davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
Rare Musical Treat

Birmingham people have had an op- portunity of hearing much fine music within the past four or five years, and one of the greatest attractions in the world will probably be offered here some time in January" said we'll known musician. ''I refer to the Flonzaley quar- tet, which is, by all odds, the greatest chamber ensemble now in this country, and with the single exception of the quartet in Berlin led by the late Joseph Joachim, it is the greatest that was ever heard the world over.
 For many years the Kneisel quartet was the leader in chamber music in the United States, but in New York and Bos ton everybody is now in love with the F'lon- zaleys Tn all the large cities of the north the mere announcement of a con- cert by this quartet means full house.
 Several Birmingham music lovers have heard the Flonzaleys either in New York. Boston or Chicago. and those who haven t had the privilege of hearing them know them by name and reputation. Flonzaley. in fact, is household word in all musical circles. Not to be familiar with this name is to admit ones ignorance of af- fairs cultural"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
THE WOLF AT THE DOOR

A personal experiefice is related in the new January number of Harper's Ba- zar-that of woman confronted with a double problem:
 As soon as I understood our condi- ton I seriously attacked the problem of providing for myself and the children. Of course I was willing to give my hus- band food, a roof, and clothes if I could but I determined then never to give one penny of money, for knew that it would go to buy whskey. l never considered asking for a divorce, although the law in our state considers habitual drunkenness sufficient cause. But to my mind no woman is justified in deserting man brutally cruel to her; and my poor hus- band was pitifully pleasant. And so, af- ter having thought and thought l de- cided to sit tight and do my best.
 Like so many American women of my class, my domestic experience had made me a jack at all trades,' and literally
 good at none. l had done fairly suc- cessfully in an amateur way all kinds of domestic home-decorative work. and among my acquaintances was considered a remarkably capable woman,' and 'ore that would get along anywhere Indeed. I had so considered myself; but when 1t came down to an actual application of these requirements on a basis Of man. cial return l saw that I was not suffi- ciently well trained in any of them to make good"
 Pluck and a full realization of the cir cumstances enabled the wife to triumph in the end.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
Water Powers in Rivers

T. II. Friel sees nothing to criti- cize in President Taft's message or in the reports of Secretaries Stimson and Fisher as to federal water pow CTS, except the claim that the gov ernment should receive pay for wa ter power created by it to be .ex- pended on the rivers themselves again. Mir. Friel says that the su- preme court of the United States held to the contrary in 1845 in an Ala bama case. In that case of Pollard s lessees the court held that the state could not use its power "so as to af- feet the exercise of any national right of eminent domain or jurisdic- tion with which the United States has been invested by the constitution. '' This practically shuts the state out, for if state erects dam or au- thorizes a citizen to erect a dam in a navigable river the federal gov ernment may at any time destroy that dam under its power of eminent domain.
 It is marking back long way to cite the case of Pollard's lessees. Says Secretary of War Stimson: "That the federal government has the right to construct dams for the improvement of navigation and a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
Christmas Is At Hnnd

Tt is just one week until Christmas but tho signs of the coming of Santa Claus is on every hand.' said an observ- ant man yesterday.
 "It is heard in the exclamations of delight of little ones who, gazing in the shop windows, clap their hands or jump up and down with exclamations of de- light Again it is heard in the tinkling of bells inviting a contribution for charity good cheer to the poor in refuges. The great throngs shopping in the crowded stores, or hurying along the street, all with a Christmas mind and heart is mak- ing holiday season in advance.
 Already many places are decorated with holly, mistletoe, gay ribbons and Christmas bells. Christmas trees are on sale and many boxes of evergreens are in evidence at the markets for home decorations. From the indications al- ready at hand this is to be a glad, pros porous. happy christmas for thousands; and yet there are others for whom sor- row. like an i'll omened bird. sits in over shadowing grief, all the more marked by the time and the hour"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
Gov. Wilson's Progressive Policies

1 Gov. Wilson's Progressive Policies
 In his speech at the banquet of the Southern Society of New York Pres ident-elect Wilson made it very plain that his interest in New Jersey pol itics will not be limited to March 1. He will continue to fight ex-Chair- man Nugent and ex-Senator Jim Smith at all times and in all places. He will come to the aid of the re- formers and progressives of the dem ocratic party whenever they need him. He says he will Ego on the stump before the people of the state' against the reactionary faction of the party-the Smith-Nugent wing.
 This wing represents the old ma chine in New Jersey. It is based on corporation money and boss rule. It is a scheme of American politics that went down to defeat in the recent election. James Smith served one term in the Senate and he is remem- bered only for what he did to the Wilson tariff bill. He changed it at the behest of protected interests un- til President Cleveland refused to sign it and it became a law without his signature. Since then he has been out of office, but both he and ex- Chairman Nugent believe in machine rule and they are hoping to regain power after MT. Wilson goes to Washington. They will lack the aid of two United States senators, for both Senator Maritime and Senator-elect Hughes are Wilson men. And yet the old machine was strong enough to dictate the selection of MT. Taylor as speaker of the lower house of leg islature. He defeated Mir Hennessy,
 
 who was MT. Wilson's choice, by four votes and the 12 members from Jim Smiths county supported MT. Tay- Tor. When MT. Wilson retires from office in New Jersey MT. Taylor will become governor of the state. This was done while Mir. Wilson was at Bermuda and it was this that aroused his indignation and that will keep him in the coming contests against the old machine in New Jersey.
 No measures of reform are pos sitle when that machine is in power and so the President-elect has en- listed for war against it to the end. He never lacks the courage of his convictions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19

proprietary interest in the water power developed by the structures so built is settled beyond question. Green Bay Cancel company vs. Pat ten Paper company, TIP U. S., 58; IFS U. S., 190; 29 Op. Atty. Gen., 173, 185.) It seems equally clear that what the government may do of it. self it n4y do by an agent and may, therefore, utilize and adopt for the purposes of navigation a dam allowed to be built by private capital upon fair and proper terms between the two interests as to the value of the water power thus created" Secretary of War Stimson's law is more modern than MT. Friel's and yet they do not essentially conflict. The federal government can build dams and improve navigation ad lib itum and this is all controlling in navigable stream. The case of Pol lard's lessees. related to the shores of and the soil under a stream and not to impounded water Secretary of War Stimson cites cases involving the use of the water for power pur-- poses.
 MT. Stimson's law seems to be sev- eral points ahead of MT. Friel's law both in respect of time and perti- nency.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19

open and stood snarling and reckless in the highway while a continent held its breath awaiting the answer.
 We rubbed our eyes as we read the news. Surely this could not be truth-Old Sleuth was loose again; Nick Garter had returned-a ghastly joke had been perpetrated upon the press. It insulted our intelligence to believe it-but as time passed and day by day we read of Beck CTS infamy, with the attendant disclos- ures of organized brigandage under the very wing of the law, our hearts grew sick with horror. and we dared not con template the thought that crime had grown sufficiently powerful to dominate the law.
 For torturing weeks great issue was upon us--if these murderers escaped pun ishment we realized how powerfully or ganized were the interests upon which they relied, and we knew that war was at hand war with vice, war with human rats.
 But New York redeemed her honor. Becker and his bravoes sit in the death house; the electric chair holds out its arms to them.
 Right has again prevailed-right must always win. This is the economic truth upon which the life of society depends.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
1s.ooo MILES OF SILVER

Robert D. Heini in Lesie's.
 The greatest money count in the history of the United States Is now on. Every piece Of money in the country's billion bulging treasury must be handled and each security fingered. corps of men the most expert money counters in the world-will work at the task day and night, but it will take them 60 days to finish it. There are 56,7OS,s6o silver dol lars alone in this vast sum.
 Much of the coin counting is done by weighing, but there is an ingenious ma chine which digests silver dollars, quar- ters and halves and counts them as fast as a man can turn the handle. If the sil yer dollars were stacked one on top of another, they would tower s35 miles high. If they could be laid in a continuous line, each touching the other, the silver horde would stretch out for a distance of 13.0oO miles.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Paying High Wages

Another Christmas rolls around; an other year draws to It's close, and the people of this district are looking back upon the last half of 1912 as a period of genuine prosperity" said F.. J. Dunn of Dunn X Lallande, the prominent contrac- tors. We keep busy all the time.
 We have completed the construction work of several miles of material sup ply road to the Interstate Power com- pany's dam. We are still at work on the Louisville and Nashville's branch road to Belton Gilreath's new coal development in the Warrior neighborhood.
 "It Is doubtless a fact that there is more money in circulation in the Bir- mingham district now than in any pre- vious holiday season. It would be strange were it otherwise, for wages were never SO high. We are paying from s1.50 to si.75 day for ordinary labor that used to be considered we'll paid at s1 a day; and this is real money that we pay out-no commissaries.
 ''Yes, I believe that practically every body will agree that we are having good times in and around Birmingham
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
state Funerals

Since Mrs. Whitelaw Reid has accet = ed the offer of the British government to convey the body of her husband, the American ambassador to the United States there will be an imposing mo moriai service in London and, according to official properties, there will be a state funeral in this country correspondingly elaborate said travelled man.
 "The services in London will be held in Westminster abbey anu those who have seen state funerals in England know how stately they are. I happened to be in London when MT. Gladstone was laid to rest. I was not inside the abbey, but I saw the cortege enter and read the full, account of the services
 ''The British government will make a point of according the highest state honors to Amerca's dead diplomat. There will probably be large military escort head ed by the Coldstream Guards band, winch is the crack band of England. In the historic abbey the entire diplomatic corps now assembled in London will be pres ent officially. There will be many mill tary officers in uniform, and the ning will be personally represented by a mem Der of the royal household.
 The abbey choir Is famous and on the occasion of state funerals the Lon don Philharmonic orchestra is usually employed. The orchestra plays the dead march from Beethovens third symphony. This being symphonic music, it can only be played by an orchestral band. That is the reason it is never heard in funeral parade. The Coldstream Guards band al ways plays the dead march from Saul and usually Chopin's Marche Funebre.
 When MT. Reid's body arrives in this country it will be received in New York with military honors and there will be official obsequies.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
Fruit Abundant and Cheap

There is an abundance of reasonable priced fruit to be had now said dealer who handles large quantities, and the quality is very good.
 ''The Florida oranges with the very thin peel, much sought after. are abund- ant and comparatively cheap. Some of the smaller sizes are retailing at five for 10 cents. Apples are plentiful and of ex- eelent quality, and very reasonable. Ow- ing to the weather there are not any very choice bananas offering, but the supply of grape fruit is good and choice. Grapes are cheap and abundant. Nuts are rather high, but all in all the good things for Christmas stockings are to be had of good quality and reasonable in price
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19

 inch in width; paste and a pair of sos. sors.
 Paste the ends of the nrst strip of pa- per together. Twist the second strip of paper once, and paste the ends of thai together Twist the third strip of paper twice and paste the ends of that together. The result is three paper loops. to all appearances ordinary.
 The Trick-Exhibit the first loon ana remark that the obvious effect if you cut 1t in half, stripwise, will be to make two loops. Now pick up the second loop and remark that you you are going to do the same with this loop, whereupon it is cut and loop twice the size is the surpris- ing result
 Cut the third loop in like manner and two loops, one inside the other, will be produced.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
REFLECTIONS or A BACHELOR

From the New York Press.
 Happy family life is insured In the pantry.
 When marriage is failure, there are no assets left
 A wonssn brags about her iamiiy; d man abo.l himself
 A big bunch of violets from him could make a pretty smart girl think cannibal was a missionary.
 When a man gets a cable dispatch he wants to pull 1t out of his pocket with shewy carelessness like 5000 bill.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
Lower Priced Eggs

When eggs are retailed in Phila- delphia, New York and Chicago at 24 cents a dozen, how long, o, Gro cers, shall the people of this city pay 35 to 40 cents per dozen?
 This is a question that cannot be postponed or sidetracked. The only price in New York is now put by the big grocery firms at 20 cents a dozen and it is up to the grocers of this city to explain why they are ask ing AT cents. If Park & Tilford and other large dealers in New York find profit in selling eggs at 25 cents why cannot the grocers of this city be content with a like profit?
 This is a question that must be answered in this city. The house. wives are alert in this matter. They are ready to organize. The national executive committee of the House wives League of America is discuss ing the price of food articles in the various cities of the country and Birmingham will not be overlooked in the struggle.
 After all, it is not the retailers that create corners in eggs and but ter. It is the spectators and cold storage warehouses. It is they who artificially boost the market, anc yet the fall in prices may not be brought home to them, so curious and devious are the ways of trade.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19


 From the Louisville Courier-Journal
 Congratulations are due MT. John R. Fallis of Frankfort, who has returned back again" from the vague country most generally referred to in the public prints as parts unknown" Some persons thought that Mir. Fellis had gone to that bourne from whence no traveller returns" The public indeed had good grounds for so believing, but MT. Falils knew better all the time.
 MT. Fallis was absent from his happy home for one long and lonely week, dur l ing which he was mourned as dead by a l wife and five children and a large circle of sorrowing friends. as the rural cor | respondents are wont to put it when de- | scribing the gloom that has been cast over a community by the mysterious dispensa- ton of an all wise Providence. The facts of his disappearance are extraordinary. A | week ago last Sunday night MT. Fallis was carrying a box of dynamite down the benk of the Kentucky river to store it on a shanty boat. His foot slipped and tho box fell Then came a burst of thunder sound" the echoes of which were still ringing among the Benson hills wher the entire population of Frankfort, the penitentiary inmates excepted, rushed out of doors to see if the courthouse was intact and the capitol had its dome on straight. Meanwhile Fallis, having con fusion in his mind and overwhelmed by the fear that he had blown up the entire city, tarried only long enough to find himself in fit condition for travel and began hitting the high places in the diree- tion of Chrstianburg, where he subse- quently caught q freight train. He scarcely dared to take long breath until he had landed in Jacksonville, Fla There, after staying in hiding for sev- eral days, he bought paper, read an ac- count of the explosion and was much surprised to find that he, John R. Fallis, was the only man killed. Reflection con vinced him that the newspaper reports were erroneous-in that particular at least-and he started back to Frankfort.
 MT. Falls reached home Saturday night to find that some people were still drag ging the river for his body, while others were walking up and down the river with baskets searching for his remains In the meanwhile his administrator had com pleted an inventory of his estate and per- sonally had calculated the amount of the commission due for services rendered.
 Home again from "the tall and uncut" MT. Fallis gazes reflectively on the great hole in the ground where he dropped the dynamite-and doubtless has to pinch him self occasionally to make sure that the newspapers were not right when they re- ported him slain and slivered to the ex- tent that there weren't enough remains to justify the coroner in holding an in quest.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
LITTLE LIGHT MoCCAsIN

From the Indian Advance. Little Light Moccasin swings in her bas- ket,
 Woven of willow and sinew of deer; Rocked by the breezes, and nursed by the pine tree,
 Wonderful things are to see and to hear.
 Wide is the sky from the top of the mountain,
 Sheltered the canyon from glare of the sun;
 Ere she is wearied of watching their changes,
 Little Light Moccasin finds she can run.
 Brown is her skin as the bark of the birches, Light are her feet as the feet of the fawn;
 Shy little daughter of mesa and moun- tain,
 Little Light Moccasin wakes with the dawn. All the rare treasures of summertime canyons, These are the playthings the little maid
 Berry time. blossom time, bird calls and butterflies. Columbine trumpets and sweetbrer rose. When on the mesa the meadow lark. stopping, Folds her brown wings on the safe bid- den nest, Hearing the boot of the owlets at twi- l light, l.ttis right Moccasin goes to her rest.A ces.ntH tie stars through the chinks oA ths ~iexam, fstehlnx the flames of the campfire le,1p Iseainx song of the wind in the pine
 Iissia 1isa Moccasin falls fast asleep.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
Best Business in 20 Years

"The holiday business is remarkably brisk" said Felix M. Drennen yesterday. 'ln fact, as far as I can see, it is the best in my experience of 20 years
 'The retail trade is large in volume and people are paying good prices for what they buy. I have never seen the wage working classes so thrifty as they are to- day; have never seen our wage workers so able to spend money for the comforts as we'll as the necessities of life.
 "Drennen S Go. certainly have every reason to be satisfied with the December business, and take it that all other mer- cantile concerns are prospering greatly
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
ROSENTHAL
Herbert Kaufman in woman's wor

Herbert Kaufman in Woman's World
 for January.
 They shot him down in the sight of a throng and he lay dead in the glare of the Great White Way. In life he was con temptible, but he died to serve a mighty cause.
 It was not Rosenthal, gambler, whose gaping wounds screamed for justice, but citizenship imperiled. It was deafint challenge to society this sordid assassination. Crime growI bold in the shadows had dared into the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES
TANTALIzING.

TANTALIZING. The telephone girl May have a sweet curl And smile that is wondrously bright, But shut up is she, So no one can see If the maid is a dream or fright. Tis only her voice. Though, sooth, not from choice, Ihat comes to us over the wire; We can only surmlse The tint of her eyes When we for number inquire
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
THE TURK AND HIS CIGARETTE

From the Louisville Courier-J Journal. THE Tobacco Journal publishes an ar-
 \ ticle in which the immense
 A growth of the cigarette traffic in America is commented upon. It is stated that a billion cigarettes a month are smoked in America, and that active ad- vertising campaigns pushed by a number of companies who are successors of the Tobacco trust' as formerly organized, arc rapidly increasing the monthly con- sumption.
 The New Orleans States observes that cigarettes and national decadence are all ways synchronous and points to the Turks of the present time as a horrible example.
 Without disputing the assertion that cigarette smoking in excess is injurious, and that very large majority of persons who smoke cigarettes smoke excessively, it may be said that there are other and graver evils in Turkey than the personal habits of the eommonalty. The Turkish system of government, and not the habits of the Turkish soldier, is the genesis of Turkeys decline.
 If the Turks smoked the American ci- garettes that are sold as being Turkish" the mortality rate in the Ottoman empire might be somewhat higher than it is when cholera is not temporarily raising it. But real Turkish cigarettes are made of mild tobacco loosely wrapped in small wrap pers. About the mildest and briefest of smokes" is that enjoyed by the Turk Like other Moslems, the Turk is more ahstemious than the average Christian If he smokes a good many cigarettes, he refrains from alcoholic drinks. A jolly party of Turkish young men about town sitting around cafe tables late at night drinking nothing stronger than very black
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19

The Pacific railway officials are to meet in New York for long conference in the hope that they can satisfactorily adjust things to meet the decision of the United States supreme court. The conference may last two weeks
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19
MYSTERIOUS PAPER BANDS

From the Woman's World for January. Here is trick from India that is very mystifying. and, yet, the deception is simplicity itself that is, when you know how
 Preparation-Three strips of paper
 each two or three feet in length, and one
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19

The Philadelphia Public Ledger says eggs. and it was the former that was sold at 2 cents a dozen. The spectators may be unloading
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-19

The Atlanta Journal has purchased the seven story building onl North Forsyth street which it has occupied two years The lot is 102x9l feet. The consideration has not been made public.