davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

to pay for their interment. He was as well dressed and as bright and cheerful as ever and told his troubles to no one but he was sorely pressed. Each Sun day he went to the little church in Thirty ninth street and greeted. the pastor and the congregation as of old.
 But change was coming over the lit- tie church. The congregation was shrlv- cling in numbers. In the migration of ttA Tenderloin the Thirty-ninth street neighborhood had changed it's character. Formerly it had had a quiet sedate lot of residents. Suddenly a lot of people from the old Tenderloin Hooked in, flats tosk the places of quiet old dwellings and the district became one of the liveliest in the city old residents moved away, one by one at first. and then in droves. At tendance at the church lessened gradu- ally. Some of the old members travelled from their new homes uptown to the old church in Thirty-ninth street. But as months passed they found the journey rather trying, and sought other houses of worship.
 From several hundred at service each Sunday the number contracted to several score, and then to several dozen and then to only lew. Ihen tne-e came a time on rainy Sundays when only the pastor, the sexton and one or two others walked up the steps of the little old church in Thirty-ninth street No one sorowed more over the change than the sporting sexton. It was a real grief to him. He loved the little church. It seemed to him he was getting more than his share of misfortune. He had a gamblers notion that people will gamble and that it is better to have gambling open and above board that to have it concealed and crooked.
 He thought it was a shame to close the racetracks if for no other reason than, as the gambler supposes. a big city like New York needs an attraction or diversion for a fair share of it's floating population of 250,000 persons a day, and for that portion of it's fixed lpopulation which insists upon betting on the ponies whether they are rum hing here in New York or across the international lines in Mexico or up in Canada. But the great wrong of all seemed to Robbie Mack to be that the Tenderloid did not stay down town and leave the little church at Thirty ! eet alone.
 Without congregation church
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
1NnSrpEE TPuNIAAREnA

i, and next, perhaps that at Tehuantepec This new road in Costa. Rica, which was completed last year, connects with the Atlantic railway at San Jose, and runs down here to the Gulf of Nicoya IL makes the line from ocean to ocean a little over 1S0 miles long, and 1t is one of the scenic routes of the world have already described the tropical beauties of the Atlantic slope between Limon and San Jose. They compare with the Himalaya mountains and the jungle Is quite luxuriant.
 On the western slope the land is now as dry almost as the Rockies. The fields are parched and brown and the railway winds about over dry gorges and skirts thirsty canyons, some of which are a thousand feet deep Ap- preaching the Pacific the rainfall in- creases and within a short time the land is jungle again. The trees are magnificent and among them are ma hoganies. which are being cut Tor our furniture markets. Now and then. we pass an orchard of oranges or field of bananas. The fruit Is brought to the stations and we can buyaseven oranges for eents of our money
 This road to the Pacific belongs to the Costa Rican goveoment and 1t IS operated at a considerable loss. It is poorly run and the cars are uncom- fOrtaDle. They were pfODdDly H1due III Costa. Rica, for they look as though they Were cut out with hatchet. The distance from San Jose to Punta Are mas is 69 miles, but the train was six hours on the way, making an average of less than 12 miles an hour.
 Indeed, the transportation methods all over the country are exceedingly primitive. The most common means Of travel is on horseback, and much of the merchandise is carried on pack trains. The country is wild and noun tainous, and the soil is such that 1t washes easily and falls off in flakes. During. the dry season the roads are filled with clouds of dust and at the time of the rains they are rivers of mud. They are very much the same as the roads of northern China, consist ing of ditches, cut by the wheels to depth of 15 or 20 feet, with high walls of dry. soft earth on each side
 On the Coffee Plantations
 I am told that there are excellent coffee lands in this part of Costa Rica They lie about 2000 feet above the sea some distance back from the coast, and will probably be opened up to settle ment when the canal is completed. have already written something of Costa Rica coffee. The country is now producing about 25,000,000 pounds ev- cry year. and the bulk of this goes to London and Paris. The people here say their coffee is too rich for Amer
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

and beefsteak, with rice and potatoes, or one can have eggs without extra charge Between and ' o'clock in the evening they have a dinner which is much like xhe second breakfast It consists of soup, of fish, some meat and a dessert. The dessert always consists of preserves. The country is full of ripe bananas. pine apples and oranges, but no fresh fruit is served, except upon order. I buy some fin the market and bring my own fruit to the table.
 The Ubiquitous Buzzard
 In fact, there Is about only one thing which is free in Punta Arenas This Is on hand at all meals and ] might say at all other times l refer to the ubiquitous huzzard or vulture which is the scav- erger of Costa Rica. l met him first in the capital, where he walked into my room at the hotel and pecked at the sofa. I have seen him everywhere else. and here on the sea coast his name ,is legion. I can see 40 vultures roost- ing on the roof about me as I am writing this letter They sit on the fence as I eat my breakfast and their dead sleepy eyes seem to be weighing the meat on my bones and wondering how it would taste if served in true vulture fashion, trifle high.
 I verify believe there are as many buzzards here as there are people. Tho great birds are protected by law and they take the place of the garbage wagons of Panama. I do not like them. They carry me back to Bombay, and the great white towers of silence, upon which the Parsees lay out their dead, whereupon these birds pick the bones clean.
 The New Transcontinental Railroad
 To Avnp @ newest of the transcontinental rail- roads. There are now lines connecting inc oceans, all the way from the Grand Trunk Pacific, in Canada, which ends at Prince Rupert, to that which joins Huenos Aires to Valparaiso at the southern end of the hemisphere. The shortest railroad is our line at Panama,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

cannot go on. One day the church in Thirty ninth street was sold, and when the wreckers took charge and began their work of destruction Robbie Mack asked for just one thing-that was the shleld which bore his name and which had been on the front of the church for good many years. He took 1t up to the undertaking shop and laid 1t away. Then he examined his books. It was a needless undertaking, for he knew just where he stood There was very little left Of all the money he had earned. He was next door to being i.broke
 Ordinarily you would not look for an instructive story in business matters in the case of a character like the sport ing sexton of the tenderloin, but it fur nishes it. nevertheless It seemed trag- edy to him after all his years of hard work that he should have to admit defeat. He had to sive up the lease on his shop and seek new quarters. Probably he would have rented a store in the upper tender loin, but the change in the gambling situa- tion had been so radical that he thought this unwise. The old guard among the
 
 from the west and lot of cheap sports from the East Side were invading the ten derloin He was one of the old crowd; he did not like the new order of things. | Sorrowfully and regretfully he moved out of-the old shop and bade adieu to the tenderloin. Before he departed he went down Thirty-ninth street and leaned i against the railing of one of the old dwellings and gazed upon the wreck of the little church he loved. Then he went away. Within a week of his going there was saloon in the shop from which Sd many gamblers had been buried, and the tenderloin. which has a short memory, had begun to forget the sporting sexton. Robbie Mack moved to part of New | York that rever knew him before. He rented little shop and put up a modest | sign. For a year or two he barely did enough business to pay for his bread. A ! dozen times it seemed as if he would have to give up the struggle: dozen times he | had to plead with his landlord for indulg- I ence. But he is so gentlemanly in appear ance, so careful in his dress. so kindly hearted and unaffected, that he won<the | good will not only of his landlord but. l little by little of all the people with whom | he came in contact in his new environ l ment
 | Business came to him gradually. What l friends he made he held What money he earned above his expenses he put away. Within three years his business had
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

American seaside resorts. Take the hotels. The ono at which am stopping is called La Europea." and it is about the best in the place. It is a twostory building made of wood with a roof of galvanized iron. Last night we had an earthquake, which made the wood creak and the galvanized iron rumble like so much stage thunder, but otherwise no damage was done. There is no plas ter on the walls to fall and none on the ceiling The walls consist of plain boards nailed to studding about four feet apart, and the ceiling, which is 15 feet high has a lattice work around it about 10 feet from the floor that the air may blow through There are no windows in my room, which faces the Pacific ocean but there is a wide open traHsom over the door. with a lattice work higher up. It is only when the door is open that I can look out on the sea.
 The dining room of the hotel extends out over the sea, and the maids sweep the dirt and droppings right out into the water. The floor Is of rough lumber, and there Is q low fence along the side which faces Che ocean.
 This hotel is digni6ed in that it has two stories The other buildings are mostly of one story with rooms look
 ng out on the street, so that one ire quently sees the people dressing as he goes by. The buildings are made of boards and roofed with red tiles end ing in a gutter which has a pipe eX tending cut over the sidewalk. It rains now and then. and the water from the roofs pours down through these pipes upon tine middle of the pavement so that one has to shy in and out to keep rom receiving a cataract down the back of his neck.
 wish could show you the streets of runta Arenas. They are unpaved am heavy with the iItY Lack sand Some of them are lined with cac~anut palms and there is Asautiful pa in the center of the city which is hll,d with tropical veg etation Here the h fd plays betises.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
Ar TPuSTAARENAs

Copyright, 1912, by Frank c. Carpenter)
 Punta Arenas, Costa Rica. EHAVE come over the new railroad down the mountains of Costa Rica N to the Pacific ocean, and I am now at the chief port on this side of the con tinent awaiting a steamer for Nicaragua. The port is named Punta Arenas. The words mean Sandy Point, and there is enough sand here to plaster the locks of the Panama canal. Everything is sand. The roads are of black sand and the beach is covered with sand of a somber hue.
 Punta Arenas has about 5000 popula- ton. It Is built on a sandy spit of land which runs out into the Bay of Nicoya, being bordered on one side by an estuary nine miles long, up which one can go into the interior of the country This part of Costa Rica is heavily wooded. It has forests of cedar, eoeobola, mahogany and other hardWoods, and on my way over the railroad | passed many little saWmllls which were cutting timber for. shipment abroad. 1 passed also the road to the Abangarez gold mines, which are located some distance away in the woods. Those mines belong to an American company, and it is taking out something like $90OO worth of gold every month. They have stamp mills and are now employing over 15,OOO men.
 A Costa Rican Resort
 Punta Arenas is sometimes called the Atlantic City of Central America. Dr, Franklin, the American druggist here, says it deserves the name, but ! have yet to find any reason for the statement. At lantc City has white sand and it is comparatively clean. The sand of Punta Arenas is as black as your hat and it is mixed with the debris of the eastern Pa cifc. The bathing is good at Atlantic City, although now and then the water is cold. The sea here is as warm as board ing house soup, and it is so Infested with sharks that one is lucky not to lose a leg while swimming Indeed, there is only one place that is safe This is in- side an inclosure where the sea is fenced around by woven wire fence SO fine that the sharks cannot get through. In- side the fence is a public baihhouse with steps leading down into the water. The bathhouse has union suits, which it left for F cents a swim. but these suits are so poorly knitted that if you get near the wire fence you may break a thread and be unraveled to nudity before you get in.
 Moreover, the dark sand diseolocs the water, and when the tide comes in fl is somewhat like swimming through mud. Punta Arenas. like Atlantic City, has a each side and a bandstand at the end. 1t is about one-liftieth as long as the walk at Atlantic City.
 At the Central American Seaside
 This town is nothing like any of our
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

HACH night. or rather morning, when
 the game closed in George Ciarks A gambling house in Sixth avenue, near Thlrty-first street, the handsome, well-groomed man who presided at the roulette wheel counted up the money in the cash drawer, turned the plunder over to the proprietor, saw it put away in the safe, got his hat and coat from Joe. the colored attendant bade good night to the boys and departed.
 There were few better groomed men in all New York than this one who ran the wheel He always dressed quietly but in exquisite taste. After leaving the gambling house he walked up Broadway leisurely, stopping at place or two to get drink, and when he got to Thirty ninth street, he turned west About half way down the block he always stopped, leaned against the railing in front of one of the high-stooped houses and glanced across the street at a church that stood on the north side of the thoroughfare. It was not particularly handsome church. but it had a great attraction for the man who ran the roulette wheel. For five or ten minutes he would stand and gaze at the house of worship. If he had companion with him he would be apt to give expression to his admira- ton.
 Fine little church. isn't it?' he would say Fine little church, There are lots of churches that cost more to build, and there are hundreds that have bigger congregations, but to my way of think ing that is the finest little church in New York Then he would raise his hat to show his respect.
 He never seemed to tire of feastng his eyes on that church. and it was with reluctance that he left his position at the railing and wended his way home ward He was one of those men who manage to go through life with little sleep. He arose generally at Il a. m, had his breakfast in his room, dressed care fully. went to an undertaking estab- lshment in Seventh avenue next door to the stage entrance of the Broadway theatre, looked over his mail, gave in- structions to the assistant manager of the establishment and then proceeded Co the race track. At Sheepshead Bay. Gravesend. Aaueduct, Brighton Beach or
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
Proves That Bass Bite at Night

From the Charleston News and Courier.
 The record established by the % pound bass caught some days ago off the Isle of Palms beach by William E. Simmons had a narrow escape from being smashed when Robert c. Lebby, another enthusi- astic Isle of Palms fisherman, pulled 2 pounder in out of the surf on the point just across Breach inlet from Sulivan's island MT. Lebby. whose prowess has earned him the title of the bass fisher- man." and who would rather catch d big bass than at<or sleep, had to play the big fish for some time before he finally landed it. It measured 4 inches in length Charles Klatte, who was with MT. Lebby at the time, caught shark
 Mir Lebby not long ago put to the test and proved correct his theory that bass will bite at night as well as during the .ltly. when at o'clock in the evening he caught e fine three foot Ash in the sufe in front of his house.
Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-03-28
SL0VAkS PLAN
To BUILD HOME
Efforts Underway for Pur-
chase of Prominent Site.

Efforts are under way to purchase
ground and erect a home for the
Association of Slova& Societies in
this city. The subject vas first
taken into consideration at a confer
ence of a few members of the aSso-
last Sunday. A larger meet
ing will ne attempted with IN the
two weeks, at which the PROPOSE
ton will be broache1 for final dis
position. A number of the most &C
tive members of the organization
favor the plan, but it will be neees-
sary to receive the endorsement of
the idea of a majority of the MEM
bers.
1t is proposed by the promoters of
the project TO have erected a hand
some home of the association in a
desirable location. The organization
property in State street, near
Hall avenue, but that is for sale, as
1t is deemed undesirable as a site for
headquarters of the organization.
The members interviewed on the
subject seemed enthusiastic over the
idea of having a home the associa-
ton could call it's own. The promo
tiers are at work in an effort to have
all members in favor of the idea.
Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-03-28
TO HEAR TALK
ON PURE MILK
Local Health Board Men to
Newark Tonight.

A lecture on pure milk under the
auspices of the State Board of Health
ito which health commissioners from
various communities have been in
yited, to be held in Newark tonight
will be attended by Health Commits
sioner Leo Schwartz and perhaps
Commissioner Harvey Sell from this
city. Messrs. Schwartz and Sell are
interested to a large extent in the
milk proposition. They are of the
opinion that every means should be
taken TO establish the purest milk
supply possible here and that the
health authorities should work to
that end.
For the past few years the Board
of Health OF this city has worked
diligently In the interests of the pub
lie as general consumers of milk.
Milk depots have been inspected and
efforts have been made to see that
dealers dispose of pure products In a
clean and sanitary way. The COM
missioners will endeavor to learn
about new ways of maintaining a
pure milk supply and if any are
found applicable in this city they
will be recommended to the board.
s~s5snllowIng ~thse1easnra there viii
be q banquet at Achtel-Stetter's.
Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-03-28
MOVING into
WESTMINSTER
Modern Apartments in Old
Historic Building.

Alterations and improvements to
the Westminster house in Kearny
avenu have progressed to such an
extent that a section of the building
is ready for occupancy. j. S. Han
son, the owner, Is moving into a
part of the structure today and Emil
Stremlau, law partner of Recorder
Henry w. Kehoe, will move into it
the latter part of this week or the
early part of next week. Other par
ties plan to occupy apartments there
In as the alterations are completed.
The historic structure is being
converted into q modern apartment
house. Various improvements are
being installed by the owner and
efforts are being made to make it as
attractive an apartment house as can
be found In the city. The building
is large and will accommodate sever
al families. Mr.. Hanson says he is
not in a position at this time to state
just how many families it will be
made to accommodate. He intends
to keep at work making alterations
and Improvements so long as there Is
a demand for space or until the en-
tire building lis occupied.
Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-03-28
TEACHER
To CHILDREN
Greatest Possible Help to
Learning, Is Sight.

Somebody has said that the eyes
of a child are able to give to the
young brain all the knowledge that
it needs.
Pictures are what the child really
needs. Where words will mean
nothing to them, they will instantly
grasp the meaning of a picture and
the thought expressed is permanent
ly photographed on their minds.
Children soon learn to love the
Bible which is now being distributed
by the NEWS, for it is literally filled
with pictures from cover to cover.
These are not ordinary embellish-
ments such as are usually found in
~so-ealled illustrated Bibles, but each
picture is specially drawn with a
thought behind 1.-THE dominant
idea being to make plain the partlcu-
lar verse which the picture accom-
panies. Think what this means to
the "grownups'' as we'll as the chill
dren!
Educators all say that pictures
are the best possible help to learn
ing, and none of us are too old TO
learn. Even though one may not be
affiliated with a church society, he
will be interested in the educational
advantages offered in this great Book
of Books.
Look for the educational certifi-
cate on another page of this issue
and learn how you may have one Of
these magnificent Bibles for your
own. You will surely never
have another opportunity like this.
Take advantage of it at once.
Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-03-28
LIBERTY FIRE
HOUSE READY.
Not to be- Put in Service
Until July A.

Although the new Liberty Hook
and Ladder Company's fire house
In Wayne street is practically COM
plete and ready for occupancy, it may
not be put In regular use before the
arrival of a new aerial truck about
July A.. It is the intention of the
aldermen to install the new aerial
apparatus in Protection Hook and
Ladder Company house in State
street, repair the truck now there
and remove it to the new Liberty
house.
The fire house In Wayne street
has been completed by Hans Krogh,
the contractor, with the exception
of a small amount of touching up.
Members of Liberty Hook and Lad
der Company are planning for a eele-
bration to appropriately open their
new headquarters as soon as they are
turned over to them by the city
fathers.
Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-03-28
COURT To
Be ORGANIZED
Companions Of Forest of
America" Is Name.

An effort is being made to start
a circle known as Companions of
the Forest of America" in connee-
ton with the Foresters of America in
this city. Mrs. Anna r.. Billman, of
"A Jefferson street, who has been APP
pointed as the supreme organizer
of the order In this section has been
out among some of the wives and
lady friends of the two courts in
this city in her efforts to start the
Already she has secured the
consent of about twenty who will
form the branch here.
The order of Companions of the
Forest of America Is the only recog-
nized branch of the Foresters of
America admitting ladies. 1t is
composed of members of the For
.esters of America in good standing
and their lady relatives and friends.
Any lady of refinement may join.
Wives, lady friends and relatives of
the Foresters of America are espec-
tally invited to join. The order is a
fraternal benefit association having
for it's object to give relief and as
.sistance in time of sickness, adver-
.sity and distress. The beneficial
branch admits applicants between
the age of sixteen and fifty.
Mrs. Billman, who has been a
member of the order in New York
for a number of years, will call q
meeting shortly and organize the
circle. The order is divided into a
supreme circle, grand circles, and
subordinate circles. The supreme
circle Is the supreme head of the
organization, the grand circles are
the head of the state jurisdictions,
and the subordinate circles are cir
Giles proper In which initiates are in
trodueed and Of which they are
members.
With the two courts of Foresters
of America in this city with q mem
bership of nearly 900 it is expect
ed that one of the largest circles can
be organized In this city.