davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21

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Dear Editor: I am years old. Some
of my little friends say there is no Santa
Claus. Papa says IF you see It in the
Sun, it's So" Please tell me the truth
Is there a Santa Claus?
VIRGINIA O'HANLON,
Ills West Ninty-fifth Street
Virginia, your little friends are wrong.
They have been affected by the scepti-
elsm of a sceptlcal age They do not
believe except they see. They think that
nothing can be which is not comprehen-
sible by their little minds. All minds
Virginia, whether they be mems or chill
dren's, are little. In this great universe
of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in
his intellect, compared with the
boundless world about him, as measured
by the intelligence capable of grasping
the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes. Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and gener-
osity and devotion exist, and you know
that they abound and give to our life its
highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary
would be thes world If there were no
Santa Claus. 1t would be as dreary as
If there were no Virginias. There would
be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no
romance to make tolerable this exist
ence. We should have no enjoyment,
except in sense and sight. The eternal
light with which childhood fills the world
would be extingushed.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You
might q q we'll NOT heliava in fairiast vo,,
might get your papa to hire men to watch
in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to
catch Santa Claus coming down, what
would that prove? Nobody sees Santa
Claus, but that is no sign that there is no
Santa Claus. The most real things in
nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies
dancing on the lawn? OF course not, but
that's no proof that they are not there
Nobody can conceive or imagine all the
wonders there are unseen and unseeable
in the world
You may tear apart the baby's rattle
and see what makes the noise inside,
but there is a veil covering the unseen
world which not the strongest man, nor
even the united strength of all the strong
est men that ever lived, could tear apart
Only faith, fancy, poetry. love, romance,
can push aside that curtain and view
and picture the supernal beauty and
glory beyond. Is it all real? All, vir-
ginia, in all this world there is nothing
else real and abiding.
NO Santa Clausl Thank God! he lives,
and he lives forever. A thousand years
from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten
thousand years from now, he will con-
tinue to make glad the heart of child
hood
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
COST OF ENGLISH HUNTING

From the London Outlook.
The beginning of the present season
witnesses 443 separate packs of hounds
ready to take the field. There are 16
packs of staghounds in England and
three In Ireland. Coming to the fox
hounds, there are 173 packs in Eng
land, II in Scotland and 20 In Ireland.
Next in order of precedence are the har-
riers, 81 packs in England and Al In
ireland. Finally, there are 72 packs of
beagles and of basset hounds
Twenty couples is the average to a
stag hunting establishment. For fox
hunting 40 or 50 couples are needed, while
some packs go UP to 90. If we strike an
average and say that every hunt keeps
IS couples we get at the astounding total
of $4,000 hounds. Then there are the
horses, estimated to number 100000 and to
represent value of e1O,0Oo,OOo Csc, OOO,-
O0O). The same authority makes 1t out
that the maintenance of hounds and es-
Establishments involves f500,000 G2,5 ,000)
a year. while the feed and upkeep of the
horses call for between fs,000,000 and 94,-
100000 sterling per annum.
On the top of this are the personal
expenses of the hunting men, who hire
houses at heavy rents keep big staff
of servants. maintain stables of anything
from 10 to 80 horses subscribe literally
to local charities, poultry funds, SER
wants pensions and SO on, coming again
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
WILL HELP ALABAMA

From the Manufacturers Record.
Mr.. George w. Crawford, president or
the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad
company evidently sees in the Panama
exposition at New Orleans a direct bear
ing upon the development of the district
in which his company operates. He writes
to the Manufacturers Record:
81 think New Orleans the logical place
for a worlds fair in celebration of the
completion of the Panama canal. Its
central location on the gulf coast, near
the entrance of the great inland water
way. the Mississippi together with ITS
being the largest port in the south, mike
1t the principal seagate to the large ter
ritory which will be most favorably af-
fected by the completion of the canal
have no doubt that the public spirit OF
the citizens of New Orleans and Louis
lana will provide a fair which will at
tract visitors from many countries, and
1t should be of interest to those visitors
to pass through the section of country
which will in the future originate the
products which will be exported through
the canal and to reach New Orleans the
opportunity will be afforded to pass
through a large section of this terri
tory
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
First Afrnhin Races

Birmingham will have the first air
ship races ever run in the south and
this will be another feather in the cap
said Frank H. Bell, who has had
charge OF the advertising for the census
jubilee and reunion. THE Curtiss COM
pany is sending two of its most dar-
ing aviators here, Ely and Ward, and
they will race each other each after
noon, and If 1t is possible to arrange
a race between an airship and an auto
mobile, this will be done.
There will be thrills galore. The
was doing when he was killed will
be one of the features each afternoon
the figure another. and still a third
will be the roller coaster. Each of
these is sensational, wonderful, breath :
taking.
Ely has just startled the world by
making a successful fight from the
deck of the cruiser Birmingham, and
this fact should make him doubly
strong attraction for Tuesday and
Wednesday during the jubilee. 1t was
a very thoughtful and clever stunt fol
Mr.. Curtiss to send him to Birming
ham Immediately after his fight from
the deek of the ship named for this
city.
Il believe that the two exhibitions
this week will eclipse in every way
those seen during the state fair. and
everyone know that those were the
great feature of the fair"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
THE CITY OF THE FUTURE

FROM the New York Sun.
At the international town planning con-
ference in London Eugene Henard, mu-
hicipal architect of Paris, gave a fore
cast of what the ideal city of the future
will be like. He said in substance:
Light and energy will be conveyed by
electricity. Petrol and oxygen will sup
ply heat Liquid air will keep up re-
frigeration i'll every larder In addition
to heat radiators there will be cold radia-
tors, which will enable each house to be
kept at the required temperature.
by this power it will be possible to
provide in each house one or more health
chambers closed by close fitting double
windows and doors In which the over
worked occupant on his return from town
will find all the hygienic conditions
which now he can obtain only by taking
an annual holiday.
GLASS verandas of varioos shapes
Joined together and with covered foot
paths, according to standard models, will
shelter pedestrians against rain, and the
normal height of buildings will be exact
ly the width of the street. The roofs of
houses will be platforms upon which
small flower beds and verdant shrub
berries could be laid out, as they would
be the landing stages for aeroplanes.,
When this progress shall have been
accomplished the physiognomy of towns
will be changed, all terraces will have
become landing stages for flying auto
mobiles. Aviators will be able to fly
from one terrace to another starting and
landing as they please. The natural con-
sequence of this new state of things will
be that each building will have to be
furnished with big elevators capable OF
raising machines when they are ready
to start and taking them back to the
garage on their return. Houses of this
description will also be used to house
motor cars.
Finally, the town of the future will
be traversed by large radiating thor
oughfares, occupied partly by raised
platforms continually moving, which will
insure rapid communication between the
different zones. These platforms will b,
terminated by large revolving crossways
at the intersection of the main roads
Large parks and flower gardens as resi-
dence and pleasure resorts will be laid
out in various parts of the town.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
SAN FRANCIsCO-I.

From the New York World.
The Farallones are the sign-posts
for the trans-Pacific ships. 1t Is Is
miles from the surf bordered, rocky
iselets to the harbor. The ship moves
softly for an hour through the mists
that hover lovingly about the Golden
Gate The wide bay opens grim to the
eye beyond the grim island prison of
Alcatraz, where Uncle Sam keeps his
prisoners and San Francisco comes sud
denly into view. 1t Is a city of hills.
The first glimpse suggests the pic
tured Athens to the mind with the rec
tangular stored Paramount hotel
crowning the Acropols, for so Mob Hill
commands the city. Tall houses cling
to the lower hillsides, heightening the
Athenian effect. AS If all this were not
classical enough, the first tailoring shop
encountered on shore called itself a
"Pantorium."
1t is polite to mention the event of
May IS, 1906. as "the fire." not 1.-The
earthquake" in San Francisco. Few
marks if any of the latter can be
seen, though the trail of the flames is
ample of what befell when the earth
shuddered can be seen at the top of
the pinnacle in Golden Gate park Here
was a miniature structure built In imi-
tation of the Coliseum at Rome. It's
twisted and shattered ruins tell the
story. No words are needed.
Leaving out Berlin and New York.
and even New York makes no such
first impression. San Francisco Is the
most concretely magnificent city In the
world. With courage and faith that
can well be called sublime, the city
rallied upon its ruins, not to restore
for there was nothing left, but to re-
make. The three great hotels, the
Palace, the Paramount and the st. Fran
els, excel the newest and the best to be
found in New York. The Phelan build
ing is an example of an office struc-
ture that would loom up even in the
metropolis. 1t Is but one. The bank
buildings are visions of splendor. Even
Chinatown replaced itself with modern
ity. Nor Is the area covered small.
The city is one of magnificent distances.
and faith has gone and built where it
listed, regardless of assurances or
knowledge of the future. Moreover,
this building was done at perhaps the
greatest expense for labor ever known.
the organized artisans taking small
pity on the stricken town, into which
the nation and even the distant Orient
poured relief.
What is the future going to bring the
city? By annexation 1t could bring IT.
self above the 100000 mark, but this
earth around the top. Los Angeles is
pressing 1t closely. 1t is now overbuilt
to some extent on the business side.
The chilly fact is that it's industries
are fading away. going extensively to
the hospitable city of the south, where
labor is free.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
IN HOTEL HOBBIES
Ecccntricities of Famous Authors


Goodwin Smiths article on his social
life in London, which appears in the
November Atlantic Monthly, is full of
interest to all who have been in any
wise familiar with great English men of
letters living in the middle or last
half of the last century," said a pro-
fessonal man.
In the distinguished circle in which
Goodwin Smith was a figure were nearly
all the authors whom 1 reckoned as my
friends from reading. The only one l
have missed is Ruskin. l have read
number of charming reminiscent articles
by Goodwin Smith, published since his
death, but in nine of them has he mem
toned John Ruskin.
I'm the Atlantic Monthly article we
have comments, pen pictures and anec-
dotes. Curious foibles and crotchets of
some of the great ,men are described
but in a most kindly way. In this Eng
lsh group were Macaulay, Thakeray,
Tennyson, Carlyle, Lord and Lady Ash
burton, Bishop Wilberforce, Huxley, Tyn-
dali, Spencer and others. Here is what
Smith tells of the author of Synthetic
Philosophy:
If remember rightly was an early
subscriber to Herbert Spencer's works.
But it was not till much later, think
in 1876, that 1 became well acquainted
with the man. We were staying at Bux-
ton together. If a new moral world is
built upon materialism, Herbert Spencer
will have been one of the chief builders.
In any case, he was a shining light and
power. OF his personal eceentricities
plenty of stories have been told. His
nervous sensibility was extreme. A game
of billiards was enough to deprive him
of his nights rest. He had been look
ing forward with pleasure to a meeting
with Huxley; but he gave it up because
there was a difference on some scientific
question between them, and this might
have given rise to an argument which
Spencer's nerves could not bear. lit
erary flippancy of mine once caused an
estrangement between us, but am hap
py to say we became the best of friends
again.
I'VE might have imagined some au-
thors as sensitive as that, but who would
have thought that Herbert Spencer could
have been so easily upset. And thus 1t
is that men of profound intellect can be
as weak when it comes to the nervous
system as puny children"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
Death Of Count Leo TOlStOl

a man who loved his fellow-men is
as his influence was good. William Dean
Howells is inclined to set him down as
the greatest and the best man of his
time.
Fifty years ago he was not a great
world figure, but his war and Peace"
amazed all readers. great creative
writer stood out even in his earlier works
and his sketches and his novels soon
convinced the world that a master who
combined the finest spirit of art with
rare realism had appeared and was at
work drawing immortal pictures of life.
In his later years he had lost none of
his power, but he gave more time to
reforms than to art. He chiefly discussed
in those years social and religious ques-
items. He did his best even in his every
day life and individual affairs to make
Christianity real, disearding ecclesiastical
dogma as a rule and practieing and
preaching simple doctrines that would
help his fellow-men. No matter how
much the holy synod or the rest of the
machine of his semi-barbarous country
disowned him, yet he never failed to
contend against the social and political
evils of his age and country. It is too
early to say how much he did accom-
plish In the alienation of the condition
OF the Russian peasants He did more
than any other man has done.
It is not easy to say which period in
his life will best preserve his name and
fame. Perhaps 1t is better to say that he
will become one of the worlds immortals
both because of his creative genius and
because of his work as a reformer. Few
great literary men have combined art
with reform. The great Russian stands
alone perhaps in that respect. He dis
eussed the deepest problems with re-
markable power. and in his novels he laid
hare social conditions in the strongest
manner of art The artist and reformer
lies dead, but the work he has left will
be enduring, and while it endures it
will constantly serve to make the world
hetter
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
JOHN LA FARCE

From the New York Times
The place of Mr.. La Fargo, in the aes-
thetic and intellectual life of the coun-
try, and especially of New York, cannot
be filed. The circumstances of his de-
scent and life, the quality and extent OF
his culture, the variety of his work, the
personal influence he exerted, cannot be
replaced.
OF purely French family, born in New
York when ST. Johns park was a choice
residential quarter of the modest town,
studying letters and art in Paris amid
a circle of culture and distinguished rela-
tives, and working out his career amid
the confusing and strenuous development
of the United States in the latter half OF
the 10Th and the first decade of the goth
century, he attained excellence and dis
tinction without being a leader or the
founder of a school, and probably with
out wishing to be. BY the traditions and
tendencies of his ancestry, In his work as
in his social life, he had the aristocratic
bent in the sense that only what he re-
garded as the best and the highest would
satisfy him. The range of his gifts and
qualities was very great. As painter,
whether of delicate and elusive flowers
or of large mural compositions; as an IN
yentor. worker, artist in glass from jew
eled panes to great windows, and stil
more as a student of art, its possibilities,
it's limitations, it's vital secret, his life
was a long series of progressive success
and still more progressive effort. And
with his achievement in the line of his
profession he showed at odd times in his
lectures, in his account of his experience
and impressions of travel in the South
Seas and in occasional essays In criticism,
literary gift of rare subtlety, effective
ness and charm, and of complete individ-
uality. Paul Bourget. remote, intellec-
tual kinsman. speaks Of La Farge's "ner-
vous activity, unappeaaed by any effort.
unsatisfed through any experience, and
seeking, and seeking again" 1t is sug-
gestive characterization and just'one.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
CONGRESS and the Butter Taxes

packing centers seem to be conced-
Eower prices on meats, but the butter
remains memorable in its rapacity
Igreed. This is based on the internal
hue tax on oleomargarine and the
tf duty on butter. The tariff levies
Is a pound on butter and the Internal
niue tax is 10 cents a pound on col
| oleomargarine and one-quarter of a
| on the uncolored. Manufacturers
Lleomargarine pay a tax of $500
wholesale dealers in it pay from
to 1920 and retailers from s4S to $50
Jar.
II these taxes are taxes on a food ar
e, and they are taxes that are col
ed from every table. Every one of
le taxes should be repealed because
~ one of them directly operates to
Tease the cost of living, and the demo-
It's in every state stand pledged to re-
CO the cost of living.
This country does not produce enough
tier to meet the consumption of its
qple, and the butter taxes are there
taxes on the workingman's table.
isibly the beef trust and the butter
st might be benefited. but Congress
ID not stop to consider this feature
the case. 1t is the consumer that
eds relief.
When all the taxes on butter are re-
wed the price of the article will tum-
as the prices of meats are tumbling
W. All food taxes should be repealed,
those on butter should go first.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
( FOR THE DEAD

BY Cardinal Newman.
Help. Lord, the souls which Thou hast
made
The souls to Thee so dear,
In prison for the debt unpaid
or sins committed here.
Those holy souls, they suffer on,
Resigned in heart and will,
Until Thy high behest Is done,
And justice has its fill
For daily falls. for pardoned crime,
They Joy to undergo
The SHADOW of Thy cross sublime,
The remnant of Thy woe.
Help. Lord, the souls which Thou hast
made
The souls to Thee so dear,
In prison for the debt unpaid
OF sins committed here.
Oh, by their patience of delay
Their hope amid their pain,
Their sacred zeal to burn away
Disagreement and stain.
Oh. by their fire OF love, not less
In keenness that the flame,
Oh. by their very helplessness,
oh, by Thou own great Name.
Good Jesu, help; sweet JesN, aid
The souls to Thee most dear,
In prison for the debt unpaid
OF sins committed here
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21

commission to get it's bill into shape at
the earliest practical hour, and they are
insisting that a Congress republican in
both houses cannot in this emergency
refuse to pass it.
The strongest monetary interests call
for it and those interests will not be
apt to pile up campaign funds in 1912 to
elect a republican President unless re-
publican members of Congress endeavor
now to pass the Aldrich monetary bill
It is to be Senator Aldrichs swan song.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
Mr.. AldriCh'S Monetary Bill

snanciers who attended the meeting of
national monetary commission re-
.ly held in New York express the be-
that Senator Aldrich and those
ldlng behind him intend to press
,ough during the coming short session
congress the currency bill they have
g been incubating, including provision
central bank. A bill framed by a
COMMITTEE of the commission is in
Srse of preparation, and every posi-
/. pressure will be brought to pass it
Uses into democratic control. The AL
.chites even doubt whether the Sem
] can be depended upon after March 4
pass bills planned and devised by Wall
'eet.
president Taft is expected to urge the
ssage of a comprehensive monetary
ttute in his annual message. and then
known and possible influences will be
ought to bear to fasten on the coun-
i central bank that can be and will
controlled in Wall street.
rhe standpat press throughout the
untry from the st. Louis Globe-Demo-
It doAnwards is urging the monetary
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21

From the Louisville Courier-J Journal.
LEBPING cars that have brass
beds and every convenience
~ except the bath tslb are the
newest luxury in travel offered by the
New York, New Haven and Hartford
says the New York Globe, But why
should there not be baths upon Ameri-
can sleepers?
With the exception of very few
trains, among them some of those that
cross the continent, there are no bath
ing facilities upon sleepers in this
country. The few trains that do pro-
vide baths charge exorbitant rates for
them.
What doth it profit a passenger If
he Is surrounded by plush. mahogany
and other evidences of expenditure,
but cannot take bath when the mer-
curry Is in the nineties and the air Is
full of cinders and SCOT?
The American traveller abroad is fond
of making comparisons between Amer
lean coaches and those of other coun-
tries that are "odorous" to the for
eigner. But in SO unprogressive
country as India, where trains run so
slowly that electric searchlights are
not necessary upon locomotives and
where the traveller must carry his own
bed clothes and employ a servant to
make down his bed, there are both
showers and tub baths in the best
coaches and there is no charge for the
use of either.
How greatly the pleasure of travel
in summer might be increased-how
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-11-21
To the Memory Of Father Ryan


adily but quietly the Mobile Register
oeen engaged in securing a fund Of
for the purpose of erecting a fit
memorial to the poet-priest of the
who spent the best years Of his
In Mobile. The fund was raised by
Is of small coins-a dime subscription
-om all conditions and all ages. No
i agents were employed, and no adj
Using was done. And yet the Reg
announces the completion of the
The fund needed is in hand, and
fund is almost a childrens tribute,
the Register, to the gifted one who
ote the songs of the south. The work
erecting the proposed monument has
committed to a committee headed
the mayor of Mobile and the bishop
the diocese in which Father Ryan
d and died.
90 much praise cannot be given to
Register for accomplishing the erec-
Vol a handsome monument over the
Ie of the poet. The fund was large
Voluntary, coming from many hands,
Ify from children, and it certainly
or could have been collected in that
if the Register had not kept it be-
the people in a dignified but per
Int manner. The Register has com
la a noble and patriotic task.