davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Middletown transcript., 1912-12-14
NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS
OF
APPOQUINIMINK HUNDRED

The taxable residents of Appoquini-
mink Hundred, and all persons liable to
pay tax in said Hundred, are hereby
notified that the Taxes for the year 1912
are now due, and the undersigned Tax
Collector for said Hundred, will be
AT THE OFFICE OF GEORGE NJ. D. HART,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

Daniel, whom he wisely places "more than 2ooo years ago." gave what he calls "a clear description of the times in which we are now living" He instructs his readers that certain dark and cryptic sayings of Daniel" clearly indicate the year 1799 as which he says will continue until the year 1915 He appears to think that in the year 1915 will begin the thousand years of Christ's personal reign on the earth.
 think we all earnestly wish that these prognostications may prove correct. but it is at least very seriously to be doubted even by those who very earnestly. liter ally and fervently believe the Scriptures. Whether Pastor Russell is within so little as 1000 miles of the truth, certainly he is a good advertiser for he manages to work a large number of intelligent newspapers so as to utilize their circulation for the dissemination of his views. He appears to have a considerable following. known, believe, as the "International Bible Class" He has certain strange opinions about a multitude of things. It would be very hard to call him orthodox, and yet. as we have seen, he is in a sense hyper orthodox He thinks, for instance, that 5000 years cover all the earth's history, and that Bible chronology tby which he means Usher's chronology" (by which decisive. He discovers from the tele- graph and the telephone, the railroad ana
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

10 be consecrated that they may make their calling and election sure, that they may so run that they may take the great prize of this great gospel age. namely, joint heirship with Christ in His King dom.
 It will be asked: What do you think about all this?" answer that 1t Is a very evident attempt to write prophecy. or his tory. as you may choose to call it. in the light of happenings now going on. But raise very central and serious question. viz: Have we any right at all to lay hold of the Prophet Daniel and expect from him such an exact forecast or description of current history in the 90th century? Is 1t conceivable that the Almighty com mtted these profound secrets to a writer who apparently penned piece of Jewish apocalyptlc literature amid the agonies of the second century before Christ? The trouble about apocalytic literature. such as the book of Revelation and the book of Daniel, is that 1t lends itself so easily to the vaticination and imagination of all sorts of people, and the result of these vaticinations and prophesyings, whether by pr. Cumming or Pastor Russell, on by any one of the thousand and one vision aries who have attempted to exploit the future. is that they put the emphasis wholly in the wrong place. Moreover. when the events of 1915 fail to fulfill Pas tor Russel's foretelling, as they presunl-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

other rapid means of communication. ab- solute proof that "Daniel' indicated this time as the time when many would run to and fro in the earth, and knowledge should be increased"
 Pastor Russell is engaged in the business of making a new popular theology and he goes to work at 1t on the basis of the claim that the Scriptures are absolutely infallible and. still more, that they supply to men a complete outline of future his- tory. From his point of view the Holy Scriptures are a kind of Chinese puzzle, very carefully put together by himself. He is a very voluminous writer and he has the grace of supplying his works at a much as TAO pages for 40 cents! His ser mons are being supplied to various news papers, printed as tracts and put within the reach of a good many millions of the people of the United States. He has the key of the Chinese puzzle. He Is very eager to impart it to us also, and he Is doing his utmost to accomplish that end. And not to us alone. He asserts that in Il other languages he is meeting spiritual hunger.
 I am writing this not so much with the idea of criticising this good mans conclu- sions, or of challenging his philosophy, or of testing his criticism of the Bible, as for the purpose of making known precisely what he is after. By the "end of the age
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

he does not mean the physical destruction of this present world. Rather he under stands by that phrase the coming in of a new administration of affairs, wherein the true church, which is to say, really spirit ual men. will judge mankind and admin ister their affairs. By the Second Advent he means such an appearance of Jesus Christ as will be recognized only by those who are in the secret: "the wise shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand" As he says, the second coming of Christ will be as different from human expectations as was His first ad- vent" He looks for time of unheaval to begin with socialism, afterward de- -veloping into anarchistic conditions. He anticipates that these conditions will de- stroy all present political structures,
 thrones and empires will totter and fall
 in "a time of trouble such as never was
 on the earth" But the rule of the church.
 which will follow, will be altogether ben efieent, a time of blessing for every nation.
 It will last apparently 1000 years. To pre-
 pare for that time the church Is now
 being selected from among men, in order
 that it may provide judges for the world. The church as we know it is by no means ready for that event. Its members are probationary members whose greatest goal should be to become members of the
 church triumphant at the first resurrec- ton. Tt Is their present urgent business
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

stunt or two that they had newer dreemed of.
 felt like 1000 Hoss power 1916 moddle Raser of the hyest effisientcy and was perfectly confident that 1 could run rite off from enny thing in the feeld just like they weer tied to a post. The further I got into the rase the moor confident I became. talked to 9 few promminint polytisians who assured me that there was "Nuthing to it" there was simply no way for me to lose" exsept to Drop Dead" my opponints while mise fellers and all that, weer "Dead Ones" when it cum to putting ovver reel inside polytical stunts, and I would win in a Canter. Decanter. I reely felt ashamed of myself when I begin to figger on the returns, as they would be after my feller citizens would
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

Old Testament. but there are excellent H. lustratlons of the same kind in what IS called the Old Testament apocrypha.
 It is A little hard to understand why the Book of Daniel was classed as a eanoncal book. Scholarly opinion is pos- itve that it was written about the year 165 B. C.. and the most modern opinion doubts not that in spite of appearances the whole book is from one hand, Its his- tory in that case Is romantic and It's mystical and symbolical forecastng of the future with ''rams'' and "he-goats" and "horns," expresses in yelled manner the agony of the nation and it's conviction that tyrants and oppressors whom it dare not name shall be crushed by eternal jus- tlce and mercy.
 Just so much of Jewish apocalyptlc hopes passed Into the Christian church during its period of persecution. Hence we have the Book of Revelation. It's meaning to us is not necessarily. or chiefly a matter of dates and specific happen ings. Rather 1t warrants us in anticipat- ing, with Pastor Russell, an age of social justice. reconstructing all human life in terms of the will of eternal Fatherhood. On the other hand, the actual happenings of today arc breeding the same conviction in many who do not study Daniel or read the sermons of the pastor, but only know by n deep Instinct that the age of man Is just about to dawn, May we not also say that unless the church of today does judge" the world it Is certain to be dis credited Now is the opportunity of a re- turn to the Risen and Eternal Christ
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

TT Is a good many years since 1 nrst
 read the not very well known essay A by George Eliot upon the preaching and doctrines of Dr. Cumming. Dr. Cum ming was a shining light in the London pulpit many years since. He was kind of second edition of Edward Irving. but quite without Irvings genius. His strong message had to do with what he called the approaching end of the age He set the time of the Second Advent with a great deal of self confidence. His church was thronged and his books were read even by thoughtful people all over the country for little while, and by multi tudes of the people for a very long while. What he did not undertake to tell about the date of the Second Advent may be confidently neglected by us today. What he did tell is only interesting because 1t was utterly misleading.
 I find upon my doorstep here In Bir- mingham now and then, and 1 also find now and then in the mail, the sermons of a gentleman who calls himself Pastor Russell of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Quite a large number of these sermons have to do with the same topic as con- cerned Dr. Cummings long ago in Lon don.
 It is eschatology that interests Pastor Russell. Like Dr. Cumming, he Is able i to tell us precisely when the end of the age will be. He conceives that the prophet
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07
HEART TO HEART TALKS-By Edwin A. Nye

of burning up and eliminating useless material and. above everything else
 Keep the draft open.
 Margaret Brown. a Chicago stenog- rapher. wanted position.
 Also there were other stenographers in Chicago who wanted positions.
 Mss Browns friends suggested ad- vertlsing.
 Miss Brown looked over the long col umns of situations Wanted" in tho newspapers for suggestions She read many advertisements like the follow ing:
 Situation Wanted-Young girl of 23, five years experience, desires position as stenographer; trustworthy and rapid; references exchanged. Box K ". z.
 Miss Brown shook her head
 To go into the newspapers like that was like going into a lottery. Thero were so many advertisers. all of them doubtless as capable as she. How could she catch the eye and arrest the attention of the manager looking for help?
 Miss Brown wrinlkled her forehead, tried few times and produced the following: Situation Wanted-A brown haired girl of the name of Brown would like q position as stenographer with a firm named Brown, although others would be considered. Address x 673.
 Rather unique, to be sure. And the result? great bunch of letters came to the newspaper office in answer to the ad- vertisement of x 673. From these the girl selected the most promising and called. The same day she was en- gagged.
 The day following shrewd Miss Brown was. at her desk taking dicta- ton.
 And the other girls still advertised
 The teaching of the little story from real life Is plain. Ours is an era of advertising. The nearest, quickest road to publicity Is by the way of the news paper office. Nowadays the business world does not hang out a sign, "Sten- ographer Wanted" It goes to the wanted column.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

1 The housewife prepares her periodical baking of bread and pies, and is dis appointed to find that the oven does not turn out the product she desires.
 What is the matter? 1 It is not in the fuel. That has as large percentage of carbon as usual. But the bread is soggy, and the pies do not brown. The product is just white baked or burned dough. Something is the mat ter with that kitchen range, but she does not know what.
 | An expert comes.
 In examining the stove he takes things and shuts off the draft The part is res placed. the fire started the draft is good and the beautifully browned baking de- lights the eye of the cook.
 So of your body. l Just as the range or It's fues may be clogged with ashes, or the draft be shut off, or the fuel be poor. and there Is poor cooking, so the flues of the body may be clogged, or the draft shut off, or the food fuel be DOT or con- taminated.
 Open the draft.
 If the dampers clog the waste there will be trouble, because the body has it's ashes just as the stove.
 The food and air are the fuel. They should be untainted. They start the fires of the body going Tissue is burn ed up-llterally burned. That leaves ashes-cell dirt. Every movement. mental or physical, destroys some use less cells. And new ones are built up. So the process goes on continually burning and building.
 And the ashes?
 They must be got rid of, else they will clog the system and interfere with the working organism. If the ashes are not eliminated they will im- pede the growth of the new cells. And the result is what might be expected bodily ills.
 | Keep the draft open. Eliminate the ashes of llfe's fires through drain waste and pores of the skin and at all the proper outlets Use good food fuel, take sufficient exercise to aid nature in the process
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07
What a Maidstone Is

From the New York Press.
 Most persons. especially those who have lived in rural districts, have seen the so- called "madstones." Frequently physi- clans are asked where there Is actually any virture in these stones. At least one medlco has gone on record with the opin- ion that they do possess some value. but that they should be of still moro value were their limitations understood.
 There is no particular variety of stone of substance that may be designated exclus- lively as the maidstone. The authority re- ferred to has seen many of them, so called and no two were of exactly the same composition geologically considered.
 Madstones, 1t appears, act on the same principle that plotting paper does when absorbing ink. and there is nothing that makes better one than baked pipe clay. new clay pipe, costing a cent. cannot be excelled by any maidstone, no matter how much 1t may be cracked up."
 The action can be clearly demonstrated by placing a common dry red brick in contact with the margin of puddle of water and observing what capillary attrac- tion will accomplish. In order to be effi- cient. therefore, the prime requisite is that the stone shall be porus and show strong adhesive and absorbent qualities. There is nothing mysterious whatever about your true maidstone. There have been those that appeared to be connections, either vesical renal or billary that were found in the bladder, kidney or liver of some animal-those taken from the deer are popular supposed to be the best
 When a person is bitten by reptile or a dog supposed to be mad. and the porus stone applied to the wound, the plotting paper action begins, and the blood saliva from the mouth of the ani- mai and whatever poison these fluids contain will naturally, by capillary att traction. be absorbed by and into tho substance applied. whether the maidstone be the maidstone of the superstltious or not.
 There Is absolutely no truth in tho statement that if stone sticks, tho wound is polnonous, and that if 1t does not take hold, there is no venom present. If the stone be clean and dry it will adhere when moisture Is within reach until the stone becomes saturated. For example, a new brick will absorb one pint of water. After the venom has been talk en into the circulation the maidstone is worthless; but as the victim is usually filled with whisky at the time the stone is applied. the spirits may counteract the effects of the poison.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07
GOOD CLOTHES CONSIDERED VERTICALLY

com that has been widely quoted since. A large landowner. much attached to him and knowing his poverty, desired to make an expression of his regard and afrec- tion by presenting him with half sec ton of land-32O acres. Feeling that his old age and the needs of his growing family were provided for he went his way with a grateful, though humble heart. At the end of three months he re- turned and took from his saddle bags Gall preachers carried saddle bags" in the early days) the deed to his land and said: Here sir, I want to give you back your deed.' What's the matter? Any flaw in it7" asked. his surprised friend.
 No" Isn't 1t good land?"
 Good as an" n the state"
 "Sickly2" healthy as any other {"
 Do you think l repent my gift?' '1 have not the slightest reason to doubt your generosity"
 Why don't you keep it then?'
 Well, sir. you know I am very fond of singing and there is one hymn in my book the singing of which Is ono
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07
MODERN PROPHET-By George Eaves, D. D.

ably will, just as Dr. Cumming did, so he and set the date further in advance to get a little more margin, or else to wrench the facts to make them fit his past prophecies. This serves not merely to dis credit the interpreter. whether it be Pas tor Russell. pr. Cumming, or Mother Ship ton, but far worse than that, the Scrip lures themselves and the whole splendid truth and science of eschatology. which was tho faith and passion of the early church.
 The truth seems to be that the Jewish mind turned to the hopes of the future whenever present sorrows pierced the na- tional heart. There are two periods of their history in which this particularly happened: the period of persecution by Antiochus Epphanes, about the middle of the second century before Christ, and the period of Roman oppression which centers about 150 years later. It would be fall to say that all the literary activity of the Jews from 200 R. c. to 200 A. D., was apocalyptc. That is, the existing po- ltical and social agony of the nation drove the national heart to forecasting a future era of justice and relief. Faith seemed to require of the justice of God that sometime, somewhere, a golden age should dawn. Hence considerable mass of ecstatic, visionary, passion breathing literature was created, much of which still survives. The Book of Daniel Is all that is included of this in our canon of the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

ekfng out a bare subsistence by the labor of his own hands. that he might have tho privilege of laboring for the welfare of his fellows. He founded all the early Baptist churches in Jefferson county and frequent were his tours into different parts of the state. His sage counsel was sought. and such was the force of his character, that his decisions on all disputed questions were taken as well-nigh oracular.
 In those early days. and for genera tions. disputatlous contention, especially between the Baptists and Methodists. was frequent. If this had It's unpleaslng side, as 1t always does. It was not wholly without compensation. for 1t stimulated sacred study and grounded the masses in the truths and principles of the gospel
 Like all others of the ministry of that remote period, MT. Holcombe shared in the prevailing controversial spirit of the times. In the maintenance of his views he wrote a number of pamphlets. but his chief literary production was his
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

morning he runs to get warm If 1t rains he gets wet. When your boy would be kept in for a cold he coughs and keeps going.
 Your boy has personal contact with good teachers and has his own little collection of books. He goes to the r. NJ. c. A. gymnasium perhaps. He has all the refnements of comfort able home.
 Her boy? He runs up against ali sorts of persons-good, morally unfit. vicious. He knows little of the finer things of life He knows things only in the rough. Work is his physical ex- ercise; play is luxury. Nevertheless 1t may be her boy will vet outrun yours. Who knows? The very worldliness that is about him may give her boys brain mental keeness that your boy will lack. Ills hard experience may cause him to see things as they are. And something
 may cause the seeds of his ambition to sprout
 | It depends on the yeast in him. If the yeast stuff that is in him is good ] quality let your boy look out for the
 washerwoman's boy!
 | On the other hand it is pitiful to think
 that her boy may go down instead or up The sordid things that are about him may
 overwhelm the good that is in him. lie
 labors under a heavy handicap. The odds are against him. Your boy has better chance than her boy-more's the pity. But if her boy has real soul hper ne
 will overcome his handicap and in over coming make a strong man of himseif.
 He may go stumbling at first-but he will go!
 | In that case? Why, your boy must stel aside for him and let him go past. | A young man wants me to tell him Wha' is necessary to "enter journalism" | Everything is necessary. | Daily newspaper work on the editoria
 side is the most exacting business or
 earth.
 First the beginner must have strong body. He should have reservoir of vii tality to withstand the killing strain of In tense labors concentrated Into a briei time.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

Next he must have that sixth sense known as "the nose for news.,' It is a faculty difficult to describe, usually bred in the bone. It is the ability to "see a story which others do not.
 Then add to these requirements the scent to follow a lead, accurate judgment, ability to make and hold friends. patience. boise, initiative, loyalty to orders.
 What about ability to write? you say. Any school graduate can write. It is only necessary to tell things in straight, simple. clear English.
 Mind you, all these things are necessary to put your foot on the lowest rung of the ladder as "cub" reporter. You can climb only by experience and trials un- der difficulty.
 Young man, don't enter journalism un- less
 You feel you were predestined from all eternity to be a newspaper man or
 Unless you know you will not be happy outside a newspaper office or
 Unless the stern requirements are like a bugle call of challenge.
 Because
 The de1dIluS OI fllOueTn udlly ntWo- paper, if you would climb. are keyed as high as human flesh and blood can stand and the pay is not in proportion. The dis cipline is as severe as that of military service, and there is no mercy for those who fail
 But
 If the odor of printers ink is incense to your nostrils, If you feel it is in youl power to make good. if the strong sou of you rises to the call for service, why then
 In the name of Benjamin Franklin, pitch in!
 You will get your chance once started and never never fear. "Pull' will not promote some fellow less worthy above you You stand on your own foundation Merit wins. And there are compensations. The fas- eination of the business is beyond that of any other. But, by the price of your eternal sal vation, do not misunderstood the require- ments
 Let's compare your body to 9 cook stove | for illustration.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07

crimminating judgemint of my feller citizens the honnest yomanry of my country excetry- -excetry, got a seeveer Bump, but I learned sumthing that will be of value next time. If evver run for offise again-and I will will make higher batting average, bet. I fnaid lot of trends and I shall do my best to keep them, and if I continue to go to see them and eat there Grub, and swap Brown Mule with them for IA yeers longer sum of them'll vote for me, I honestly be- leeve it. Enny how am going to find out, and there is but one way to find out, they tell me.
 Polyticks is Funny Thing-to Sum peepul. If you don't beleeve me ask Teddy Roosefelt. Yours trooly, BILL VINES.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-07
BILL VINES RUNS A RACE

Beet," and that I had better keep bizzy, but of course that it was likely that I would beet him, l was rite Fresh and full of vigger, and he'd been running for 49 yeers and mite be sorter petered out. I would ride up to a voter whom had newer seen before and convince him almost evver time that I was the proper man for the phase and he would assure me warmly, that he'd Do all he could for me-" In this way it looked to me like I was going to have enthusiastick workers in evvery community-now and then one would vary this by say ing, If I can't do you enny good l won't do you no Harm, which ot course is sly way of telling you that he is for you, for if he was to vote against you that would certainly be doing you sum harm.