davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

time of his election he was on a visit to North Carolina.
 Mir King lived in an atmosphere above tbat of ordinary men. He was a man of solid rather than of shining qualities, and his life was redolent of purity and of ex alted conception of duty. There was delicacy of sentiment which characterized his conduct, an affableness and quietness of demeanor, an utter absence of display or of harshness. serenity and gentleness. with no unbecoming speech to soil his lips, no action to repel even the humblest civilian On the floor of the federal Sen ate the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter of Vir- ginia said on the occasion of MT. Kings death: He was a man whose whole soul would have sickened under a sense of personal dshonor." He was far more for ward in his assertion of the claims of others than of those of himself.
 No man in the public life of America ever more won by dint of intrinsic merit than William R. King. Such was his bearing on all occasions that men in- stinctively honored him. To him as a public man principle was the path of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

number air devvilish fine judges of good material The only mistake they maid is, that wer air not a Mllyunair. In shis day of the prymerry for man to run for a job that al the peepu of the state have to vote on, if he has enny hopes of bringing home the bacun, he will nave to spend about IA times moor than he job pays in order to presumably shake hands with all his constituints, and kiss all the babies. We air not hooking the prymerry system, not at all, for we be- leeve the peepul should have a volse in nominating there candydates for all inn portint offises, but We submit that a fel- Ter has got to be rammed full of patryot- ism to spend twenty thousand samolions for a s5000 job, unless he is verry thirsty for honur. and we aint that thirsty, and besides that we haven't got the twenty thousand aforesed.
 Lorrimer and his trends spent a hun dred thousand bones to put him across. it is sed, and look how they air talking about Lorrimer. I know it is a grate honur to be a congressman, or sena- tor and things like that provided you ant caught up with. but, sum how or uther, 1t has always appeered a verry strange thing, to me that a man wilt spend four or five times as muYh mummy to get q job as he will get out of it. so far as the publici knows just to have the job. We beleeve that there should not only be a law requiring publsty of expenditures in a campaign. but so linn iting the amount candydate can law fully spend. and that amount be gov verned proportionately with the compin- sasion derived frum the offise he seeks. man may be evver so honest, but, if he spends menny times moor mummy for job than he gets out of sed job in the way of salary. the remission will be that much grater to get it back sum uther wa s Regretting that we must continue to in nict ourselves upon our perspirng frir-ls by staying at home, we air
 Yours trooly.
 BILL VINES.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17
ROBERT M LaFOLLETTE-By Savoyard

acter as well as his intellect. He, too, preferred to be honest rather than rich and after pulling the Roosevelt administration out of the fire time and time again, he resigned in order to make living. He could have been a millionaire without leaving the Senate, but he had too much self respect to get rich that way.
 After Spooner retired LaFollette was everybody himself He and old Stephenson were allies for q time, but later he severed his connection with that bag of money IS he had from old Sawyer. LaFollette elected himself 10 the Senate. but Stephenson had amb- tlon also 10 be senator and WAS ready to spend barrel of money to get the toga. He got it all right. and Ina g been LaFollette's colleague ever since the retirement of Spooner
 Taft was elected President and found a Senate dominated by Nelson W. Al drich Congress was convened to re- wise the tariff down. The standpatters of both houses were resolved to re- wise 1t up That caused a split in the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

the highest expediency. He wore his honor on his sleeve, and would not scram- ble on low plane for place. and would never learn the art of petty politics. He engaged in political contests, but they were In the open field and in full view of the eyes of the world.
 MT. King came to be the first citizen of the state, becoming vice president of the United States, but 1t was entirely due to his worth and not to any of the arts of the struggling politician. Utterly without assumption he was as spectacular on one occasion as another. His was a quiet knightlness without dash, the stamp of nobleman of nature, without lordly port.
 So nnquestioned was his ability, so un- erring his Judgment, so profoundly sub stantial his qualities as an ideal public servant, that the people of Alabama hon. ored him with official station for pe- riod of almost B years. In 1887 MT, King was offered the position of minister to the court of Austria but declined be- cause of the fact that the ardent advo- caoy by him of the election of MT. Van
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

K XTsTuR EpD1TuR; I have reed NH several communica sions frum 4 differint parts of the state urging me to run for congressman at large from Alabama, assigning varius reesuns why l should make the rase, and these demands upon me have be- cum so insistint, and numerus. I will have to adopt the medium of the press to answer them. They air not all alike, but, as the burden of eech is the same, will quote frum only one.
 Cuma long, Ala, Aug. S1, 1911.
 Bill Vines, Esqr., care Age-Herald.
 Deer Sur: Why don't you run for congressman at large? If you must be at large it would be better that you be as far away as possibul. will agree to do all l can for you, enny thing to get you out of the state. You have been popping off a hole lot about what ought to be dun, may be if you weer up there you could attind to it. Get bizzy old scout and go aftur the job. It mite be if you got to Washington you would newer cum back, that would be fine. Try it. Yours sincerely, AL FALFUR
 Of course MT Malfur trys to be a little fasceshus. but we take that all in good part, and fully appresiate his interest, as well as the menny uthers that have ritten us along the same line We know exactly what ought to he dun in the next session of congress and we shall as usuel along with menny uther utiring patryots that can be found setting on the dry goods boxes in enny town or village in the state proseed to give our advise to them tlint 20 there to rcpresent us. 3
 When they stray frum the strait and narrer path of publick serVise we shall, in our capassity of adviser admonnish them and tell them just precisely on what part of there anatomy they will get the ak, if they don't toe the mark. But we don't care to get into the rase for the job. We air fully censibul to the compliment. and we beleeve If We
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

' MEAN this, give the man who has once fallen into wrong a chance ! to make good" in the future. Such chance, or opportunity, is not al- ways given him. Frequently he is baked at every pathway in life. Ev- cry effort that he makes to live an honest life is checked. No matter how sincere his purposes may be to live an upright life, some self appointed custodian of other peoples interests hypocritically misses That man is an ex-convict, and I tell you Tor your good, get rid of him." And his en- ployer dismisses him. Not that he is incompetent Not that he is sloven in his work Not that he has not paid the penalty of his wrong and satisfied the demands of the laws of his coun- try besides learning his tragic lesson None of these things enter into the case; but he once did wrong, he once wore prison stripes; and that is enough to damn him. He has past of sin, and that Is enough to prevent his having q future of repentance He has prison in his past. what right has he to home in the future? Thus hypocrisy and self righteousness req son.
 Being thus driven from post to post, and from every ''iob" that he se- cures, is it strange that the ex-convrc. learns to despise mankind? And is 1t remarkable, that in his extremity and want, he is driven to crime, and finds himself once more behind prison walls. hopeless, and despairing of anything better in his life? Is 1t strange that his hand is against every man, since ev- cry mans hand is against him?
 Am I told that this lack of conf dence in eX-convicts Is a part of the penalty that must be paid for the per- petuation of offences against the social order and the public good? Then | answer It was not so. nominated in the sentence of the court. The penalty exacted the unfortunate man has paid to the uttermost farthing. And what right have we to add to the penalty, even the deprivation of honest toll whereby humble home may be main tained? Give the man a chance.
 Especially should this thought have our consideration when we remember thai all men are liable to fall from their steadfa stness. There are many had men at liberty because they have never been caught, and there are many men in prison walls who are better than some who walk at liberty. They stumbled. and before they could gain their footing the grip of the law held them fast. Many others stumbled in the same way. but they were able to rise before they were seized by of fcial authority. They stand among the first citzens' in the communities where they live. There's many a man
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

that had prosecuted him, recommended his pardon. I carried their recom- mendation to the governor. who at once signed the pardon. With great joy Tl placed the pardon within the boY'sl hands. He came from prison, where he had worn the horrid stripes, as freal citizen of the commonwealth. I trfsn! to hearten him day by day until hsj could secure work. Finally he got al good position. It required him to ham, dle considerable money. But he mados good. And never did the man that en- gagged him have reason to regret that in the name of humanity he gave the CT instances.
 I have a friend in London who Is tho rector of one of the largest parishes in that great city He has not fashion, able congregation. He is plain conse- crated man and breaches in the slums to the people that are lost. lost, because they have not been found yet. On certain Christmas day. when the air was full of the odors of pine cedar and holly. instead of his going to the reunion of the family in his ancestral home near Hyde park, he had big dinner at his rectory. He invited a large number of men 10 his board. The Christmas chal- ice of happiness was held high and joy abounded And four-fiths of the men y. spent terms for crime in the jails and penitentiaries. Why did you invite them?" Why? how can you ask? They ere men. my brothers, and needed to feel that somebody trusted them, and that the past was forgotten
 Read once more the story of Jean Val Jean. Rounded to the depths of crime, dstrusted always; yet, bearing in his bosom forever, the possibility Of a mag nificent manhood, which many of his prosecutors could never measure up to, and could never understand.
 Kaye Robinson. the celebrated Eng fish naturalist, says owing to a pe- euliarity of weather. the peoples had managed to get a start of an inch or two in the matter of height over the wheat and barley, and the obnoxious flowers were just beginning to burst into bloom that would have converted the stunted grain into lake of scarlet. when. down came the rain In a single day and night the wheat shot up above the poppies, and for the rest of the sea- son the poisonous things were over- wlfelmed in a wavey sea of prosperous green and yellow gold"
 Sympathy, consideration and tender ness are the gentle rain that will cause the growth of the good things in the human heart over all that is wrong and morally poisonous In every man there is some good. Compassion will cause it's growth IL will inspire men to seek life's best things. Give him q chance.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

mastered simplicity of style remlnd me to send a marked copy of this paper to c. K. O, who knows all the sleights of word-craft, and who never drops into vul- garity; a master of simile, second only to Maurice Maeterlinck. yet unlike Maeter- linck in his tough -mindedness like Shaw, too, in his tough -mindedness and icono- clasm, yet antipodal to the Shavian philos- ophy, In that the appearance of sex in his writings is only casual. He finds that there are other facts worth reporting in this world besides the existence of male and female. Besleged we are today by a current literature fairly drenched with sex, dosno deplore the absence of this In Chesterton. The existence of sex being one of the natural facts in the universe like breathing, eating, flowers, water, grass, minerals-he lets it go at that; he will not be forever harping on trite mat ters. His clowning is a queer sort, don { you think?
 Only, he is a clamorer for consistency. In his chapter on Sandals and Simplc- ty he writes: One great complaint must stand against the upholders of the simple life-the simple life in all its varied forms, from vegetarianism to the honorable con sistency of the Doukhobars. This com
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

gantic Intellect and is not the consum- mate orator Matt Carpenter wast
 They were talking about naming La Toilette for president; but 1t Is mani fest that Taft will get that nomination. and thus if LaFollette shall be eandi- date in November, 1912, 1t will be as the head of d boiling ticket like that of Palmer and Bnekner in 1s96 There Is no doubt that the Wisconsin man is in ac- cord with W J. Bryan on every pub lie question except the tariff, and if the tariff shall be. paramount In 1912. as seems inevitable, I do not see how it is possible for these two to play togeth- CT in the same team.
 It would clear the atmosphere eonsld- eraby if Judson Harmon would follow the example of Woodrow Wilson and say how he stands on the subject of free raw materials
 But the little man from Wisconsin is a very considerable force in the political world, and we shall hear a deal of him the next double decade if he lives.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

republican ranks. and LaFollette joined the insurgents. who were bril- liantly led by the late Jonathan P. Deliver. But Deliver died when the presidency seemed in his grasp. and 1t was as sore a loss to the Senate and the country as the defeat and death of Carmack. With Deliver gone il was but natural that LaFollette should obtain the leadership of the insur- gents, and he has been thorn in the side of the Taft administration ever since he got his leadership.
 He is no orator, as was Deliver, but he is terribly in earnest Unfortunately he believes in tariff graft, but he re- fuses to go to the lengths reached by the standpatters. Allied with the democrats he drove the President into the arms of the standpatters, and if MT. Taft can be reelected president in 1912 Afr. Aldrich can be. if he, and not Taft shall be nominated Though a rather poor pub lie speaker, LaFolette is very sarrlous and eternally on his legs. It takes most of a week for him to make a speech. What a pity 1t is that he has not the gi-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

that he left the impression on my mind that Pig Iron Kelley was too much of a free trader for him. Little did 1 then think that a time would come when anybody could concoct a tariff grog too strong for the Honorable LaFollette.
 In those days a bag of money named Sawyer was Srerublican boss of Wisconsin. Matt Carpenter was dead and John c. Spooner had Just ap- peared on the national stage. LaFol- lette was a protege of old Sawyer, but 1t seems that the young man soon discovered that his patron was too much of the earth earthly. They had row, and Sawyer went to the wall So did LaFollette and Spooner, for the democrats got the upper hand and would have kept 1t had not the party of Jefferson and Tilden taken a whirl with the party of Tom Watson anc Sockless Simpson.
 However that might have been the dem ocratic party of Wisconsin retired from politics and the republicans swept the deck. SDooner returned to the Sen ate, which he ornamented by his char
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

fuses Canaan with Egypt. But LaFol- lette is not going to do, or condone, wrong if he knows 1t. He would sooner be respectable than rich. He may do his country great harm: but he will never sell his country. He loves his job of national law giver but it would be valueless to him if he had to buy it and pay cash for 1t. He loves public ap- plause much, but he loves self approval more.
 The first time I saw LaFollette was in 1886 He was slender man then, though now somewhat portly. He was member of the Forty-ninth Congress and stood near the north entrance to the chamber. There was great intensity in his voice and manner, and the man appeared to be eni aged. l was sitting directly in front of him in the House press gallery and got a good look at him. I am sure that his voice then was much stronger and far more commanding than 1t is now and certainly there was more animation in his manner. He was talking about the tariff. don't recall what he said except
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

A NATIVE of North Carolina, Will
 A liam Rufus King, removed to 4 X Alabama in 1913. Lured to a region destined soon to take its place in the galaxy of states, MT. King was no novice in public affairs when he reached Alabama. Indeed. he came crowned with unusual distinction for one so young In years when he mil grated to territory which was just budding into statehood. Though al the time only 32 years old, he had served with honor to himself and to his native state as a legislator, so- licitor and congressman. When only 24 years old he had been sent to Con- gress from North Carolina. His en- trance into Congress in 1910 was simul- taneous with the beginning of the con gressional careers of Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun and William Lowndes.
 MT. King served with distinction in Congress for six years when he was chosen secretary to the American le- gation at St. Petersburg, under Will liam Pinkney. who was at that time
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

dare oppose him, but he did. The con- test was joined. It was a battle of giants
 King, 1.-the. elegant, smooth, plain and
 simple of diction. but clear as the shin-
 ing of the sun, without the gifts of the orator, but a superb talker, went before the masses Lewis. weighing 500 pounds.
 his large full face beaming with sum-
 shine, and though large. most telling orator who could relate an anecdote with marvellous effect. while he possessed lin-. questioned ability to give frequent ex-' pression to passagess of oratory, won his
 way rapidly to the public heart As is well known, Lewis won. but the two friends were destined each to be grati-l fled, for Governor Chapman was ablsl soon to appointd MT. King United States
 senator in the stead of Senator Bagby- During the administration of President Fillmore MT. King was chosen to act as the presiding officer of the senate, and In the summer of 1852 he was nominated
 for the vice presidency, elected on thai national ticket with Franklin Pierce, but; died the next year at his home at Ca<- haba, Ala.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

he could practice the creed of Moloch. Guise, father and son. Francis and Hen ry, of the House of Lorraine, fell by the hand of the assassin; so did Henry III, the last of the Valois, and so did Henry ", the first of the Bourbon dy- nasty
 Far it is from my thought to hold the Wisconsin statesman bad man, but in his composition Is an element of that fanticism that was terrible at Moucou- tour and glorious at Ivry. We saw the same in the raidings of Dewet. another Frenchman, in the Boer war of 10 years ago.
 If LaFolettes wisdom were commen- surate with his sincerity he would be the first statesmen of his time. He has justice, and wrong visited on a stranger or the other side of the earth he feels as sensibly and resents as furiously as though he were himself the victim of it. He hates wrong instinctively and combats it interpidly. The devil of 1t with him, as with the rest of us, is that he is not infallible and sometimes con-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17
GIVE HIM A CHANCE-By Dr. w. E. Evan

was, if I might paraphrase His words, These are tears of sincere repentance, within her heart there Is a longing for better life; I forgive her; she will go, and sin no more give her a chance to work out her reformation and 'transfor- nation give her a chance" So spoke One whom Thomas Dekker, in one of his old dramas, describes as
 ''Soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil
 spirit,
 The first true gentleman that ever
 breathed"
 But there's another set of men who
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

w osp.slso.-I don't '''s,,,V,' know vns'n.
 CT this man is Huguenot or Catholic; l do not know that he harks back to the siege of Rochelle, in spirit,
 at least, whether his ancestors of that epoch were with the defenders of the as sailants. It is a fascinating chapter in history, the story of France when Val- cis, Bourbob and Lorraine were con- teLdlng for the mastery. All were la natics in perpetual war. with the Chris tan religion the paramount issue. The age was heroic and infamous, and deeds of daring in the field were linked With conspiracies of infamy in the council. Assassination was practiced by all, ana Collgny was murdered the eve of St. Bar tholomew simply because the greatest of the Guises had been murdered only a short while before by Huguenot, They were terribly in earnest in their savage faiths both Catholic and protestant, and each one believed that he was the more acceptable to the Lamb of God the more
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

stand In the way of the man who would rise out of the past of wrong doing and live honestly and industrlously. I may better illustrate this point from the life of an ex-convict that l know.
 He was a Princeton student In his younger years. He stumbled, and before he could rise to his feet officer s hand was roughly laid upon his shoulder. He meant to commit no crime; but what he did was technically a criminal offense. He was tried and sentenced to Sing Sing prison Said he to me:
 When I came out got job, and was living a straight life and doing my duty
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

woman of the under world slowly and
 tremblingly crept Into the presence of Him who taught the duty and the beauty of absolute forgiveness. The phar1sees s dainty religion was in danger and he cried out against the wretched woman s being there in such good company. She was weeping bitterly, and as her tears fell upon the feet of the Forgiving One,
 she wiped away those tears with her long black Jewish tresses. He then looked upon her tenderly and lovingly. and, turn ing to the guests at the feast, He said,
 Give her a chance" Not exactly did He employ these words, but what He meant