davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03

Simeon Strunsky, in Harper's Weekly.
 The president of Bulstrode university handed the reporter g. cigar and shifted his feet to more comfortable position on the huge mahogany desk.
 "The need for introducing modern busi- ness methods into the field of university operation was made apparent to me from the first day I assumed office. fThe outside public has no idea of the, enormous num- Der of false motions made by the average college professor in going about his daily work. Take the case of our late pro- lessor of medieval literature and criti- c, ln He would enter his classrooms from two to four minutes late on the av- craze, as I ascertained by having three Pinkerton men disguised as sophomores hold the clock on him for two weeks in succession. Before proceeding to call the roll he would wipe his spectacles. an act that necesstated a prolonged search for his handkerchief which he had the habit of keeping every day in different pocket. After he had cleaned his glasses an operation which he used to carry out with extraordinary deliberation, stopping at intervals to peer through the lenses
 at the chestnut tree in front of the win
 dow he would cough, complain of
 draught, and ask a member Of the class to close all the windows. Invariably he
 would address this man by the wrong
 name.
 Well, immediately took steps to have | the ianitor see to it that a neatly folded handkerchief should be waiting for the | professor at his desk, and I installed an
 automatic arrangement by which he could | press a button and close all the windows | simultaneously. Within a month I had l reduced the professors number of prelim- | mary motions from an average of 8 to an | average of 13. Even that. however was | hardly satisfactory The reports made by
 my three Pinkerton men when duly tabu- | lated showed that an average of six mo-
 tions ought to be sufficient in a depart
 ment like medieval literature. In the end | the professor had to go. His place was | taken by 8 young man from Yale, who
 began his lecture on his way from the
 door to the desk, and finished it while putting on his hat, I have not at hand | the exact amount in salary I thus saved,
 but I believe it was enough to pay for a new lectureship in our department of the theory and practice of aeroplane construc- | tiOD"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
THE TOUR ABROAD

Thaddeus S. Dayton, in Harper's Weekly.
 The best type of car for European tour ing is a light one of medium horse power with room for four Suitcases may be carried in these cars, but trunks must be sent ahead by express. car that will turn very short is the best. because some of the curves on the mountain passes are not curves at all, but an acute angle with a drop of 1000 or more feet just beyond the stone posts along the edge of the road. A light car also requires less gasoline per hundred miles.
 Shipping the car by steamer from New York is, of course, expensive, but the freight rates by the slow boats are about one-fourth what they are by the fast mail steamers. Before shipping. there fore, 1t is well to get prices from the va- rious lines and select the one which seems most desirable. It costs less to ship an automobile to Great Britain than to ports on the continent. Some motorists of long experience prefer to begin their trip av Naples and end it with a tour of Great Britain There is as much proportion ate difference in the cost of carrying a car across the English channel as there is of bringing it over the Atlantic. The fast turbine steamers charge as much as $50 for carrying car across from England to France, while the rate on the night boats from Southampton to Havre is H2 But there Is line from London to Boulogne which sails three times R week and charges only s5 for a car. of average
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
Democratic Outlook

"Six months ago it looked as if Gov ernor Harmon would have a walkover for the democratic nomination in 1912, but now it is hard to say who will be the standard bearer" said a democrat of Pennsylvania, who represents manurac- turing company whose officials and chief stockholders are republicans.
 "I have always been a democrat and am looking forward with keen interest to next years campaign. l believe that liar mon would make a strong candidate. Woodrow Wilson has developed such strength as to make him a good betting proposition It would not surprise me, however, to see Oscar Underwood head the ticket.
 'If there is deadlock in the conven- ton the possibilities for Underwoods g nomination will be apparent. His possi- bilities are being discussed in all circles Underwood as a congressman has risen slowly, but surely, and he now occupies
 most commanding position. He is not only well in the spotlight, but the more we learn about him the better we like him.
 "The south has Harmon leaning. un-
 derstand, notwithstanding the fact that
 Woodrow Wilson is southern born and southern bred I have heard that the
 Alabama delegation would cast its vote for Harmon on the first ballot, but if Un-
 derwood comes to be seriously considered Alabama, Kentucky and several other states would rally to his support, and with adroit management he might carry off the prize"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
Frank Y. Anderson

In the death of Major Frank Y, Anderson Birmingham, and indeed the state of Alabama, suffers grievous loss.
 Few citizens, indeed, were so widely known or so sincerely esteemed as this high minded, chivalrous gentleman. A native of Maryland, and a graduate of the law school of Columbia college, Washington, D. C., he removed while quite young man to Mobile and soon became a devoted son of the state of his adoption.
 Major Anderson settled in Birming ham in 1880, when this city was but small town. He had already eX- changed the practice of his profession for business career. Full of pluck and public spirit, he was recognized at once as a leader in this growing community and every important move ment looking to the upbuilding of Bir- mingham had his intelligent and eager support. He was man of noble ln- tegrity, of large views, and of broad sympathies. He was model hus- band, gentle father, kind neighbor and a steadfast friend. His passing away will cause unfeigned lament.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
THE SEAS BIGGEST SLIP

From the New 4ork world.
 Now comes the Olympic wearing the laurels only yesterday worn by the Lusi- tania and Mauretania as the Atlantic's greatest lner-a boat 92 feet longer than the Cunard sister ships and nearly a full city block longer than New Yorls's tallest office building is high. but soon herself to yield the honors of mammoth marine construction to a Hamburg Amer
 can vessel.
 That contemplated largest of steam le- viathans, if the preliminary plans are carried out will come within 30 feet of realizing the goal of "the 1000-foot ship" The big Cunarders are 790 feet long, the Olympic and her sister ship Titanic, now on the ways at Belfast are SS2. and the Hamburg boat Is expected to be 970 feet over all. Thus they pile Pelion on Ossa in the race for supremacy in size in boat-bulding. Supremacy in speed re- mains with the Cunarders, the Maure- tania's record of days 10 hours and fl minutes between Queenstown and New York comparing with the Olympia's 5 days 16 hours and 42 minutes from South ampton.
 Each new liner continues also to say In turn the last word in the luxury of sea travel. In addition to all the comforts of Fifth avenue hotel, palm gardens, veranda cafes and passenger elevators in cluded. the Olympic, with it's swimming pool, squash court, gymnasium and golf links, furnishes all the advantages of a country club. The improved deck, saloon and cabin accommodations for third-class passengers provide this class with almost the equivalent of the first-cabin comforts of few decades ago.
 The Olympic has room for 32e0 persons, including a crew of Ss0, and could stow away a Metropolitan opera house audi ence.
 Her own capacity contrasts with the cramped quarters provided for the Olym- pics accommodation in the North River, where no dock facilities exist comparable with the dock TOO feet long which she left at Southampton.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03

a man of high capacity, a man who will conduct the republic as he had the city of Lisbon.
 The election in Portugal would have attracted more attention had it taken place longer before England's spec tacular coronation ceremonies. The setting mp another republic in Europe is not an ordinary event. It means that the rule of kings and emperors is coming to an end and that in an other century perhaps no such thing as monarchial rule will be known any where. As the world grows older the people are coming into their own.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03

i the Union Pacifics control Of the South
 ern Pacific by stock ownership does not
 contravene the Sherman antitrust act i is a development of distinct importance. 1 1t removes a barrier that has existed
 for some time, preventing the open, con-
 certed operation of non-compettive lines ! of transportation. Coming at this time
 when court rulings have been so uni- l formly against formal cooperation among
 our great industrial and railroad com binatons, it will exert a steadying in- fluence on the mind of the investor, as it is direct evidence that the courts may be depended upon to protect property interests as faithfully as they do public interests.
 "The sharp advance in the stock mar
 ket price level that accompanied the de- cision received somewhat of check,
 however, as a result of the weeks ad- ditional and conclusive evidence of the
 disposition on the part cf the admin
 istration to continue to probe the cur rent methods of our large industrial cor porations. And there is evidently sub stantial ground for the belief that un- til after the presidential election of next year both of the great political parties may be depended upon to make as great a spectacular display as possible in the direction of appealing to popular preju- dice by attacking trusts-in less dignifed language of continuing "trust-busting" campaign. Each political party is jealous of the other In this connection, and the one in office is hardly likely to leave any stone unturned that will permit i'm portant advantage to be taken by com petitor in the approaching political cam paign. Thus, we have still in sight period of unsettlement There has this week, for instance, been the action of the local federal grand jury in filing crlm- inal indictments in the case of officials and corporations dncluding Steel corpor- ation subsidiaries) in connection with the wire price agreement of some years ago; and this follows similar information con- nected with investigations of the Steel corporations cement activities.
 Looking at the more favorable inhu- ences that present themselves, we have in the first place what are undeniably excellent crop prospects Rains in North and South Dakota have measurably inn proved the spring wheat harvest out look. An excellent winter wheat yield Is already assured. and corn, while still subject to the vicissitudes of weather, is thus far in good shape. Cotton gives every promise of satisfactory yield at excellent prices resulting from an &C., cumulated demand. Hay and oats are rather disappointing and will therefore, stimulate the demand for corn as feed. But the harvest outlook, considered as a whole, certainly suggests another link In the long, unbroken chain of years of agricultural prosperity. This means. in turn, a tremendous purchasing power for the products of industry which cannot fail to show itself in general mercan- tile activity when the improved move ment once really begins"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
SOME MISTAKES OF WRITERS

appreciable light. misty or otherwise. Victor Hugo puts into the mouth Of Charlemagne, in "Aymaillot,' the words. You dream like a scholar of Sorbonne." That famous institution was founded in 1254, 45O years after the days of Charle- magne.
 Errors of geography in, fiction are nu- merous enough. That graceful romancer, Sir A. T. Quiller Couch. in his first pub lished story, Dead Mans Rock" placed Bombay on the east coast of India, in the Bay of Bengal, whereas geographers agree in, locating it on the western shore.
 Rider Haggard committed queer blum der in Jess" A simple matter of arth- metic, upon the data supplied by the novel itself, shows that character there in had grown up and become the father of two children before he was in his teens
 One French novelist used a number of puppets, each labeled with the name of character in the story. Whenever parsonage died. or was killed in the course of the narrative, the doIl repre- senting that character was removed from the rest, to avoid any accidental return 10 lie A most effective finish to one of this authors novels had to be rewritten when it was discovered that someone. by accident or design. had mixed the dead dolls with the living" with startling re- suits.
 Had Thackeray employed some such de- vice in Henry Esmond'' he might have avoided the resuscitation of the venerable Dean of Winchester, who writes letter in chapter nine, sometime after his de- cease had been announced in chapter six.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Bond Issue Election Today

While it is quite generally believed by those who are familiar with the situation that the bond issue will carry by good majority in today's election. citizens qualified to vote are being urged to go to the polls and help swell the majority.
 "When the city commission first asked for a bond issue of s1,S00,oo0 many eltl- zens said they would vote against the proposition and others were in hesitat- ing attitude, but now every well-informed voter that I meet is going to put ln ballot in favor of the bonds.' said an old business man. "The change in sentiment from indifference or positive opposition to hearty support of the bond issue IS the result largely of an intelligent and tfee discussion. A big majorty for the ponos will be a strong indorsement of the com mission. The proceeds of the bonds Will put Birmingham on cash basis, and Will enable the administration to handle the affairs of the city in strictly business like manner"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
TRIUMPHs OF THE BLIND

From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
 Some of our readers can hark back to the time when blind person was con- demned to live in almost complete in- tellectual darkness, when the only refuge from ennui was through the services of some friend and when almost every gate of opportunity was closed against them. Today we have the spectacle of blind man in the United States Senate, of a deaf, dumb and blind girl, who was grad uated from college and is making a name in literature. of 300 blind persons gath cred in this city, not so much to commits crate on their terrible plight as to ex- change congratulations and extend the uplift that is possible to all who sit in physical darkness.
 There are 100000 blind persons in this country. most of them congenially so and owing to diseased parents. Only 5000 of these are cared for in public institutions, but others are far from living in depend- ence or discontent. Books are now made for the blind which cover wide range of literature Avocations and some voca- tions are open to them which were impos- sible generation ago. Civilization has few triumphs equal to what it has done for the derelict and especially for tho blind. It is especially noteworthy that nearly everyone of the delegates here is engaged in some useful and profitable occupation.
 In the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb last week the graduating honors were taken by two girls, who were both deaf and blind. Think of this. you young men who insist that there Is no chance left in the world, that the great corporations have swallowed up all op- portunities and young pen are nothing more than minute cogwheels in . mighty machine. There never was a times never shall be time, when perseverance, inc telligence and grim dtermination are not to bring rewards. Tne'trouble with many young men is that they want to get the rewards of life without Nthe struggle. to get the cake before they have the penny. Success comes by going after it. not by waiting until 1t comes along. It never arrives for such.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
PROHIBITION A FAILURE

A s guest a quart of bottled goodsse as8e
 Nor could he, if he would forget the strange absence of many citizens from southern county seats during the sittings of the grand jury-an absence which speaks more eloquently than any words of the arrival of wet goods by express and their distribution in a fashion not approved by the statutes made and pro- v;ded.
 Then there is the further fact that ex- cursion trains in dry territory are quite i frequently so wet that special officers have to be put aboard to restrain the gen. eral exhilaration and to keep certain un- usually gay spirits from terrorizing the towns through which the conveyance passes.
 And to this might be added the cir- constance that for years the newspapers in that section have had frequent refer- ences to the efforts of state, county and town officials to find some way to keep the express company from bringing whisky in-in other words, to get around the painful fact that goods so imported are protected from state interference by the interstate commerce act.
 All is not gold that glitters, and all is not dry that calls itself prohibition ter- rltory. In one way or another, legal or otherwise, the bbulously inclined DOT tion of the population manages to find way of assuaging the thirst that fills it. of partalling of the cup that cheers and also inebriates.
 On the face of things it would seem a satisfactory arrangement for the prohi- bitionists to have prohibition and the wet element to have whisky. But equit- able as this solution of the difficulty seems it has not yet commended itself to any great extent in dry territory.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
Changes at Anniston and Tuscaloosa

The resignation of President John w. Stagg of the Alabama Presby- terian college at Anniston followed by the resignation of President Aber- crombie of the University of Alabama were events of more than ordinary in- terest in the week just ended.
 Dr. Stagg desires, it is said, to re- turn to the ministry, and Dr. Aber- crombie could not command the SUD- port of the trustees to the point of efficiency. The latter became presi- dent of the University in 1902 when, as trustee said, "the institution was almost trusteed to death."
 It is unnecessary to recite what was accomplished in the nine years of Dr. Abercrombie's administration, but it is not out of place to express the hope that the friction between the adminis- tration and the trustees will cease. The affairs of the University call for an all-around trust and cooperation, without which no administration can be useful and efficient.
 Nor let us hope will the gains at the University in the direction of Standardization be lost or lessened a particle. The work in that respect should go on regardless of enroll ment until the University is placed on . footing with the best institutions of the country.
 The University should become the pride of the state-the equal in every respect of Vanderbilt or Tulane-and the road to this desirable attainment lies in the absence of friction in the management and in the maintenance of the highest ideals.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
TOday's Bond Election

A mere majority is not enough to- day. A heavy and almost unanimous indorsement of the commission in it's efforts to put the city on it's feet should be cast.
 Such a vote will be cast if all the qualified voters will go to the polls. Put the city's welfare first this morn- ing when you leave the breakfast ta- ble. Vote, first, and then look up your neighbors to see that they, too, go to the polls.
 It goes without the saying that the city should pay its debts, present and to come. The proposed bond issue will just do that when all of the citys affairs are prudently and wisely man. aged. The commission stands pledged to bring the city's expenditures with in it's recepts when aided by the bond issue that will be passed upon by the voters today. This bond issue will clear the way for a brighter, better, healthier and more prosperous city.
 Do not fail then to go to the polls. Co there early in the day. The ballot is an yea-and-nay piece of paper and you will not be detained at the polls any considerable space of time. Go early and see that your neighbors go o1co
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
con SEEKING
By William Watson. ro5 soaLiuU thO,, haat iournevo<j

By William Watson. God seeking. thou hast journeyed far and
 nigh. [ On dawn-lit mountain tops thy soul
 did yearn To hear His trailing garments wander by; And where mid thrMderous glooms
 great sunsets burn, vainly thou sought's His shadow in sea
 and sky:
 Or. gazing up at noontide, couldst dis
 cern Only a neutral heavens indifferent eye And countenance austerely taciturn. Yet whom Thou soughtest I have found
 at last tr Neither where tempest aims the world
 below, asv " Hl Nor where the westering daylight reels
 aghast fffl In confagration of red overthrow; But where this virgin brooklet silvers
 past,
 And yellowing either bank. the king
 cups blow. =.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
First President of Portugal

Provisional President Braga seems to have acted with remarkable pat riotism. The revolution occurred on October 5 of last year and he accepted and the assembly accepted office with no desire to serve themselves. Braga was not even a candidate for presi- dent. although his conduct of affairs had been signally successful.
 Anselmo Braamcamp was elected president. He had been president of the municipal council of Lisbon. He has no title and under the monarchy hs was little known. He is. however.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-03
From the Youths Companion.

'1aaa tift iohNh 1ViiipdlllOIi THE haste with which Sir Walter
 Scott produced the greater number
 ~ of his novels doubtless accounts for the numerous blunders, such as those first pointed out by his literary kins- man, Robert Louis Stevenson
 In Rob Roy" two horsemen, riding on urgent business, are made to take six days to cover a distance of 100 miles. whereas, on another occasion the same horses cover 50 miles in a single day. Stevenson also called attention to Sir Walters glaring mistake in 'rhe An tiquary," where the sun is actually caused to set in the eastern heavens, But. care full worker that he was, Stevenson him- self, to use his own words. "came to grief over the moon," in Prince Otto.'
 More than one writer has described the moon as riding high in mid-heaven while in the crescent staged condition. of things impossible on any night of the year
 Another bunder relating to the moon is to be found in the familiar lines of Charles Wolfe on "The Burial of Sir John Moore:
 We buried him darSly, at dead of night,
 The sods with our bayonets turning, By the struggling moonbeam's misty
 light.s
 And the lantern dimly burning.
 Come captious critic, doubtful of the accuracy of this description, consulted the nautical almanac for the date of the burial. This showed conclusively that the moon was then barely a day old and therefore quite incapable of shedding any