but life of hardships to look back upon, in selling what remains of her sons notoriety at 20 cents tell ing as a means of livelihood.
 Perhaps the visitor has had thoughts Of romance as he guided his horse over the rocky roads. Perhaps as he reached a particularly wild place he has thought Of the days when Frank and Jesse James made such places their rendezvous And by the time he has reached the farm per- haps quite a little glamour has found a
 
 the alleged desperadoes lived. But 1t quickly fades.
 A few other persons may be there ahead of the visitor, and they will be found seated in a circle in the little room graced with the name of "parlor." Another chair Is brought and offered the visitor. Then the sterotyped recital from the mother begins as she sits in small rocker where she can point out the various pie tures-after she has received the quarter of a dollar.
 First the pictures are shown-the pie lures of Jesse when Jesse was 5 years old. another when he was man and another Just before his death. And after Jesse comes Frank. His boyhood pie lures. framed in the style of years ago, are pointed out, and then the picture of his present home on farm in Okla homa.
 After the pictures of the "boys'- there's no mention of their misdeeds. ex- cept In tone of derision for anyone who has ever dared accuse them of any thing worse than guerrilla warfare-a part of a hand grenade, used now as a door fastener, is pointed out
 .sThat's what the Pinkertons threw" the old woman says. "and that's what tore hy arm off and killed my little
 
 heard a. crash. We ran to the rear part of the house to see what it was. and when we got Into the room my husband saw the grenade smosSing in the middle of the floor. He kicked 1t into the fire nIace and A moment later 1t exploded. It tore my little boy to pieces and took my arm off. But they didn't get the boys, those detectives"
 A quarter of an hour or elaooratloh solIowa and then the old woman rises
 "This way. please she says, and leads the way to the older part Of the house. There she shows the room where the hand grenade was exploded and removes a board so that the visitors may see the fireplace Out into the air again and then comes the grave" of Jesse James
 Years ago the body was removed to Kearney, where 1t is now buried.
 "Pick some of the flowers" the old woman orders, as she sits on bench be- meath a large tree. Lawsy I'm glad Frank ain't hara today He'd say. Nav.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
HOME OF THE JAMES BOYS

for goodness sake, put somepin on yer head and here I've been In the sun for 10 minutes without thing on. But go right on, l was just wonderin about Frank a bit-you know, he just hates folks from Chicago. He makes me charge them double when they come here. One time some folks from Chicago come here and I was busy out in the yard about something or other. I ain't quite able to think what 1t was right now-but any way, I was busy and I says to Frank, I says: Frank James. where on earth are your manners? Can't you go in and en- certain them folks for while?' And so he went in, an seein' they were from Chicago he just said to them as he passed oyer the register for them to sign, Well, the first thing we take Is your names, and then. after that, we take your pocket book Well, one man from Chicago went right straight up into the air. He thought he was being robbed sure. But all Frank meant was that he wanted 25 cents. That's just his way of putting it, you know"
 "Yes," and she points to the place that was once a grave, that's where my dear boy slept for 22 years. He's sleeping over in Kearney now. Lord rest his soul, but keep this place up just for myself"
 And then, after the grave has been vis- ited, comes the story of the war and of the hardships of 1t.
 And that's about all there is-for the ordinary visitor. But once in a long while Mrs Samuel consents to tell her whole story.
 i've told you all of it except about my husbands" she will say. My first one, you know, was a Baptist minister, and he came out here and built this house when we were first married. Then, one day he started for California.
 "It was right out there he stood"-and she pointed to the gate-"and the pack animals were all loaded up. Little Jesse ran out of the house and he ran up to his father and put his arms around his legs.
 ," Don't go, daddy, he said, and kind a felt that I was never going to see my husband again. I told him so, but he was cheerful and told me that he would soon be back. No letters came for months, and then I learned that he had died of fever and exposure on the desert.
 After that I married Dr. Samuels and when the war came they took nlm out and hanged him five times until he was nearly dead to make him tell something he didn't know. He died about year ago in a hospital for the feeble-minded in St. Joe"
 But how about the boys?"
 What about them?"
 "Did they do all these things they were accused of?''
 .'They didn't ever prove anything, did they? Didn't they try Frank James any number of times and finally acquit him? Of course they did And that's Just the way things went. Of course they didn't do anything All that was just talk. Why, they were two of the lovinist boys that ever lived. Brave, they were, too. Of course, Jesse was the most reckless. He'd rush into things without ever giving
 to h a kept his wits and he had the coolest brain But they didn't do anything crim- inal unless 1t was to fight with the south ern guerillas. That's all"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
Heat and Rainfall in a Big Country

While New York was flooded with rain and the mercury fell to 56 degrees the Mississippi valley had scorching heats ranging from 112 degrees in Ok lahoma City to 97 degrees in Mobile. This Is indeed the hottest period the corn and the cotton belts have expert enced this year, and the sultry winds of this spell may do some damage to the country's two great crops. The taproot of the cotton plant may, how ever, ward off serious damage in the cotton fields.
 The corn and the cotton belts have had, it should be remembered. more than their normal supply of moisture during the last five months, and this moisture is to some extent stored in the soil, and this reserve of moisture may outlast the hot wave More mois- true will, however, be needed before the season of grain seeding in Septem. Der Is entered upon. But no one can tell what day will bring forth in either temperature or moisture. The country is broad and full of weather, and what is occurring in one part of the country may be reversed any day in another part of it. The country is big enough to accommodate many kinds of weather simultaneously.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
POETRY BY THE TON.
pm the New York World.


 The hobby of Count Lovenspiel has placed the French government in posses sion of moe than 100 tons of poetry For many yeary he made a practice of col- lecting manuscripts of verse. He pur- chased the productions of all ages and so his accumuations covered an extended period, but naturally the writers of his own day predominate.
 While the counts purpose has not been divulged, 1t may easily be inferred that he acted logically and with keen appre- ciation of historic precedent. Most poets are misunderstood and neglected. It has been said that the true poet does not un- derstand himself. Occasionally a master like Byron appears who is applauded and fattered through life. but the rule is the other way. If Shakespeare or Milton was not correctly estimated by his own generation, what reason is there to SUD- pose that a son of fame or universal genius will now make himself known to many? The sweet singer quickly finds fa- vor and is soon forgotten. The prophet who reproduces and rearranges the ever lasting harmonies usually starves and suffers. and is discovered" only when inc things of this world are of no &C., count to him.
 Under the tender arrangement of the French count one country at least is reasonably sure of preserving It's poetry. If will lumber the archives and gather dust like other public documents. Most of it will perish, no doubt. but from time to time 1t may be that some patient in yestigator, remembering the experiences of poets from Homer to Keats, will find there a blossom plucked from the garden of the immortals.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
WEATHER AND SUICIDE.

From the Portland Oregonian.
 The theory that depressing weather and the reflection of the bodily discom- fort that 1t casts upon the mind is es- pecially conducive to suicide Is not borne out by the record of the past few days in Portland Five persons have taken their own lives in this city and immediate vicinity within a week-in fact, within three days-justifying the belief that the suicidal mania Is not a thermal malady.
 The usual variety of means to this gruesome end were employed in these cases-the revolver, hanging, acid, and falling in the way of a moving train each claiming a subject. The cause. as far as it could be traced, of these self murders was, except in one case, where the suicide was suffering from tubercu- losis, nothing that might not have been overcome by the exercise of ordinary fortitude. The vicissitudes of life bore no harder in either of the cases than in thousands which are met by men and women with tranquility, if not with oheerfulness, to the end of a long life Grief. lack of employment, i'll health do- mestic trouble, these are the usual causes that lead up to suicide and all of these have been and are consequently being met and overcome as the common vicissitudes of life before which only tho coward quails and voluntarily surrenders.
 If there is any remedy for this lack of courage-for the cowardice that weakly drops a burden without regard to where or upon whom it falls-no such remedy has been discovered, and 1t is probably not too much to say that no such dis covery will be made while weddings find 1t easier and more suited to their incli- nation to lie down than to stand up when the storms of life assail
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
DOOM OF NEWSPAPERS.
What Would Happen if Megaphone
 Should DlspIace Printing Press.

From the New York Sun.
 The ingenious Mr. Wells has predicted a time when the days news will be given to the world through the medium of gi- gantic mouthed megaphones There will be no writing. no reading in.those happy days. Books will have been abolished, the gentle art of typesetting as forgotten as Is today the secret of archaic Tyrian dyes. Those who lived by the pen perish ed by the pen (better say by the pub lishers). And what, we ask our startled the libraries. Carnegian and otherwise, all the printing presses, all the paper, ink, and scribblers were suddenly to vanish7
 Such a condition may be easier imagined than described. Say. for an example, that a universal benefcent tyrant suc- ceeded in abolishing books for century; ble and gold be erected by admiring and succeeding generations? Instead of miles of obituary notices. wouldn't his effigy in ivory and diamonds pass from hand to hand as a thing sacred? The world has for so many centuries been domi- mated by the superstition of the printed word that the silencing of ink for at least 100 years would bring forth nations composed of thinkers and warriors. Ocu- lists would-so out of business. Teaching in the open air, in the manner of ancient Athens, would again find popular favor The orator would top the novelist, and the Bryans and Roosevelts of that far away epoch-reticent, taciturn temper aments-would cast aside the pen for the speaking trumpet. Frabjous days, in- deed!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 Handsome is as handsome is dressed up in frils and finery.
 The way the average man likes to climb the ladder of success is on somebody else's back.
 It can even seem sentimental to a girl if a man tries to kiss her on the mouth and does 1t on the nose.
 A thing that makes mother have con fidence in her daughter is to know how she needs 1t to keep from being unhappy about it.
 One of the biggest jobs in life is for a man to love his wife about q mllionth part as much as 1t sounded In their love letters
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
ECHO.

By C. G. Rosetti. Come to me in the silence of the night; Come in the speaking silence of & dream; Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright As sunlight on a stream;
 Come back In tears, o memory, hope, love of finishd years! o dream how sweet, too sweet, too bit ter sweet, Whose widening should have been in Paradise, Where souls brimful of love abide and meet; Where thirsting, longing eyes
 Watch the slow door That opening, letting in, lets out no more. Yet come to me in dreams that I may live My very life again. though cold in death Come back to me in dreams that I may give Pulse for pulse, breath for breath;
 Speak low, lean low, As long ago, my love. how long agol
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
New Steamer To Be Built.

London, August 17.-The Cunard Steam ship company is inviting tenders for a new transatlantic liner. Details as to size. etc., have not been given out, but the new ship will not be as large as the Lusitania or the Mauretana, which ves- sels she is intended to replace whenever they lay up for repairs
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
Prosperitv of the TrI.CItjes.

J. B. McC1ary of Sheffield, general
 manager of the electric car line that con- meets Sheffield. Florence and Tuscumbia, was in Birmingham yesterday. He was for many years the manager of the rail- way department of the Birmingham Rail- way. Light and Power company and old friends here gave him cordial greeting as he passed along the streets. MT. Mo-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

If King Edward stays in Wall street long enough he will come out with no more fleece on than any other lamb has been able to carry off.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
IN THE MORNING.

Err! Err! Brrr!''
 The loud alarm is sounding And toilers reused from slumber deep From out their beds are bounding. Full well we know the days begun No need to ask the matter; No other times like "get up time." There's so much noise and chatter And sloshing round in tubs, forsooth, And jumping into clothes.
 "Errr Brrri Brrr!'' That's the way the alarm clock goesi
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

The consumer will be taxed s500,000 to pay the expenses of a session of Congress to revise the tariff upward and raise the cost of living.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

Senator Lodge has gone back to Massachusetts to say that he and Al drich let no rate be reduced that would hurt New England.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

When Thaw undertook to reform New York society with a gun he was declared insane, and the courts con tinue to stand by that decision.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

The simplicity and easy spelling of Minister Wu's name will be missed when he goes back home, for he has been recalled.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

The insurgents have nailed their col ors to the mast, and that mast is not on high tariff waters.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
ABOUT SALOME.

The chief of police wants the New York "Salome" dancers to wear tights. Here tofore they have merely worn a pleasant 1ook-Vicksburg Herald
 They don't always wear pleasant look We've noticed that when they get busy with the head of John the Baptist they wear an expression of countenance that is positively painful.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

In Canada municipalities subsidize baseball games instead of bands in the public squares. Free baseball is ac- ceptable to many people who would not stop to listen to free music.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

No sympathy need be extended to President Taft because of his long swing over the country, for he will have lower berth all the way.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

There are 12,0OO,O00 miles of tele- phone wire in use, but this fact is no satisfaction to one when he is told Lines busy"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

Airship carnivals will no doubt be- come popular if the one at Rheims is a marked success.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

On his 13,000-mile trip the President will use two private cars. It is lux ury that cannot be oyerdone on such a trip.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

Not even 97 degrees in the shade can wilt Birmingham's rising real es- tate values.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
From the Chicago Inter Ocean.

From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
 JUST about nine miles from Excel (o)l sior Springs on the road to Rear " ney-if that amount of hills fords. rocky, preciptous places and mud dy 'bottoms'' can be classed as no longer distance than just as the crow fiies-a wooden sign, gaudy yellow and scrawling, backed with faded black, proclaims:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

For aught one knows Walter We'll man may already have bagged the north pole and put it in his valise.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

Prices of necessaries naturally re- fuse to go down now that the tariff has been revised upward.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

Thus far no perceptible sagging has been detected in the golf links at Bev- erly.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES

Indians still roamed the woods. Miss Duffee is not only thoroughly familiar with the history of Alabama, and enjoys an acquaintance with noted people of to- day and other days that Is unique, but she writes exceedingly well, doing poetic justice to a time that is gone. In con- cluding her "reminiscences entitled "Pio- Heer Days" Miss Duffee pays fine trib- ute to David Crockett. one of Alabama's early settlers who gave his name to fame in Texas. It is an inspiration to stand on the spot in the Alamo where he fell Referring to Crockett and Blount Springs, Miss Duffee writes:
 And down in the glen nearby I seem to see, in the moonlight of this night of waning summer, two stalwart beech trees. the wigwam and the chained bear, and hear the rustic of wandering winds among the cane, and ripples of the spring branch, and two comrades recountlng their war memories-one the true and magnanimous Luther Morgan, the other him who loved liberty better than life and who stood until the curtain fell upon the most remarkable conflict recorded in history-1S7 men, armed only with guns and knives, against 1000 trained soldiers splendidly equipped, and aided by parks of artillery; and when the battle ended the 1S7 men were all slaughtered and 2OOO of their enemies lay cold In death and over all, through the pale mist of pitying skies, the lone star of Texasl
 What a wonderful career was that of the chieftain who drank in water, with knightly grace, to the honor and happi- mes of her whose gentle hand had smoothed his fevered brow. whose tender nursing had saved his life. whose modesty had taught him greater reverence for all women, that humble pioneers good wife in the distant valley.
 He, the theme of song and story the wide world over, who poured forth his blood as libatton upon the altar of liber ty, and died smiling that he could die for it.
 He so loved nature that surely, some where in the valley, wild rose will bloom and morning glory twine in mem- ory of him. and thrushAeing in the gloaming.
 LOOKS LIKE INSANITY.
 DO you believe that people ever go crazy from the heat?"
 I'm afraid they do. A married man up in North Carolina has just eloped with three married women"
 REPLIES.
 To follow the laughing ways of life the first requisite is a heart that never grows old.
 There Is really no sadness in the fate of the sere and yellow leaf. It has been useful and its day of service is ended.
 In the Book of Life the name of the man is written large who never wastes his time signing over what might have been.
 A poet tells how a man wandered the world over In search of love and then turned home and found his mother at the door The only love that never tires of waiting. PAUL COOK.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

This is Aviation week at Rheims, in France, although the Wright brothers will not be there.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

MT. Taft declines thus far to swell the membership of the Ananias club.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

The fall season will have fully ar rived when dealers begin to give away straw hats.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

Our old friend, Mir Car Shortage, be- gins to peer above the horizon.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18

A SIMPLE RECIPE. Because he liked to do it, He didn't hurry through it. I'm telling bout a man who loved his
 work. It might as well be noted, That's why he was promoted And not for long remained a humble
 clerk. To see him so successful To others was distressful- I mean the chumps who couldn't under
 stand That any one may get on A certain thing to bet on By doing well whatever lies at hand.