davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
The Preparation of Lawns

''The city commissioners could we'll af- ford to have prepared pamphlet on the pi cparation and care of lawns also the cultivation of roses and shrubs for free distribution" said faithful advocate of tne city beautiful.
 Now the first basic principles of lawn making is a suitable soil base, that Is strictly virgin soil free from common gi ass, Johnson grass and weeds. The way to secure this in small lawns is to excavate about IS inches and fill in with soi. from the spot where houses are torn down. I noticed great quantity of the very finest soil taken from the site of the Tutwiler hotel on the Twentieth street s.de. This very rich soil was in the old level, before the fill-in of some five or six feet, evidently.
 Tt seems very difficult to make those who are interested in lawns understand that the stable manure commonly used Is filled with Johnson grass seeds; that once it gets into a lawn it is a world of labor to get rid of it; that 1t sucks the life out of the soil for the more tender lawn g. asses.
 "If in the fall of the year rich partly rctted leaves and loam is broad casted over a lawn and the top-dressed with slacked lime the lawn will be rich green in the spring and we'll into the sum- mer, withstanding the sun and unfavor- al le seasons.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
School Needs of Birmingham

The Board of Education wants S1.35O ,O0O with which to build another high school, several elementary schools, and to enlarge other schools of the latter class until the school system of the city is rendered ade- quate and satisfactory. It is neither at present.
 Birmingham cannot afford to swell the ranks of illiterates. It cannot af- ford to lag behind the most progress sive cities in the matter of public edu- cation. It can no better afford to let it's school system become lax than It can afford to let sanitation lag be- hind. The two are leading civic duties ranking well up to the enforcement of law and the preservation of order.
 The entire subject illustrates anew the fool limitations of the constitution of 1901. If Birmingham had been granted powers of taxation equal to those of Mobile and Montgomery the commissioners could much easier see their way to grant the request of the Board of Education. As things stand something must be done, and the city commissioners will no dout do all that the constitution of 1901 will permit.
 Alabama greatly needs a constitu- tion adapted as well to the cities of the state as to the blackbelt counties.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21

thrown away. The railroads would control and monopolize them and the situation would be rendered worse rather than better.
 The big battle will be renewed no doubt today, and on one side will be arrayed the transcontinental railroads and on the other side the unorganized people, 9O,O0O,000 in number. Which will win cannot be predicted, for the interests are still potent at Washing ton. The vote for and against the Adamson bill will tell the story, or rather the vote on the railroad section of that bill will show who represents the railroads and who the people.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
WHEN WE WE'RE POOR IN PAR

By Charles Hanson Towne in Life. When we were poor in Paris
 In everything save Youth, And the divine adventure,
 The magic quest of Truth. Life held a glorious vision
 That riches cannot bring, For 1 thought that I was an artist
 And you knew that you could sing. When we were poor in Paris,
 An, those were halycon years, With a crust a day for our dejeun
 And the solemn rent in arrearsi-- We laughed on the Champs Elysees
 In the soft blue afternoons. And I told you of my pictures.
 And you hummed your little tunes. When we were poor in Paris,
 The days were lean and long: Yet life was one bright Turner, > And love an old French song, l daubed with crimson brushes,
 You trilled, and reached high c But no one bought my pictures;
 You only sang for me. Alas, those days have vanished, The shifter's changed the scene; We're rich in wild Manhattan. And own our limousine. But when the May time madness Comes swinging down the year, 10, to be poor in Paris
 With you again, my deart
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
Ty Cobb and the Grandstand

No one can reasonably condemn Ttrus Cobb of the Detroit team when ht took into his own hands the pun iahment that a grandstand master of billingsgate in New York had earned both this season and last season. He had been warned to stop and at last when endurance had ceased to be virtue he got the beating that he had long deserved.
 The famous player was suspended, and then followed strike by the en- tire Detroit team, and at this point matters stand at this writing. The Detroit players are sustained by pub lie sentiment, and the American league is sustained by its iron rules.
 Out of the situation may come some protection at least for the players who are unjustly assailed from the prandstand or bleachers. When play CTS can be bought, sold or traded by club owners it is plain rules should be established that would prevent ruff fianly and cowardly attacks by spec tators, This seems but a matter of justice under the circumstances. When a player can be sold to a town and a team he dislikes, he certainly is en- titled to some degree of protection.
 The Cobb case involves all this and perhaps much more, and the action of the popular Georgia player may lead on to considerable changes in the plan of protecting players. True, player need not sign contract, but he must sign one if he desires to share in the honors and profits of organized base ball. The signing of contract should not relieve the club owners from the general obligation to render life comfortable to the player. Ty Cobb revolted because he could not stand the tirades of ruffian in New York. This revolt is practically the revolt of every other player in organ ized baseball.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
A RACE OF SIRENS

From Sirens of the Sands" in the June Metropolitan Magazine
 What the geisha is to Japan, the nautch to India, the hourie to Persia and the odalisque to Turkey, the Ouled- Nall is 10 North Africa, but with this striking difference: That whereas the geishas are but Q class of girls and women, the Ouled- Nails are race as distinct in fetures. language and cus- toms as the Bedouin, the Nubian, or the Jew. The preparation of an Ouled- Nail for her hereditary calling begins as soon as she Is out of the cradle, for the peculiar and ofttimes repulsive dances of the desert folk demand many years of constant muscle training and inconceivably arduous practice From the rising of the sun above the sand dunes until 1t disappears again behind
 the distant ranges day after day. week
 after week, year after year, her educa-
 tion neither flags nor falters, the mus
 cles of her chest, her back, her hips, her abdomen being systematically trained, supplied and developed until
 they are as much under her control as
 her slender, henna stained fingers. Her
 lustrous, blue black hair is brushed and combed and oiled and brushed
 again; she is taught to play the haut- boy, the zither and the flute and to
 sing the weird and plaintive songs of
 Arab loves; to make the thick, black
 native coffee and with inimitable dex-
 terity to roll a cigarette. By the time
 she has reached her teens her school | ing in these extraordinary arts and graces Is completed, and one day she
 climbs into camel litter and, followed | by the blessings of her parents, sets
 out across the desert to make her for
 tune in the dance halls and coffee houses of Biskra and Tunis and Al giers, yes. and of Tripoli on the east
 and of Oran on the west, just as the
 daughter of New England farmer
 sets out for the great city to earn her living at a stenographer's desk or be- hind the counter of a department store.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
Railroad-Owned Steamships

Congressman Adamson's bill, which prohibits railroad-owned steamships from operating in American waters, covers the case and is wholly satisfac- tory. Under its terms no transconti- mental railroad, either in this country or in Canada, could sue the Great Lakes or the Panama canal, or the Mississippi or any other river The prohibition is of a sweeping nature, but it is none too much so. Naviga- tion should be considering one means of serving the people, and railroad transportation another, and they should not be blended.
 One give the railroads the right to build and operate ships, all efforts to improve navigation would be money
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
DIVORCE FOR A DOLLAR
From Sirens of the Sands" in the Ju
 Metropolitan Magazine.

From Sirens of the Sands" in the June Metropolitan Magazine.
 The next time you happen to be in divorce court. 1t is the most Harounal-
 Raschidc institution this side of Samark- and A great hall of justice, vaulted and hoored with marble and strewn with eastern carpets, forms the setting, while husbands In turbaps and lawyers in tar bcoshes, white yelled women and green robed, gray bearded judges complete a scene which might have been taken straight from the Arabian nights. The women, closely yelled and hooded, and herded like so many cattle within an iron grill, take no part in the proceedings which so intimately affect their futures their interests being left in the hands of a voluble and gestieulative ovocat. In each of the four sides of the great hall is an alcove, and in each alcove, seated cross-iegged on a many-cushioned divan IS a green robed, gold turbaned cadi. Tl him the husband states his case, the wife, through her avocat, putting in her de | fense-if she has any. The judge con siders the facts in silence, gravely strok ing his long gray beard the while, and
 then delivers his decision-in nine eases out of ten. so I was told, in favor of the l husband. Should either party be dissat- | isfied with the finding he or she can taks an appeal by the simple process of walk ing across the hall and laying their case before one of the other judges, whose decision is final A case, even if ap- | pealed, is generally disposed of we'll under
 an hour and at a total cost of a dollal | and % cents, which proves conclusively
 that the record for quick and easy di
 vorces is not held by Reno.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
A Good Day's Work

The live wire teams of the Cham Der of Commerce, which started out yesterday to canvass for 1000 new members, met with fine success. New members to the number of IFS were secured, and those in charge of the work are confident of rounding up the thousand by Friday.
 Each team is composed of picked men. These workers are full of the Birmingham spiSit, and they are in- fusing this spirit into those with whom they come in contact.
 The Chamber of Commerce, with the increased revenue that thousand new members will produce, will be enabled to prosecute it's work for the upbuilding of the Birmingham district with greater vigor than ever before.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
PAIRING OFF
from the Metropolitan Magazine.

From the Metropolitan Magazine.
 On the morning of election farmer came into Hiram Morses blacksmith shop to have his horse shod.
 "Purty busy this morn, Bill?" inquired Morse, as he raked the embers together on the forge.
 Yep" answered Bill. 'Hain't got hard ly time ter go ter tn village and vote"
 wall, I'm purity busy myself" said Morse casually. '1'll tell yer what well do,'' he added after a moments thought Longs yer republican an I'm a dem- ocrat, we'll pair off, jest as they do in Congress, an neither of us will vote What do yer sa. ?'
 Bill agreed to the proposition. but after election it was found that the blacksmith had paired off with every republican GUS toner who had come into the shop.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
Rusiness Conditions

''The business situation is better than it was early in the year, but just nov tLere is a feeling of uncertainty owing to presidential politics" said Harry Upshire Of Chicago.
 "The crop situation in the west Is fairly satisfactory. and I understand that the New England crops are very promising. Alter the presidential nominating conven- tions there is every reason to expect a revival of business
 "The south seems to show a larger percentage of improvement in business way during the past two or three years than any otrer section The incessant rains in the south will doubtless be felt in the com mercial centers, but on the whole the south is looked upon as the coming great section of the United States. All the southern cities seem to be enjoying a high degree of prosperity"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
A Worthy Charity

7
 The good women of Bessemer, who take an active part in the United Charities of that city, are raising money to erect brick hospital build ing. Bessemer is growing steadily, and the wooden building now in use as hospital is entirely inadequate The Board of Revenue of Jefferson county contributes something to the support of the present institution, which by the way is non-sectarian, and the board can be counted on to in- crease the appropriation when the brick structure is reared.
 According to plans approved by the United Charities the new building-or the main part of the new building, which can be added to later-will cost S20,000. Such a building will be sub stantial and sanitary.
 Bessemer has seldom, if ever, ap- pealed to the people of Birmingham for assistance in any benevolent en- terprise. But this is time when they think they have right to call on some of the merchants, who profit by Besse- mer trade, and the corporations who have interests in and around Besse- mer. It is a reasonable proposition, and Birmingham will act liberaly in response to Bessemer's appeal.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
"soNG OF THE sANDsv

From Answers, London.
 In the North African deserts. at some times in the year. curious phenomenon can be heard
 It is the "song of the sands
 No one can say whence this song comes. but it is due to atmospherical conditions.
 There are two distinct sounds; one is like the wind in telegraph poles, the other like the after reverberation or big strik- ing clock. t
 During the time the ''song of the sands can be heard, some of the sand dunes, when trodden on, give out a hollow. bell like sound. And where the surface of the desert is covered with sandstone a tinkling noise is heard when this is trod- den on.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
THE DEMOCRATIC OPPORTUNITY


 From the Springfield Republican, Inde-
 pendent.
 The democrats have been out of office for 16 years. In the normal course or events, under party government, 1t is high time for the pendulum of power to swing their way. According to the theory and rractice of party government, moreover they should now be prepared to assume The responsibilities of government, While their rivals are left by a disgusted nation to settle their internal quarrels in the in nocuous shades of opposition.
 Conditions actually favor the democrats to a phenomenal degree. Immediately after the presidential election of 1908, had |anyone attempted to forecast political de- velorments in direction most favorable to democratic success in 1912, he could nor nave imagined a situation in the repup- lican party more conducive to democratic victory than what the country beholds to- day. Viewed by the eyes of an enemy, inc condition of the republican party is now more nearly ideal in it's dissension and disintegration than he could have hoped to see, even in his most daring dreams of power.
 Everything on the republican side has happened precisely as a democrat, even the most maliciously partisan democrat, could have desired The Taft administra- tion las been pursued by ill fortune and bounded by the very men who were chiefly instrumental in placing it in of flee. The congressional elections of 1910 restored democratic control of the House of Representatives and sweeping demo- cratic victories in the state elections
 placed many commonwealths of the rorth under democratic supremacy. The United States Senate has slipped from cut of the grasp of the regular republican organization and the democratic members are again nearly majority of that body for the first time in IS years.
 From being united, powerful. militant force, the republican party has become one of the most repulsively discordant, ouarrelsome and impossible entities for the carrying on of government that we have ! known in our history as a nation. Under | ples ent conditions, it is utterly incapable of the slightest achievement It neither knows it's own mind. nor recognizes any uncontested leadership. It controls no l federal legislative chamber At the pres
 ent moment the republican President is
 driven to fight for his political life in
 what may best be described as colossal political brawl against the greatest polit- teal ruffian the republican party has pro-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
From the Kansas City Star.

From the Kansas City Star.
 ~ UPPOSE that instead of being
 born an American, free to shape o your life as you will, you had been Russian of Jewish parents. You would never have enjoyed free schools libraries, parks, playgrounds and countless other advantages that become almost priceless when they are denied you. On the contray, the chances are you would have been oppressed and harassed in a thousand ways by Russian police and the agents of a conscience less Czar. You would have been taxed beyond all reason. If of masculine per- suasion, you would have been impressed
 into the army unless you could have raised rubles enough to buy your re- lease. You might even have starved and died, unless you had immigrated to America, the Promised Land.
 Such story has just been told in fascinating fashion by Mary Antin, who, with other members of her family, suffered many things before she threw off the Russian yoke of oppression and became a free American. The name of the book is "The Promised Land" Few first books have made so profound an impression as Mary Antin's story of her own life. -s The reader can't helping feeling him self a living witness to the family's early struggles al Polotzk, in far off Russia When illness and poverty over take them, the father goes to try his fortunes in America. But the family cannot exist divided, and the day comes when Mary Antin, her mother, sisters and brother leave Russia behind them and set their faces for the Promised Land. To them, Boston is synonymous with all of America, for 1t was there in the slums the family got it's foothold on the larger better life. The author bore the Hebrew name of Maryashe, or Mashke for short, upon coming to this country, but it was Americanized to Mary Antin
 Then the Boston public school, teach- CTS. newspapers and books came into Mary Antin's life With all these advan- tages, of course. there was the struggle for daily bread, the fight for existence. Mary Antin, a studious. inquiring, little girl. became a scholarly young woman and largely through her influence the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21

duced in its 60 years of life; and tn two republican chieftains, heading f tions which are nursing day by day g mcsities that may not be dispelled fo gsner ation to come. are engaged In si attacks upon each other that it wo seem impossible for either to gain presidency were he to be nominated.
 jdeai-from the democratic point view But what are the democrats do to take advantage of such a situati How do they propose to grasp such unparalleled opportunity? Are they re, for the supremacy that should come them, or are they busily digging Il own grave? The democratic responsit ty, no less than the democratic opportl ", is tremendous. for upon the de, cratic party rests the obligation to afr the country decent alternative in Q ernment, in case the present confus and strife within republican ranks lea the republican party helpless to conti effectively in the administration of the tion's affairs.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
Concerning an Extra Session

''If an extra session of the legislature is to be called 1t should not be held this year." said a business man who takes an active interest In politics. 'It may be tfat next spring an extra session will le advisable. if not imperative. but there will simply be no good excuse for an ex- Ira session during 1912. The state can certainly be financed without any diff cuty until 1913. and it may be that no ex- tra session will be needed then.
 Owing to the late spring the farmers of Alabama are far behind with their V vork, and owing to that fact the less politics the better. But there are other reasons why there should be no extra ses- sion this year.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
At wasbiurtonsnnd Lee

The Democrat is the name of paper Icing published at Washington and Lee university, Lexington. Va. It has nc volume mark or number, but it is full of fun and is wonderfully bright. It pur- ports to report the democratic convention held at Washington and Lee for the pur- pose of nominating a ticket for President and Vice-President of the United States
 The Democrat has as it's motto 'Edua rights to all. special privileges to none. " It's editorial staff consists of
 Charles Nourse Hobson, Robert Doug las Ramsey, William Thurmond Riviere James Nixon Daniel. Steven Palmer Har- man. Walter Hillman Eager.
 The business managers are; Walter H Tsger, James N. Daniel.
 he Democrat is four page paper. The last page is made up Of advertisements
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21

including cards of candidates. There IS a display ad of the Alabama statesman. which suggests to the reader that he should talk Underwood and vote Underwood. Clamp Clark's card takes up severa' inches of space, and reads simply: vote for Champ Clark" Another popular can dicates card reads thus: Support Wood row Wilson. the college mans candidate
 On the third page is the opening speech Of the convention delivered by the silver tcngued orator, c. N Hobson, the tenn pcrary chairman.' The editorials are on the third page, and among them Is one on the Meeting of the Platform Con- mittee," and one on the Meeting of the Rules Committee. A featured story on tie first page is captioned, Incredible Neetings-c Credentials Committee; Bolt ing and Rebolting-Why, When and Nhere?"
 The Subscription to The Democrat is 10 cents a copy, and the entire issue is of fered for 25 cents in advance.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
Underwood,s Chances Bright

Every one who takes a keen interest in affairs must remark the growth of the Underwood presidential boom," said Caleb H. Williamson of New York city.
 Like a good many men of the business wcrld I am an independent in politics, ard in the twenty years that I have been voter I have cast my ballot several tlmes for democratic candidates and sev- eral times for republican candidates. I expect to vote the democratic ticket next November. A few months ago I had not given much thought to the presidential race but the more read and hear about Underwood the better 1 like him. I find among republicans and democrats that he is more strongly approved, owing to his statesmanship and his conservatism, tfan any of the other asprants in the democratic party.
 "The republicans are badly split and a strong democratic ticket would certainly win"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-21
THE MINSTREL RAND.

 Said one who'd climbed life's weary hill And wandered far through Trouble Land, lam would feel that bygone thrill when, as boy, the minstrel band Da"hed full upon my dazzled sight, m scarlet coats and gold arrayed; 50 giofiously were they bedight So wildly sweet the music nlayad My heart beat high, my feet kept time With noiswy comrades in the rear. While each one thought 'twould be sublime, In some far-distant, after-year, .'To be gallant minstrel man And wear a coat of scarlet hue. But that. like many another plan. Was only dream that ne'er came true.'