davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

ran on temporary track over the noun
tains.
The famous French engineer Colonel
Crozet, was at work upon the tunnel
with two sets of hands, one on the east
ard the other on the west of the Blue
Ridge, and so accurate were his calcula-
tons that these sets of hands met exactly
at the right point and in the expressive
language of a certain riheman, Daylight
Broke Through the Blue Ridge"
Having done pretty fair work at the
Orange academy | skipped the first year
at the institute, entered the third class,
equivalent to sophomore, and graduated
in three years. DO not imagine that this
was a remarkable feat: for I dare say
some of our bright Alabama boys, who
are now studying in the same institution,
would easily accomplish the same
In a recent address of Maj. Gen J.
Franklin Bell, chief of staff, United
States army, before the graduating class
of the Virginia Military institute, he COM
pared the institute with the military
academy at West Point, and our military
institute suffered no loss In the COMPARE
SON. He also said 'he considered the
Virginia Military institute second to no
other of its kind in the world
The Virginia Military institute was
founded upon West Point and as Shy1ock
would say, "bettered its instruction"
The late Confederate general, d. Fl.
HILL brother-in-law to Stonewall Jackson,
I knew personally and admired greatly.
He is my authority for the following an
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

physical research and what they could
only know by faith and the intuitions of
the soul. They supposed that there must
be some way of physically demonstrating
the existence of the spiritual universe.
Some of the choicest souls at once set
about the reconstruction of society. In
battle with that problem they kept sane.
Others went incoming after a new relig-
ion, and became one or another sort of
spiritualst. The men of faith dreamed
of a perfected human society there on
that pilgrim soil, where Freedom should
only bow the knee to Knowledge. Some
of them reached out to furthest India and
led the Burman Buddhist into brother
hood. The more vulgar gathered around
the table with the mediums and tried to
summon the aid of Solomon, Confucius.
or perhaps King George, to make the
said table tilt heavenwards, or unite
wary and indecipherable messages on the
inside of states, or ring non-existent
bells, or do a Morse telegraph message
in the dark. er
What a whirlpool of various possibili-
ties! How we can imagine Carlyles con-
tempt for 1t, while he greeted it's SUI
preme genius as brother beloved, Not
that Emerson could ever have fallen
victim to the fantastic claims of spiritual
ism. There's a long step between such
a mind as his and, for instance, Colonel
Olcotts or William T. Stead's. Never
theless we do no violence to Emerson S
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

1t is not surprising that though stren-
uous efforts were made to keep Theoso-
ply going, and though on the strength
of its humane professions and to its mir
acles, many persons in England, as well
as in America, became infected with its
influence, the society has dropped to
pieces. Why? Because it exploited the
religious nature of men for the glory of
It's founders. 1t may be confidently said
that men still lust for the miraculous
sign But just as confidently we may
say that the religion which depends for
its growth upon signs and wonders has
In 1t the sure seeds of corruption. Until
the appeal is to the heroic there Is no
appeal TO men which a man can continue
TO feel without self-contempt. And un-
I'll his religion demands a reconstruction
or his evil soul on the sure foundations of
purity and truth 1t will have no lasting
grip upon a man. The only safe sign
is of man risen from the dead, risen
out of the ashes of a ruined life. Strange
ly enough even child can only be held
by religion morally strong enough to
hold blasphemer. The cross is ele-
mental. Secrets that can only come to
the ears of the initiated few must at
least lie as seeds in the soul of every
babe, If they are to be pare of a world
religion. These attempts to surpass
Bethlehem and Calvary have vet TO
reach a single instance of dignity ana
immortality Like dead wrecks they
strew the shore-iine of the centuries.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

the man had vision and was blind too.
England wreaked her vengeance on this
immoral genius; society destroyea him In
its slow heart burning conscience flame.
And his dishonor and shame has been
subject matter for a thousand common
mems gross obscenties since he was
cast into prison.
And this is what 7 mean to be the
drift of my preachment:
Humanity is not made up OF two DIS
tinct types-the blind and the seeing-the
evil and the good only. s.
Always there are gradations-always
there is the striving and the losing and
the winning.
One standard Of values cannot be true
for all--not yet.
Merciful sociologists are sorely needRp
on judges benches.
Until the races of men are prepared for
an ideal anarchy, such as Is outlined IN
the Golden Rule, those men born into
the world morally blind must have guides
and protectors. -,
Not condoners-not pardoners who will
heartfully say. you have done no wrong
Won" Rather. men who know vista, ply
sicians in the largest sense, to whom all
human life shall seem of some utility =
of some real worth to future generations,
If wisely directed.
Physicians for the bllnd-these are they
whom the blind RACES need! Men who
can forecast fair deeds in the lives OF
men and women that are being hounded
To bells of their own blind making.
Not for men of Wildes type do plead
for in him vision was paramount and
his animal depravity was secondary. With
that brain of his he owed the world In
finitely more than he gave. I plead for
the blind ones who cannot discriminate
between fairness and unfairness-between
light and darkness. plead for the ut
terly blind. Not for the vicious thug any
more than for the rapacious capitalist,
for they are equally without vision. In
telligent swipdling in high places and
brutal blows struck In the darkness
equally without fairness-equally blind.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03
THE SPANISH "WAR"-By Sauoyard

the innumerable blunders of the demo-
cratic party in Congress that forced a
dozen years. lease of power on the re-
publican party. The yaller journals with
offlce-made lies from Cuba excited the
mob, and democratic and republican or
ators in Congress mistook the clamor OF
the rabbe for Vox Del, for there are
congressman in both houses who are
profound in the belief that war, pes
thence and famine are mid public chas-
tisements compared with their retire
ment from the public council.
And SO the democratic minority, ex-
cellent gentlemen, kindly at heart gen.
erous of impulse patriotic of sentiment,
turned themselves into so many Molochs,
each proclaiming voice for war. Fer
haps there were exceptions They did
not care a rap for Cuba. They did not
believe that Wall Street would allow the
country to go to war On the republic
can side of the hedge Molochs were as
thick as dandelons in April, and they
too clamored for war. One republican
senator shed tears over 1t. And what
an opera bouffe it would have been If II
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

ST. Georges chapel at Windsor was the
most gorgeous ever seen save at the
queens jubilee.
As read thought of how we buried
the king of our village forty years ago.
1t was In the era before machine
made goods had found their way to us
to any great extent. The village tailor
made the mems clothes, the shoe
maker the boots, the wagon maker the
wagons, the cabinetmaker the furnt
ture, and SO on.
Our king was wagon maker
He came to ussfrom Kentucky, was
strikingly kingly in mien, tall, hand
some and lion-like in strength. Once
he put to flight the army of the aliens,
literally throwing an entire gang OF
peace disturbers out of the church.
No man of the neighb orhood dared face
him in his righteous Indignation.
Yet he had a woman's heart.
By right of royal dignity ana prerog-
alive he became the peacemaker of the
community. He settled more lawsuits
than the lawyers at the county seat
He was the defender of the weak
And when misfortune came his kindly
ministry was always evoked.
England was no more deeply stricken
by the death of her king than we by
ours.
The funeral? 1t was to the village
church that we first took his remains,
the church where every Sunday he
marshaled his big family that filled a
pew. 1 remember the poignant sorrow
of that people. The minister could
scarce say his sermon because his
throat would tighten, and he would
look at us--every one in tears-through
the telescope of his own tears.
We were burying our king.
The coffin did not weigh half ton,
like Edwards. 1t was made Of smooth
walnut boards. There was no hearse.
The coffin was tenderly. laid on straw
in one of the wagons he had built.
There was one carriage, and the min
lister and the widow rode In that. We
followed In long procession, sitting in
chairs with which the wagon had been
furnished.
The grave had been dug by neigh
bors, the pile of clay indicating its
location. To the sobbipg of sincere
mourners, above which could be heard
the broken voice of the minister
Ashes to ashes. dust to dust"-the
body of the man who was every inch
q king was lowered to it's resting place
by ropes.
Nor did we desert the grave at this
juncture, as Is the custom of today
We remained while the neighbors took
turn about filing the grave and gently
patted the mound into sha peliness.
And thus we buried our king of forty
years ago.
Are you too fat?
If so and you want to reduce your
flesh quit eating.
That is the way Miss Ruth Armstrong
OF San Francisco solved the get thin
quick problem. She tasted 80 days and
reduced her weight from toto 10 pounds
During the fast she took nothing but
water and declares after the first day
or two she never felt better.
There is no doubt we eat too much.
In a recent magazine article Upton
Sinclair, the author tells of his resort
to fasting In order to cure certain ills.
He had tried everything else and was
In despair.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

cruelty of Weyler. The fellow was ut
Matanzas, and.i when he saw an Ameri-
can coming, afar off, he would begin to
strip, hold out his hat, and many a time
1t was filed with American money.
The democrats were proceeding with
their grand exploit of putting the re-
plblicans in the hole" But the republic
cans were already in a hole. There were
100000 hungry office seekers that Mark
Hama had no bread for but the demo-
Gratis forced the war and that made a
place for every devil of them, and more,
too. AS usual, the democratic party was
going through its great stunt of pulling
chestnuts out of the first for the G. o. p.
And so the Maine was sent where l.
had no business to be, and s~t blown up,
whether by accident, or by Spaniard, or
by Cuban, will never be satisfactorily. es-
tabished.
But ii made the war that was like "A
ring fight between John L. Sullivan AMI
Alexander H. Stephens The navy and
the marine corps could have fought the
thing without the aid of single soldier.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03
HEART TO HEART TALKS-By Edu;n A. Nye

Sinclair claimes he cured himself OF
various troubles by long fasting. He
also says he did the most severe men,
tai work during his fasts and found
his mind to be unusually clear.
we eat too much.
The habit of crowding three full meals
into a little stomach every day is enough
to ruin any organ of less tough structure.
Because of our continual gorging the
food is not properly assimilated. the
waste is not eliminated and remains in
the system to poison the blood.
When to this stuffing custom are add
ed our habit of living in rooms not pro-
perly ventilated. especially In winter,
our lack of exercise and artificial methods
of life the wonder is not that we are
sick, but that we should survive at all
The Cutting habit is a relic of the
age of savagery, when food was scarce
and men lived merely animal existence
and stuffed themselves like the brutes.
We eat too much.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

Saxons united may defy all corners. and
keep the peace throughout Christendom
end pagandom. Soon Canada, South At
RIGA, Australia and New Zealand will DO
mighty nations, each with teeming mil
lors, of power incaleulable, resources
inexhaustlble, and wealth beyond COM
prtation.
Let these and us take for motto what
is inscribed on the great seal of Ken
lucky:
Limited we stand; divid ID we fall"
II that shall be the fruit of the Span-
ish war, that folly will turn out
blessing; otherwise, we must get a larg-
er standing army and navy to meet all
Corners.
But our country is far from finished.
We need billions and tons of billions 70
make our material development equal OF
that of France Our railroads call for
bllions so do our rivers and harbors
and canals. Our country highways are
clamorous for other billions.
As the cub reporter says: THE end Is
OF yet"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

To be sure, the man who Is employed
in severe physical labor needs strength
ening food at more or less frequent in
tervals but his heavy exercise eliminates
the waste, and the deep breathing tones
his blood. We who do not thus labor
need scarcely half the food we are accus-
toned to use.
Moses understood this. Be very sure
the fasting instituted by the Mosaic
code had moro than religious signifi-
canoe. It was also for physical we'll
being.
A good rule to follow, whether one
believes in long fasting or not, is
When in doubt, don't eat
The trial of this cure costs nothing,
and, indeed in this time, when the
cost of living is so high, 1t has the
added virtue OF economy.
We eat too much.
Life is like mirror.
It Is the looking glass into which one
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

The days pass, and time deals gently
with us. And after awhile we can th,n,,
calmly of our dead. And the memorv
OF them is even sweet to us because we
know that
Life is ever lord Of death.
And love can never lose its own.
Nations as we'll as individuals coma
TO feel that there Is behind them A
mysterious power that pushes them
forth to their destiny despite all acct
dent
And we need to learn that the purer
and truer the life forces are behind thu
day of trial the stronger is the nation
or the Individual in the day of trial.
AS said Sir Galahad:
MY strength Is as the strength of ten
because my heart is pure"
That grand old woman Julia Ward
Howe Is 81 years old, and at that ago
she is younger than some others at CO.
somebody once asked her how she
managed to keep so young and vigor-
Gus, and she replied:
BY allying myself with some unpop.
ular cause.
Which at the first strikes one as far
fetched, but there is in the statement
deep philosophy.
Those remain young whose minds re-
main young. The young mind looks for
ward into the future the old mind looks
back into the past. The young mind
memories.
Julia Ward Howe has kept young By
facing the future and fighting in the
van of progress.
For years she championed the cause
of the abolition of slavery. When the
slaves were freed she took up the I'M
porular propaganda of equal suffrage.
And thus. through her enthusiasms and
by linking herself with progressive hui
manty. she has come to her 81 years.
Susan r. Anthony was another young
old wman who realized that activity
n cans life and that to follow a youth
full ideal brings forgetfulness of the
years.
And there is Or. Pearsons of Chicago
who at 90 says he has been having
more fun giving away his millions to
deserving colleges than any millionaire OF
them all and that when he is dead
there will not be dollar left
DR.. Pearson has a vision.
And white haired Chief Justice Fuller
sits In the circle of the big brains OF
the United States supreme court and.
barring the white hair and mustach~,
appears rs vigorous at II as a boy.
He could retire at any time and stiiI
oraw his pay but, knowing that mac
tvity means stagnation and death, ne
prefers to die in the harness.
Suppose Julia Ward Howe had gone
noddne over her knitting, contenting
herself with the retrospect of her suo.
cessful work for the slave?
She proha bly, would have died years
ago or, il living would be decrepit and
senile instead of vigorous and bustlinR.
March forward with your face to the
rising sun! Cultivate the zest of going
into battle for worthy cause and for
Rr' the yverrs that are behind.
Get Yourself a vision. A
And then, joining hand in hand with
your select fellows, go. as do the little
children, aflame with enthusiasm and
hone of realization
That way lies youthfulness.
In the bright lexicon Of enthusiasm
there is nosuch word as age,
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

today '"The Ballad of
* Reading Gaol.' an old wonder
L n about mems errors obtruded And
the wonder got me in sermonizing mood
sermonizing, as I conceive the word {
largest meaning, being result of the
minds free play. soul-gossip. and abb
solute fairness with ones self. above all,
surmounting all, absolute fairness with
ones self And it is this interplay and
exchange of fact and fancy with those
superiors, equals. interiors we know that
ultimately shapes ones creed O. life, don't
you think?
We must all be preachers and listeners
too-the nobest and meanest Of us must
give ourselves up-must hear and tell
all that seems good and fair to u.s. And
We cannot stop the growing and becom-
ing. The new truths of other men that
press for trial, whether We find them
fact or fable, in so far as they concern
us, must be heard.
1t was of blindness ! sermonized with
myself And some stray notes l made
for you. my neighbors; some fiotsam an
jetsam found at the days end-some tai.
lyings I found true.
The condition of physical blindness
might not be miserable one If, back
Of the poor, unseeing eyes thinking
brain was not sure that somewhere other
men knew the intimate comrading with
sunlight and the glisten Of dew. / fancy
it is this knowledge that blanches the
faces of blind men; not so much the
enforced exile from the bright day, as
knowing how fair it is. Not the hurt of
the darkness. but the hurt of the light.
which embraces all so tendery and low
ingly, and may not be seen.
Oscar Wilde had vision-saw and heard
flowers and bird-song-yet, withal damned
himself so utterly in mems eyes. One
of the outcasts himself. by his own and
the past's making. that Reading prison
gave him text for a sermon OF massive
scope and intensity. O. but the trial
men hurt NNilde--hurt him intensely!
Were they right? I do not know, for he
scared and grovelled. too-angeled and
deviled his few years away till Read
lag gaol got him in its clutches. For
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

may look and see himself as others
see him.
Note this:
One stands before the looking glass
and. forgetting that he looks upon him
self, sees only that men and women
are selfish and over-reaching and full
of guile-sees only that the times and
manners are corrupted.
But
Another looks, and the mirror reveals
to him that men and women are kind
and courteous and good, that this day
is the best day of history and that to-
morrow will be better STILL
Why the difference?
The mirror is the same. The difference
must be In the beholder.
1T is. Because like begets like Each
sees in the mirror the best or the worst
according as he brings the best or the
worst before the mirror.
If you pose before the mirror of life
sury. grouchy. fault-iinding, the mirror
will reflect back disagreeable and dis
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

obiging world. Courtesy breeds courtesy
Selhshness begets selfishness.
If you are suspicious of all the world
all the world will be suspicious OF you
but if you tElst men they will have con-
fdence in you.
If you try to over-reach your neigh
Dor he will try to get the better of you
but II you give him a square deal he
will meet you half way.
If you are impatient with people
they will lose their tempers with you
If you are patient and kind they will
be kind and patient.
1t must be SO
The mirror reflects truly.
Do you remember in Victor Hugos
story how the good bishop trusted
Jean Vatican? The bishop said to the
burly tramp. II have bought you from
evil; ] dedicate you to goodness The
trust reached tender spot and changed
Vatican from a convict to a savior OF
men.
Be noble. and the goodness that lies
In other men, sleeping. but never dead
Shall rise in majesty to meet thine own.
Let us face the mirror,
We must not stand to one side or the
other of the mirror, thus seeing another
image than our own or a distorted re-
Election. Let us face the looking glass
suuareiy.
What do you see?
Only selfishness and suspicion and
spite and discourtesy? II so, do not
find fault with the mirror.
Find fault with yourself.
When King Edward VII died the peo-
pie of England were plunged into IA
state of great anxiety.
The political conditions were such that
business almost ceased for time values
were depressed, and the people felt as
IL they were on the verge of national
disaster.
We have had such experiences
When Abraham Lincoln was assassi-
mated VIE passed through a great trial.
It needed the voice of a great man like
Garfield, who said to the mob on the
streets of New York Fellow citizens.
God reigns and the government at
Washington still lives"
There was another serious crisis when
Garfield was shot And when Mckinley
got his death wound at Buffalo dread
anarchy showed its horrid front.
But we passed through these trbula-
tions and emerged.
Like some great planet SWINGING in
its orbit whose momentum is rresist-
ible, we kept the track marked out for
us.
Behind us was the cumulative force
of a great history-the gathered mo-
mentum of n people who had dreamed
and done great things and good things
So 1t is in our personal lives.
Disaster comes to US In a business
venture. The blow parayzes. We see
no way ont. We are seized by despair
ThisNwe saw Is the end.
But the crisis passes. We readjust our
selves to the new emergencies. The old
wound slowly heals. BY and by the
experience becomes a part of our phi
losophy.
Tt is the reserve power within us
quckening to a new endeavor.
A dear one dies. We feel that never
again will the sun shine so brightly as
of old. Clouds and darkness are about
us, The terrible fact stares us We
never shall see that face againl If. say.
after year or five years we might
hope to see it! But-nevermore.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03

regular or volunteer, and yet we hear
of Spanish Veteransi" Spain had been
the mirror of chivalry She had saved
the cross from the crescent. Her his
tory was mingled with glory and nfamy.
Ceryantes was compensation for the In
quisfvion. She first lighted the fires on
the altar of modern political civilization.
The very American Congress that forced
this browning humiliation on the proud
est people of all time had its germ in
the Spanish polity of the Asturias, for
our parliament was evolved out of the
Cortes.
But now Spain was nothing but valor
and memory, helpless before the young
giant of the west and all she could do
was to go to the scratch and be knocked
out. That she did with dauntless in
trepidity worthy the days of her grand
seur when the Spanish infantry was what
'the phalanx was to Sparta, what the le-
gion was to Rome. what his ironsides
were to Cromwell. what his guards were
to Napoleon
But they must needs call to arms an