davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
Regarding Street Hacks

While a number of well-conditioned street hacks are seen in Birmingham tfe vehicles clean and freshly painted and the horses well kept-there are some that look extremely dilapidated and re- mind one of public conveyances in poor country towns" said a business man.
 'The livery stables and transfer com panies have handsome carriages, but when there is a very large funeral the undertakers have to bring street carriages into service and on several occasions I have counted as many as a dozen ram- shackle vehicles drawn by nags that seemed only skin and bones
 q believe that the issuance of H. cense by the city for public hacks car ries with it the condition that the team shall be kept in reasonably good order. would be too exacting to require every hack to look as new and stylish as if It would be too-exacting to require every but ramshacSle vehicles and hoay hores give Birmingham a provincial appear ance and should not be allowed"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
GeOrgia'S Growth In Ten Years

Sixteen counties in Alabama lost pop ulation in the last 10 years, and 24 in Georgia Eight other counties in Georgia show a decrease in popula- ton, but the decrease in the eight la st mentioned were due to the creation Of new counties. The counties in Georgia that lost without apparent reason pop ulation are Chattahoochee, Clinch. Crawford, Dade, Gilmer, Harris, Jones, Liberty, Lumpkin, Mcintosh, Marion. Monroe, Quitman, Rabun, Schley, Stew art, Talbot, Towns, Union, Upson, Washington. White, Whitfield and Worth.
 Georgia has no blackbelt, and the counties that have lost population are confined to no particular part of the state. The mountain or moonshine sec- ton lost more people perhaps than any other section, especially that part of 1t lying east of the state railroad, but losing counties are found in every part of the state, even in the peach belt
 The state. however as a whole gained S92,79O people. or TIT per cent as against a growth in Alabama of sO9. .S98 people, or 16.9 per cent Georgia did remarkably well on the basis of slen- der natural resources. If she had had the natural resources of Alabama she might have outstripped all her east ern sisters.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
The Business situation

"The holiday trade in every part of the country is quite brisk, but general business has been halting for several weeks past" said J. L. Hasl1ins, a man ufacturer of Buffalo.
 Everything pretty much seems to be waiting on the railroads. When they come into the market and buy rails and rolling stock on a large scale-and they certainly need a great deal of the new materal-then there will be a high de- gree of prosperity, prosperity such as we had in 1906 and 1907. The railroads have been waitingv as everybody knows to hear from the interstate commerce com mission in regard to rates which trans portation companies may be allowed to charge.
 Crops have been large and basic con ditions from one end of the country to the other are sound. Active buying of iron and steel would start up every line of business. and make capital and industrial interests buoyant in a jiffy.
 "No matter, however, how long the railroad rate question may remain un- solved, 1t is generally felt that busi- ness will begin to improve to some ex- tent soon after the holidays
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
MT. ROOSeYeIt'S Programme

Ex-President Roosevelt is by no means a dead man. He is a radical, and rad icals are not dead men in these days of progress and reform. Many believe the republican party will be compelled in the march of events to make the ex- President their candidate in 1912 If so. it will be an effort of desperate politi- clans to escape a defeat that had long been overdue. Between the unwritten law against third terms and MT. Roose- velts active enemies, his chances for election are far from good. He could not carry New York state last fall and the chances are that he would not be able to carry the country in 1912. He could however, come nearer success than could MT. Taft, who is an ingrained standpat- ter. and a sluggish man to boot
 No matter what anyone may say, MT. Roosevelt is a candidate for President in 1912. No one can read his speech at New Haven without arriving at that conclusion. especially if that speech be read between the lines, 'I am radical" he says, and then he goes on to con ciliate both the rank and file and the interests. He wants corporation regula- ton, but he wants the reformed inter. ests to do the regulating. He wants the states and the nation each to take a hand in this business of regulating cor porations, although he does not say gets down to particulars, preferrng In. stead glittering generalities. And ther he goes on to advocate a more equit. men, more and better labor regulation and equal opportunity for all in this land of high tariffs, trusts and monopolies He has, however, not a word to say about the tariff or the trusts and monopolies ,t | has fostered and promoted
 His generalties point directly to 1912. Il they were meant for use in 1910 he would in all conscience be definite. He woulc say just what he wants at the hands | of Congress or the states. He is not z bit constructive. He is idealistic anf he has an eye single to 1912. The speech at New Haven has no meaning and nc importance unless it means just this, :"
 am, friends and fellow citizens, the mai who can solve all your problems, ..az, as l am, and you should do the rest"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
pr. HandIey Memorial

''If I were a citizen of Birmingham would insist that the proposed memorial to the late Dr. L. s. Handley take the form of some permanent institution rather than a marble shaft" said Franl, Y. Evans, editor of the Walker County News, who was in Birmingham yester- day.
 ''I would propose that a wing be built to the Mercy Home and that it be called the 'Handley Wing I believe that this is what Dr. Handley would have sug- gested had he been consulted or had he the power to direct the matter
 "Such a memorial would not only be lasting but would be of real benefit sec that the committee is calling foi money for the completion of the Mercy Home. Why not combine these two en- terprises and build a permanent memori- al to the late beloved minister and friend of the people of Birmingham that I fec sure would have been pleasing to the man who is so honored?'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15

From the New York Commercial.
 One of the latest reforms manifest on the Union Pacific Is not in line with the judicial rule requiring equity to be sought through tribunal with clean hands," and is the result of an order by Charles Ware, general manager, which in effect says He who would hold his job as an engineer or fireman, conductor, flagman or brakeman, must end his run at terminal with dirty face and hands"
 Statistics show remarkable freedom of wrecks on this road, owing to the state of discipline established and maintained The management, however, evidently in tends to get still higher standard of efficiency and reliability, with a corre- spending degree of safety for travel Evidence that this is assured is to be furnished by lack of cleanly hands and faces among those in the train service.
 MT. Wares order followed close investi- gation, which showed that such accidents as occurred were usually at or near term inals, and due to the fact that in many instances the engineer or fireman was busy cleaning up, instead of being in the cab and on the lookout for signals or warnings, indicating obstruction of track
 The practice of thus preparing for the end of a run and being able to leave a roads began to operate.
 The element of danger is a large one and hereafter the member of a crew on Union Pacific train that meets with trouble no matter how trivial, who shows llp in state of unwarranted cleanliness will be held accountable for a violation of the new rule.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
TT "sTUNTsv MONTGOMERY

From the Montgomery Advertiser
 Miss Bessie Abott, the prima donna, learned some astonishing things about Montgomery in the dining room of the Gay-Teague Tuesday. She learned that Montgomery had prohibition. but just enough prohibition to stunt it.
 Miss Abotts information came from a negro waiter. AS he was bringing on the first course at luncheon, Miss Abott asked:
 John, how large is Montgomery?
 The negro scratched his head, saying. ''I declar' Mis-, dunno exactly. Bout 15,000," which was a bad guess on the part of John.
 Why, only 15,oOO?" said Miss Abott in surprise. "I thought 1t a larger city than that"
 "Yassum," said the waiter, "but you see we has prohibition here.'
 Prohibition? So you mean to say one cannot get a drink in Montgomery?
 No, ma am. suttinly don't mean dat. Anybody kin git-all dey wants' said the waiter.
 But you said Montgomery had prohl- bition?" said Miss Abott.
 "Yassum, but you see we jes got er- nough prohibition to stunt de town"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
LONG AGO

By Eugene Field. 1 once knew all the birds that came And nestled in our orchard trees, For every flower I had a name My friends were woodchucks, toads and
 bees; aT#sSs q I knew where thrived in wonder glen What plants would soothe stone
 bruised toe tl,. Oh, l was very learned then,
 But that was very long ago. I knew the spot upon the hill Where checkerberries could be found, I knew the rushes near the mill fts Where pickerel lay that weighed a
 pound!
 knew the wood-the very tree- Where lived the poaching saucy crow, And all the woods and crows knew me- But that was very long ago. And pining for the joys of youth. l tread the old familiar spot Only to learn this solemn truth: I have forgotten. am forgot. Yet heres the youngster at my knee Knows all the things I used to know, To think I once was wise as he!- But that was very long ago. I know it's folly to complain
 Of whatsoever the fates decree, Yet, were not wishes all in vain,
 I tell you what my wish should be; I'd wish to be a boy again,
 Back with the friends used to know, For I was very happy then
 But that was very long agoI
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
THE IMMORTAL FIFTY
rom the New York World.

II iOih tHS 4NeW 1OTk w WO11u.
 France has got along 200 years with an academy Of 40 members, but our Ameri- can Academy of Arts and Letters needs 90, because this is a bigger country. It's recent meeting in New York was interest," ing.
 2 The French academy is self-perpetu- ating. Ours, having no self to be per petuated, needed to be made. It's compo- sition is interesting. There are several eminent artists, one or two sons of their fathers, two Outlook men, MT. Roosevelt and MT. Mabie; a minor poet, some mag azine editors to whom enthusiastic sup porters sell copy" Henry James, who lives in England but does not write Eng fish; F. Hopkinson Smith, whose dissat- faction with our men and manners drew recent tears of sympathy and Henry Cabot Lodge, whose services to letters have mainly been to inspire by his tariff the literature of protest. The remaining seats are divided among Harvard and Yale professors, 35 per cent to the loser; in this case Yale.
 The witty French have invented a ''forty-frst fauteuil" for their academy, which Zola and others eminent excluded have been invited to occupy. The 50 seats of the American academy have never been all filled at once. Anybody may try his hand at suggesting standing list from which vacancies may be filled. The Worlds nominees are William Wal dorf Astor, author of ''Valentino;" Sena- tor Crane who makes the paper bank notes printed Clifford pinobof If Yale, and the proprietor of Munsey's magazine
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
Talks About 1912

"Woodrow Wilson is a great favorite with the democrats of my state." said John o. Wardlaw of Philadelphia, "and he is first choice among my democratic friends for standard bearer in 1912.
 "Governor Harmon is naturally a very strong candidate for the presidential nomination, and when 1912 comes if 1t is thought he can poll more votes in the pivotal states than Wilson, then Harmon will be the man.
 But Woodrow Wilson has just made a wonderful record as a practical cam paigner and he is sure to prove signal success as governor of New Jersey.
 "A new man on the political stage, when that man happens to possess un- common force and thorough equipment for handling great questions, often has an advantage over the old politicians The people like new man and especial lv if he be of Wilson's type.
 1T had never had airy ii1opss If a democrat in the presidential office since Mir Cleveland retired, but the de mocracy has splendid chance now ant would Be willing to bet money tha MT. Tafts successor will be either liar mon, Wilson or some other democrati' statesman"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
PnccInI,s New Opera

"As an evidence of increasing interest in grand opera we may point to the un- usual amount Of space given by the New York papers to the story and critical dis cussion of Puecini's new opera, La Fan ciulla del West'-'rhe Girl of the Golden West which had it's premier performs ance at the Metropolitan opera house last Saturday night" said an amusement- goer. "The Sun made it's account of the opera a first-page story, and devoted four columns to It. The Evening Post allowed two columns and half for it's criticism.
 'The presentation of the opera made mighty furor. The Post says the aud fence simply went wild with enthusiasm. There were fully 50 turmutuous recalls And yet in reading between the lines l came to the conclusion that it's popularity will not endure. Il seems unsteady II does not begin to come up to Puccini other works Puccini is a great com poser-the greatest in the opera field now
 living. But how could he Italian. be expected to give a satisfactory musical setting to story of the wild west? The Evening Post says:
 It must be confessed that, from musical point of view the whole of the first act is disappointing. The minstrefs song owes it's chief interest to the fact that it Is a Zuni Indian tune. It Is sup posed to be accompanied on a banjo, but for some inscrutable reason the composer employs, instead, harp with paper h. terlaced between the strings. The en- semble numbers sung by the miners Is infinitely more like a German Liedertafel part song than anything California min- CTS could ever sing, and the waltz that is played as they go into the dance hall age Viennese operetta
 Unfortunately, 1t is not only the first act that is a musical disappointment. The whole opera is muscay far inferior to La Boheme," "Tosca" and "Madama Butterfly" What the public has always wanted, wants now. and always will want in an opera, above all things, is mot necessarily such melody as Ros- sini, Donizetti, or Verdi wrote, but such as Is to be found in Wagner's works, or in the Puccini operas just named There is surprisingly little of this in '-rhe Girl of the Golden West" The vocal parts are not quite so dry 'Pelleas ct Melisande," yet Puccini seems to have had in mind the noble contempt for melody" of which Caccini and the other Florentnes early in the seventeenth century boasted.'"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
HookWorms in Houston County

Dr. H. c. Perry, a field worker of the Rockefeller hook worm commission who has studied the people of Houston county more than two weeks, asserts as a fact within his knowledge that 8 percent of the children attending the public schools of Dothan are afflicted with hookworms. No one is prepared to say that this surprising statement is not true. If it be true then indeed every school district in this state need, attention and treatment, for there is mo- good reason for believing that school children in Dothan are infected and children in other counties of the state are free from 1t.
 The long and short of the matter is this, the pest should be eradicated from every part of the state and kept out It can be done and now is the time t. do it, but two field workers cannot cope with the task. If Dr. Dinsmore the state supervisor of the Rock efeller commission, cannot procure authority to put more field men at work then the legislature should take hold of the matter, for as a matter of economy. to say nothing of humanity, Alabama cannot afford to have s5 per cent of her children afflicted with hookworms
 Let no one think for a moment tb at Dothan is the states hookworm cen ter. It is not. Whatever it has the re- mainder of the state undoubtedly has also. The entire state should be taker in hand and ransacked from end te end until the ravages of the pest arg fully ascertained and fully eradlcated It is wholly feasible and the worI should be carried out. The state mus get rid of all hook worms. Every phy sician should lend all possible aid an, the state can assuredly be taken ou of the hookworm belt
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15

drawn from fully 50eoo negroes of the
 city, the railroads and surrounding dis
 trict! That number of heds is wholly
 inadequate. No wonder the good people
 of St. vincent's sound the alarm. Some
 thing" say the people of St. vincent's,
 must be done to relieve this situation, and the way in which this problem IS met will decide whether or not Birmng- nam" and Jefferson county are to take a stand among the progressive communi- ties."
 Dr. Pettlford suggests that the Ala bama Orphans and Old Folks home in West Smithneld be utilized either by the charitable or by the city, or by both. In that way the negroes can be induced to help themselves in part The present property in West smithfeId is worth S1o- 000 upon which rests a mortgage for s9oOO Dr. Pettiford believes that if this institution were reasonably aided the eolored people could be led more and more to care for their helpless. As matter of economy and business sense the West smithfeld institution should be extended until it has accommodations for all negro patients that need hos pital accommodations, both those that can pay for what they receive and those cil should give this matter careful at tention
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
Hospital Space for Negro Patients

The letter of Dr. w. R. Pettiford, pub
 lished in yesterdays Age-Herald. de-
 serves consideration on the part of all
 who are striving here for the upbulding of "a large city. The medical staff of St. vincents hospital has shown that present hospital accommodations for co,- ored patients. either for charitable or pay patients, are altogether inadequate, and this city will soon hold 5O0o0 colored people. It is a city in which there are great plants. and in these plants hosts of negro men are employed, and they are from time to time subjected to serious injuries. To meet the increasing de- mand for hospital accommodations for negroes there are today at St. Vincent s but 20 beds; at the Hillman there are 57 beds for negro patients. Only v beds to meet the dire wants of stricken patients
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
BALzAc,s COPY

From the Craftsmanship of Writing,
 by Frederic Taber Cooper in the De
 cember Bookman.
 some writers apply the gospel of in- finite pains from the first moment of their conception of plot down to the last revision of the page proofs. Balzac was one of these. His cratic and la bored methods of revision, as recorded by Theophile Gautier in his Portraits contemporains, are such an interesting op1ect lesson of the extent to which the teVer Tor revision may be carried that It seems worth while to quote him here rather extensively:
 HIS method of proceeding was as Follows: When he had long borne and lived a subject. he wrote. in rapid, uneven, plotted, almost hieroglyphic writing species of outline on several pages These pages went to the print Ing office, from which they were re- turned in placards-that Is to say, in detached columns in the center of large sheets. He read these proofs attentive " Tor they already gave to his embryo work that impersonal character which manuscript never possesses; and he ap- piled to this first sketch the great crit ical faculty with which he was gifted, precisely as though he were judging of another mans work.
 Then he began operations; approv- ing or disappearing, he maintained or corrected, but above all he added. After some hours, the paper might have been taken for a drawing | of fireworks by a child. Rockets, dart ing from the original text, exploded on all sides. Then there were crosses; simple crosses, crosses recrossed, like those of stars suns, Arabic figure, let ters, Greek, Roman or French, all imaginable signs, mingled with era sures. Strips of paper, fastened on by waters or pins, were added to the in sufficient margins, and were rayed with lines of writing, very fine to save room, and full themselves of ensures; for a correction was hardly made be- fore that again was corrected.
 The following day the proofs came back, the bulk of course doubled. Balzac set to work again. always amplyfying.
 Often this tremendous labor ended with an intensity of attention, clear ness of perception of which he alone was capable. He would see that the thought was warped by the execution. that an episode predominated; that a figure which he meant should be sec ondary for the general effect was pro- jecting out of it's plan. Then, with one stroke of his pen he bravely annihil- ated the result of four or five nights of labor. He was heroic at such times.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
QUENCHING A THIRST
e London Chronicle.

From the London Chronicle
 On the subject of life giving drinks, his experiences of thirst on the road to Khar- tum and the ways of quenching it left the late George Stevens in no doubt. He pronounced unhesitatingly for the "Abu Hamed'-gin, vermouth, angostura, lime juice and subsequently, soda. Stee- vens description of the effects reaches the climax of lyrical enthusiasm This is to drink, indeed It spreads blessedly through the body and spirit not swirling through, like the Atbara, hut irrigating, like the Nile. It is soil in the sand. substance in the wind life in death. Your sap runs again, your mummy bones tougher. Yourself has sprung up alive, and you almost think you know how it feels to rise from the dead"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-15
MAKING ALL MATCHES "sAFETIEs"

From the Survey.
 Of the 25o, 100000 matches used yearly in this country-more than seven a day for every man, woman and child-four- -fifths are of type that practically every nation of commercial importance prohibits. For the head of the ordinary double dip" parlor match, the tiny round tip, is made of poison worse than deadly to many of the workers in match factories. Steal ing insidously through a tiny crack in a tooth, 1t rots the tooth. rots the jawbone, requires mutilating opera tions and sometimes results in death after lingering years of suffering. The dead bone, imbedded in living flesh, discharges It's foul remains through cheek and mouth. Phosphorus necrosis
 commonly called 'phos jaw" in match makers is so terrible that 1t might be
 considered good reason for returning
 to the flint and Steel of our forebears if
 there were no other way of making fire.
 But there is a harmless substitute, sesoui-sulphide of phosphorus, for the
 poisonous white phosphorus. It is to our disgrace that the United States has Jagged behind other lands in demand ing its use. The indifference of big business, the tariff, internal revenue taxes, a trust smothering the harm less but more expensive material
 lack of public information on the sub iect. and the voiceless obscurity of the match workers have all been factors Tn
 our tardy beginning last1year to wipe out this unnecessary industrial disease by the Esch bill Tn Congress