davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

fighting instinct Is probably the most deeply rooted of all human character istics. outgrippins the tenacity of the bulldog or the badger Only as 1t gets trained does it become power on the side of truth and intelligence and in- tegrity and love.
 Indeed the wars of Zion are nor mally all of this sort, the battle of truth against falsehood, never the battle of selfishness against selfishness Assum- ing that two citizens are equally in ear nest. equally intelligent, their dis agreement Is calamity, if it ends in strife The judicious will grieve over it. But the real battle is in each dis tinct soul and in each community. What makes the "seethlng pot" is the elemental simplicity of nature and life, the process of learning by experience and growing away from sordld ends.
 What l frankly deplore is the undue injection of personal questions amid any debates concerning fact They make the pot boil over and lose good soap in the ashes, for they overcrowd things MT. smith may be an excel lent Presbyterian and yet poor busi- ness man. His birth in Alabama does not prove that he is super-human; yet his task may be so hedged by limita- tions as to be super human task.
 In the same way MT, Brown may be
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

sophie patience, we should certainly en- joy the process, or at least find the humor of it. We get what social huffetings hap pen to us for our profit, and when the jostling throng treads on our favorite corns we should. of course, thank God and take courage, knowing that we are now well on towards the Beulah Land of ethical laurels and gentle repose. All life is process of getting our goose cooked we being the goose.
 In the business world hard blows. much competing attrition, many wounds and bruises, lead to great wariness, till every man discovers that these are part of the game. In the political world the very air tingles with the ethics of the jungle and the den. It has even been hinted that pro fessional jealousy has sometimes involved gentlemen of the liberal arts and sciences, so that squabbles and social massacres and literary suicides and professional as sassinations have occurred.
 Perhaps the saddest word on tongue or pen, however, is the seething pot on the walls of Zion. The most terrible quarrels are family jars, church fights, and the washing of the dirty linen of the saints in places public and prurient. No vindictiveness is so vindictive as that of dear friends and neighbors. It Is when those who are described in pet phrase as "the Lords people" go to swatting
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

ylon and deviltry, think. Some paths VIC are right certain do not lead to Babylon. And we have learned to know the accents of the men who tread those paths-those calm souls who have seen a great light and a new vision of men walking, not on four legs or clam boring, or groveling, but as men walk, erect and unafraid. When they come out of their paths to teach those on the Bebylonian road of the new directions. the new chances for the races, Gas they do sometimes in books that mostly set shelf-worn and in the ma gazines that are not wholly yellow) 1t Is curious to note their reception.
 To one attentive ear there are a hun dred deaf ones s2to one of those on the path to Babylon that can see truth and beauty underlying the social state, hundred see only irremedia ble wrong squalor. slovenliness. The one notes all that is crass and vulgar. yet withal hopefully. cheerily, seeing too that what is not sweet and fine may be made so. The hundred see that same crassness and vulgarity in the mass, but fear fully, hopelessly. as if mankind were
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

one another that the last word in scrap language is coined. If there is no irrev- erence in supposing that the monotony of the internal regions is relieved by daily issues of a comic sheet, I am sure nothing so inane as Buster Brown or Happy Hooligan appears there For the side-splitting jokes of that publication are certainly taken from earthly life-the jokes that do not appear so funny to us men and women because they are practi- cal jokes upon us self-infiicted jokes whose jabbngs rankle in our own tingling nerves and heartstrings.
 "The Evening Lucifer-Comic Section, price one tear.'
 I can imagine the raueous laughter of irredeemably lost subscribers as they contemplate the quarrels of the good portrayed with suitable headlines in this yellow journal, issued in the bottomless pit. Robbed as it is of all semblance to truth. only bubbling to raise laugh, or to sell Hast edition,P or to establish a journalistic reputation, the humiliation and the misery and the disgrace of such an earth-echong funny page must thrill the gloomy Miltonic chasms with unholy and ironic glee.
 Double, double. toll and trouble:
 Fire burn and cauldron bubble"
 says the witch-song. proving that 1 am on classic and safe highways
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

whole train load of delegates being edhied but somewhat alarmed while two Toxas divines emptied their six shoot CTS at each other. up and down the aisle
 Now all this recital might mean that quarrels should be avoided among those who are trying to do good. a most trite and profitless conclusion. Rather take 1t to mean the nevtableness. in world of men. of the seething pot. For so long as the mixtures of self glorification and self-will are present in our social experiment laboratory, of which ignorance Is in charge, so long will there be a measure of explo- sive steam. sort of volcanic energy, smashing of element against element, of souls and personalities and opinions.
 That ancient quatrain or canto of Dr. Isaac Watts comes to mind. showing how
 Dogs delight to bark and bite, Lions and tigers growl and fight, For 'ts their nature to-"
 and l cannot acquit the Doctor of some crassness at this point. Had he lived in this modern era of Mrs. Parkhurst and her Sibylline daughter, pythoness indeed, l am sure the oracle would have varied on his lips. It is not only dogs that delight to bark and bite. The
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

most useful citizen and yet not a political leader worth considering. Or Mrs. White may have many virtues hut be remarkably deficient in housewifely art. I find the ignorant resenting criticism, and l know there is meat i'll the pot still far from tender and that the boiling must go on All that will be lost will be the incurably selfseek ing adventurer, the maker of false hoods and .~shams. the ignorant who loves darkness rather than light. These will emerge as sort of extract of so- cial stew wonderfully strengthening to the spiritual digestion of all ages yet unborn
 Yet recognizing the natural certainty that the seething pot must seethe. may we not trust the future to prepare for the newspaper always some nobler purpose than merely to keep that or any other pot boiling? Shall not some Journalistic Watts rather appear and put in modern speech the dialect mes sage of that wise man to little Britons; Your little hands were never meant To tear each others eyes,
 So, children, you should never let
 Your angry passions rise?"
 It is a commission which l most rev erently pass on and up to the gifted poet of The Age Herald, Mir Paul Cool
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

v!or--teaching that class to be sweet and good-mothering it--bidding 1t be unmindful of joys that do not make for the joy of others It is a prayerful plea for beauty-that love of beauty which prompts the plotting of spacious playgrounds and parks. of sanatoriums for the distressed, of homes with plenty of windows where the sunlight may en- ter freely-in fine to return to natures spnities. as the good Walt Whitman termed 1t.
 Surely the beauty of the world cannot be greatly forwarded while we cherish the belief that man Is a vicious shame less thing at heart, so hopelessly dead to right living that he must be treated as those are treated who systematically take poison: those who are put on dew ilish powdered narcotics because their pcor bodies are wracked with the hun ger of the dope" disease.
 I think We have d real menace to grapple with, here if anywhere--in Bir- mngham as much as In Pittsburg. Chl- cago, New York. It is this attitude we hold with reference to social wrongs az much as with the wrongs themselves
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bu-
 reau)
 The courts of the ancient Greeks met in utter darkness lest something in the ac- cused's appearance should prejudice tho judges either for or against him. Twen- tieth century American courts are some times so negligent of the real merits of case that, according to an ex-president of the American Bar association, they oc- casionaly place the definite article the
 in sancity above the honor of our wives and daughters.
 The lawyer who made this statement
 had in mind the case of q man convicted in western state of dastardly crime. to whom new trial was granted be- cause the indictment read against the peace and dignity of state" instead of
 against the peace and dignity of tho state.p
 Some of our courts, it Is true, do not allow the etiquette of the law to conceal the real issues in a case The higher
 courts of Wisconsin usually. and those of California frequently take common Sense point of view, and the supreme court of Oklahoma has recently shown
 that it win at least start it's career alright.
 But technicalities bulk so large in the
 minds of many of our state jurists to justify the remark of a teacher in a
 prominent law school that our legal sys-
 tenn seems to be governed by the sport ing theory of justice" every time a litigant forgets rule he is set back so many courts
 The old case of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance company vs. Hillman. which, after being taken to the federal supreme court on an appeal that enum- crated 10s errors was reversed by the
 court 23 years after the original trial.
 makes the fictitious story of Jarndycs vs Jarndyce in Bleak House" an American reality. The situation is so grave and
 widespread as to draw from President Taft the following statement: There is no object which I feel so l deeply as upon the necessity for reform l in the administration of both civil and !, criminal law. It is not too much to say | that the administration of the criminal | law in this country is disgrace to our ! civilization.
 | Actual cases confirm this opinion: | 1. The supreme court of Florida reversed | a conviction for grand larceny Decause | the indictment charged the man with
 stealing a cow whereas the evidence | showed that the animal taken was a l steer.
 | 2 The South Carolina court set aside a | similar conviction because the article actually stolen was not a piano. as the indictment specified. but a pianola.
 8. Tbe Ohio supreme court made a sig
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

her of the Louisiana legislature who had been caught in the act of secretly communicating with the enemy and had been imprisoned by General Jackson. The fine was for contempt and Jack son paid 1t. and now after the lapse of more than a quarter century the sum was returned with interest, the total being at the time of the refund ing about s3000.
 The speech made by the young man in advocacy of his resolution won him his first spurs. It flashed with fervid elo- quence and was pervaded throughout with the choicest diction. Many were the pre- dietions of his future greatness because of that speech.
 His service in the legislature led to his retention in that body for three success sive terms during the last of which he was elected by the legislature to the judgeship of the county court of Madi- son. After serving thus for two years he resigned and resumed the practice of the law. Five years later still, he of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

It is the believing that the well and the sick may live together without danger to the well-the believing that the well may escape contamination while holding that 1t is a natural and foreordained thing that some must be ill to make up a normal neghborhood. or city, or state, or nation---that is the real menace that we have to fight just now. Prostitution of woman shall be d necessary evil Just so long as we ae- lieve 1t to be necessary and encourage 1t by tolerating il. If l believed it were necessary for the well to become sick l would perhaps be talking To You of the trouble around Adrianope. or of scme riot in Ulster or of the probable fate of Giovannitti in the trial Tt sa fem. if thought our attitude to- ward Babylon and the folk who in habit Babylon were not more important to us today than even the outcome of the election on Tuesday, l would ne weaving democratic yarn at this mo- ment.
 It is the attitude we hold about sin or error, or whatever you please 10 call prostitution of the good impulses-th is striking at the heart of us.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

national senate MT. Clay was again chosen in 1859. and was In the senate when Alabama seeded in 1861, and with all the other southern senators resigned
 which furnished occasion in harmony with the temper Of that time to provoke a vote of expulsion of the southern sem ators. On his return to Alabama, Mir. Clay was at once chosen senator from the state to the Confederate congress. In Richmond he was in vital touch with the Confederate government, the confidence of which he enjoyed to an unusual de- gree. After a senatorial service of two years at Richmond, MT. Clay stood for reelection before the legislature of Ala bama, and was opposed by Colonel Sci bels of Montgomery. and the Hon. J. L. NJ. Curry of Talladega. After a number of unsuccessful ballots Mir Clay withdrew in favor of R. W. Walker. whom he had previously defeated for the United States senate. and MT. Walker was elected
 In 1864 MT. Clay was sent on a conf- dential errand from the Confederate states government to the provinces of Canada.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03
THE GAME OF LAW

nificant contribution. too to legal meta
 physics on June 2S, 1910, when it gave i.s
 decision in the case of Goodlove vs. state. Goodlove was charged with killing a man
 in a drunken brawl and was convicted.
 The supreme court found when the case
 was appealed that the evidence did not make clear whether the victims real name was Peter Stucky or Frank Mccor- mick. There was no question of what the man known as Goodlove had done.
 nor that someone had lost life because of
 his drunken fury.
 A federal judge of considerable expsri-
 ence says: We have long since passed
 the time when it is possible to convict
 an innocent man; the problem which HOW
 confronts us is whether we can convict
 guilty man."
 It is not strange that light on American legal problems should come from Eng
 land; for AmerIcan jurisprudence-its de-
 fleets as well as it's virtues-is essentially
 English. Tn fact. not until 1875 was the English system even as efficient as our
 own The adjustments and changes made in. adapting English jurisprudence nd court procedure to the needs of the new country apparently giving our system an advantage which lasted for about 100 years. But the reforms that were inaug-
 urated in England in 1875 and those that were effected previously have had such l far reaching influence that the American | system, as compared with the English,
 may be said to be in the horse car stage l of development.
 | The practical superiority of the English system is shown in the simple regulation of appeals and the common sense form of such legal documents as the indict- | ment.
 Of the following legal forms, the first is from Rhode Islanu the other is from
 England Their comparative length and simplicity Is interesting, to say the least Date and place. etc.
 "A B. being then sole and unmarried
 in consideration that the plaintiff tthen | also sole and unmarried) at the special | insistance and request of the said aefend-
 ant that she would marry and take to hus- I band the said defendant when thereunto | requested; here the said defendant then f and there forthwith promised the said | plaintiff that he would marry and take
 her to wife when thereunto requested: and although the said plaintiff. contiding
 in the aforesaid promise of the said de- | fendant, hath always from thence hither-
 to refused to marry or contract matri-
 mony with any other man whatsoever.
 and still remain sole and unmarried
 and always from the time of making said promise was ready and willing and offered l to marry and take to husband the said
 defendant; viz. on -. at the said ----.
 yet the said defendant not regarding his
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

His mission was one of diplomatic secrecy but under prevailing conditions resulted in nothing practical. While the nature of his mission was not known. 1t was supposed to be that of exciting Canadian interest in the affairs of the confederacy. and to arouse such interest. as would eventuate in procuring an army of ln- vasion of sufficient force to raid with success the northern frontier of the Un- ion. The northern press charged at the time that Mir Clay was abetting the ad- venturers who attempted the destruction of New York city by fire
 During his stay in Canada, MT. Clay was instrumental in inducing the mem- bers of the peace party in the north to rreval on President Lincoln to open ne- gotiations with him looking to the set- clement of hostilties between the north and the south An unofficial mission was entered on, but without avail. When ne learned of the equalization of the Con federate armies. Mir. Clay started from Canada on horseback for Texas. but see ing in the northern press that he was
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

ly shared in by the son as was pos sible. So soon as young Clay was pre- pared to do so he was sent to the state university from which he graduated at the early age of IT. While his father was governor the youth served as his private secretary and while his father was serving as senator at Washington the son was at the same time pursu- ing his law course at the University of Virginia, which course he completed in Is40.
 At the early age of 20 the junior Clay was elected to seat in the low CT house of the legislature. He attract ed attention at first by the introduce ton of a resolution instructing the Alabama delegation in Congress to support a bill favorable to refunding to Gen. Andrew Jackson the fine of 5000 imposed on him by Judge Hall of New Orleans in 1915 for declaring mar tial law in that city, under which the judge was imprisoned by Jackson for discharging on habeas corpus menu
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

Myron L. Briggs of southern Michigan farms a big farm without a leg to stand on
 Which Is literally true.
 About Il years ago MT Briggs, then motorman on the Grand Rapids street railway, lost both his legs in an acci- dent, and was in the hospital for IA months. part of the time lowering be- tween life and death When he recovered he had enough money which he and his wife had saved to make a first payment on % acres of land The street railway company paid the hospital expenses, but nothing more
 It may appear strange that this badly crippled man should have chosen farming as a business, but he was reared on farm and enjoys the work.
 He and his wife are great workers and scientific farmers. They study and prac- tice the latest principles of agriculture They take and study the leading farm journals.
 This legless man now has the best farm in his neighborhood, equipped with good buildings, silo and modern machinery.
 How does he do it? @
 He is very strong and healthy and his arms are as brawny as a blacksmitfl's. and his grip is like vise He ''walks' on his hands, swinging his body between his arms and taking fairly good strides. He rides in the seats of his farm ma chinery without tying himself in, and it is wonderful how he Is able to maintain his equilibrium on uneven surfaces.
 And above all, in his work he is as happy as lark.
 MT. Briggs can put the harness on his horses hitch them up to a sulky blow or a self binder go to the fields alone and work all day, whlstling and singing at his task.
 And, mind you
 When he got out of the hospital the only streets and sell snoestrings and lead pencils.
 You. farmer, with two good legs
 Cheer up.
 Be an optirnist like Briggs. If half a man like Briggs can whistle and sing at his work, you should be able to shout for joy at yours.
 Briggs has a fine farm, but, more won derfuI than his successful accomplish ments, is the legless man behind the farm.
 After 52 years sister advertises for brother to whom she wants to be 'reconciled before she dies'' 1 The woman is Mrs Gesinna Dohrman of New York city, who asks informa- ton concerning her brother Johann stainau, who disappeared in 1860. The advertisement represents the effort of sister to heal a wound now more | than a half century old. l In 1860 the Stainau family lived in Ger | many Young Stainau, then in the early POS. became involved in some sort of a scrape. Leaving the fatherland in the dead of the night he asked his sister now Mrs. Dohrman, to go with him to the l station.
 | But she
 | Affronted because of the trouble in which the brother was involved and dis. tressed by the escapade. turned away
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03
HOW FAR IS TT TO BABYLON?-By A. B. BeaIle

the sixties of the nineteenth century and our year of grace 1912, Is perhaps no greater than exists between a lad of 12 who smokes cigarettes in secret and lad of the same age who is glad to be discovered In the act of smc king,-or the difference that exists be- tween the man who sins in secret and the man who sins without sense of shame and boasts of his deviltry. The fact is. we are rather proud of our badness, having attained a sort of re- fined vulgarity that is enough to make these back worlds graybeards sit up and marvel.
 If our graybeard critic pins us down to brass tacks, we must confess that the little boy who smokes a cigarette in secret land gets away with it' is not so vexing as the little boy who swears and puffs his smoke in our faces, More we cannot concede. for the social histo rian has been curiously silent through centuries gone and we have no fair way to contrast the vulgarity of yesterday with the vulgarity of today.
 But the drift is not altogether to Bab-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-11-03

yHYHEN famous patriot once an-
 AA/ ticipated the outbreak of evil
 w upon his nation, he wrote that he saw in the north the vision of "a seething pot" which was interpreted by him as indicating trouble, an invasion of enemies from that quarter. In our day America has been likened by member of the immigrant races to "a melting pot" where nationalities are fused and nified.
 Always in the process of events this figure of a boiling pot aptly illustrates the social heat and friction and disturb ance through which human affairs pass before they reach the point of established recognition and usefulness.
 How like aaboiling pot are those polit- ical centers where passionate enthusiasms strive against each other for majorities That pot will boil everywhere, and may be brew for us queer broth in a week s time, What Irish stew is in MT. Asquith's 8 --1uisine, and how many a nourishing tit- bit there is in the gravy! But up in Ul- ster, like the prophetic hosts at Gilgal, they think there is death in the pot
 Indeed, all human intercourse is very much of the same kind, boiling, steam ing, bubbling and inward striving in that genial process of getting "done tender" If we would hut take 1t with duly philo-