davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

among the gods. Tuberculosis is a good workman. but a poor advertiser. Smallpox now Is a fine advertiser, but a comparatively poor workman. He may succeed in spelling your face, but he will hardly kill you. Instead he will give you a, free, ride to the pesthouse and excellent care while there. But the pesthouse Word of horror Who does not shiver at the name? That name, like a diamond drill, bores even into the of ficial heart; like a far-flung bullet pierces even the official brain, carry ing an idea! Smallpox comes waving a flag; diphtheria, scarlet fever, even chickenpox and measles, come waving flags and everyone knows that a flag indicates danger. You wouldn't expect Not if he has money to spend, espe- cially the money of the whole com inoH .pInoM 1vql uo Yoeq os ol ueu B munity.
 Then again, you don't expect to get any other kind of brain than the deep seated, well protected kind for the meagre salaries of county officials do you? Is it statesmen you want? What statesmanship is necessary to spend the peoples money DO you imagine that the inhabitants of Olympus will come around cap in hand, and ''announce" for county offices? And not being gifted with the insight of the gods, not being statesmen, but just plain Jack and Bill, etc., with family connections which keep us fit for duty, don't you see that a statesmans grip upon the problems of infectious dis eases is the last thing to be expected of us? Why should we care about a dis ease that carries no flag or cries Be ware!" Nothing but a quarantine flag, preferably yellow, attached to every case of tuberculosis, will avail to brand upon the official brain the fact that tuberculosis Is deadlier. more easily spread, more widely restrictive, than smallpox, diphtheria. cholera, yellow fever, separately or combined. Must we not petition the Medical association to re- qure law adapted to the non-absorp- tive qualities of the official brain? VIII
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

or carpet. After a while it's meaning was enlarged and it came. as 'tapestry.'s 's to apply to woven curtains and various hangings upon walls of palaces and churches. The tapestry of the ancientx was sometimes most gorgeously orna- mented with gold and precious stones, while the subtle and beautiful scenes were taken from the Scriptures church history and classical stories Tapestry is wrought by process between weaving and embroid- cry, and Is worked in a web by needles. instead of shuttle. Tapestry carpet is a two-ply or ingrain fabric. whose warn is dyed before weaving. This is very different from the original tapestry, of course It is wrought by machinery.
 Lord Bacon, in his essay on Friendship, perpetrated a remarkable anachronism in regard to tapestry. He says, ''It was well said by Themstocles to the king of Persia, that Speech is like cloth of Arras, opened and put abroad. whereby the imagery doth appear in figure, where as in thoughts they lie but in packs.'s cannot imagine how Bacon made this mistake in alluding to Arras. for there was no tapestry made in Arras, a town in northern France until after the Middle Ages. Arras since that time has been famous for its wonderful tapestry. The reader will remember that Shake- speare conceals the two williams that are to put out Arthur's eyes behind the hanging Arras. Old Polonius was hidden behind the Arras when Hamlet's sword penetrated the tapestry and slew him. Falstaff suggested that he hide behind the Arras at Windsor. The word is used about 12 times in Shakespeare and al- ways means hanging tapestry Marlowe. in his Faustus used Arras once: .I'lI not speak another word for kings ran- som, unless the ground be perfumed, and covered with cloth of Arras."
 I do not pretend that the dictionariea will tell you all the things I've said of tapestry. nor. indeed all that I have said of the other words in the series hereto- fore considered: but I do say. that they give much information on all the sub- jects mentioned.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

Years ago the family physician rode in a vehicle whose name bears a, relation ship to a certain class of young people whom I've often met. The name of the vehicle was "gig," which word meant ito move lightly and easily; something that moves up and down and makes a sound like the wind rushing through trees" The old fashioned gig moved easily and lightly, and having but two wheels, the springs were constantly caus- ing an up-and-down notion. But these motions were very short ones. and. as the definition requires. they were sudden and constant. From 'gig" we have ''gig- gle,''' short, sudden form of laughter, with constant catching of the breath. which produces a slight resemblance to the sound of the wind passing through trees. This etymology may be far-fetch- ed. but if it be, the dictionaries are re- sponslble
 | had curious experience some years ago A, man whom I had known only 8 few. months, came to me and asked that marry him to his former wife. whom he had divorced. Tell me-" said I, why did you divorce her, and let me know why you think you will be happier with ner now than you were before you divorced her" He answered. Well, don't know that we will be happier, but the children need her, and, perhaps, she has learned not to giggle. I divorced her because she was eternally giggling' | was astonished, but said. "Very well, bring her to the rectory. I'll marry you" He brought her. In order to learn whether or not she had abandon ed the vice of giggling, sat by her and engaged her in conversation. I never before had heard anything so painfully exasperating Not only was every word followed by giggle, but almost every syllable was hyphenated from it's fellow. by an explosion of sudden, hilarious, shrill laughter, uttered in the widest staccato movement O. 1t was unbearable; and yet, it was pathetic When they left my home l was exhausted. Of course, l
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

sent them away as husband and wife
 Within one month they were separated.
 was sent for and found him in jail He
 preferred the jail to a home with the
 poor giggler I became responsible for
 him, took him from the prison, paid
 his fare to a distant city. and have not seen him since. l fancy now, and, in- deed, thought then, that the woman S giggling was the audible expression Of some nervous disorder
 In my judgment the finest game in the
 world, except one, is old fashioned
 whist The one exception is chess. at which certain lady in certain rectory, in certain city named Birmingham, al-
 ways compels me to turn down my
 poor defeated king. Barring chess whist,
 think, is the king of games. What does
 the name whist mean? The lexicogra-
 phers, so far as the title of the game is concerned, are not agreed. Some tell
 us that the word is & corruption of the
 word "whisk" and refers to the avidity with which one takes the trick from the center of the table. I believe this not in the least. Indeed. my observation is, that the taker of the trick is less inter ested in taking the cards from the board. after he has won the trick than he Is
 in considering what he shall play next. The trick being won he carefully tries to remember what cards are out and moves slowly against the foe. Other lexicogra- phers affirm that the origin of the title of the game is uncertain and doubtful. I accept this position not at all. Whist Is the title and whist means. hush" keep
 silent" don't talk Talking at the board
 where this old fashioned, dignified game is played is grievous offence. Other players are thinking of the cards al- ready played, talk interrupts and annoys, therefore, "whist-be still.'' Is it not shameful that I should write favor
 ably of a game that may be played with cards? I do not think so. My dear
 madam, l saw your child playing with history cards,'' and in another home there was a game of cards being played called Logomachy, and, If I am not mis- taken, you held hand. Whjst is cer-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

MT. Porter proceeds "The state should spread knowledge of the disease and how 1t may be fought" he says, amid ap- plause from Birmingham. Quite so.'s we yell; now you've got holdl The states the thing The state not the county. This association, now, should ask the state to help. You don't imagine that by the state MT Porter under- stands responsible officers elected for that purpose, say in a county? That's the first sensible thing he has said. We believe in state rights especially the right to spend money in treating the sickness of it's richest and most populous county. Certainly! Walt on the state. Wait, I say, on the state.'
 And so, while we have a wide awake modern mayor of Birming- ham, who Is seeking the most modern improvements In street and city sanitation, also a body of city officials who have read the facts and are making war on disease and fostering the voiun-' tary work of the anti-tuberculosis peo- pie a whole City Council who think it worth while to prevent one-half of all the disease that afflicts and impoverishes Birmingham; all that these philanthropy ists and scientists obtain from the coun- ty officials may be best described as the marble heart and the frozen stare. To thousands of persons this Is strictly and literally matter of life and death. Ia one fatalist, are one or two reaction- aries enough to defeat a necessary move- ment? I have not so learned Birming- ham. But whatever may become of tho boards. the kings, the bosses, there's one old prayer of the Chartists always sure to be heard: God save the people.'s There is no need to be wasteful. Lavish- ness and prodigality are to be deplored- Graft is thing intolerable. unmention- able In Jefferson county. But the pic- ayunsh official, who cannot see the largo need because money bulks so large in his eye, should take a course in civics, since he missed 1t at school
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

tainly as innocent, and far more interest ing than the cheap hypocritical games that are played in your home by young people. Let us be honest. Let us strike down evil wherever 1t shows It's head,
 but let us foster all that Is harmless
 and innocent. But I am told that peo- pie bet on cards. and therein lies the
 harm. Why, my friend, you can bet on croquet,- checkers, logomachy; indeed you can even bet that your pastor will outpreach some other body's pastor next Sunday. If you want to bet, you can do it on anything and everything. God has made brightness, sunlight, flowers, birds, laughter, song and beauty In this lovely world in which we live. God was
 never a Puritan, If He had been, fancy
 that every violet would have been black
 and every song a dirge. I said that one
 might bet on anything to which his mind inclined him. but this shall say, I never
 have known a person to bet on the re-
 suits of a game of old fashioned whist The word trump is familiar one to whist players an dhas a more general use than a technical term in a game. If man accompllshes some clever feat, he is called, n trump What is the
 meaning of the word? Tn whist the
 trump card is the triumphant" card 1t is called by the French "carte de triumphe" By process of elision, sug-
 gested by mems disposition to shorten words, triumph and triumphant became
 trump" Therefore. when we say that a man is a trump, we mean that he
 has achieved something, he Is triumphant,
 he is trump"
 The word tapestry Is suggestive of
 several interesting facts. Your friend
 asked you, Have you heard the latest
 story on the tapis?' That is the latest
 story told in the drawing-room or par
 lor?' For the floors of such rooms are
 supposed to be partly or wholly covered
 with carpet and "tapis'' means. in
 French, carpet. But before the French
 appropriated the word, it was wei known in Latin as tapes" and befoie the
 Latins used it. the Greeks had long possessed it as tapes" tapetos." rug
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

Looking back We can see on the re- ceding shore of Fairhaven the moss gath- erers plying their trade in the sunsnlnes their snatohes of song and laughter echo over the water. We are out for a cruise Cod. We said by Naushon, Pasdne, Nashawena and Cuttyhunk They are separated by narrow channels. Nasha- wena is the only one of them with wooded grove. Cuttyhunk Is bleak and bare, without a single tree; high up on it's hill we see lonely church, and scaf- tered here and there are the fishermen's shantes. Now we pass the Island or Peniwese. which was the site of Prof. Agassiz's summer school of natural his- tory. and was carried on for some years during his life in connection with the museum of comparative zoology at Cam bridge Have you ever read this great scientific mans testimony to the glory and power of God while he was viewing the progress in development? Have we not here the manifestations of a mind as powerful as prolific? The acts of an in- teligence as sublime as provident? The marks of goodness as infinite as wise, the most palpable demonstration of the ex- istence of a personal God. author of all things. ruler of the universe and dis penser of all good? This at least Is what read In the works of creation.
 And did not his great scientific broth CTS, Newton and Farady, when viewing the amazing sweep and glory of the skies, join the morning stars'' In ac- knowledglng the handiwork Of God?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

II SHALL finger a while longer in the
 etymological department of the \ English dictionary, for the reason that 1t Is almost inexhaustible in va riety and interest.
 Some time ago young man, calling me by my name, asked, What does Charles Lamb mean when he speaks of an 'obolary' Jew?" I frankly said, T do not know. I remember we'll an old Hebrew noun, which, in English. we would spell 'ob.' having reference to some form of superstition or, incanta- tion but I have no knowledge of it's ever having worked itself into an ad- jective in the English language; l shall look it up." I first went to the Hebrew and found the word I had spoken Of. It was used in incantations. clairvoy- ance and other superstitious practices, and was often applied to 'familia spir- it's" or demons. I then turned to my Greek lexicon, and found the noun "ob- olos.' which seemed to have been first employed by Aristophanes to- indicate coin. I thought the necromantic and superstitious idea of the Hebrew had been lost But it had not, and 1t was easy to recall, that, the coin placed within the lips of the dead man. to pay his passage across the river StyX, was called an obolos. The Latin gave me little light on the subject, except to show that the Hebrew word had gone into Greek, and thence into Latin, where all trace of incantatory refer ence was lost I looked then into an English lexicon and found what the Photographer calls an African word, but which, have no doubt, came from a Semitic source, the noun obi, which means "a species of magical art or sorcery the negroes have re- course to the obi for the cure of dis eases. qualification of revenge, concil- liation of enemies. discovery of thefts, telling of fortunes" etc. But in the Greek and in the Latin the coin idea prevailed. When the adjective "obo- larry came into use 1t meant two
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

What triumph it was, but truth makes one say that Garfield almost restored the battle.
 Ben Hill was man mysterious to me. I doubt if he was an abler man than Henry G. Turner. I am certain he was not so good a man. Of all those whom I have met at this capital Ben Hill was the most intense. He was d Roman
 great lawyer, a matchless orator, a man with a heart of oak, his blood was iron, and 1t was one of the tricks that nature plays upon us that Ben Hill was devoid of a sense of humor. Suppose you could have fused Hill and Proctor Knott. We would have had a greater man than. Caesar. I doubt if Ben Hlll ever read Shakespeare, and if he did he found Sir John Falstaff a very dull and very superfluous per sonage. s0 t .-.t al
 I heard Hill when he grappIed with Carpenter in the Louisiana casea It was the club of Hercules opposed to the harp of Orpheus. It was a battle of the giants. and no man who. heard that tremendous combat of mind and mind will venture to determine on which side victory in- clined. Carpenter persuaded you to be with him. Hill forced you to side with him. -.t.i. fs+ ,..s4a bsfs.
 It will never be known whether Hill or Carpenter was the greater lawyer, and so I may say that each was the first law yer. And yet my friend Galloway of the Macon Telegraph will tell you that Rob ert Toombs was a greater lawyer and a more formidable debater than either Hill or Carpenter and I incline to agree with him, too. 't
 As for the greatest lawyer, his name is legion. Chief Justice Marshall pronounced Pinckney the greatest lawyer, and Mar
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30
[ OFFICIALDOM-By George Eaves, D. D.

Why, if there were 0,000 persons dying and producing poverty every year. how could this country be so prosperous? No. mol You can't catch an Alabama Jeffer- sonian official with that scientific extrav- agance. Haul out the rest of your bag gage, Porter, but no mere science. We don't believe in science"
 Thus the fatalist, to whom the chas- tened Porter. sweating with surprise and shivering with chagrin:
 "One-seventh of all the deaths are due to this disease"
 Stop right there! How do you know?'' responds the picayunish and fatalistic official. Even if one-seventh of all deaths were due to consumption, the people would die of something else. Does not the Good Book say that Tt is ap- pointed unto men once to die? Why this unnatural howl about sevenths and tenths? Statistics are meaningless fads anyway" So speaks the sworn defender of Jefferson county's population chinking UT last years taxes.
 But MT. Porter again returns to the charge: "One-third of all deaths among adults, and one-half of all sickness is due to tuberculosis"
 Statistics again!" yels the official, growing nervous. Am to suppose that every third death is traceable to con- sumption? Not in Jefferson county! No, sir; not by Jugful of anything you like"
 Once more the redoubtable Porter: 'Tu- berculosis is preventible disease" Well, so is smallpox. You can prevent It's spreading. You can compel vaccination. You can provide for effective destruction of the germs. And we do provide. We are ready to reopen the pesthouse and to reissue lymph at any time. But one such luxury is all the funds will sustain. We can't afford, my dear sir, to assume responsibility for preventing every pre- ventible disease. These up-to-date mo- tions are well enough in New York or Pennsylvania; but, here in Alabama we prefer to concentrate. Already we are spending too much on charity"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

from this metropolis of the south to the metropolis of the north, where we must all allow that they do big things in big way. Sermons indeed I avoid, even as the plague. This is not ser mon, yet will take a text; and though dread the plague, it is of a plague that I pen these paragraphs. Now, for the sake of alliteration, also for prac- tical reasons. here is another P, the P of Porter. MT. Porter seeks to be an exporter of plaques, shipping them to perdition. That is to say Mr. Porter Is state health commissioner for New York, one of that great states great men, entrusted with great office. and discharging his duties in a great way When a man like that speaks it Is be- cause he has something to day, and to him I go for my text, yet not forget ting the biblical aphorism quoted at the outset.
 And talking of texts and preaching is it not curious that some dear peo pie are offended if a preacher find his text outside the canon of Scripture: It Is good in their eyes to preach about Joseph but not about Joseph Cannon; Abraham is allowable and praiseworthy, but not Abraham Lincoln; the Plaques of Egypt are appropriate, but not the bubonic plague or the tuberculosis plague, or anything so modern. Yet there may concefvably be something now going on among us of more imme- diately divine significance even than the Plaques of Egypt, and Mir. Porter might, on occasion, be more worth quoting than even Peter or Paul. Not us steady diet, mind you; just as an occasional prophet.
 Behold, my skirts are free. This is not sermon, and I quote Porter with out apology. yea even take my text from him piecemeal.
 Mir. Commissioners Porter then says this big thing: "At the present rate of mortality 100000 people will die of tuberculosis within the next 10 years" quote from the Chicago Advance; and if can persuade the ancient shades
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

they not kindly devise a preternatually alarming flag, a deaths head rampant, 'or," l. e. yellow, and a pair of cross bones, argent" which is white, on a field "gules," which Is to say red? These be shields of the mighty. Two thousand of them scattered over Jefferson county, wherever there's a GSse of tuberS>osis, might have a salutary effect on those stolid fatalists, officials and unofficial, who argue that there is no money in hand to protect the people from tubercu- losis. The association founded to lead the war against that plague pleads In vain for the assumption by the county of some part of it's share in the ex- penses. But the stolid fatalism above mentioned responds that there are no funds to withstand other microbes than the Jagged kind, or the sort that goes to the pesthouse. There is anti-smallpox money, though smallpox may be absent, for smallpox waves a flag and sereanes. We will even pay for vaccinating the healthy lest smallpox lay hold on them. For that we save our shekels. Why take those shekels and throw them away on people who would die any way?
 But listen to the modern man, the man of science, him of the wide-awake eye and brain. the health commissioner who stands on the social ramparts of New York. No other disease" observes MT
 Porter, produces so much poverty or distress" Then hear the fatalist reply
 ''The ideal You don't expect an Alabama official to believe that surely. How can disease produce poverty? Tmpossible
 The only way to produce poverty Is to squander money in coming up to date, or else perhaps you may produce poverty by being over-patriotic and failnig to keep a frst-class, topmast lookout for Number One. Disease may kill the wage earner; but let the wife take In boarders or washing, and work like a sensible woman. No, no, MT. Porter! Tell that to the marines or to the oysters of Oys- ter Bay, or even to those fool people, the scientific sociologists, who have so many quaint notions in their wheelsome heads !!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30

before, but no man ever saw him fin liquor." He was as democratic as a hunt ing shirt, as guileless as a child, though as shrewd as a sage when his suspicion was once aroused. I do wish that Bill Morrison and "Old Joe" Lewis, the last commander of the Orphan Brigade of the Confederate army, had been neigh bors. Certainly they were friends, each the twin of the other. Either would have gone to the stake sooner than be guilty of meanness. Both of them were some what careless in dress, and both of them were handsome men, cast in the same mold, the highest type of American sol diery and the apex of American citizen- ship.
 I will never cease to be grateful to God for long night I spent with ''Old Joe' Lewis, in the surly month of March, some 40 years ago, in the pleasant town of Munfordville, Hart county, Kentucky. We played chess and it was ''boot top and boot top between us for the mas tery. That night, between games, he gave me lessons in civil liberty, and the seed fell on hospitable soil. I vener- sted him as I did my father, then long dead, and some years later I lost a job for my loyalty to "Old Joe" I am orouder of that fact than of any other in my poor and blasted career.
 You ask, what has all this rigma- role got to do with the appropriations committee? I'll tell you if you are gift ed with the patience that can wait.
 In 1874 the country went democratic "hell-bent as Maine went for Gov ernor Kent In 1S40 and for honesty the other day. The Congress chosen then the Forty-fourth-had an immense democratic majority, A man named Thompson with a 'p'" beat old Ben Butler and heaven registered the fact while hell groaned over it. One of two men was bound to dominate the new