davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
SHAKESPEARE TO BE EXPOSED

sniff and say that the old chest is a "plant" cunningly hidden by somebody to be dug up later with full accompani- ment of publicity. They will ask why Lord Bacon did not claim to have written the Bible and Chaucers Canterbury Tales" and everything else. But why should people be so cynical? Why shouldn't they keep their minds open to new ideas?
 Lord Bacon was the wisest. brightest, meanest of mankind. His worshipers are determined to prove, somehow, that he wrote the Shakespeare plays. They won't be happy until they achieve this feat. Now, so long as Shakespeaces doesn't care, why not let the Baconians have their way? Shakespeare never cared rap for his writings, anyway. He tossed them off, raked in the coin, and retired 10 the obscurity whence he sprung. He never was an aristocrat; in fast, he was the son of d wool-comber, and himself was a stroling player. He deserves no consideration whatever
 Whether the muddy chest in the River Wye is a "plant" or not, it was happy thought on the part of the Baconians to dig up proof somehow that Shakespeare wass fraud and Bacon a demigod. By all means let the chest be opened. If the proofs are not in it, the Baconians should not hesitate to plant another chest that will put the doubters to scorn. No un- lettered yokel like Bill Shakespeare should ever be permitted to keep the credit for writing those marvellous plays
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post
 SPECIAL cable to the New forh
 A American announces that Dr. or 4 A y,ue Owen of Detroit has un- earthed a huge box or vault rom the he'd of the River Wye, near Chepstow' England. and is about to open the poA and take from 1t the proofs that Loru Bacon wrote the plays attrlputeu 'o shakespeare. The cost of the eXplora- tion has been borne by the Duke of Beau fort The work has been going forward for several months. Dr. Owen IS sald to have obtained his original clew from a cipher in Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia, which describes the sunlien vault and us contents. and tells why Lord Bacon LOOK so much trouble to hide the fact that he was the author of Shakespeare's plays and poems The cipher is said also to dis close the fact that Bacon wrote not only the Shakespeare stuff, but also Burton's s Anatomy of Melancholy" Sponsors "Faery Queene," all the works attributed to Marlowe, Greene and Peele, and the selfsame Arcadia" which contains the cipher.
 Wonderful. Wonderful! And if you don't believe it, there is the ancient chest covered with slime, reposing in the mud of the Wye. How did it get there, if Lord Bacon did not bury it? How did the shrewd American, doctor know where to dig, if the cipher did not tell him?
 Of course, there are people who will
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
Shackled Street Workers

Imagine for a moment the work ing of small misdemeanants- era, ,,s shooters, vagrants, amateur fig IFS and plain drunks who arc leade,. W. h fines and costs because they arc not able to hire a lawyer-imagine a gang of such offenders put at 'rtrk in the streets of any city ? tl. country outside of Birmingham and Atlanta in shackles! Let us ina inc them supplanting the white wirT. Il sweeping the Great White Way i' New York!l
 When you can imagine the horror that such scene would create you can readily see hcw the method looks to the newcomer or passer-by in this city. The fact that the city is endeavoring to gather in shackie, cy exploiting in this way it's humble mis- demeanants does not help it's case :. bit.
 The truth is we have become hard
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
But Heaven hath n hand in these events, To those high will bound our calm
 contents. king Richard II.
ReappOrtiOnment Measure

The House has repassed the bill of the last Congress increasing the
 membership of the House to 433. It stands now at 391. The object of the increase is the avoidance of re- duction in any states delegation in the House. Outside of that feature public sentiment would have favored a limitation of the House to its pres .ent number which is large enough.
 Under this bill no state loses a member and the gains will be as fol- z lows: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, z Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia, one :. each; Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas and Washington, two each; California and Oklahoma, three each; Pennsylvania, four, and New York, six.
 : The New York Tribune thinks these changes will help the repub- 4licans in the electorial vote of 1912, . but it is indeed question whether anything can help the party that is hopelessly tied to special interests. The course of the Senate republi- cans on the tariff bill sent up to them will have more effect on their for tunes in 1912 than any reapportion- ment bill.
 The Senate will undoubtedly accept : the bill passed by the House. It <. chiefly relates to the House, and the z Senate generally accepts a reappor- ; tionment bill as House matter.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
BurInc.s Imnroyement


 Business conditions are decidedly bet ter now than they were even a week ago." said Joseph H. Swegert of St. Louis "The crop situation Is improving every day, and it can be safely predicted now that this country will have bumper harvests. The south Is likely to have a new record cotton crop. The west will have record-breaking- cereal crops, and from all we can learn the country at large is going to have prosperity from the Atlantic to the Pacific No matter how unsettled capital might be, and no matter how dull the industrial world might appear, bumper crops will start things agoing and the year 1911 will wind up as one of the best in our recent his- tory.
 '"The south is certainly in better shape from a business point of view than it ever was. In industrial centers like Bir- mingham there may be some dullness. but in nearly every town in the south agriculture is the mainstay, and in such towns prosperity will always be in evi- dence."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
VALUE OF TESTIMONIALS

From the Story of Modern Book Adver-
 Using, by Algernon Tassin in the May
 Bookman.
 It was Walt Whitman who first in America recognized the advertising value of the testimonial when he printed on the cover of the second edition of Leaves of Grass a sentence from Emersons letter to him, T greet you at the beginning of great career" Publishers opinions about testimonials are conflicting, yet their practice seems the same. They all publish testimonials from people of liter ary importance, though they admit that these often have reactionary effect in antagonsing local critics and in occa- sioning close scrutiny for books which might not otherwise receive critical analy- sis; they all say that the testimony of public people is valueless unless it carries conviction by pointing out some specific quality yet waves of seemingly pointless testimonial have time and again struck book advertising and probably will con- tinue to do so. And certainly book his tory offers tempting illustratins of sue
 
 says it's publisher, was Governor Flower of New York. He carried it about in his pocket and brought it into every conversa- tion Mrs. Eddy for once indorsed book -one of the first Christian Science nov els-and for time it was almost rival to Science and Health.'' Senator Bev- eridges "The Young Man and the World was helped a great deal by the views of important persons in business, social and church activities. Perhaps the most mo- ta able instance of the unmistakable value of testimonial Is furnished by the "Valor of Ignorance" a book of our unprepared- ness for Japanese invasion. This was written by a Californian-and exploited in the state where the subject would ap- pear to be most burning-yet it didn't go at all until Lord Roberts took it up as propaganda for English unpreparedness against Germany. And finally, though ali publishers agree that testimonial is worth nothing unless the man is known as an authority on that subject, they all publish eagerly the least word of praise from the most indiscrminate praiser of our times. MT. Roosevelt is the great rec omueuder
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
Alabama's Home Reapportionmcnt

So far as congressman are con- cerned reapportionment of Ala bama is not necessary. By direction of the governor congressman large could be elected. The reason able and just pride of Jefferson coun. ty would be postponed, and the state could not boast county that con- stitutes congressional district. The state has, however, such a county with something to spare. The con- gressional unit is 211,877 and Jef- ferson county contains the unit and over 15,000 people to boot.
 Reapportionment of the legislative and judicial districts is, however, very different matter. To neglect to put these before the election of 1914 on the basis of equality in population would be plain disregard of the let ter and the spirit of the constitution of 1901. No members of the legisla- ture could be elected at large, and the only way justice can be done is by respecting the terms of the con- stitution. A constitutional election cannot be held in 1914, in other words until the state has been reappor- toned. The injustice of the situation is very apparent in this county. lief ferson is entitled to II representa- tives in the next general election, and she has now but seven. Injustices and discrepancies are numerous throughout the state, and it stands to reason and to law and to justice that these should be corrected prior to the election in November, 1914.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
To He Guest of Colonel Johns


 Evan Williams. the famous tenor who will be one of the attractions at the Music Festival in May. will be the guest or Col. and Mrs. Llewelyn W. Johns at
 rhe Elms:" Williams Is a welshman, and so is Colonel Johns. as everyone should know.
 Evan Williams sang at one of the Guck- enberger festivals here several years ago. He was a great artist then, but he is far greater today. One of the Birming- ham singers who went to Montgomery Thursday to take part in the Victor Herbert festival said: Evan Williams solos were worth double the price of the trip. If l had heard only Williams big encore piece, All Through the Night, l would have been repaid for my visit to the Capital City,
 Colonel Johns said yesterday that on reading the first announcement of the festival he had intended buying tickets for himself and wife for one two of the concerts, but that when he learned Williams was to be on several of the programmes he concluded to buy season tickets.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
COwARDICE OF SEA CAPTAIN

From the New York Times.
 To anybody at all familiar with the tra- ditions of the sea there Is something par ticularly al eadful in the news that the captain of the steamer Iroquois, recently wrecked Off the coast of British Columbia, with the loss of 20 lives, has been charged with abandoning his passengers to save himself, and is to be tried for mansaugh- ter.
 When one remembers the savage pun ishment accepted almost as a matter of course rv eca captains who can be &C., cused of little or nothing worse than bad luck, or of an honest mistake of judg- ment made in circumstances that fill hu- man minds with uncertainty, the name found for the crime said to have been commmitted by the master of the lro- ouois sornGs siserably inadequate. Such conduct as his, if he was guilty Of 1t, is held Lv the vast majority or his pro- fessionsf brothers to be- if not worse than murder, al least vastly more disgrace full.
 A hundred and a thousand times cap tains nave shown that to be the last to quit a wrecked or sinking ship is such an essential part of ordinary duty that the thought of doing anything else never oc- CUTS to them. And not a few captains have carried the sense of obligation to owners so far as to refuse rescue when 1t meant cnly the abandonment of, de- serted vessel. But this man, if the tale about him be true, hastily rowed ashore when lis steamer started to founder, and he left behind him not only men, but women and children!
 They all drowned. and he is still alive or thinks he is. As a sea captain, how ever. he is more completely dead than the hero who first padded dugout or hoist ed a mast sail on a canoe.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
From the Philadelphia Ledger.

From the Philadelphia Ledger e.
 A PROTOCOL just signed in behalf of
 A the Peruvian and Bolivian gov 4 \ ernments arranges for dehnlte demarcation of the frontier, and refrs any dispute. in matters of detail to tribunal of inc Royal Geographical society for ad- justment
 North of Lake Titicaca, in Bolivia, IS tract some 35,0OO square miles in extent known as the Caupolican. Maj. P. H.. Fawcett R. A., who has lately returned to London after participating in the boundary survey between Peru and bo- iivia. informs the Royal Geographical so- cietv that there still remain something like 10000 square miles of the Cauponcan into which 1t is believed that no whlte man has ever entered" When he has finished his work in connection with the present survey Major Fawcett proposes to traverse this region diagonally
 The 10000 square miles to which Major Fawcett refers constitute one of the im- portant white spaces remaining upon the map of the Americas. The difficulties III the way of the explorer in that region are peculiar There are records Of expedl- tions of from 20 to as many as 100 men, from which but one or two have returned to tell the story. And the story was or fever, starvation and the slow torture or thirst. The savages, who are tempera- mentally akin to the Borneo heao-nuh'- CTS, frequently poison the available water supply. They do not usually stampeue a camp. or the procession Of carriers U" t,e march They lie in wait and shoot from ambush. and glide nocturnahy through the jungle to descend upon the ,nsuspecting traveller. It is apsoiuteiy necessary to win the friendship Of these ssvares in order to traverse their coun- trv with a small party.
 Insects are enormously troublesome, snakes are numerous. vampire bats Kill cattle and attack human beings at night while pleasantly sleeping and unaware
 Food supplies must be carried in coun- try saturated with swamps, where it rains heavily most of the time and beasts of
 burden cannot go. There is the constant danger of fever and of malignant ulcers and suppurations from wounds of insects serpents or poisonous thorns and nettles | Nevertheless, "the luresof the wild has
 not lost it's power upon men of the fear
 less and resourceful type represented by
 Major Fawcett. He pays his respects to
 the .incredulous folk who sit at home
 and think they know all that is to be known about the world" The work oi
 the explorer was not done, by any means when Stanley lifted the veil of mystery
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
In the Tennessee Valley

The heavy rains have delayed crops to a great extent in the rich Tennessee valley around Decatur" said T. T. Ashford, who has just returned from Limestone county, where he owns a large plantation.
 The rains have been unusually heavy and the river has overfiowed, spreading over hundreds of acres of planted and plowed land.
 "Of course all crops planted are ruined and the farmers will have to break land a second time and replant. The high lands unaffected by overflow are too wet to cultivate and the re- suit is we will get a mighty late start. With plenty of good weather when spring finally opens up, l think, that fertile section will come around with good crops though"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
A DISTINCTION
From Lippincott's s.

From Lippincotts.
 One would have 1t that a collie is the most sagacious of dogs. while the other stood up for the setter.
 "I once owned setter" declared the latter, which was very intelligent. l had him on the street one day, and he acted so queerly about certain man we met rthat I asked the man his name. and"
 "Oh, that's an old story!" the colie's advocate broke in sneeringly 'The man name was Partridge of course. and be- cause of that the dog came to set Ho, ho! Come again."
 "You're mistaken" rejoined the other suayely. "The dog didn't come quite to a set, though almost As matter of fact, the mars name was Quayle, and the dog hssltated on account of the spell ing"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
Bible study and Revealed Religion

Many persons of superficial view, Ill surveying the religious world, jump at the conclusion that inhdelity is the leading note of the present day." said an old ob server. When was a lad 1 heard much of Tom Payne and rationalism. Skept:cs were numerous then, but I do not recall the word agnostic. Professor Huxley coined the word agnostieism in 1869 or TO. But while the word was new the idea was quite old-as old as St. Paul's time: Acts, xvii, :23.
 Huxley did not formulate an agnostic system, but something of the sort may be found in Rants speculative philoso> phy. The point I would make, however, is this: All the philosophers of the inf1del school and a majority, I believe, who have sought to regulate the universe by their own subjective processes, have been unbelievers in revealed religion-have been more or less blatant, but thinking people of Christendom are what might be calico orthodox
 "The pessimists may tell you that the Christian religion is fast losing it's hold on the world. Atheists are predicting that in the near years revealed religion Will have place only in the minds and hearts of children. But in thousands of churches Sunday-Protestant and Catholic--old gos- pei religion will be preached. Thousands of boys and girls are now studying the Bible seriously to one who read or studied it 30 years ago. And on every Sunday the divinity of Christ will be the dominating force in Christian work. No matter what prophetic words are chosen for Scripture lessons or for Sunday school study, these pregnant words of the Master will sound as an everlasting refrain: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR

From the New York Press
 resolution we can keep is not to make any.
 When any body has sweet disposition 1t S sign he's sure to be imposed upon.
 great trick is to be able to kiss rela- tives with money just as if you didn't mind.
 If woman could let her friends see her new clothes over the telephone she'd have lovely time calling them all up,
 When man gets to the age where he has to take a nap every day after dinner he begins to tell all around how young and spro. he feels.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

sawyers from under the bark of fallen pines or saw logs. Of course earth worms are the cheese and crackers of fishermen when the bait named can't be had.
 And it was agreed that for late summer fishing blue cats like musca- dimes, and Dream and speckled or striped truot, the atalpa worms
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
The Iron Market

About the only thing that can be said of the pig iron situation today Is that iron is moving forward nicely on old orders and that requests for hurry shipments are frequent" says Mat thew Addy & Co.,, of Cincinnati. So many foundries are running from hand to mouth that if a car in transit Is delayed there Is danger of shutdown. We have had several such cases this week.
 Buying is not in large volume. As a matter of fact the question of the establishment of lake ore prices has not exactly disturbed the situation, but It has made a lull, advertisement. an armistice or something of that sort. Buyers of pig iron seem to be under the impression that ore prices have something to do with pig iron prices This is very true as rule. but not now, for the fact that 1911 ore was bound to be cheaper has been known for many months and has been discounted for long time Iron has been selling on the basis of the new ore prices since De- cember. The furnaces made their loss, or rather made up their minds to make it, before the close of last year. There never was any justification for 1910 ore prices. They were a mistake if not a crime They put an enormous and un- warranted burden on all the northern merchant furnaces last year and cost them a world of money. That is the plain truth of 1t. And in adjusting prices to meet current = conditions the ore men did the right thing, only it came too late to real ly avail much. But the new ore nrices are simply in line with the prevailing iron prices and do not lndl- cate that there Is room for change in that direction"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

The automobile mile record is now D. 40 seconds, and the locomotive is distanced. The aeroplane may, however, become competitor
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

A diamond weighing 94O carats has been Aldrich tariff it can come in free. That tariff was devised for the benefit of the magnateS
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

The Amundsen and Scott expeditions terms, although each knows there could be no division of the pole sightseeing later
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
SHE IS QUALIEIED

From the Washington Evening Star.
 'So you are sure your wife could vote with proper discrimination?
 Certainly. If a woman can learn to score a bridge game she ought to have no trouble in marking a ballot.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
A SETBACK,

A maiden who thought she could warble Attempted this morning to sing. The neighbors declare
 She cast then and there, A terrible damper on spring.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

The armistioe is a great and continuing menace to all the towns on the Texas border, especially to Fl Paso which fond ly hoped to become the worlds news cen ter.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

Ire English language Is so poor in spots it is not admitted that the phrase, ''pay-as-you-enter." cannot be short ened up.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

The French troops are being mobilized in Morocco, and Germany is beginning to sit up and take notice. This old world
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
UNEMPLOYED AMERICA

enshrouding the dark continent. We have dark continent in the western hemis- phere, and South America still awaits her Stanley, who shall throw light upon the, hidden recesses of western Brazil Co., lombia and the Caupolican.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

The highest seller by far is the s5o,o0O Gutenberg Bible that belonged to the Hoe collection. The buyer knows he can get more than his moneys worth by reading it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

At the coming convention of editors in New York neither MT. Wiehe of Chicago or Lumberman Hines will be present as an honorary guest.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
A FAUX PAS

A FAUX PAS. 1.-TWO national celebrities had chat on a train the other day 1.-TWO of our leading citizens did the same thing last night" 'Is that so?"
 ''Yes. And you should have seen the look they got from the fair owner of that train" PAUL COOK.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

The insurrectos are now content to do their maneuvering on a square meal.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

Some begin to think the supreme court has mislaid those big trust cases, or else it disli>es to hurt their feelings, poor things.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29
A DISTINGUISHED COUPLE.

A DISTINGUISHED COUPLE. 'The Nicholas Longworths are often in the spotlight"
 'No wonder. Mrs Longworth is a swell dresser and Nicholas has one of the most effulgent domes of thought in the coun- try" Q
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

Texas fears a dull summer Is to be her portion if the armistice is to be fol- lowed by a deep and abiding peace.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

General Bingham and the nine gods of war have again been mustered into the service of New York city.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

Why not have a few girl scouts here and there for variety's sake?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

Schedule K cannot be revised soon enough to lead to a revision of summer suit pieces.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-29

The Senate is thought to be harboring a case of reactionary rehumatism in its tariff leg.