davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

proposal is simply to submit to arbitra- ton every possible difference that may arise between the governments at Wash ington and London. And the churches of this land have not apparently realized how great their opportunity Is. Why should not every congregation and every convention of Christian folk throughout the land ring with approval of the pro- posals? Why should not Roman Cath clic, Greek, Syrian, Protestant, or any other faith professed by any American citizen, speak out the conviction that Is in 1t?
 Has the church grown indifferent to the sufferings and outrages caused by war? Have the centuries of wrong scared even the Christian conscience, and made the cry of Tolstoy seem almost a farcical fanaticsm? Is the great Russian heretic greater Christian than are we, the boasted orthodox? Are we more concerned with our puttering in the name of de- rominational activity than with the worldwide authority of the Prince of peace whom we worship as God? Is the Unitarian MT. Taft more eager to obey Him, whom he calls a man, than we are who call Him God?
 Perhaps the Christian folk will say "The government takes for granted our enthusiastic support of the proposals. .' But who can tell? The strengthening of the hands of the government is very delicate matter, so delicate that even the prayers of a little child may not be in- significant therein. Who can tell but that the earnest applause of the church would prove decisive, though the Senate should prove recalcitrant or the jealous pressure of other nations almost par alyze the good intentions of Washing ton?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

|N FAN MILMAN. whose severely classical style partal1es of the 0 Gibbon whom he edited, has an interestchapter on Chivalry in his study of the western church. Commenting on his own remark that when the church ploclaimed the Treuga Del '.war, at least private war, ceased at her bidding" in the middle ages, he says in the note: "The earlier Truce of God in Southern France, pro- claimed four days in the week, from Wednesday noon to Monday noon as holy. from respect to the institution of the ], Eucharist, the passion and resurrection |Nof the Lord.
 How far was thls." he continues, "as well as the Truce of God proclaimed by the Popes, actually observed? It Is to be feared that the church, when Popes became more warlike. abrogated or al lowed the Truce to fall into desuetude History hardly records it's observance"
 The proposals now before our respective English-speaking peoples, whose world wide domiciles are the outstanding phe nomenon of political geography, signify the determination of their statesmen to eliminate the possibility of war within } their circle. How sensitive, how nervous Is the tension of English political think CTS, may be estimated by the quick sup- port given to Sir Edward Grey's speech by MT. Balfour, and also by the enthu- s;astic aid the proposals have received in the whole press of the empire. But in no respect can we afford to depreciate the motives of England in seeking this per- manent guarantee of peace. Least of all can we afford to be blind to the energy with which the whole church of that land is striving to make the present moment
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

before he was able to analyze his soul, he loved the little woman whom he had befriended and protected and in the first walk through the crowded Bowery that he took with her, the "sordid baseness'' of his nature. for the first time in his life. became an undesirable asset; and as his love depended his old life, his former employments, his erstwhile friends and his old habits became loathsome
 It is true of every man who knows what true love is For the sake of her who has honored him with her love he would make himself less unworthy the honor bestowed. If his life has been clean and honorable in the past the transformation may not be so clearly seen. But in the man whose life has been grossly wrong it is most plainly illus trated. There is now regard for per- sonal appearance which was formerly ab- sent; a more sacred esteem of woman hood; the desire to be a manly man; the awakening of sense of chivalry; and e seeking of worthier associates and a breaking with old companions of the past. Such a man says, with Silvius, in "As You Like It," in serious mood,
 "If thou hast not broke from company
 Abruptly, as my passion now makes me, Thou hast not loved."
 Parents often notice the effect of love, such love as it is, in their children at that time of life when they begin to take notice.' The bit of ribbon that was un- sought formerly is now desired by the conscious daughter. and she demurely asks of this or that lis 1t becoming" while her thoughts fly awny to him who all walk from school with her. carrying her books the while. The boy is more solicitous for his appearance, since he will see "her." His collars are changed often- CT, his shoes shine like ratent leather, more attention is given to his teeth, hands and nails. He talks less at home, because he is thinking of ''her." She ab- sorbs his mind. He reads poetry now, especially poems on love. Then tries 70 write poetry dedicated to my beloved Snsan.' In his copybook there are two hearts side by sido (they look mora Nike two tAg potatoes) with dart piercing them which he has drawn. The climax of evidence that he is in love, comes when
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

, after always. His associates were men of learning, most of them being engaged in literary work. His own moral char acter was high and consistent. The res generation wrought by the little school teacher was permanent.
 Upon the appearance in print of My Mamie Rose" Mir. Kildare received 4O0Q letters of commendation. Hall Cain wrote him, Nothing more true or human has come my way for many day" He was invited to lecture before various branches of the Young Mems Christian association, and everywhere was received with great respect.
 The book closes with these words: T feel that there Is work in this field (litera- ture) for me, and 1t is my ambition to become successful in 1t and worthy of it, as a living testimony that one of Gods sweetest daughters has not lived and died in vain. This is the story of the miracle wrought by my Mamie Rose"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

about the dive one day when frail young
 woman tried to pass. She was surrounded
 by the gang and Skinny" Mccarthy col lided with her. Ower Kildare approached
 Mccarthy, and without warning struck
 him with the force of a battering ram un-
 der the ear, which sent him to the side
 walk where he lay as if dead. Kildare
 then commanded the young girl to follow him through the crowd, which she did in
 a bewildered and mechanical manner He
 then suggested that he had better walk
 block or two with her, "as that push
 might get fresh to you again.
 | This was the beginning. Kildare found that the young woman was a school teacher whose duties required | that she pass the corner dive. As they I walked together she constantly asked | questions of her escort, and in a lit- | tie while knew all his life. Before sh e l left him at her door she begged tha he go no more to the dive and said; You are too good man for that kind of life, go to the parks; and, MT. Kildare, pray" She started to enter her home, but, turning to Kildare, she said: | q shall pray for you tonight
 Here was man that had never prayed for himself and had never been prayed for. It was strange language
 to him. It was a strange woman tha. had said these things. But 1t was the | last of Kildare's visits to the wretched | dive. Not that 1t cost nothing to stay away from 1t. It was a fight not to | go there. It was a bitter conflict; n | war with the knife. and the knife to the hilt. Had not that dive been pra1- | tically his home for years? Had not | the crowd there been his life asso- ciates? Could he turn his back upon all this and upon his old friends? Yes, he could and did. Furthermore, he | prayed.
 1 Then came the habi. of waiting for the little school teacher every day, to convey her safely to her home. After one of the walks, as he was about 10 leave her, she gave i'm a ticket of admission to an entertainment. He could not read 1t. He dld not know one let ter from another. She saw his embar-
 russment and Automatically passed it over and proposed to teach him. He In | the meantime had found work and | though 1t paid per week less than he had received for a nights service as
 "bouncer," still he was happy in it. The lessons progressed. Never did
 a man learn more quickly. Then came
 a conviction upon her part that MT.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

Nowhere else will you find so many institutions devoted to the succor of the helpless and unfortunate Mo- where else is so much money given to philanthropy. Nowhere else are to be found so many liberal hearted, kindly and considerate men and women. Nowherei
 This is not a Fourth of July speech. It Is a vent for righteous resentment against the oft repeated untruth that Americans have no God but the dollar. Hurrah for America
 I read a story the other day by Ethyl Huston. I have neither space nor elo- quence to tell 1t as she told it, but The story is of big Scotch John, a broad-shouldered, big-hearted, contem- plative husband, and little Scotch Mag gie, "a bonny sweet thing" his wife.
 After some happy years of marriage Maggie died. John was quieter after that than before and much given to dream ing. And soon-very soon-a long grave was made beside the shorter one.
 Some time after the death of husband and wife among Maggies treasures was found little envelope containing a dried rose and scrap of paper on which was written:
 We had a small tiff this morning, and dear John went out of the house. And presently he came in again and gave me this rose-and I cried" Just a rose-and she cried!
 Big. silent John said nothing, but Mag gie's warm heart responded instantly, and she cried from tenderness and joy. And the memory of the rose and it's message was wholly sweet to the end of her days.
 My friends
 Why should 1t be so hard for us to do the gracious thing in season?
 And the tears we waste and the years we waste and the cruel wounds we bear all because we are not large enough. not wise enough. to listen to the voice of wis dom, because we are too proud or too vain or too blind to pluck the simple rose to heal the hurt!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

And that is no egotistic view, because, outside God himself, there is no bigger thing in the universe than man. You are the axis on which turn all things, and all things are made for you air, sunshine, day, night, stars, planets just the same as if you were the only man in the world. Is it not so?
 Even the God of all things Is in very real sense your God. The great trouble with us Is that we often get away from the center where we belong. Then there is trouble and fric- tion, lack of harmony. Instead of stayin 2 at the center we try to get to one side, thinking we may find better position. You know what an eccentric is? In mechanics 1t is in having a point on which the wheel revolves at one side of the center. That makes the wheel run unevenly. It wabbles.
 Just so do men and women often wab- hle. They get away from the center of things. That Is what is the matter with the odd, the irregular, the cratic man.
 He is eccentric. If he Is very eccentric he becomes insane Stay in the center.
 Do not go wabblng off after this fad and that ism. So long as you stay in your right place there is poise in you and harmony about you. and all things are yours, and naught can harm you.
 Stand fast in the center. Last month jewels to the value of $780, 600 belonging to a New York woman were lost or stolen. Which points a moral. Doubtless you have seen an Indian woman decked in her trinlxets of wampum and brass, gewgaws believed to add to the personal charms of Lo, the poor squaw.
 Her civilized sister prinks herself out in costly gems with like purpose. Both follow the brute creation save in this: Among the animals it Is the male
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

he asks "how soon may I wear long trousers mother?'
 We smile at all this callow love and at it's unpremeditated disclosure; but it is benedicton to the young lovers. It is as a means of grace to the boy. He is better boy on account of it, and to 'her' 1t is as dew to a flower; and to both, as natural as breathing It may lack the element of stability, 1t is true: but it begets habits of tidiness of ap- parel; cleanliness of person and purity of thought.
 Owen Kildare's love might be described by the lines in Thompson's "Sophonisba,"
 "It aids the hero, bids ambition rise To nobler heights
 Kildare had never known home, and through ignorance of it's sanctity, com forts and its peace, never cared for one TOT thought of the subject But with the coming of pure love into his life there also came desire for home. Am bition rose to nobler heights. and he was arranging for his little home into which he hoped in a few days to con- duct his Mamie Rose. They had dreamed of it, and talked about 1t. But she never crossed its threhhold.
 Tennyson tells of love for Annie Lee awakening similar ambition In the soul of Enoch Arden:-
 ". |. '. Enoch set purpose evermore before his eyes, To hoard all savings to the uttermost, To purchase his own boat, and make a
 home
 For Annie:
 And ere he touched his one-and-twentieth May,
 He purchased his own boat. and made home
 For Annie. neat and nest-like. half way up
 The narrow street that clambered toward the mill'
 I have read the simple story told by Owen Kildare, many times. After his death. which occurred only few days ago, I read 1t again. It still has for me all the clements of humanness and pathos that touched me so tenderly in tho past l have tried to follow the life of MT. Kildare through the years since his baptism of sorrow. He became a writer of note. his work being sought
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30
oLIFT OF LOVELY Dr. w. E. Evans

Kildare should come to her home to recite in the evenings after his work More industrially than ever did the pupil study and more certainly did he learn. Often the teacher and the stu dent would attend lectures, concerts and church services together. The stu dent all the while learning good man. ners, as well as the things in the books, thus becoming an escort of wh om any woman might be proud. Thus the two lives were lived for a long while. At last the teacher and tn pupil learned another lesson. namely. The old fashioned lesson of love. Their love was very simple and beautiful As the time of their marriage ap- preached they would slip out at nigh and go to various shops and price this furniture or that china and other things essential to housekeeping. The wedding was to take place within two weeks. On the whole earth there were no happier people than Owen Kildare and the little woman who was to be- come his wife.
 But alas. the wedding day never came. She was seized of an illness which proved fatal, practically on the eve of their wedding day. Of her death Kildare thus writes:
 
 asked me to lift her to the window. IL was a humble neighborhood, devoid of all picturesqueness All we saw in the suns departing rays was little girl ou the opposite sidewalk playing with a kitten. The picture was very simple, but my beloved one watched with smiling interest till her tired head fell on my shoulder. -
 "She was so light that one did hardly know anything was in his arms, and without disturbing her reposing position I carried her back to her couch. Back in her bed we elapsed hands, as foolish lovers will do, and still confident, still hopeful, lulled by the quiet and her happy smile, l fell asleep. Suddenly was awak- ened. Her hand was not in mine Her mother, weeping, knelt beside the bed Why?
 'I understood, and in that same mo- ment the edifice reared by her with such infinite care, shook to it's very founda- tions. In the twinkling of an eye I was my old self again. The brute so long subdued and partly tanned arose In me with fury I drove them from the room, and then alone with her I revelled in my sorrow. or burst into wild rage
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

, who seeks to impress the female with
 his personal charms. However, The women are not so much to be blamed No writer has better brought
 out the foibles of the newly rich in this
 respect than David Graham Phillips, the late author. He brings out the fact that
 The costly baubles worn by the women
 of this set are largely for the purpose of making known the financial ability of their maie supporters.
 This is how they advertise
 Rather than pay a sandwich man 10
 parade the streets he that wants it
 known he is rich loads his wife with blazing gems. Society, seeing the money
 value thus displayed. Is apprised that
 there goes the wife of a millionaire. Well. you say. one has a right to do as he will with his own. | He has not. | Ethically no woman has the right in a | city where thousands live on the verge ! of starvation to go about uselessly adorned with s130,OO0 worth of idle wealth.
 Morally she has no right Morally, l say. no woman has the right in place where thousands of little chil- dren go breakfastless to school to go gadding about gilded with fortune of
 unproductice wealth-wealth that has cost
 somebody's toll and sweat and blood. Moreover Since the time of Blackstone lawyers
 have debated the legal side of the ques-
 ton whether one has the right to do as he
 crosses with his own, but in a Christian sense-
 She who, full-handed, withholds the cup
 of water from ''the least of these" hangs
 not gems, but a millstone, about her neck. A Chicago writer tells the story of a
 pathetic army-the crowd of at least 5000 who gather every morning about the
 gates of the stockyards. It Is a motley army. In 1t are young and old, men, women
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30
Chinese Call Us Uncivilized

From the New fork sun.
 If you were to travel through Asia yeu would find that we are regarded as the peculiar persons. Have you heard of the Chinese gentleman who travelled through out the United States and wrote a letter back to his friends describing us? Hs said: You cannot clviize these Amer jeans. They are beyond redemption. They will go weeks and months without touch- ing mouthful of rice. but they eat flesh of bullocks and sheep in enofmous quan- tities Nor do they eat the meat cooked in small pieces. It is carried into the room fin large chunks, often half raw, and then they cut and slash and tear it apart. They eat with knives and prongs, i. makes a civilized being perfectly ner- vous. One fancies himself in the pres- ence of sword swa,lowers. They have no sense of dignity. for they may be found walking with women. they even sit down at the same table with women, and the latter are served first Yet the women are to be pitied, too. On festive occasions. which Americans call balls. they are dragged around room to the accompa- niment of the most helish music"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

IF you, my gracious reader, have not read the beautiful story written by A Owen Kildare, called My Mamie Rose, you have missed a great pleasure. It is tale of loves power to lift man from the depths of degradation to the heights of manliness, literary culture and moral transformation.
 Owen Kildare was never anybody 8 child Almost from his infancy he was a Bowery tramp, his parents having died while he was a mere, tot. He grew up in ignorance amid conditions of wickedness and squalor.. When he reached his major ity he was a splendid illustration of the human animal. He was athletic, strong |eAs young OK. and as courageous as a 1on He became a prize fighter, and rarely came from the ring defeated. Regu- lar employment was given him in one of the Bowery dives He became ''bouncer,' that is to say, his duty required him ito bounce" or to throw into the street any one who created trouble in the dive For this employment his magnificent physical structure well fitted him. He was a splendid brute. He could not read a word until his thirteenth year. His knowledge of men and women extended not beyond those of the East Side" His world was within the boundaries of the Bowery. He rarely left it. 'tIn fact he states that a large percentage of the people who are born here with the vaguist idea Of the world beyond-many living and dying without ever having passed north of Fourteenth street and west of Broadway. It is a strange world of strange people, who live only from day to day and unto their daily needs
 There was one dive in the Bowery be- fore whose doors Kildare and his vicious associates lounged away the hours of the day. The place itself had forbiddlng appearance. and the gang of 'rounders' before it's doors, blocking the sidewalk, made 1t dangerous to pass that particular loaf1ng corner Pickpockets were In the crowd of loafers on the alert for spells, |e and their "pals' were ever ready to trip
 kir any passer-by. Owen Kildare was
 'Eeither a pickpocket nor thief While many of his friends were burglars. and ex-convicts from Sing Sing. from the grosser sins that blackened their histories he was strangely kept free.
 The accustomed crowd of thieves. dyunkards and erounders' were crowded
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30

Just rose-now dust.
 But John was forgiving enough and humble enough to heed the small voice of pleading love.
 Doubtless "the little tiff" was turning point In the welded life of these. Often it Is the trivial things over which hus- band and wife disagree. And these little matters grow and grow. They lead to coldness and resentment and sometimes to the parting of the days. How quickly does the heart of every Maggie respond to the rose that John silently extends
 of tho proffered flower will accomplish It is the message of forglving love stoop- ing that it may conquer, and the heart of woman makes instant answer
 That rose Is dust. The long grass grows on the graves of John and Mary, but this to us who live and love is the teaching:
 Love much. Be very kind For 1000 years astronomers have tried to find the center of the universe. Where is the center? You are the center.
 Also l am the center of the universe of my universe. A
 Which is to say there Is more than one center of the universe. There are as many centers as there are sentient beings.
 In subconscious sort of way we all recognize this fact. Unconsciously each of us draws about him certain circles. There is the small circle which repre- sents our relation to our immediate fam fly or friends, and there is the larger circle which stands for our relation to our neighborhood and city, and so on. And finally, with It's great sweep, there Is the great circle-whose arc only we may know-that represents our relation to the wide universe. But always In the center of these concentric circles is you
 You a ra fha h,,h