davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
Future State Fairs
toni! !!

So successful have been Birming- hams last two State Fairs that those actively connected with the Fair as- sociation are doubtless turning over in their minds already projects for enlarging and improving an institu- tion which has now been firmly es- tablished. The people of every part of Alabama like to visit Birmingham. They come by thousands and tens of thousands, and large buildings at the fair grounds will be imperatively de- manded.
 | A large music hall or pavilion is needed and should be among the first buildings to be erected for 1912. A great feature of the fair just now ended was Innes' concert band, but in playing in front of the grand stand it was at a disadvantage, for no con- cert programme could be properly heard or appreciated while other at fractions close by were in progress. Innes was trying to please music lovers who had come especially to listen to his famous band, but the arrangement was decidedly unsatis- factory.
 It is hoped that next year high class music will be presented, but un- der right conditions. Thousands ot visitors who come from the small towns enjoy artistic programme light, but worth while; and. the onll
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Rnck from New York

1 Walker Percy returned yesterday from l New York, where he had spent week or more. He is the picture of health.
 There is a decidedly better tone in the | financial district of New York than there vas a few weeks ago." said MT. Percy. l wall street has a way of discounting everything likely to affect the market. It discounted all those movements and infiu- ences tending to hurt speculative values. After the slump 1t anticipated better times, and good securities advanced in price accordingly. While no one is ex- pecting a business boom until after the next presidential election, l am looking for considerable degree of prosperity between now and them
 MT. Percy said he was glad to hear Os- car Underwood favorably discussed in con- nection with the democratic domination for the presidency He met men who were in close touch with Connecticut's or sanized democracy, and there seemed to be very pronounced Underwod sentiment In that state. 'Underwod is a strong man. said MT. Percy, and there are many influential business men in the east who would be glad to see him nomi- hated and elected. While Woodrow Will sor has a good deal of following as presidential candidate, he does not seem to be very strong with business men. His democracy IS, they think, too much like that of Bryans. While Governor liar mon Is popular as a candidate, he is get ting to be quite an old man, and if he were nominated his record in bolting the ticket in 1896 would probably hurt him to some extent Underwood would make a7l ideal candidate. He has greatly dis tinguished himself as a party leader in Congress. He is regarded as conserva- tive enough for all conservative interests, and progressive enough for the average so called progressive democrat. If he lived in any but southern state he would be practically invincible as can didate.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
Roosevelt. Diaz and Laurier

This continent, except small frac- tion, was governed throughout eight years by three remarkable Ameri- cans-Laurier, Diaz and Roosevelt. Diaz was IT years older than Laurier, and Laurier was II years older than the baby of the two.
 It was a remarkable triumvirate, and each of the three possessed striking personal qualities, and yet each of the three encountered de- feat. Roosevelt's arrogance made him meddlesome, and step by step he lost his power and influence. He who might have retired to become America's greatest private citizen lost through presumption and down. right meddling an influence that was, when he returned from Africa, with out precedent in this country.
 Dias fell directly after 31 years of power. He fell because he had be- come sn antocrat in republic. Peo- pls obeyed him because they did moi
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
TELEPHONES
Death of Justice Harlan

After service exceeding B years Justice Harlan was suddenly stricken down and death soon ensued. Only Stephen J. Field had served longer time in the great court, and if the dead Kentuckian had lived until next June his term of service would have been the longest in the history of the court.
 No one stood higher on the supreme bench as a lawyer and man of fearless integrity than did John Mar shall Harlan. And his decisions leaned, where there was room for leanings, always toward the people and against the interests. He often times stood alone in this respect. In the oil and tobacco cases he de- manded a literal application of the Sherman law, declaring that the in- troduction of the rule of reason" was a piece of legislation. He lectured his colleagues on that occasion un- nercifully. He never wavered in his devotion to the cause of the people, and it now becomes a question whether the rank and file will re- ceive any special sympathy in the highest court of the country.
 President Taft has already placed in the supreme court Justices Hughes, Lurton, Lamar and Vandeyenter, besides transferring Justice White to the head of the court. He must now appoint another justice, making five out of nine all told. This is practi- cally a reorganization of the court. Justices McKenna, Holmes, Day and White are all that remain who were appointed before the beginning of the present administration.
 No death in the great court since that of Chief Justice Marshall will be more. widely mourned than will that of the Kentucky jurist. He had made Washington his home, and his remains will be laid to rest in that city.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
OSCAR UNDERWOOD

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
 The appearance of oscar Underwood here last night, in advocacy of the dem ocratic principles he has done so much to advance, was an event not only highly gratifying to his party associates in Louisville, but of exceptional interest to the community in general.
 It is not often that a man returns to the scenes of his youth to speak with such authority, from so commanding a position, won on his own merit. It has not been so long as the years go--he is not vet 5O-since Oscar Underwood was a schoolboy here; he comes back now the recognized and applauded leader of his party on the floor of the National House of Representatives, the head of the great committee which shapes the fiscal legislation of the country; new chief tain of democracy who has arisen at a crisis when the old party seemed all but ieaderless.
 It is not too much to say that the work which he has done as chairman of the ways and means committee, with that which Champ Clark has done as speaker of the House. Is little short of miracu- lcus Six months ago the most sanguine democrat would not have conceived it possible. The party had been returned to power in the House not because the peo- pie believed in the party. but because they were sick of the opposing party. It had been returned to power in the same way before and had proved only it's ca pacity to foozle it's opportunities. On all sides it was expected to foozle it's oppor- tunity again. That it did not is due largelysto the level headed young states man who spoke at Hopkins theatre last night. The antagonists of the democratic party were sure-and not without req son--that the democratic majority in the House would go to pieces, quickly and hopeessly, on the old rocks of eX- tremism and dissensions among them selves while intelligent democrats cher iehed hardly more hopeful expectation.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
A Great Field

''The south as a great field for agricul- tural, industrial and commercial develop ment is attracting much attention in the falo, N. Y.
 .I can remember when this part of the country was talked of as being very backward. As late as 15 years ago the far south was known in the north chiefly as q cotton production section. Barring New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta and Richmond, southern cities were looked upon as merely provincial towns. But all this is changed. There are at least 15 cities in states which belonged to the southern confederacy noted now for their progress and their commercial import ancc and one of the most progressive of these cities is Birmingham, of course.
 Birmingham Was a well advertised town as the center of the southern iron trade when the census of 1900 was taken, but it is far better known today. The census of 1910, showing Birmingham with a population of upward of 130,0OO. was a great thing for this district, and for the whole of Alabama. Today, Birmingham is a metropolitan city.
 ''The whole south is in the spotlight as never before. This is the one section where all the 1911 crops are bountiful. From all accounts it is the souths best crop year. I was in Texas recently, and since September 1sI have visited nearly all the southern states; and in each one of them optimistic talk was the rule
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
ODE TO THE HOOKING BIRD

By Albert Pike.
 Thou glorious mocker of the world! I hear Thy many voices ringing through the
 glooms
 Of these green solitudes; and all the clear,
 Bright joyance of their song enthralls the ear.
 And floods the heart. Over the sphered tombs Of vanished nations rolls thy music
 tide;
 No light from history's starlt page H. lumes The memory of these nations. They have died; None care for them but thou, and thou mayst sing
 Over me, too. perhaps, as thy notes ring Over their bones by whom thou once vast defed.
 Glad scorner of all citiesA Thou dost leave The, worlds mad turmoil and incessant din, Where none in others honesty believe, Where the old sigh, the young turn gray and greve, Where misery gnaws the maiden's heart within; Thou feest far into the dark green woods, Where with thy flood of music thou canst win Their heart to harmony. and where in- trudes
 No discord on thy melodies. Oh, where, Among the sweet musicians of the air' | Is one so dear as thou to those ole soil tudes?
 IIa! what a burst was that! The acolian strain Goes floating through the tangled pass ages | of the still woods, and now it comes again, | A multitutdinous melody, like a rain l or glassy music under echoing trees, | Close by ringing lake. It wraps the soul | With bright harmony Of happiness, | Even as gem is wrapped, when round 1 1t roll Thin waves of crimson flame; till we be- | come, 1 With tho excess of perfect pleasure. 1 dumb,
 And pant Ike swift runner clinsing to the goal
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16

I cannot love the man who doth no. love, As men love light, the songs of happy
 birds; For the first visions that my boy heart
 wove,
 To fill it's sleep with, wero that I did
 rove Through the fresh woods, what time the Of morning clouds shrunk from the ad~
 vancing sun, Into the depths of heavens blue heart
 as words
 From the poets lips float gently, one
 by one, And vanish in the human heart; ard I revelled in such songs, and sorrowed.
 when, With noon heat overwrought, the music
 gush was done. I would. sweet bird, that might live with
 thee, f Amid the eloquent grandeur Of these
 shades, Alone with nature! But 1t may not be; I have to struggle with the stormy Of human life until existence fades Into deaths darkness. Thou wilt sing
 and soar 4 7sss Through the thick woods and shadow
 chequered gla6es, While pain and sorrow cast no dim-
 ness o'cr The brilliancc Of thy heart. But I must
 wear,
 As now, my garments of regret and
 care, As penitents of old their salling sack
 cloth wore. Yet. why complain? Wiz though fond
 hopes deferred Have overshadowcd l!fe's green paths
 with gloom? Contents soft music is not all unhcard: There is a voicc swecter than thre,-
 sweet bird, M Tc welcome me, within my humble homo: There s an eye, with loves devotion
 bright, Tho darkness Of existence to Hume. Then why complain? When death shall
 cast his blight Over the spirit, my cold bones shall rest Beneath theso trccs: and from thy
 swelling breast Ocer them porr thy song. like rich flood of light.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
DICKENS LOs,~ HIS HAT

From the Boston Post.
 Alfred Tennyson Dickens, son of the great author, is himself again, for his beautiful silk tile, reported lost has been found. Best of all MT. Dickens found 1t himself, reposing in the real English pigskin hat box where he had carefully placed it and where 1t remained all through the hue and cry of the hunt Of Saturday.
 Somewhat Micawber like, Mir. Dickens waited patiently for the missing head piece to show Up, after a small army of bell boys, porters, maids, walters and others had reported that the search had been futile.
 In and about the vendome. where Mir Dickens is quartered,. the most intense in- ! terest was shown In the mysterious dis appearance of the silk lid, a hat of parts, thathad been proudly displayed by its owner on Rotton Row. Hyde park, and even busy Pccadlly.
 | It was believed by many that some am bilious souvenir hunter had taken unto himself or herself the glossy headgear
 and speculation was rife as to who the ! person might be.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
HOLLANDS BOOMING CHURCH
 TOWER

From the Travel Magazine.
 The 2s0 foot tower of the Neue Kerk in Middleburg, Long John," or Lang Jan," if the sobriquet be translated into Dutch, is practically the Washington monument of Washington. It is capped with a climax of fl bells that chime g. quaint fragment of some familiar pop .ular melody every seven and one-half minutes. On the hour, Long John' Ht- orally yibrates from foundation to wealth. CT vane in 6 frenzied endeavor to pour
 forth in toto the accumulation of more or less music administered in small doses during the previous 60 minutes.
 From Long John" one can see plainly the towns on the north and west coasts of Walcheren, and often even the spires cf Antwerp are visible, while directly below-a mass of red roofs, punctured l here ana there with patches of trees, stret, hes Middleburg. To the left is the | market place, bounded on the north by | the handsome town hall begun in the six teenth century, the establishment Of
 whose facade by 25 ancient statues of the | counts and countesses of Holland, helps | 1t to hold its place as one of the finest | and most interesting late Gothic edif1ces
 in the Netherlands. The tower of the
 town hall has chime. too. and each time | after Long John so insistently pro- | claims the hour of day or night-for Long John" takes the credit of giving
 standard time to Middleburg-it must get
 bit on hIs nerves to have "Foolish l mn n tho town
 hall tower, rattle off her cacophonous contradiction a minute or two earlier or
 later, as the case may be.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
Regarding AgnOsticism

'I have been a constant churchgoer nearly 60 years, including my attendance at Sunday school when small boy, and I doubt whether there was ever more activity among the different church or ganizatons than there is today" said a layman. "In my youth heard from time to time distinguished diyines in all of the churches, Protestant and Catholic Nor only were the great preachers, bishops and others, sound to the core on what is generally called orthodox questions, but all of the ministers and nearly all Of the laity were equally orthodox. I used to hear of skeptics and free thinkers, but all these disbelievers as 6 rule put them selves entirely outside of church circles.
 But in recent years it seems that many men and women calling themselves Chris tians, and even church members, disavow a belief in miracles and the inspiration of Scripture, and speak slghtingly, not to say iestingly, of the old theology yet l am glad to think that all the forward religious movement and systematic study of the Bible which we have in evidence now will make for better Christians along orthodox lines, for to my mind Christianity outside of orthodoxy has but one logical conclusion-agnosticism
 "Agnosticism in it's common use is of paratively recent origin. Huxley, so far as know, was the first to use it as the term is employed in philosophy and theology today The same thing as mod ern agnosticism was called simply skep- ticism when I first remember By the way, a recent treatise on agnostcism of high scholarly value appears in the Cath ollie Encyclopedia, and is from the pen of the Rev. Dr. Edmund T. Shanahan, professor of dogmatic theology at the Catholic University of America, Wash ington, D. c.
 "There Is a more pronounced note of ir1- fidelity throughout the civilized world than was noticeable 50 years ago, but believe there is as much real belief and as much high Christian thinking and con- duct today as there has been at any time since the early centuries when men and women suffered and died for the faith that was in them"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
LISTZ AND THE PRINCESS

Arthur M. Abell in the Musical Courier
 TT is with feelings of profound re-
 gret that we see Liszt depart from A Weimar, where he had spent the best 13 years of his life, from the time he was 37 until he was 50 years old. In spite of the powerful influence that the Princess Wittgenstein exerted upon Liszt, this was the period of his great est productivity; during these 13 years he composed his best work, Including the Faust and Dante" symphonies; his symphonic poems. as Les Preludes,' Die Ideale." "Mazeppa" and the two piano concertos, to mention only @ few of his best known compositions. Dur ing this time the princess was his constant companion she had her writ ing desk placed next to his, and every note was submitted t oher for criti- cism. In the first article of this se- ries I quoted part of a letter in which Liszt stated that the princess loved noise and display in musical compost tions; the trival and the spectacular appealed to her nature much more strongly than the deep and the poetic. Many of Liszt's compositions have been criticized as glittering, trfval and su- perficial in parts. It would be in- teresting to know to what extent he was influenced by the princess in this particular direction. The following, written by Wagner on the occasion of I.iszt's visit to him in october, 1856, throws interesting and significant light on this subject:
 'Liszt visited me and at once brought great deal of musical life into my house. He had finished his Faust and Dante symphonies and 1t could well becalled miracle to hear him play these scores on the piano. AS was certain that Liszt was convinced of the great impression that his composi- tions had made on me, ventured frank ly to criticise the close of the Dante symphony. If anything had convinced me of the masterful poetic power fof his invention as a musician, 1t was the original finale of the Faust symphony, which closed with a tender and poetic reminiscence of Gretchen, all the more impressive because unobtrusive. The finale of the Dante symphony seemed to me to require the same effect in that Paradise was suggested by the soft and tender entrance of the Mag nificat.' Great, then, was my aston ishment to hear this beautiful sugges ton suddenly interrupted by pomp- ous, plagiarized finale, which was made to represent the 'Domenico.'
 q cried out: No, no, not that; away with that! We don't want pompous Creator. Keep to the soft and noble diminuendo.'
 "You are right cried Liszt. I said
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
The State Fair

"We intend to keep on raising the standard of the State Fair" said M. ". Joseph, one of the most active directors of the Alabama State Fair association. yesterday.
 We had a fine fair last year, and we have had even better one this month. Everybody agrees that We have just closed really a great fair We will en- deavor to make it larger and still bet ter in 1912. Great credit is due Presi- dent Burton. He took hold of the enter prise on short notice, but he quickly proved to be the right man for it. Yes. MT. Burton has indeed done wonderfully well, and the entire community must ap- preciate his arduous and efficient work, so earnestly performed"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
HE WAS A YALE MAN
From the San Francisco Argonaut.

From the San Francisco Argonaut.
 A sightseeing visitor recently went aboard tramp steamer in the harbor. Noting that the deckhands were Chi nese, she approached one of them and said: "You no speak English?' The Chi- rese looked bored and answered nothing. The woman continued: Me go your country soon. Me learn to speak Chinese, teach little Chinese boy and girl. You savvy missionary"
 The Chinese lolsed at her, & minute and answered: Madam, if you are not more successful in mastering our lan- guage than you appear to have been with your own, fear that your attempt to enlighten our race will prove anything but satisfactory. Good afternoon
 T he Chinese sought the other side of the ship and the woman sought oblivion. She had been addressing Yale graduate who was working his passage back to China.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-16
Burton's Great Achievement

The Alabama State Fair just closed was not only the best ever held here, but few fairs ever seen in the south could be compared with it.
 President B. B. Burton, assisted by an energetic and broad minded execu- tive committee, has made a record of which any business man, old or young, might be proud. J. H. Hol- combe, who was president of the State Fair two years-1909 and 1910- did great work in raising the stand- ard of exhibits. He was the first president to make the association financially successful. When he closed up last years books he had a cash surplus of something like $1o,- 900. MT. Holcombe would have con- tinued at the head of the Alabama State Fair association but for his pressing private business, which re- ouired practically his undivided time.
 There is no position of honor in this community where so much is eX- pected of man, perhaps, as the pres idency of the fair. The president re- ceives not dollar in pay for his services; and a great deal of his time, of course, must be given to the duties of his office. At least a month before the exhibition opens the president IS scarcely able to attend to any busi- ness outside of the fair.
 When MT. Holcombe made it plain that he could not, under any circum- stances, manage the 1911 fair the question was, who would be the best man for the place? The directors, after mature deliberation, elected MT. Burton. Although this gentleman has tbeen a citizen of Birmingham only three years, he has been very active as the manager of large piano con- cern and has been an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations.
 In accepting the presidency of the State Fair association he promised to do his best, and he has amply full filled his promise. He has proved himself to be man of large capacity. He is a willing man, too, and al though comparatively a new conner he is fine exponent of Birming- ham public spirit. Only in a city like this, young, progressive and thor oughly modern, would it be thinkable for young man of only three years residence to be placed at the head of one of the most important organiza- tions in the state. In the older cities men must have long records, as a rule, before they are called to fill any conspicuous position; but Birming- ham is a young mans town, and MT Burtons election to the presidency o1 the Alabama State Fair association and his signal success in this posi- tion stress that point.
 As great as the fair has been this year, President Burton will set about to make it even a greater institution in the future. All honor to MT. Bur ton!