davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

cipine compares with this task of broad |enng and enriching the vocabulary? Is not a chief mark of the educated man ihe varied, accurate. beautiful style with which he employs the words of his ian guage?
 Each word of legitimate ancestry is a living flament a peoples nerve, reaching through to the peoples history, and carry ing sensations, impressions, memories to the sensitive reader which he can i'll af- ford to disregard. The very word mansre as I believe it should still be spelled-is a bit of almost unchanged French whose roots still throb with the story of the English at Calais, Crecy, and the siege of Acre. If Emerson deliberately chose it.. was it not because the suggestion of evil that it carries was part of the idea. n his mind? If so. the editor has not merely substituted a common for a less known word but has changed the idea of !, is author, robbing at one stroke author, reader and the language of us all.
 Here therefore, is a modern petition of rights addressed to editorial despots
 We beseech you, noble sirs. go on and rest not. Here are certain works by the once famous wizard of the north. and known as the Waverly novels Quit yon like men, and be strong. Take up Ivan hoe, for example. and prepare a pre- digested edition for our weak, intellectual
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

story, exceedingly old, but not wholly inept at this moment. of such an editor who was also organist in a village where the choir was supported by a violin A couplet in a famous hymn appealed 10 him:
 70. may my heart in tune be found Like Davlds harp of solemn sound"
 He sought his pastors consent to change this, since the orchestra in- cluded not so much as a single harpist, but did include the violinist. to this effect:
 70, may my heart be tuned within
 Like DaYid's sacred violin"
 The anachronlsm did not occur to, him. dear man, but the appeal of factl was fierce. all compelling. The minis-I ter, however dissented. and suggested something more easily understood of the people. but the organist caught al wicked glint in the episcopal eye whenI he spoke:
 70. may my heart go dddle ddde |
 Like Uncle David's sacred fiddle"
 But alas. maugre the consequences~ the wicked will still do wickedly, and q dread to read Cardinal Newman, Isaac! Watts, or George Matheson in any cheapj collection of gospel songs. And so Il commend to the mpenitent heart of thsj editorial iconoclast these sober warn-i ings: By thy words thou shalt bel justified, and by thy words thou shalt$ be condemned"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

secondary work-and this latter to be prosecuted only when the good and had ghosts come in conflict. Do you get my drift? It may be well for us to Know that the birth rate of France Is decreasing, and vet it is just as important for us 10 know that in America the birth rate Is rapidly increasing. There is work here for the New Statistician. During the le- cent strike In Great Britain the wires were kept busy telling of the mob's vio- lence-of. the beaten and slain soldiers and strikers-but no word told whose were the skillful, tender hands that bound up the hurts of the wounded and buried the slain. From any city newspaper cne may learn the number of deaths and their causes in a given day, yet no daily news
 paper, dare guess, carries a column where one might learn the number of slum- workers in that city. Should statement that in Greater New York 50,- GOO professional prostitutes and kept women ply their vile trade he q vtdler fact than that 2,50000O girls and women in that city are virtuous? Which fact is New York prouder of? Which more worthy of note? Is it important hat we should be shown only the stalking of the beast and his hoof-prnts, and no foot steps and gestures of God?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27
BILL VINES ON VARDAMAN BUGABOO

and verry much alive and for this reesun | was effective in Missippes. The Nigger question is a live issue in that state. and will always be, so long as Keefer and bon heds like him annuelly introduce the Horse bill' in the house, and Heybdfn continues to waive the buddy shirt The same kind of red-necks and hill Lilies keep this issue alive in Missippee that keep such issues alive in Ohio and Idyho.
 Vardyman scooted round the edges of those black counties In Mississippee, where nuthing but a nigger, and a ally gatur, musk eeters. and mortgage can live ovver thirty days, and amounS constituents who do not care enny moor for the tariff question, or the Resser- prosity question. or furreign allyanses, than grasshopper cares for infint baptism with speech of keefers in
 one hand and Heystack's g in anuther. and told those fellers down there the same old story of Northurn support to "equa rites" and called the authors of these speeches and bills sundry and divus names in sixteen different Ian guages, as only Vardyman can do, and they elected him. So long as the north elects Keefers Heyburns, to say nuth r. ing of sum of the crooks the have handed us, just so long. will we send Vardymans, and Davises rum Ark. in proportion. We have no edge on them when il cums to freeks. Prejudise and pa shon is as rampant in streeks up there as it evver was down here. and then sum. W
 So far as Vardynan is conserned. we don't beleeve he will pop off enny of his cam paign rot in the senate. Vardv- man--whatevver else may be sed of him. is no fool he used this stuff to get the job, and we beleev that Vardy-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27
THE NEW STATISTICIAN-B A. B. Bea11e

which wishes to know the exact condition of his garden. Not of the flowers only must he know, nor of the weeds only, but he must know of the flowers and the weeds. He must know of their relative progress Or his work shall be like that of the humane gaOl-master in his report of his inmates conduct; for the huma e gao-master will watch and record the God-instincts as we'll as the 1evil-in- sincts of his prisoners He will be neu- ral-cod-blooded, if you please--yet he viii embody dhis New Statstician), some what Of Emerson's tendermndedness that said. All goes to show that we are very near to the best against its fulflment We pass our time in laughing and testing. In feasting and in crime; somewhat of Pro, lessor James fine discrimination that he- lieved every gesture of the human race Is signiicant all is worth recording. somewhat he must feel of Whitman's last threnody:
 ''The Lowest said to the Highest, Do we
 not begin too low?
 T he Highest said to the Lowest. 'No--not
 when we consider what is involved in
 time and space ''
 The writer does not know very small
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

man now he has got the job will be d hole lot different in Congress than he was on the stump. He may indul ge in one or two sky-rocket affares. and if Mistur Hepburn Is looking for a reel warm afturnoon's job, we will advise him to wait patiently. till Nardyma n arrives, and he'll be fully accommodated Tor there is shore no wire fense round vardyman to keep Hepburn off. or enny body else for that mattur
 We have herd Vardyman speek to an intellige audianse, and he sertainly has got it. when it cums to mussin E up the opposition, but he is no anark : ist. His speech while forseful and duly emfasized was mild enuff and did not in enny way measure up to the bud and thunder reputasion he bares. He Is man of edducasion and grate reeder. and as an orrertor there Is no man in the Senate he need yeeld to.
 We will not volunteer to stand as god-fathur to the Mississippee syclone record in the Senate, but. we without hesetasion say that he has the natural ability to make grate record there and the gloomy forecasts maid of him on the blink
 In the meen time we would advise sum of our northun friends to set steddy in the boat and enny how befour they throw enny moor fits ovver the de genera sion of the Senate" to clean up sum of the wurthy samples they have inflicted upon the country for so long. and then when they bark at us, we won't have enny cum back at em.
 In the meen time if Nardyman gets the 18th amindmint repeeled it will shore improve the Constitution wun- derfullv. and ought to entitle him to q life time job in the Senate. Yours very truly, BILL VINES.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

stomachs. Eliminate the fatuous Scotts strange speech from the lips of Rebecca and of the Black Knight, of Templar and Paynim, priest and peasant. and may God have mercy on your souls. We prom ise you we will not read beyond the title on the back of your-' edition. But we will gladly subscribe for rope and attend the lynching with a good conscience.
 Yea, verify. why not? Why not take the roems of one savage peasant named Robert Burns and put them into English which will please the manes of Noah Webster? Nay, if you may maui Emer- son. why not turn ghoul also for Carlyle? There surely is a field for you We hum bly entreat you to find modern equivalents for his fuliginous sylables. Then shall Sampson and the Philstines be once more enacted
 Most men get along with pitiful vo- cabulary, because most men never learn to read. For 1t is not reading to absorb the newspapers and the magazines. Learn ing to read is an art, and one necessary ,ool of that art Is a good dictionary. One result of the art is that the adept therein has a mind made rich with a world of ideas, borne by words with ex- quisite shades of meaning, words all necessary if the thinking is to be made accurate. appropriate, resourceful, fresh and strong. Therefore maugye the intel lectual hookworm and the Philistine!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

| part of what is involved In time and space but he holds one thing true: that whether it is in the preconceived scheme of things or not. 1t is still worth men'1 while to find out and keep tab on ths
 good ghosts at work In the world. as weiH as the bad ones Shall the hopefulness of Charles Darwin, that scientific Ben Add hem who saw the human race ascendid& in spirals from the worm to man, prod duce no loftier study than study of worms ?. The Old Statsticians will inS
 form you that there are approximately 1T species of worms. benevolent and ma4 lignant, borrowing around on the earth@ Does the billion and half animals highj CT up interest you also? On street corners and in crowds Of men. at bazars, in ineef- ing houses. at elections. evidences of th@ Highest-gestures of what we call Ctod-- are seen. For under the very obvious an-l imalism of man, beneath the hiss of the serpent and the beast -growl. one msyl hear, if one listens intenty. the voice ofl the Highest. And against the coming of the New Statistician we may expect tIs voice of the beast to be recorded. md tl ei voice of Man. which finds express sion in, the little humdrum deeds of those that. struggle toward the Highest, must go un-, recorded. Well?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

ATELY we have found ourselves too
 much tending to study of statls- S tics, particularly those that relate to degeneracy and to that criminal re- versal to the primitive licenses. Perhaps 1t is not well to mass too many kindred facts together especially those that have regard to mans life in the shadows. As in the darkness of corridors or in subter- ranean passages, one grows accustomed to half-lights and gloom, so in the study of criminalogy one must beware of too long lingering in places where the gleams of the sun may not reach. However much sweetness and light one may in- herently possess, it behooves one to keep not far from replenishing place. It is our right part in the world-we who have sweetness and light-it is our right part to comfort the hurt ones and to mend those ''ill-starred pots that were marr'd in making but we must not lose touch with the whole. perfect pots else our pat tern will be lost. And for our own sal vation we have to keep in touch with the vigorous and lovely, the manly and the unblemished. And if we enter places where the gloom enshrouds, let us do SO with sure knowledge of the light and it's
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

Tx IISTUR EDDITUR Our Northun ! MI trends and newspapers air hav- lV1 ing one spassam rite after an- uther ovver the electsion in Nississlppee of Jeems Kallyope Vardyman to the sen
 ate. They think Jeems is a' bad dreem,
 and they unhesitatngly proseed to con sign Missippe back to the dark ares for sending to the Congress as a side-pardaer Ito J. Sharp Willyums a Horny heded, forked tailed Imp of the lower iegeons, and holesale devowerer of Burr-heds ss they consider Jeem k. to be. The South has no grate reesun up to this time. as we see 1t to be chesty ovver Jeems electslon' and If we had been picking out a senater for Missippe, we mite have overlooked
 Jeems in the rush, but, at the same time,
 we don't beleeve Jeeins Is enny Bear.
 Jeems will not. we opine, go down in his-
 tory as enny verry grate rival of Henry Clay. or John c. Calhoon, or John T..
 Morgan. and menny uthers we could rlen-
 tion frum the South--who have added re-
 spectability and patryotism where it WIS most needed, in the IT. s. Senate, but we most respectfully submit that Jeems with
 all his false, and they air menhy, is as
 fai ahed of Heyburn of Idyho, and Keefer of Ofio. when it cums to statesm lr,hio,
 brares. and trew patryotism. us ,Blew
 Rilben' is ahed of dish-watur on a hot day in reel prohibision village One liter scd: "But Vardyman knows how to play
 upon the pashions and preiudises If t.lc
 red-necks and hill billes. and ne : doing
 It with Masturs hand." We ,.hnerfuljv acmit that vardyman addop,cd the methods of the Demmagog. out. he at
 leest selected an issue that is up to date
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

power to dispel else we too will become mixed with the shadows.
 I have wondered lately if Schopen- hauer would have produced his hopeessly pessimistic The World as Will and Idea" if he had listened to the laughter of men the spontaneous laughter of happy folk. I have wondered if Friedrich Nietzsehe would have gope mad had he studied the sanities of men as well as the insanities. And of that curious Ibsen l have won
 dered-that cold analyst who saw no gleam anywhere; of those stumbling pup pets of his, groping through the dark cor riders; those one-deaed people, lustfdl, diseased, vengeful, with the escapes or chances for escape always just past never any present exits eagerly sought: always the gloom pressing down--always the ghosts of yesterday threatening And that brilliant Nordau--to his fancy, Dr. Lombroso found too few evidences of madness and crime in the world. And to celebrate some findings of his own. he, too, must write a book, calling it "Degen- eration,' and dedicating it to Caesar Lombroso, My Master" wherein his ne.s- ter's attention is called to a number or celebrated mad persons" whom Dr. Lomv broso failed to include in his lists. Among these are Tolstoy and Walt Whitman. He
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

agreed with him. Later the government floated two per cent bonds at par.
 attended the national republican con vention of 1888, and one night when the sages were making a platform for the convention to adopt, and the bosses were picking a candidate for the convention 10 nominate, 1t was resolved to treat US groundngs to some spread eagle elo- quence. First they trotted out w. D. Bradley from my state of Kentucky and he set the crowd afire with a copious stream Of sonorous grandiloquence. Then came Foraker of Ohio, who made the con Vention delirious with a lot of poppy cock of which this was the opening sell tence: We republicans are for proteo- tive tariff and If revenue is an incident thereof we do not particularly object thought it the most vicious sentiment ever got acquainted with.
 But after that heard William Pir' Frye make a speech in which he ad vanced this monstrosty: "f would favoi a protective tariff if the government re quired not one cent of revenue from CHS
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

found evidences of insanity in rolstoy' g
 extreme asceticism and spirituality: snd those crude poems of Whitman, such as 'To You" The Deper," and The City
 Dead House" clearly proved w. Ws eli gibity for the mad house. If this higher criticism of the race lasts we will be driven into a belief that statistics, liter Iary and otherwise, are no less than a wholesale casting of blackballs against
 any idea that the earth is half-sane and wholesome and livable.
 | This worldwide iconoclasm is like many friends coming to the home of a man, ana
 saying, You are looking miseraby today, old chap! For Gods sake consult doc tor. or you will be dead man presenty,' Tt is like that minor pessimism, the dis ease of passivity, which laments: What Is the use, after all? My unsuccess won't matter after a hundred years. My crimes. my wrong thoughts are but ghosts of 8 dead past-ghosts that I cannot eyade,' And are all of these ghosts bad? Let us see. It seems to me there is room here for a new statishcian, if his work be no
 more than to find the good ghosts that have been overlooked Ills work shall first be the bounding out of the good Ighosts-that to be his paramount business, land an investigation of the bad ghosts his
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

See that company of militia?
 Left, left left. right. left" intones the driilmaster Each soldier lifts one foot, then another but the battalion moves forward not an inch The sol = diers are marking time,'' waiting for the command.
 So sometimes must we keep step and wait.
 The advisers of Abraham Lincoln warned him that if he should take a certain position in the debate with Douglas 1t would defeat him for tn 0 United States Senate.
 Probably said Lincoln. but I can afford to wait"
 His ability to see the logical outcome and to posses his soul in patience made Lincoln great.
 Wait
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

thwarting the effort of the Mississippi constitutional convention, in which con- venton was organized that state, in seek ing so to change the original boundary between the Alabama and Mississippi ter ritories as 10 include into the new state of Mississippi all that part of Alabama which lies west of the Tombigbee river, or. in other words, to make the Tombg- bee the boundary line between the two proposed states This imposed on the young governor an important and ardu- ous task. but with cool, aggressiveness, coupled with influential statesmanship, he succeeded in preventing the proposed change. Had the change been made there would have been lost to Alabama that valuable portion now embraced in the counties of Sumter Choctaw. Washington and Mobile counties To the active agen- cy and energy Of this original common, wealth builder Is Alabama indebted for the retention of this valuable strip of territory.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

Are we not entitled to an account of the incident where a policeman, say guides an infirm old man at a crowded crossing as well IS the incident where another policeman clubs an underdog into insensihiity for resisting arrestP Which makes spicier reading for you, my friend? Which more closely holds your attention? When we talk of producing statistician who will record the good we must enough want this good recorded to make his ap- pearance probable For the yellowness of the yellow journals are but the :tf,ec- ton of the yellow minds of its readers. At the present time. the modern daily ne wspaper with it's vast clientele would
 have no great chance for long life if its editorial management announced that. be- ginning today. no news of the least sensa- tIonal nature would be printed in its col rmns. Would you continue to subscribe? And you? And you?
 I do not wish the New Statistcian to wheedle me into belief that the world is better than it really is His work will be in telling us just how we're getting on He will tell alike of the diseases and the anti-toxins-the progress of the social pathogenic germs and the socal-phago- cytes. His province will be akin to hat of an honest gardener. the owner of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27


 Nelson Dingley and Eugene Hale were of the elect of the second class, both far superior men to Frye, both accomplished legislators, either of whom did more la Dor than all the big four combined-Evans, Fessenden, Blaine and Reed. They used to call James Buchanan the "old pub lie functlonary,' but Frye was in public office from 1861 to 1911-half a century, and that eclipsed the record of the four teenth President though 1t is likely that Uncle Cullom has surpassed Frye In this particular. Both Frye and Cullom have rendered the state important service.
 Though not a great man, Frye was a valuable man. He was an honest man and elected to be upright rather than to he rich. And that statesman in public place who does not hold that an empty purse is the greatest calamity is entitled to public applause Bet ter to be poor like Aristides than rich like Callajs' was the need bestowed by Athens when Athens was yet virtuous. Frye was a laborious public servant
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

A VERY genial and observant
 A friend has recently raised once more the question of the right of editors to change classical authors words He gave in illustration the word "maugre" or ''mauger," used by Emerson in his Essay on Friendship changed by the more modern editor to barring" Here Is the quotation once more in full:
 'Maugre all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world. the whole human family is bathed with an ele nent of love like a fine ether"
 By what sort of right is the change made? Presumably because the editor sbelieves the word muger to be dead and Aiorgottep. But how can 1t be dead or Forgotten so long as a living, immortal writer uses it? And if one man dares to amend an immortal, why should we not worthwith proceed to aply the same principle and rewrite all the classics ?
 IL would seem that the general reader Is supposed to be either man without an education, to whom rare words are part of a foreign tongue, or man with out dictionary, or else al least a lazy man who must have his reading pre- digested, all difficulties taken out of His way. the way rolled most carefully after most careful raking, lest he. too
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

vile. Roads were yet uncut. and in pass ing from one settlement to another the eoonists would follow the trails of the Indians which threaded the forests through. To weld the widely separated communities into statehood and lay the foundation of a great commonwealth re- quired more than ordinary statesmanship
 The boundaries of the territory had just been defined by the national Congress, with the provision that the territorial leg
 slature of the new region should be those who were members of the Missis- sppi legislative council and house of rep resentatives who resided within the con- fines of the newly created Alabama ter rtory. Of that number, it so happened that only one member of the legislative council. or senate. fell within the new territory. James Titus of Madison was the only member of the upper house, and during the first session of the legislative assembly he sat in a chamber alone as