davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
THE sINkINo CHIP.

By Lord Byron. Then rose from sea to sky tho wild fare
 we'll
 Then shrieied the timid and sted stin
 the brave, Then leaped soms overboard with dread
 ful yell
 Az eager to anticipate their sravs; And the sea yawn'd around her Ike q
 hell, , And down shs suolk'd with hss the
 gurgiins wave Lfke ono who grapples with his en4uay And tries to strangls him before he dc. And first one universal shrislx there Louder than the loud ocean. like .
 crash M et Of echoing thunder; and then all was
 hushed ,f. Save the wild winds and tho rsmorss-
 less dash t,t t Of biilows; but at intsryals thers gushed Accompanied with . convululve eplanh. A solitary ohr1ek. . bubblfng Wy Of some stzepe swtpmr h his aoouus
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
C0ngreSSman Henry'S Bill

The introduction of bill in Con- gross by Representative Henry of Texas to meet a possible contingency in the death of President-elect or a Vice President-elect calls the attention of the country to very important question. Ample provision was made by the Forty-ninth Congress for the presidential succession in the event of the death or resignation of both Pres ident and Vice President. The sue cession runs through the cabinet from Secretary of State to Secretary of the Interior, inclusive, the department of agriculture and the department of commerce of labor having been ere \ ated since the act was passed. But no sort of arrangement has been made for filling the office of President or of Vice President in case one or both should die before inauguration day. Should either or both die after the gen era1 election on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November the presidential electors, which meet by law "and give their vote on the sec ond Monday in January next follow ing their appointment" would have the constitutional right to designate whom they saw fit to be President,elect or Vice President-elect Each elector ha1 the constitutional right to ignore the wishes of the voters in general uloctions and vote for any man he okooooo who is not ineligible to the oxocuGive office. Under the present nrr26m the slsctcr is only in honor
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
The Umpire's Wall.

"A referee in basketball game is de unfortunate victim of circumstances" said one of them yesterday. He either is or he aint. most usually ain't He gifts it in de deck. comin and goin'. He orter have nine eyes, en then some.
 NO feiler's got any right tryin' to stand between couple of bulls. anyhow, cause de red rag usually gifts tore Take it from me. mister, remember what yer ma taught yer. 'en keep out of the fire.
 "Why. umpiring baseball game is cinch side O this. De umpire kin count strikes on his fingers, but de referees got sich load of rules in his head ter give i'm sea sickness.
 There's one prescription for all. Swear off, call a foul on the world. throw it up in center. quit yer holdin, don't delay de game, git out, take hot bath, en slide under the cover"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

bound to carry out instructions, so to speak. Legally he has the same right to vote for "the best man in his view that the electoral college in the early days of the republic had; and in those early days the popular election had not been established. the legislatures electing or appointing the presi- dential electors.
 But there has never been any clear provision to meet the contingency Congressman Henry seeks to provide for. The chances are, however, that this bill will share the usual fate Of bills to change inauguration day. MT. Henry, by the way, introduced an April inauguration day bill in this Congress which is resting well in committee. March 1 is unpoular when 1t brings but it is not easy to change long established custom.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
THREE SOUTHERN CITIES.

From the Nashville American.
 A member of the Birmingham Cham Der of Commerce has been giving the Age-Herald of Birmingham his i'm pressions of Atlanta and at the same time making some comparisons be- tween Birmingham and Atlanta which may be of interest to the people of q city which Is ahead of either, and which modesty prevents us from naming. we used to poke fun at Atlanta for its ex- cessive boasting. but 1t is e rapidly grow ing city, and 1t has splendid citizen ship said the Birmingham man. ''Bir- minghan1. I am glad to believe, is fast acquiring the right sort of civic pride and .get-together spirit Atlanta set the progressive pace in the days of Henry Grady and Evan P. Powell and every city in the south that took lessons from it has prospered. The estimated popula- tion of Atlanta is 10000. but think 1t a safe wager that it will not appear in the census with more than 1s5,00O, or not over 10,o0os in excess ct B.rming- hams. Of coErse. Birmingham will eclipse Atlanta in population in 1920. This
  other city in the south, if not in the United States"
 The cities named are both wide awake and growing, but we daresay neither will pass Nashville in the census of 1s10 In the census of 1900, if we are not in er- TOT. Atlanta had a population of about s9,00o Nashville was 1000 or 5000 behind. Birmingham was far down the scale. At that time the area of Atlanta was twice as great as that of Nashville. But our city's limits have also been enlarged dur ing the decade to point where there is not much difference in area. Under the bill passed by the last Alabama leg islature Birmingham now encompasses very large portion of Jefferson county. Necessarily this expansion will give it 8 great lift In the census figures. Still, we believe we are warranted in saying that Atlanta and Nashville will show census figures very close together and Birmingham will be several thousands behind either.
 The population of Nashville, s1,ooo and odd in 1900, has been estimated all the way from 10000 to 100000. It Is likely
 
 that neither the lower nor the higher estimate is correct. To grow. even with enlarged boundaries, from s1,o00 or so to 16o;0o0 in decade is hardly possible in 50 old and settled a community. To reach 10000 there must have been an increase of nearly 5000, and 5000 peo- pie is several acres full. Yet our guess is that Nashville will go above 110,0o1 How much above, we shall wait for the census enumerators to show.
 Whatever the census shows relative to Nashville, Atlanta, Memphis and En- mingham, there is this to say of themt They are all growing in wealth and population in a most satisfactory way, and the citizen of neither needs be ashamed to acknowledge his habitat.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
CAREER OF ARTEMUS WARD

swept him along in current of over powering drollery.
 During his period of life in Boston he devoted himself largely to the stage, from an interest in the theatrical pro. fession as well as from an extended acquaintance among actors, and in this activity learned much that was of value to him when he took the plat form himself Many of the Imaginable extravagances of his various lectures can be traced as travesties on the pres entation of the drama and much of his writing is obviously inspired by thestri- cal texts and stagecraft.
 He left Boston to travel through Massa- chusetts and New York state as a jour- newman, though he is next heard of in the town of Tiffin, in Seneca county, Ohio, where he was employed in the dual capacity of reporter and compositor at salary of s4 week. What he might have saved out of this after his expenses
 were paid was spent in revels at the circus and in the sideshows, until Tiffin grew dull, and Browne got a position at Toledo, on the Commercial.
 friendly rivalry had sprung up be- tween the Commercial and the Toledo
 Blade. Repartee was freely indulged in and Browne took his share in the war
 fare with such signal success that he
 was promoted to the position of para grapher. His antagonists on the Blade were soon reduced to inveotive and scir- rility; but Browne maintained an un- ruffled spirit and a flow of a1niable rail- lery so effective that his column became the most popular feature of the paper.
 In 1858 the Cleveland Plain Dealer hired Charles Farrar Browne, then sl years old, nominally as a reporter. There was possibly never a worse re- porter in the world. He lacked every thing that would have made one-in- itiattve, resource, vigor and persis- tence were the qualities quite foreign to him. His work. the report of local activities, formed a series of burlesques, which gradually grew into . depart ment, over which his predominant im- agination held full sway. It found more readers than the news did. The humor- ous column, in any of the score of dif- ferent forms now familiar to us, was a novelty for the daily paper of Browne's time, and Browne's humor was a novelty for any time of the worlds history, as its sudden leap into prominence immediately proved.
 He had attracted widespread notice with series of palpabls manufactured Answers to Correspondents" Next an idea. undoubtedly born from his attend ance at the country cirouses, took pos- session of him. and resulted in the creation of "Artemus Ward, the Moral Snowman" This was Q nash of true Promsthean fire. His first notice. which described his show, was copied broad cast through the country. Browne was ! caught on the wings of his own conoep- 1 tton and swept rapidly upward, bo 1 rapidly that while he was still rsceiv- 1 ing 312 week he awoks to find him- l self famous.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
Some American Poets

New England has produced poets of high rank. notably Longfellow and Whittier, but many impartial critics place the two southern poets, Edgar Allan Poe and Sidney Lanier, above all the other writers of inspired song who have adorned American letters. John Canister Tabb, the poet-priest who died recently, while not ranking as high as Lanier or Poe was neverthe- less a genius and a poet of rare charm. He, too, was southern man, having been born and reared in Virginia and descended from distinguished colonial stock. Father Ryan. another poet priest of wartime memory, in whose honor a monument is about to be erected at Mobile, will always be a favorite in the south. "The Conquered Banner" and "The Sword of Lee" are moving and singularly musical. They are gems that will live.
 But one of the best of our American poets, Albert Pike, is little known to the present generation. He was born in 1909 and lived to his eighty-third year. Although he was native of Boston and resided there until he was 22 he was essentially a southerner. Leaving New England in 1881 he made an extended tour of the west, then a wilderness, and soon afterwards set. tied in Arkansas. He was a great lawyer, but he was above all things a man of letters. In the Confederate army he held brigadier generals commission.
 Pike wrote Hymns to the Gods,
 which were first published in Black woods Magazine in 1889. Most of them reached high level and attract. ed immediate attention. Christopher North, England's most famous critic
 wrote in praise of Americas young poet, and predicted a brilliant future for him. Pike's early writings were collected and published as Prose Sketches and Poems" in 1884; and in 1854 his poems were published under the title of "Nugae." But these volumes are out of print, not because there was small demand for them, but chiefly because of the authors eccen. tricity. General Pike wrote verse to be read by his friends and he once said to this writer that he would never consent to the publication of new edition of his poems. His relatives and others close to him respected what they regarded as being equal to command. They seemed to feel, al least, as if they were called upon tc oppose any effort that might be made te republish the poems in collected form General Pa1a devoted long years oI
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

Tn British politics the words unionist and conservative are used to mean practically the same thing. In MT Gladstones earlier days there were only three parties-liberal, conserva- tive or tory, and Irish national. The union party was split off from Glad stone's liberal party and was led by Joe Chamberlain. They were still lib erals in principle but bolted from Glad stone on his Irish home rule policy. The breach having been made, the liberal-unionists, as they at first called themselves, found the transition to the conservative side easy enough.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

his life-the latter part of his life ex- clusiYely-to Freemasonry, and his philosophic discussions and some of his
 prose poems are found in large volume entitled Morals and Dogma intended to be read only by Masons.. But in the interest of letters there should be a new popular edition Of Pike's poems. His profound and well nigh matchless sonnet, Autumn" his beautiful poem, ITO the Mocl1ing Bird;
 his poem, "The Lost Isadore, which Ingram, the English biographer or Poe, insists was taken as the model for "The Raven" his tender and most musical poem, "Annie,' written in Arkansas in 1885, and his more recent and his best known poem, because It is always going the rounds of the press, Every Year. these and many others should be selected from copies to be found in the library of the Scottish Rite Masons at Washington and pub lished in an elegant but not too expen- sive volume. Every modern encyclo- pedia gives a sketch of Albert Pike and mentions one or more of his poems, but when one calls on book seller and asks for Pike's poems, cata- logues are searched only to disclose the fact that no poetical work by that author is on the market. Masons and other admirers of General Pike should see to it that the first poems which he wrote are hid away no longer.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the N6W YorK FresS.
 When man isn't judged by his money it's by his clothes.
 It takes so long to save up . little money we try to spend 1t as quick as we can. M
 Most men would rather be the chief performer in a freak. show than a good example.
 Women have such good influence on a man 1t Is astonishing 1t doesn't seem to do him any good.
 Most everybody knows how to do soma one thing if he wasn't % busy trying to do . lot o5.2thsrs hs doseRt know new'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
A COCKTAIL STRIKE.

tEOIu tH6 NeW xOfk ETeSS.
 American consumers of cocktails liv- ing in Europe are about to enter into combinations against the extortionate price of 25 cents for manhattan or 8 martini. In Berlin, in Paris. in London, in Rome. in all the great cities abroad where there are large colonies. there are American bars, where the piece de resist ance is the classic cocktail In the im- agination of Europeans the only drink indulgsd in by the American is the cock tail. As all things disttnotively Amer icon are overtaxed abroad, 50 arc cock tails To be branded as an American is an immense luxury Rather than go with out his patriotic cocktail. an American would, 1t is supposed. pay a dollar q that to charge only 25 cents for (to be sure badly mixed) cocktail seems gen. erous, almost charitable.
 But Americans are never satisfied, and now they are demanding Recent cock tails. They are tired of paying the ex- oessive tax for a cocktail in which there is an unduly largo proportion of yer liioutA anu MI hAAhAt oAAaAA RVAtioA VI gin or whisky. as the case may be. To support their demand they have made a serious threat. They have declared that they would organize union in all the large cities; that all cocktail-drinlkine Americans abroad would league together and import their own gin. whisky. and bittsrs. and buy abroad large quantities of vermouth and cordials. stock their private houses, form clubs, and boycott the 'bars," which would soon have to go out of busineBs.
 This threatened commercial waEfare has created consternation in business cir cles abroad, for no one can predict the consequences unless our expatriated countrymen may maintain the one sen tirnental link which unites them to theii native land. That they will insist or maintaining 1t Is certain. The American cocktail will not vanish from the earth no matter what the special outcome oi the strike may be.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
FACING THE MUSIC.

He dreamed a dream Of happiness
 It never did come true; His feet were pierced in thorny ways, His lot was only rue. And yet, in spite of secret cares
 And sorrows hard to down, He had no fault to find with life,
 Nor ever wore a frown. When others told of troubles dire
 He lent willing ear And felt assured that better times
 Would very soon appear; With such steadfastness bore defeat. So calm. so undismayed, No looker-on would e'er have guessed Twas but a part he played. But played a part-'tis better so; If we don't really feel As sprightly as in days of yore,
 Why wastse time to reveal The hidden scars, the shattered dreams, The grief that we have met? We owe the world a smiling face Let's don't evade the debt!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
Fun In the Work.

ssThere is more fun connected with this Young Mems Christian association cam paign than I've had in a long time said Borden Burr yesterday. ''The community is in such a good humor that we find everybody laughing and the more we get out of them the better pleased they are.
 ''rhey all, with one accord, begin to make excuses, but jolly crowd Of four or i've soon removes the objection and the only question is the amount.
 "Every time a willing man takes the pen and signs up without hesitating the committee feels that it was too easy. The fun Is all in the argument ana me happiest man in the crowd Is usually the fellow that has been convinced
 ..When four or five work together the thing is easy. Every one knows 50 much about the campaign, and the interest ia % great that the doubting member de- cldes to Get In the hand waeon. don't
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
rom Harper's Weekly

From Harper's NeekIy.
 "On behalf of the sewing circle of this church" said the pastor at the con- cusion of the morning service, q desire to thank the congregation for 57 but tons placed in the contribution box dur ing the past month. If now the phil anthropically inclined donors of these objects will put half dozen undershirts and three pairs of other strictly secular garments on the plate next Sunday morning. so that we may have something to sew these buttons on, we shall be additionally grateful"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

If you haven't paid your poll tax 1t would be well to pay it today. Feb ruary 1 is positively the last day on which you can pay if you would be a voter this year.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

There is a threat to increase the price of golf balls. The price of high balls in Birmingham has already be- come a serious matter, owing to the difficulty of procuring them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

Will Bessemer be reconciled to be known as a suburb of Birmingham? We have become suddenly deficient in this respect. We would be proud Of Bessemer in such relation.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

A Pittsburg man who stole s22,000 says he gave it to the poor. The fact that he lives in Pittsburg is dead against him. Otherwise, there would not be such a strong suspicion of chorus girls in the background
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
THE PERFUME OF MONEY.
n inc nansas City Star.

From the hansas City Star
 Postal employees are the most honest chaps in the world" said secret service man. '"The only time a postal employe ever falls from grace is at the holiday season, when foolish persons. send one another presents of banknotes.
 "A banknote has sweet and pleas- ant odor. easily distinsuishable through sealed envelope Every man through whose hands letter containing cank- notes passes can smell the money. That smell, If he is hard up, is as delicious to his nostrils as the smell of griiling Ash to famished cat.
 Rarely. as said before. dces postal smploye fall. When he does 1t Is the fault of the public-the foolish public that too irresistibly tempts him with the sweet odor of the banknotes that m sepdsL e presents, thzopgb the matA
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

A valiant young man in Atlanta stopped burglar with cigarette case. Fine! Still, the possession or cigarette case would seem to indicate that the young man smokes cigarettes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

Do not become alarmed. The appear ance of that African comet is only the forerunner of the "Old Mans" return from Eba."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
Athletics In Colleges.

Along with other problems" stated Henry F. Reed of Okolona, Miss, who Is in Birmingham "the wise men of the country have never reached solution to the problem which involves the rela- tionship of the American college to American athletics.
 Tn this regard, I presume every man has his opinion well established in his mind. But in a broad way 1t strikes me that in an imperfect. body it Is an
 impossibility to develop an intellect
 very highly. Therefore, according to my
 idea, the first point is to develop the
 body.
 Tt is generally admitted that boy develops at the age which finds him in
 college. Therefore his participation in athletics and outdoor exercises of all natures has more or less to do with his
 physical appearance when he leaves
 college. Generally speaking good
 body means good health. Health is
 everything For these reasons I think
 that all colleges should encourage their students to participate in athletics. "In college man equips himself to take care of himself when he goes into the world. This is the greatest good of college education. Second in value
 are the friends he makes. Third is the polish he receives. The having of dates and intricate problems at one's fingers end does not necessarily mean that one is well educated The man who mas a
 general knowledge of practically every important subject. and knows where to find the dates and particulars when he needs them is the man who is edu- cated. In my opinion. therefore, con- sidering the information one has at first hand five years after leaving col- lege. I am inclined to the belief that | the professor. taxing the mind of young men unnecessarily does no good, and probably does harm. I would advise every man who goes to college to de- velop his body. When that is accom- plished the mind will care for itself"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

William R. Hearst took trip with Paulhan, but his enemies insist that it wasn't the first time he was ever up in the air.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

Little lambs hardly have time to frisk their tails one time in Wall street before they are trimmed to fare-you- well.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23

The backbone of the winter in this part of the country is almost broken and it will not be long before it is en- tirely broken.