davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

cinched his or her inviolable situation
by the daily practice of the earlier virtue
of biting. 1t made no difference. Tears
rolled down their faces at the story OF
the peasant farmer, Auguste Mattin.
r
1t did them good to hear OF Auguste
Jointly with his three brothers he had
inherited four acres OF land. The broth
ers, though all over forty years of age.
have always been feeble-minded, feeble
bodied and helpless. From morning till
night. therefore, the elder brother tins
the four acres, working like four men to
support four men.
When at night he crawls to the house
dog-tired there is no supper waiting LOT
him. He must get the supper for Mini
self and his feeble minded brothers-and
the breakfast and dinner-because no
woman Of the countryside will work be-
side those feeble-minded cranks. For M
teen years Auguste has acted as father.
mother, sick nurse. servant girl and
hired man for those three troublesome,
good-for-nothing degenerates. He has
never complained. never sought to shit
their responsibility to the community.
Years ago he was engaged to farm
er's daughter. They never married. but
she waited for him. The French Acad-
envy when it does things does them we'll
It forcibly removed the three brothers
TO asyiums and handed Auguste 500
cash He is only forty-five years old
Now he will marry her who waited for
him.
In his majestically turned Grafton I'M
der the dome of the institute the Vicomte
de Vogue had the audacity to claim Ba-
thilde and Auguste. the Widow Dueillet,
Old Maid Julie Francon and ia others
like them for SO many esoteric brothers
and sisters of the Immortals.
'Despising the good things Of life,
giving themselves wholly to the saving Of
others, they realize offhand the long
dream of the greatest souls.' he said.
I'm presence of their obscure lives the
most effulgent maxims pale. and in them
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18
Br0uuht Home.

CHARLES P. TAFT. the Presidents
- brother. has one OF the finest art
collections in America.
Mr.. Taft was talking to Cincinnati re-
porter the other day about art fakes.
Eve all laugh at art fakes" he said.
when it is our neighbor that is taken
in. But when we are taken in ourselves,
then we realize what a heinous business
art taking is. and we see how necessary
it is for the faker to be punished.
I'm fact. it is a good deal like the
case of Deacon Broadbent.
Deacon Broadbent, a very honest and
pious man. was conducting Christmas
revival with great success, In a word.
his powerful exhortations had brought
Calhoun White, the towns worst sinner,
weeping to the mourners' bench.
1.-The deacon, gratifed by this proof
of his evangelical. prowess, fastened to
Calhoun's side.
Deacon sobbed Calhoun faint no
use in nah comm up. Use sinned away
de day o. grace
No, yo' hain't, Brudder CAL said
the deacon. All yo' got to do is to glib
up sin an all will be forgibben.'
Use done glib it up. deacon, but dar
hain't no salvation 70 me-
Yes. dey is. hon. Dey hain't no sin
so black but it kin be washed whittier n
de snow
but / done stole 70 young tuckeys
last week. said the penitent.
"'Dat's all forgibben. Cal
can free de week befo'.'
"'Dat's forgibben, too
AN six fat Christmas geese
"The deacon suddenly frowned and stiff
fened.
six fat Christmas geese outer yore
own yard, deacon-dem fat geese wot yo'
lowed to set so much store by
"'Wot's dat yo' say the deacon hiss
ed, furiously.
"It was me wot stole yo' Christmas
geese, sah.'
The deacon rose.
~ reckon, Calhoun he said. slowly,
I reckon Use spoke too hasty. Dis case
o. yourn needs advisement 1 amt shO
dat ives justified in clutterin' up de king
dom O. heben wild chicken thieves"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

One of the strong men Of 1.-The party of the
dukes in the French Academy. OF family
that descends from the crusades, he is related
by old and modern marriages to half the legit-
Vogue. is also one Of the Forty Immortais, both
being types Of the grand seigneurs of literary
and artistic leanings. whose natural fine
ners. innate tact and measure supposed
to react merely literary academcians to
their polishing in taste and insight for the final
He began life a diplomat in Russia; made
Russian noveists. including Tostoi. known to
the western world; headed the Neo- Christian
movement, and Is writer Of repute serious
social issues in the form Of novels.
from all parts of France. giving tips on
worthy parties. A virtue prizes commit
tee asks for confirmation and details
from local mayors; Classics, investigates
and votes the prizes to the worthiest,
and. turn by turn. one Of the Forty
makes the great Grafton at their distri-
button.
The grafton is always a great event in
Paris-Brilliant. The entire forty gather,
in their gaudy costumes, sword by side.
Packed In the circling seats and htgh-up
<ribunes are the cream of fashion and old
families. The Immortals are aristocrats
of literature and learning, leading lives
of mild and serene ease, far from the vul-
French language pure-and compile
dictionary on which they have been work
ting eighty years past. They are now at
the letter C.. Their audience is filled
with highbred women, in their furs and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18
Ten years ago she got q state appoint
ment and salary. Every dollar of this
salary she has spent in clothing and Civ
ing lunches to poor little pupils.

ment ana salary Every dollar or this
salary she has spent in clothing and Civ
4
Julie Francon. the old maid Of Bourg-
Argental, supported her infirm parents,
blind sister and feeble-minded niece
during fifteen years. When the latter
had died she opened her house to the
pauper incurables of the town. At Tou-
Ion. Antoinette Dusser, factory hand at
thirty cents day, brought up three
young sisters, and supported her old
parents till their death. Bat1ilde Lecuer.
another factory hand and an orphan,
brought up nine little brothers and sis
tiers. Today Bathilde is thirty years
Old the elder brothers and sisters are
grown up. One brother. who has re-
turned from military service, has taken
over the farm. and Bathilde can at last
think of herself A neighboring farmer
demanded her hand in marriage. but lit
tie Paul, the remaining of her brothers,
cried:
''If little mother marries who will
take care of me?" and the match was off.
What is virtue?" asked the Vicomte
de Vogue of his fashionable luxurious
audience. The etymology of the word
declares virtue to have originally been
been softened, some will say weakened.
In distributing these Christmas gifts we
are certainly far from the state of mind
of the Lacedaemonian general, who dis
covered virtue in a mouse that had bit
his thumb while he was rummaging in a
basket of figs. You see.' he observed,
there is no animal SO weakly that 1t
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18
A Happy Holiday.
MISS EDNA MAY, at a dim,

MISS EDNA MAY, at dinner in New
AvA York, urged the ladies about her
never to give their husbands Christmas
presents OF wine. cigars or cigarettes.
I'VE know nothing about these things"
she said. THE fact was brought home to
me at a luncheon at the Hotel du Paiais
in Biarritz.
In the dining room OF this superb no.
tel. with the enormous breakers OF the
Bay of Biscay crashing against the stone
foundations OF the terrace, a young mar
quis said to me:
Last Christmas was the happiest of
my life.'
How was thatr asked.
A thief broke into my town house.
said he, and stole the case Of 1000 ciga-
rettes that my wife had given me-. /"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

''I' DO rantS they gave ~ "iuO"
larie Deuillet near Cantal; 1900 francs
o Julie Francon. an old maid OF Bourg-
argental: 1900 to Marie Linas, another
Did maid, of Cahors.
And so on. 1900 francs. 1000 francs,
Leo francs, Loco francs, 500 francs-the
list reads like a lottery drawing: In all,
IL big cash Christmas gifts to men and
women all over France. whom these
academicians never saw.
Why did the most elegant and aristo-
cratic audience of all Paris thunder APP
olause. with tears in their eyes, when the
.'icomte de Vogue read out the name:
'Lauretine Armenjon-1,jOO francs?
Has Lauretine written poetry, painted
pictures. explored, invented, discovered.
or done heroic, brilliant act? Is she
beautiful and charming? Was she there
n strength, to triumph in the praise they
gave her with the money!
No. Lauretine, once fair. is close to fad
ing. She has awaked. after fifteen years
Of sordid toll, to something of mild JOY
and peace. because brave man waited
'or her: but that is a mere accident.
Lauretine gets 1,5OO francs for merely
being good, and SO the others, worn with
years, who have had no one waiting for
Them These cash surprise gifts are the
strange. touching virtue prizes" of the
French Academy. initiated over 100 years
ago by Robert Auget. Baron de Mont
yon, governor of Provence, In 1853, state
councilo in 1915. and chancellor Of the
Comte d'Artois (Charles ~ In 1850. He
amassed vast fortune in the public
service. emigrated to England in the rev.
oution. returned in 1915. and lived until
1870. always occupied in good works.
Baron de Montyon in his will, left
money at interest to the French Academy
in trust to pay money prizes annually Ito
poor French persons having accomplished
the most yirtuous action prolonging it
self over the two preceding years"
Every Oh. istmas there are nineteen
such Montyon prizes. Other French phi
ianthropists admired the plan and swelled
the funds. which bear their names. and
these funds into the milliOns-the
Souriau prize. the Marie Lasne prize. the
Honore de SISSY prize. the Prizes &C.
mond. Laussat. Lelevain. Camille-Favre,
LANCE. Bouisson, Robin, Peltier de LAM
bale. Boutgny. Gouilly- Dujardin. Varat-
Larouse. Perou, Echalie, Savourat, Salo-
mon, Gabiou. Pilliot. Grinand, Genin.
Rigot, Passemard. Maugenet. Leisz. and
so on, gilt-edged investments bearing
steady interest, streams of gold that
Tever dry or vary
The annual prizes range from 5000 to
10 francs apiece. Some are to reward
''tiit eirtuous acts. or ''recompense
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18
The Point of View.

& ENATOR BEvERIDGE. apropos OF
the oldfashioned. snowy Christmas.
said the other day:
Snow, of course. has its disadvantages
from some points OF view.
Snow is beautiful In its season." Solo
mon said that. But I know an old In
dianapolis man who. on hearing this re-
mark Of Solomons. grumbled:
oh. yes. no doubt it was beautiful 70
you, sittin' with all the wines and lasses
of Jerusalem beside you. but II you'd
been a poor stonecutter you'd never have
said any such thing"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18
jewels and splendid toilets. What have
they all to do with the poor humble peo-
ole they have met to honor?

Jewels and splendid toilets. what nave
they all to do with the poor humble peo-
ole they have met to honor?
We meet to abase ourselves before a.
hundred living. breathing saints" said
the Vicomte de Vogue, the orator of this
year. Il have always shrunk from this
task, he continued. "Who has not felt
shame and pain. on hearing a professional
politician crate over the grave of a hero!
1t seems almost as immodest and profane
for mere bookmakers, In the pomp of an
academic seance, not to talk letters, but
to measure virtues, weigh transcendent
merits and distribute crowns to those
whose lives we would do better to hum
bly, mediate in silence.
The Vicomte de Vogue told how he shut
himself up with the report of the virtue
prizes committee and its documents.
YEARLY. he began to glance through let
ters and certificates of every form and
handwriting, of all degrees of ignorance
and education. After fifteen minutes, he
was ravished.
Listen to the tale of Laurentine Armen-
jon, seventh of a family of seventeen chill
dren. The youngest being stolen by gyp-
sizes, the mother went crazy. While the
father earned food I'm his fields, Lauren
tine took direction of the household. Dur
ing ten years, alone. she cared for, cooked
for dressed and brought up fourteen
kids; during five years more, when all
had gone away. grown up. she stayed
and cared for her demented mother. For
ten years. she refused to marry the man
she loved. And if the academy's Christ
mas gift of 1900 francs is also to be her
wedding portion, it is only that her
mother does not need her, having at last
died.
Henri Rollet, the Paris lawyer, neglect
ed his practice to rescue hayward boys
from the police courts. He has been at it
all his life. and has a record of 5000 bud
ding apaches turned safely into the
French army as loyal young soldiers. The
widow Dueillet took. up the work OF
Father Robert, who, as young man, in
herited a lonely house in the gorge Of
AveyrOn. There. one by one, he collected
all the crippled. epileptic and rickety chill
dren of the surrounding peasantry. To-
day, 700 incurables live in the house and
it's annexes. An old mill has become
transformed to weaving factory. makes
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18
Value of InventiveneSS.

JEROME s. McWADE, the millionaire
J collector Of Duluth, gives annually a
Christmas dinner to the poor.
At last years Christmas dinner Mr.. Nc
Wade urged his humble guests to culti-
vate inventiveness, illustrating the value
of inventiveness with an anecdote.
1.-TWO homeless and penniless and shiv-
ering tramps," he said, "loitered in Du-
luth on a Christmas day at dinner time.
CHEEKY people hurried into the Duluth
restaurants. from whence savory odors
issued. and the two tramps bitterly re-
GREETED that they had not the price Of
the usual Christmas turkey, cranberry
sauce and plum pudding.
Suddenly the more inventive OF the
men spied in the snow the frozen corpse Of
a little dead mouse. Lifting the creature
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

good actions Others specify 1.-THE best
devotion to family. "acts Of probity."
"acts OF courage and devotion" "servants
long devoted to their employers or
continuing to serve their masters dur
old people,, or "fraternal Devotion. In
particular there are numerous prizes for
sons or daughters who "by their manual
labor alone have supported father and
mother" or supported a sick parent or
supported b. others or sisters There is
even one for the Frenchman. poor and
Woodworking, who has admirably sup
ported his mother -in-law.'
Throughout the year the French Acad
envy receives memorials and petitions
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

we find new witness to the saying of
Montague, that naive ignorance and per-
feet science sometimes run across each
other in the truth. The French Acad
envy would not fulfill it's destiny If among
all those who serve the ideal it should
neglect the best
To praise an aged servant girl Yvonne
Cry, who, working without wages twenty
years, buried her employers and brought
up their five little children, the Vicomte
de Vogue BUNDLED the poet, the artist,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

a little colony almost self-sustaining. The
peasant Robert. recently died-a saint,
according to the whole countryside; and
the widow Dueillet takes the 5000 francs
as his successor.
When only seven years old. Marie Linas
walked fourteen miles a day for school,
ing at Cahors. Working In the fields, she
studied at night and conducted classes
for her comrades. During twenty years
she was the unpaid, unofficial school
teacher of the remote mountain commune.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18
THE Virtue Prizes of the
! Forty Immortals-How
They Give Away Big Money
Annually to Humble Men and
Women Just for Being Good.
PARIS. December IL, 1909.

UST before Christ
mas every year the
Forty Immortals
of the Ere n O b
Academy meet in
solemn public con-
clave to give away
money.
Eight thousand
francs they gave
last week to Henri
Rollet, a broken
down Paris law
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

cannot save it's life II 1t has the virtue to
defend ITSELF Virtue in those days meant
to know how to bite
AT present" continued the orator, I'VE
tend to recompense on the contrary. the
sacrifice OF self and the most perfect
abnegations. The virtue we celebrate
demands moral. rather than physical
force
The brilliant audience listened in deep
emotion. There was probably not single
aristocrat or millionaire who had not
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

the statesman, savant and philosopher.
Even the hero and the martyr fell short
of Yvonne's merit.
Doubtless there is relationship be.
tween the great thought and the beauti-
full act" said the. immortal. yet the no.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18

blest action does but invite; and IL Q
great work suffices to show genius q
single beautiful act is not SUFFICIENT 10
realize virtue. Heroism. martyrdom even,
may be OF a moment: virtue is duration.'
STERLING HELLO.
Evening star., 1909-07-18

said little fellow Ia a pompous man.
"An't they cute papa
They arc little deers, son. said the
man.
Are they?" cried the delighted child.
Amt that nice? That's what mamma
says l am. too And he was.
Away from the beaten path there are
shad. walks and secluded hooks where
one may run upon a Sauntering twain
holding hands" This is such mild and
yet soul-satisfying form of enjoyment
that even the strligh--laced can but sym
patliiZe with their evident content with
the world and themselves. Not for them
Is the monkey house. the aviary or the
aquarium, while their hearts are ycarn-
ing for the cool shadows of the less pub
lie spots. As 4 matter Cf fact, wherever
4 crowd congregates there will always be
found evidence Of the tender passion.
Even AZ tile ball game will he found a
bride and groom too intent upon them
selves to follow the game intelligently.
and for enthusiasm there is nothing to
equal this sport. Here one sees the-old-
Evening star., 1909-07-18

like this. anyhow. in the good old sum
mertime'?
X
There is not much difference between
the wet and dry resorts. At the for
mrr there is larger percentage OF the
stronger sex. perhaps, but in the main
they are much the same. To one of these
a youth and maid were bound one never
be-forgotten evening. She wore a
brOad-very broad-hat. on the order or
the merry widow" which proved to pc
something of an eXtinguisher. or Wouid
have been to less interested admirer, TO
his display OF sentiment. He held his
arm around her shoulders and he looked
down into her soulful eyes in manner
that brought the Shy bushes to her
damask cheek. No need for rustic daisy
to tell her whether 'he loves he loves
me not 1t was printed i'll large type IN
his telltaie orbs, and-wel. II is too bad.
but few unloved and unlovng youths
on the back platform "eot next and be
gan a whistled concert for the special
benefit of the enamored twain. SHINE
On, Harvest Moon, for Me and My Gaf
seemed to be q favorite selection, though
Love Me and the World Is Mine was
rendered in manner calculated To touch
her heart instanter. In the course of
time-qIiite some tifne-the girl also got
next and then she gently. but firmly.
adjusted matters to a more matter-of-fact
basis. much to the regret of the audience
When the couple reached Glen Eclo
they went straightway and had their for
tune told. and the joy in their faces aft
erward must have been ample compensa-
tion to the gypsy queen" who foretold
for them the lives of all others they most
desired.
Where the lights gleam amid the syl-
Evening star., 1909-07-18

man witl-the- boy s-heart, who roots
louder than anybody else. and almost in
variably knows" how the game will re-
suit after the fourth inning. A few seats
back of him is another man with the
face of a cherub and white curly hair.
who is coatless and hatless and the CEN
ter OF an enthusiastic group. He is boy
now, all right, though he may be a stiff
business proposition in the morning. Over
in the bleachers the fans are bowling
madly because the umpire has given a
bum decision. while in the grandstand
two fair ones in violet mushrooms" are
discussing a box of candy and the fash
ions, much to the disgust of their neigh
bors The kids are calling scorecards and
peanuts at the tops of their shrill treble,
and-oh, it's great.
"Golly.'' says a 16S-pound sylph in
purple panel princess, they're a-takin'
everything that's a-cOmin' their Way.alnt t
they?"
law" announces a knowing voice sew
eral seats in the rear, that of boy with
bright eyes and eight summers, you just
watch 'em. They'll put 'em out on
bunt!"
And they did, too.
The purple panel-prncess talks base ball
as scientifically as man and drives
home her observations with such express
sions as .'Gee!' ''Golly." and once she
exclaimed with. great force: Now what
did he do that for? Gee. that's rotten.
An outfielder had fumbied.
Goodness exclaims one OF several
Evening star., 1909-07-18

athletic girls who have on low collars and
let their hair blow. She must be a
country bride. No one else would come
out here gotten up like that such a
day as this She refers 20 young wom
an who is wearing a close dotted veil
drawn over her features and whose feel
ings can only be judged by her own upon
the simple contemplation of her appear
ance. The man who is with her has his
coat off. and is tanning himself with his
hat The girls discuss her until the sec
ond game of the double-leader is called.
Say don't YOU think this umpire is
something of bully, Maude?'
..Oh. he's got 10 be to hold his job"
SAID Maude. That's cinch.''
We'll. l guess your right at that.
a nice ladylke young man is kept busy
explaining the different terms and their
meanings to a pretty girl beside him.
"A strike is when the batter misses the
ball as ii goes over the plate. and a hit
is when the batter hits it
LAW. cut. cut it,. says maddened
giant on the other side The ladylike
young man turns to him III surprise.
Were you addressing me, sir?"
The giant looks at the pretty girl and
moves his seat. and the ladylike young
Evening star., 1909-07-18

and bass reply floats out upon the lis
tening air.
Il don't care rap who sees me. Whose
business is it, anyhow?
OF course. YOU do not look, but you
know. and 50 does every body else. just
was it. indeed, Youth is ficeting and
Cupid hates a trump.
Come on and lets swing. pleads an
other swain. and the groups around him
burst into cries of No. thank You!
Excuse mer' Not on your life. ou
die alone. me boy and many other IKE
comments. It may be a joke to then' out
the aforesaid swain does swing, ana. what
is more. she swings with him. and thes
eat peanuts while they swing.
The crowd around the dancing paNi""' "'
Luna Park is typical. Here is always d
double line of .ulookers ON the outside OF
he railing and Il swarm of merry coupieN
within There are a numbe: or pari'eri'ss
onlookerS who wear rather boteu eA
preston though they valianty ehdea'"'
to appear amused. .H-
inquiries a plump girl with huge hunch
Of puffs at the back Of her head, VINO Is
waiting for the music to begin. tief
partner, a tail youth, who Is che"llls
gum in a maddening fashion, is beside
her.
NO indeedy." returns Beatrice. with a
toss of her head, its too warm TO dance
/ only came out to look on awhile
'-Oh, fudge on your cries the plump
one. "You amt got any partner, that
what's the matter"
This was none the less cruel from the
fact that apparently it was true, for