davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13

own condition to investigate, so he con tinued to walk. For five minutes he strolled along until he reached the Park theatre. It was sombre looking and de- serted. Once it had stood in the finest section of Indianapolis and had been the pride of the city. Architecturally it was a delight, and its interior decorations were beautiful. Edwin Booth and all the great actors had trod it's boards But time had changed 1t sadly. The indus trial part of the city had encroached
 upon the section of which the Park the- atre had once been the center, and now
 factories and smokestacks and crowded dwellings were near by High-class at fractions no longer sought the Park.
 From prosperity it had sunk to compar-
 ative poverty. once a week or so 1t was engaged for night by transforming l troupe. It could be rented for $io night That was not enough to pay for the gas 1 the taxes and the janitor.
 Drew looked at the playhouse and thought of it as he thought of himself. It had fallen on dark days. Then he started to walk back. Once more he had to turn aside to get around the crowd in front of the small store. This time he was curious. He stopped long enough to inquire what was attracting the crowd. Some one explained to him that it was a new sort of establishment the first of it's kind in Indianapolis. You could buy any thing or everything in the place at set price. No article sold for more than 10 cents. Most of the articles sold for D cents.
 Having nothing better to do Drew went inside. He did not buy anything, but as
 he looked at the purchases his mind re- verted to the sight he had seen half a
 block away, where a larger emporium with a great window display was almost deserted. People have more dimes than
 dollars, he thought to himself as he left l the little store to continue his walk. For
 an hour or more he strolled up and down | the street, and every time he saw the crowd in front of that little store the
 same thought, that people have more
 dimes than dollars. came back to his mind
 Then, suddenly, great idea came to
 his brain, and he strengthened up The next instant he started to walk rapidly toward the old Park theatre. This time
 he looked at the playhouse with bright
 and interested eyes. He studied 1t and
 he studied its surroundings. He no longer was morbid. but chockful of energy. He hunted up the manager of the house and asked him a lot of questions. He did
 some rapid figuring and that evening he got hold of an Indianapolis friend who
 had money and Who was contemplating.
 He talked with hm long and earnestly
 and instilled in hm some of his new born enthusiasm. His friends name was
 sackeft- and a fse days later prsw and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13

Sackett were the lessees of the Park the atre. A little later Indianapolis was treated to a surprise. Carpenters and furnishers had been busy on the old Park theatre. The partitions between some rooms formerly rented as offices were taken out and the whole space made into one large apartment. Swings were put up, hobby horses installed, a pit built for a sand pile, library of children's pie ture books established and enough alpha bet blocks put in stock to amuse a hun dred children and build the most won derful structures that a childish mind could conceive. Then negro nanny
 with heart full of sympathy for young sters and a genius for keeping them busy and happy was engaged
 Coincident with this came the an- nouncement of lot of shows that were to apepar at the Park. These were mel odramas and light operas and standard
 plays with established favorites. A lot of advertising was put out and designed especially to appeal to women. Bring
 your children to the Park, was the slo-
 gan in the advertisements "The more CHli0ltn ypu thS pNeNNi WI 'fhS it." This was a radical departure. Pre- viously women with children had found theatregoing especially matinees. se-
 rous matter If they had young children
 and did not have nurses at home to
 leave them with. Small children. espe- cially babies, are fretful and need much
 attention. If they do not receive atten- ton, or if they do not have diversion,
 they are likely to cry. A squaling baby is a horror in playhouse. It will ruin
 the show and make the audience wrath full. Most of the theatres would not al-
 low a woman to take a small child into performance with her. But the most surprising announcement Drew & Sackett made in their advertisement was as to prices.
 l Excellent seats were to be had for l( cents. Reserved seats were 20 cents
 Seats in the boxes were 20 cents. 4
 woman could give a box party to eight or ten persons for s2 or ss5o She did | not have to bother about her child or her children. The youngsters were in the | playroom, in the swings, on the hobby
 horses. digging in the sand pile. cooine over the blocks or raptuous in the glo' rious possession of the picture books There were matinees every day and per | formances every night. For the frs week the attendance was not large. Tht people did not know what to think of ths | innovation, but the performance was ex' | cellent, and the women who went to thu matinees not only enjoyed themselves | fully. but were delighted to lind thai their children too had had gloriouI time.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13
DEBTS OF THE SEA
Mysteries of Mountain, Plain and Val. ley That Lie Far Beneath the Wave

From the Chicago Evening Post.
 As the mysteries of the hidden lands of the earth are explored, it seems as if the explorers instinct is turning into the vaster and remoter mysteries, not only of the stars, but of the seas
 wyville Thompson and John Murray are the pioneers in this fascinating ad- venture. Both won their baronetcies through the deep sea cruise of the Chal- lenger and the 50 giant volumes of deep sea information that came out of that cruise. From these tonnes has come practically our whole Knowledge as we'll as our romantic traditions upon the black caverns of ocean water
 The Michael Sars, a boat equipped and maintained by the Norwegian gov- ernment, has been Investigating the North Atlantic since 1900 In 1910 it was borrowed by Sir John Murray, who. with Dr. Johan Hort took it upon a deep sea exploring expedition in the interests of science. For four months it cruised. at first along the coast of Spain. thence to the Azores through the Sargasso sea to Newfoundland. Ice land and home again to Norway. The
 
 volume containing a resume report of the scientific discoveries.
 In England the publication of this new work. The Depths of the ocean, has made an unusual sensation, and the bits of information that one gets from reviews of it in the Times, Daily News and other papers are tantalizing in their hints of fuller knowledge to come. Says the News in one of the best summaries of the present stage of sci entific knowledge of the deep sea:
 The surface of~the sea is but the halfway line between the tops of the Himalayas and the bottom of the ocean. and there is life all the way. About two-thirds of the sea floor is covered by more than 2000 fathoms of water. an abysmal plain equal to nearly half the surface of the earth. Beneath these depths are further extensions of gloom, cold and intense pressure. In which life may be not more sparse than on top of Mount Everest ''We have not yet learned" says MT. Hort. ..to fish to perfection at 2000 or 5000 fAthoms.' The Michael Sars seems to have been 1 far more successful at deep sea dredg- l ing than former ships. With 2S60 metres of line out (three and one half l miles) 1t took In one haul s3o nsh. This ! was just south of Ireland in depth of oply s33 motroD of water. but the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13

TRANIl DREW walked along West Washington street in Indianapolis 4 one gray October day, sad of heart and utterly discouraged. His clothes were fashionable and he had fair amount of jewelry. but his pockets con- taIned more keys than coins. He was a member of one of the greatest theatrical families America ever has known. His cousin is John Drew and three or four generations of the Drew family have been leading lights of the stage.
 Frank Drew was manager. He had handled every sort of a show, from a wagon outfit to Mime. Modjeska. His tastes were artistic and his business abil- ity of fair order, but he suffered many Ticissitudes. Occasionally he had to pawn his watch or some of his diamonds to get his company from town to town. Occasionally he made money fast and seemed on the high road to prosperity. He was down on his luck when he reached Indianapolis. He had done ev- erything his ingenuity could suggest to boost his show. But somehow it would not draw. The flowers the star had re- ceived on Monday night had been kept as fresh as possible and sent down the center aisle and passed over the footlights with a flourish Tuesday night and Wednesday night and Thursday night and Friday night. They were sadly fad ed but still served to make bluff on Saturday night.
 But what was the use of the flower pre- tense and dozens of other expedents !? The public would not pay to see the per- formance. There were more deadheads than dollars in the house and the com pany had to disband to make it's way home. MT. Drew remained behind to set tie up his affairs and think over his sor- rows.
 Failure brings depression, and as MT Drew walked along West Washington street and iingled his keys he wondered If he ever would get on his feet again. Occasionally he stopped to look in show window but 1t was more from idleness than interest. There were a lot of peo- pie on the street, all busy with their owr affairs. It was early in the afternoon and most of the promenaders were wom- en- A fair share of the women had chil- Sdren with them. Drew stopped in front ol '3a big establishment the show windows oi (which were filled with rich and expensive karments. He glanced within the store Ind saw that there were very few GUS tomers Then he wandered along again Half way down the block he had to make a detour to get around crowd assem- bled fin front of small store. the win dows of which had a tumble Of articles on display. all cheap and all useful, He managed to get view of the inside oi the establishment and noticed that it too, was crowded.
 Ha Nas too much concerned wltn nil
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13
INSIDE HE CRATER NPM5'

dragged. We climbed up hill and down and finally came into a canyon, which seemed exceedingly perlous. Out of this we crawled up into the open, where a stiff wind was blowing. The region was wild and hillocky. It was scanned with earthquake cracks and gullies down which the horses would almost go on their noses, and up which they would climb like the comics of the Alps.
 All this time it was growing darker and darker. The land was full of stumps and down timber, and the guide, who was scrambling along on his bare feet, fell again and again. I could keep track of him only by his white straw hat, which he carried in his hand. This made faint light for time, but at last even the hat was invisible. Then, to crown it all. the man stopped and said he had lost his way. He advised us that we had better wait there until daylight. as some of the earthquake cracks were exceeding
 ly dangerous. He said, however, that the path could not be far off. and l insisted on our trying to find It.. l got off my horse and tried to make my way over the gullies and the fallen trees and stumps, but I was more often on my face than my feet. I soon became winded and then concluded I would rather die on the back of horse than on foot. So I got on again and thrashed my steep into action.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13

made about his cradle and nursing bottle attractions. The actors and actresses who appeared at the Park were joshed unmercifully by the players who ap- peared in higher priced theatres. Not few performers considered that 1t was a lowering of dignity and sacrifice of their professional reputation to appear in Drew's kindergarten.
 But there was one thing they could not get away from, and that was that their salaries were certain. The ghost walked regularly. There were a lot of minor con alterations. too. They were assured of a weeks or two weeks or three weeks or months engagement. They were as- sured, too, of most responsive audiences. They had the joy of lots of applause and big houses. Next to a fat play envelope a player loves appreciation.
 The other theatres in Indianapolis did not suffer seriously from the prosperity of the Park. High-class attractions got good support from the public. There is fair proportion of people financially able and always willing to pay any reasonable price for first-class entertaiu- ment.
 With all the jokes and ridicule leveled at Drew and his cradle and nursing-bot- tie theatre, there was fair share of scrutiny by keen and far-seeing man. asers They knew before long that Drew had discovered something that was des- tined to work revolution in the theatri- cal field They saw in his success the ev- idence that there are more dimes than there are dollars to be spent in the the atre if the great multitude is to have it's want met fully. He had applied a simple business proposition to the Park theatre, the same business proposition that the and 10 cent store man had stumbled on. and they were quick to take advantage of it.
 In New York and Boston. Chicago and other cities the 10. 20 and 30 cents thea tre made it's appearance. Some of the biggest playhouses in the land were l transformed in night from the se stand ard to the 10. 20 and SO Mir. Drew was Providence, Cleveland and other cities and modelled them on the plan of the Park theatre of Indianapolis. The bright men of the stage no longer joshed about
 the 10. 20 and 50 show. Some of the greatest stars of the stage soon found i, advantageous and profitable to take en- agreements in these houses.
 MT. Drew no longer bothers about bus iness He retired some years ago SO rich | that his greatest trouble today Is In keep 1 ing count of his money. He has . mag nificent place outside of Cleveland and if | enjoying life in full contentment IIe
 may not have been identified with ot
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13

fish were of the astonishing types usually accounted abysmal-such as chimaera, macrurus and mora. The cuimaera. macrurus and mora, by the way, are types of sea fish such as Mir Kipling has conjured up on a large scale in his tales of the ocean depths.
 In the open ocean the bottom scarcely counts. Living creatures keep their levels with reference to the sur face only. The vegetative diatoms al which all pelagic life mus be founded ceases at about 100 fathoms Far below the diatom level even down to 200 fathoms. the Michael Sars' nets, open ing and closing at that depth, found mnltitudes of radiolarians which pro- vide excellent food for the larger ere atures of that region. The food in the greater depths no doubt falls from upper layers the creatures of the abyss 'intercepting it on it's way to make chalk for future landscapes. But there is a kind of bottom in midwater' at depth of about 800 fathoms where owing to the maximum specific gravity of the water having been reached. maximum of small crustacean ocean life accumulates. There is squid region at the surface and another so deep that the cachalot must dive nearly half a mile for his favorite food
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13
CRAZxRs Or HENoLGAno OklpAzU

single stalk as big around as a mans arm at the biceps, rising to a height of 15 or 20 feet and bursting out into lace like green fronds at the top. There were gorgeous flowers, the names of which know not. One made me think of a cross between our golden-rod and the sunhower. The blossom of this on it's long stalk was even with my eyes as sat on my pony. I pulled some now and then The scent was delicious.
 Among the floral beauties were the or chids and other air plants. There were tens of thousands of bushels of these arstocrats of the plant world to be had for the taking. They covered the dead limbs and nestled in the joints of the live ones Many of the trees were en- tirely covered by them and in some places the orchids were in flower, forming a mass of purple, yellow or white blossoms of the most exquisite shapes. There were also lianas, which fell straight from the branches hundreds of feet and root ed themselves in the earth. There were thick vines which wrapped themselves around the huge trunks as the snakes wrap the I.aocoon in the famed statue at
 Rome. Some of the vines had vanished leaves like the holly and some bore flow CTS.
 The mist added to the beauty of the woods and the perpetual dripping from the trees reminded me of the wonderful
 rain forest of the Victoria falls on the Zambezi, the African Niagara. There were also open places during the ride. and at these the sun came behind us and painted little rainbows on the mist. Some of the rainbows were not more than 200 feet long and I felt like whipping up my pony to find the bags of gold at their ends.
 At Costa Rican Dairy | Coming down the mountains, we stopped at the Lecheria, outside which we had expected to sleep in our bags or, in case | of rain, to have taken a bed on the | boards within It is lucky that we chose | San Pedro. The rooms were filled with
 dirty cows and the floors were unspeak- able A sucking calf was tied on the porch of the shed, and near it a razor | backed hog slipped slop while we slipped our coffee. The milk was sacrcely sani- | tary and the shed was not as good nor as clean as the ordinary pig pen of our country.
 | We made our way from here down to i San Pedro, and there had fairly good dinner It consisted of soup, an omelet, | roast chicken, custard and cup or
 hot coffee. The soup was of cheese, mac
 aroni, rice and eggs all mixed up to- | sether, and the omelet was somewhat
 flat and bit leathery. The meal was
 sauced with hunger. however, and 1t was not at all bad after our long, long day l in the saddle We slept there that night.
 the boards in some magic way changed
 by the fatigue of the ride into comfort able beds, and in the early morning rode
 back to Alajuela, where we now are.
 FRANK G. CARPENTER. l Copyright, 1912, by Frank G. Carpenter)
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13

his horse up the steps inside the Wash ington Monument, or go on the trot down those of the national capitol. I doubt not he could. In some places the steps up and down are of the height of table and often they equaled that of chair
 At the Crater
 Nevertheless, the only time the horses held back was when we came near the crater The air there was full of brim- stone and they objected to the sulphurous fumes Many people do not ride near the crater for that reason, but we kept on the edge of the abyss and made our way along it over a path covered with white volcanic ash. At the same time a strong wind was blowing from the lake of sulphur below. It sent the birthstone into our faces, and it was only our rain coats that kept us from being drenched by it.
 Indeed, we did not have the best view of the crater, and there was no eruption during our stay. The crater Is about 1000 feet deep as we could see when the clouds lifted It's walls are steep ragged and scanned. At our first coming 1t was one great bed of clouds. A little later we could see the gorges in the sides GOV cred with pumice and volcanic ash, and could make out the lake of sulphurous acid lying below. This lake is yellow at the edges and a yellowish green scum covers the center. There is always some smoke coming out of it's surface, and in an eruption from near the middle the whole lake seems to burst into the air. The noise is accompanied by rumbling, and as I have said, the volume of vapor often carries with 1t mud and stones. The yapor often assumes the shape of an um- brella, and the ashes have been carried far out into the Pacific ocean. On fine days it is possible to get down Into the crater lake, but this was not so during our stay.
 Leaving the active volcanic lake, we climbed a thousand feet further up the mountain to the Laguna Fria or cold lake, and there stopped for our lunch of jam crackers, canned tongue and bis cults. The upper lake Is of about the same size as the acid crater below. but l the water Is as pure as that of the Adirondacks. and without a sour taste. The water of the first crater tastes like strong vinegar.
 In the Tropical Mountains l I wish I could show you the vegetation through which we rode on our way over Poas The mountain is covered with magnificent trees, some of which are as big around as a hogshead and 150 feet high. They are mostly hardwoods and are knotty and gnarled. with limbs twist | ing about in every direction. The air is so moist that the trunks are covered with moss of bright green an inch or SC thick. and great boards of frosted silver
 moss hang from some of the branches When the sun shines upon them they 1 seem incrusted with diamonds
 l And then the bamboos. the ferns and l the palms There were ferns of hun l dred varieties, some as fine as the
 maiden-hair and others tree ferns, each
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13
A Night at San Pedro

The first part of our journey was not extraordinary for Costa Rica, but it would have been worth description had
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-13

talked with women and spread the glad tidngs. They talked so much that their husbands wanted to see the performance. The men went at night. People who had not been able to go to theatres because of the cost found that the show at the Park was within their means. They did not have to go into a peanut gallery. That season more people went 70 the the atre in Indianapolis than had gone in any previous two years. The Park became an institution. It lost its sombre aspect; it was crowded at every performance. The proximity of smokestacks, factories and crowded dwellings did not matter in the slightest degree. The old theatre took on a new life. Property in the neigh borhood was enhanced in value by reason of the multitude that docked to the play house There was not much profit to Drew & Sackett in one performance, but there was a very handsome profit in F performances a week. At the beginning | they had put in q sort of museum down. stairs with some freaks and animal cu- riosities, but they quickly discovered this was mistake The people had little in terest in freaks or curiosities. They had lots of interest in good plays and fair operas well presented The freaks and curiosities went In short order and in their place came more nurse girls to as- sist the kindly old mammy.
 MT. Drew did not make the mistake of putting on problem plays or shows with the slightest touch of suggestion. He es- 1 tablished rule that there never should
 be word uttered on that stage or a scene enacted that would offend the most sensitive. Everything was clean, honest entertaining and wholesome. The man. ager may have yearned for some of the highly artistic productions that mar of ideals likes to be identified with and which he points to as the milestones 1T his career, but when MT. Drew thought | of the occasions on which he had tc
 pawn his watch and his diamonds; o his troubles when he had wagon show and the heartburnings when he had tt freshen up flowers to send them ove 1 the footlights night after night; of tanl towns and a. m. jumps; of train de layed and miserable theatrical boarding houses of an empty treasury and . help
 less company with a wretched play. ant this 1000 miles from Broadway, the crowd
 ed Park theatre, with It's happy audi
 ences and its steady but sure profits
 kept him down to earth.
 I There are no brighter people in thu world than the members of the theatrica II guild Some of the managers though Drew was bereft of his senses when h. leased the Park and started the 1q cen show. He was ridiculed and lampponed
 Elipnaut but Yary hright remnrka Nery