davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Too Much Politics

We probably have too many cleo
 tions In this country; we certainly have
 too many hot campaigns said man noted for his enterprise and public spirit.
 T have heard it remarked that there were more political campaigns in the United States than In any other coun- try and that our political contests were usually more heated than those of Eng land, France or Germany. It may be that our campaigns ale accompanied by more mud singing than those of France or Germany, but I have been familiar with English politics long enough to as- sert that when the English do get ex- cited over parliamentary elections they often indulge in violent language. Some of the speeches in the English contests are not only boldly radical, but are lit- tie short of incendary.
 But coming back to American politics, l think a large majority of the people of this country will welcome Congress- man clayton's proposed amendment to the constitution to extend the Presidents term to six years and prohibit the Pres ident from being a candidate for a sec ond term. We have had more mud singing In national politics this year than ever before, and I hope we will never again see such bitter wrangles in any party as Roosevelt has stirred up in the republican party.
 Tn Alabama state politics we have al great deal too much disturbance. The last gubernatorial election resulted in what trn fo ka xyfp 0n- servatism against radicalism. The leg islature of 1e07-11 had enacted such dras- tic sumptuary laws as to put the state in an unenvlable position before the world. Local option has been the democratic policy as far back as l can remember, and under local option most of the coun- ties in Alabama were dry, but the radical prohibtionists were not satisfied with that. They gave us statewide prohibit tlon of the most stringent sort ever imagined.
 Railroad rate regulation was the par amount issue of the Conner administra tion I was opposed to anything radical, or any agitation that would be calculated to keep capital out of this state. But after the legislature had enacted laws consistent with the views of a majority of the people, those laws should have had a fair trial. In other words, the Southern and other railroad companies that accepted the situation acted. think, with wisdom. Even though the federal courts decided in favor of the railroads on the rate question it would have been the part of wisdom for all the railroads to acquiesce.
 "It looks now as if we would have | hotter campaign in 1914 than we had even in 1906 or 191O-and those were two gin- | gerry campaigns. Not few men with | whom I have talked who were political | opponents of Governor Conner when he | was elected in 1906. say they will vote | for him if he runs in 1914. If 1 had my | way we would have state elections in | Alabama only about once in 10 years"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
CELEBRATING THE ONION

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
 San Antonio, Tex, recently had an .or;on day" celebration. There are lots of neople who do not like onions, and to such persons that sort of a celebration would not have much interest. On the contrary. there are lots of people who do like this pungent and selfassertive vegetable. and San Antonio has reason for celebrating, as the onion has brought A good deal of prosperity to San Antonio and the surrounding territory.
 The onion industry in south Texas IS young. It had its origin about a dozen years ago when a citizen of Laredo de- cided to try his luck with onions and planted handful of seed which produced a corp surprising to himself and to his neiehbors. A few years later onions were heinz shipped from that locality in car load lots. and this year the farmers nave shipped 45oo cars and the onion crop of southwest Texas has brought more than @ ooo oo0 into the state. From Laredo alone 25Oo cars have been shipped, going to all parts of the United States.
 The seed from which the original crop at Laredo was grown came rom Der muda. and in the beginning the products of the patches were known as berhuaa onions But their popularity has become almost world wide, and Texas, Knowing the value of advertising. has rechristened them. and now they are known as Texas onions Under that name they are about the best advertiser the Lone Star State ever has had Onion celebrations are apt to he somewhat odorous and scarcely so pleasing to the senses as flower parades or strawberry festivals, but the s3,0o0,000 which Texas has raked in on the spring crop of 1911 is not tainted money and makes a breath from an onion bed as ac- ceptable to the nostrils of Rio Grande farmer as a whiff of new mown hay.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
LrrE,s TRIBUTE TO UNDERWOOD

From the Mobile Register.
 Life's clever editorials have abundant satire, but satire resting upon a stratum of thoroughly good common sense. Both Wilson and Clark are high ly speculative realities, says Life; not fully tried out We feel like consult ing clairvoyant about MT. Clark" ]" says Life; and also about pr. Wilson. As for Uncle Harmon, there seems lack of public demand. With respect to Un- derwood:
 MT Underwood has never been President, but if the Clayton resolution becomes a law we shall never vote again for a man who has had presi- dential expereince. MT Underwood is a very able and sound thinking person. If we had to choose the next President, and were forbidden to consult clair voyant, we would choose MT. Under wood, with confidence that he would make fair job of 1t any way, and might make great one"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
The epidemic of Teddyism is passing.
FOUR GLASSES OF NOVELS

Henry van Dyke In Scribner's Magazine.
 There are four kinds of novels.
 First those that are easy to read and hard to remember: the well-told tales of no consequence. the cream-puffs of perish able fiction.
 Second, those that are hard to read and hard to remember: the purpose novels which are tedious sermons in dis- guiso and the love-tales in- which there Is no ore with whom 1t Is possible to fall in love.
 Third, those that are hard to read and easy to remember: the books with crust of pervcrse style or faulty construction through which the reader must break in order to get at the rich and vital mean Ing.
 Fourth, those that are easy to read and easy to remember. the novels in which stories worth telling are well-told, and characters worth observing are wildly painted, and life is interpreted to the imagination in enduring forms of literary art These are the best sellers which do not go out of print-everybody' books.
 In this fourth class healthy -rninded peo- pie and unprejudiced critics put the novels of Charles Dickens. For millions of read CTS they have fulfilled what pr. Johnson called the purpose of good books, to teach us to enjoy life or help us to endure it. They have awakened multitudinous laugh ter and drawn forth innumerable sym pathetic tears. They have enlarged and endiched existence by revealing the hid den veins of humor and pathos beneath the surface of the everyday world, and by giving ''the freedom of the city, to those poor prisoners who had thought of it only as the dwelling place of so many nargons
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
YOUTHFUL GENIUS

run 1it-oieS-
 Although it was not published until 8 year or two later. 1t is probable that Keats wrote his familiar ode to autumn in his sixteenth year. and, indeed, all his five great odes, among the greatest in any language, before he attained legal manhood He died at D. so that all the great masterpieces which came from his pen may be regarded as the production of a boy.
 Robert Burns wrote that scathing satire. Holy WiIiies prayer. when he had
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
PARIS PLAYS TO THE RICH

Sterling Helig in the Cleveland Plain | Dealer.
 A WHOLE series of smart resorts "A base their existence on Parisian desire to make study" to see something different and exclusive.
 All the genesis of the little jewel box theatres so popular alike with rich Americans and Parisians, is here
 It began when someone discovered Ale candre Bruant's little cabaret for labor CTS and masons, to whom rude but power full song writers warbled their ballads of the people" Friday evenings the fash ionables began arriving, in dress clothes and a string of elegant equippages, to pay $3 for beer and be good naturedly insulted by the chorus of habitues as they departed
 Next 1t was the Cabaret of Jantors, the Quat'z-Arts the Tavern of Assassins. Fursy's shanty-to which the smart world still goes-and many another. all copied on the same model. It was seen that the fashionables were glad to enter little hall where everybody could not go be- cause there was not room, because it was dear and different. As soon as the middle class and tourist public caught on the fashionables quit and tried another.
 Grasping this taste of the rich, the managers of those that remained smart kept their prices dear. You pay s2.60 for the poorest seat at the Capucines.
 Rich Americans flock to the Capucines. You must hunt for the Capucines through a dim porte-cochere. into an ordinary apartment building courtyard, where it is surrounded and topped by business offices and flats. There is scarcely a sign ln- side a bijou hall, with IA rows Of seats' six boxes, tiny low balcony. jewel box stage, Beaux-Arts scenery worthy to frame Regina Badet, and s2.6o cheapest entrance.
 Here the young King of Portugal met Gaby DesIys, as star of reviewette. Here Regina Badet, one time ballet queen
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
nIanr EIection nets

Many election bets have been made here on the outcome of the Chicago con vention." said man about town T have heard of no large local betting, but the s1o and s25 bets are numerous enough to make quite volume; and as for the hat bets, they are countless.
 Several friends of mine bet sometime ago that Taft would be the nominee of the republican convention. Recently they succeeded in hedging. used to bet money on elections and was generally winner, but when I began to lose I decided that as my luck had turned it was time for me to quit for a while.
 "I have never known political situation so difficult to make out as the repub- lcan situation. Within two days I have thought that Roosevelt had it; that Taft had it. that dark horse would have it. Every few hours the situation seems to change have heard of few bets on the Baltimore convention, but the matters will certainly be busy just as soon as the Chicago convention is over"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
NOT THAT SORT

From Harpers Weekly.
 IL would have been better if he Onder- wood) had yielded at the beginning.-The Commoner.
 Better to have yielded to Bryan than to have stood for his own convictions. Perhaps, But that. happily, is not the un- derwood way.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

of the Opera comique, plays. sings and dances in 'sappho and Phaon." Regina might jump into the sea and scarcely wet her clothes.
 There are half a dozen of these tiny theatres of the first class, the Michel, the Arts, the Madame, the Mondain, the Fursy and so on. The Grand Guignol makes a speciality of short pieces of hor- TOT and terror, many of which have been adapted in America.
 Dinner in the sylvan restaurants of the Champs Elysees is the dearest eating proposition in Paris.
 Diners hate to quit the woodland scene. The night air is balmy. Just behind the restaurant is the summer cafe concert of the Ambassadeurs. There Gaby Deslys, some five years ago, as a stripling begin her, supported outrageous adventures by the versatile and comic Max Dearly-a Parisian Fred Leslie of untiring verve.
 The high necked aristocrats sup at Larue's and see each other. It suffices.
 The lively fashionables sup at the Cafe de Paris, where the dancer, Maurice, has made a fortune. In and out among the tables, in Apache dances and valses chaloupees, Maurice spins his girls like top-until you fear they will swing away by centrifugal force and dash into the glass and crockery.
 Gayety is on the bill of fare. But al- ways within correct bounds. Even lone parties of rich Americans arrive at semblance of rollicking cheer while look ing on.
 The supper for six persons, $50 And cheap. All the while you have been lulled by love songs; you have had next to nothing to eat. If you want more it is dearer. Breaking crockery and setting fire to celluloid knife handles, $40 extra.
 Dinner is dearer. If you have melon, lobster, flowers, vegetables, peaches, strawberries, cherries, cigars and liquors count it ssO or s120 for six persons. Hab- itues get 1t half price.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

thorized to say that it will not be car ried on steadily and intelligently. A big country cannot be reorganized on new lines as quickly as Japan was. The difference in size should be taken into consideration.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
REFLEcTIoNs OF A BACHELOR

From the New York Press.
 It just seems to be woman's natural genius to swell her husbands swell head sweller.
 It's just the way of their sex for the sweetest girl graduates to be the ones that ate the most sour pickles.
 The greatest genius in the world is that of the woman who knows how to tuck away her weight when it's too much.
 How big a s5 bill looks to man de- bends on whether he is borrowing it xrom friend or giving it to his wife.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

beds and general equipment. Forty or 50 years ago their tracks were Tar superior to the best American tracks. This country ha sprogressed and all our recent railroad construction Is or high class. I suppose the Pennsyl- vania has as fine tracks as any road in the world. But England has Kept well to fhe front p
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
EXPLANATORY.

Mrs. Twickham can read one of the most learned papers before her literary society you ever heard"
 ''Pshawi Everybody knows Mrs. Twick- ham hasn't a thimbleful of brains"
 I'm not talking about her brains. I said she could read very learned paper before her literary society, and so she can. Professor Twickham writes all her essays"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

barely passed his youth, and, indeed, the whole of the poems in the famous Kill marnock edition, copy of which sold some little time since for f550, were writ ten before he was 25. But even the pre- cocity of Burns was put in the shade by that of Chatterton. who committed suicide in fit of despair in a London garret wren he was r. He wrote the whole huge volume of the Rowley poems when he was a schoolboy at Bristol
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
PRECARIoUs FLIGHT.

An aviator sailed the sky
 Till almost out of sight, But all the time he wondered if He'd fall or just alight. An aeroplane's a tricky thing A passenger to bear, And s often disconnected by
 4 little gust of air.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Abraham Lincoln's memory should be stands adjourned. Even Lorimer should refrain from all references to Lincoln. Let him rest in peace
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Baroness von Suttner says the use of aeroplane fleets would barbarize the air Who cares? There are no innocent by islanders up there.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
rRAvEL'D AMONG UNKNOWN ME

By Wordsworth. I travel'd among unknown men. In lands beyond the sea; Nor, Engandl did I know till then What love I bore to thee. iris past. that melancholy dream Nor will I quit thy shore A second time for still seem To love thee more and more. Among the mountains did feel
 The joy of my desire; And she I cherished turned her wheel Beside an English fire. Thy mornings show'd. thy nights conp
 ceald
 The lowers where Lucy play'd And thin is. too, the last green field That Lucy's eye surveyd
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
QUEER MENTAL QuIRKs.

Doctors sign in Montreal; Do not abso- lutely abandon hope until you have seen me-
 Notice at Stone Lake: Boys, no bath ing allowed while ladies are around with out suits"
 Card in western theatre: Five dollars fine for scratching. Persons with the itch take notice.
 ward for mutilating this poster" We'd do 1t for half the money.
 Advertisement In Fl Paso Times: Wanted To know the whereabouts of Fred Campbell, who died in Chihuahua four years ago.
 A western editor is frank enough to say: We print this paper to go into the homes and fireplaces of our people,
 From the Buenos Ayres Standard: Wanted, situation as plain cook; no ob- jecton to doing little plain cooking" Evidently a very accommodating person. Boston Transcript.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

TWO or three presidential running mate will soon be wanted, ana application should be speedily filed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

John D. is worth s9oo.o0o.o .oo0 and he can well afford to build a string of cheap res- taurants for the use of the plain people reaching across the country. 4s.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Congress is standing in with West Point so far as the chief of stan is concerned, while the President Is on the other side of the fence.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

The giver of the princely gift to the Massachusetts institute of technology stil remains unknown. Edison says he is innocent.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
RY HnMPARISoN.

T see where Jan Knbelik recently took home with him a bank roll that is said to have made a noise like $14s,Ooo. How much noise do you suppose s14s,o00 makes?"
 I don't know, but I'm sure 1t would sound louder to me than four square blocks of boiler factories"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

The colonel cannot spellbind the com vention, for he cannot be heard beyond the front seats. He lacks Colonel Bryan's vocal organs.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Baseball news is in demand in Wash ington and Congress has erected a bulle- tin board in the capitol on which all baseball news is posted
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
TIMoRoUs HERO.

He dragged the maiden from the water, Then laid her on the shore and fled. Although she was a magnates daughter, It seems he did not wish to wed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Only dispatches with Chicago date line are entitled to places on the first page this week.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
RARE BIRD.

A millionaire once had a son
 l know you won't believe this true Who did not with the chorus run
 And often worked from to ?.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

General Wood will not go back to the practice of medicine at any rate. He will remain a warrior.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Henry Gassaway Davis of West Vir- ginia is a delegate-at-large to Baltimore, and he may blossom ont dark horse.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

The dictagraph has not been heard from, but it is undoubtedly present at Chicago.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

The colonefs personal converts have tapered down to Timmy Woodruff and his vests
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Timothy l.. Woodruff still wears phe- alone at the convention.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
MERELY A. DREAM.

l dreamed I saw bathing belle
 Who dashed into the water, Although her shape was something swell,
 Before the kodaks caught her.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Missouri raises houn dawgs. but she raises apples and strawberries also.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

The republican national committee had the courage of their convictions at any rate
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

The skids have not yet been placed under General Wood and they may not be.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Any one who bolts should go to Chihua- hua. where there is still room for revo- lptionists.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
A PLEA FOR THE NORMAL,

Isn't he the little dear!" exclaimed half a dozen admiring women.
 Thank you" replied the precocious youngster. "Call me anything but an in- fant prodigy"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
safety in Railway Operations

Safety in Railway Operations
 Tn answer to the standing reproach against American railroads that they are
 wasteful of human life is the fact which | is well known to railway men that the vast majority of the railway casualties are sustained by employees and that near ly all of these accidents are preventable,' says a writer in the Railway World "A little pamphlet just issued by Mir. Ralph C. Richards, of the Chicago and North1 western, who has achieved deserved emil hence by his campaign for the reduction of the loss and damage to persons and property on the railroad, gives num- Der of interesting facts in support of this conclusion. MT. Richards shows that B per cent of all the people billed and SS per cent of all the people injured on the railroads are employees, and that 12 out of every 13 employees killed and 33 out of every 32 injured are in little accidents, and not in collisions or deraflments. These little accidents, moreover, are in most cases due to a disregard on the part of the employe to regulations laid down by the company for his protection. The proof of this Is furnished by the recent experiences of the Northwestern which has been engaged in vigorous effort to secure obedience to these rules on the part of it's employees.
 'The first IS months of safety work, as MT. Richards explains, shows de- crease of 31 per cent in employees killed and 32 per cent in employees injured and the work has only begun"
 Roosevelt-The Unconventional
 eWhatever may be charged against Theodore Roosevelt" said an observer who has never voted a republican ticket, neither cowardice nor conyentionality may be charged.
 .'Neither convention nor tradition would well stand for an ex-President going to Africa, going aloft in an aeroplane or personally attending a national conven- tion in his own interest. Cowards do not habitually violate the conventions of their respective stations in life, for we heap penalties on the unconventional unless they be strong enough to command fol- lowing.
 What he said in his Chicago speech, of Monday night was entirely in line with his speech in this city, delivered at the Orpheum-insofar as 1t dealt with the great dividing line of human and property rights.
 Tt is possible to conceive, that man who has habitually disregarded the con- ventions and aligned himself with the progressives, might not see any danger in trusting the people to manage their own affairs, even if that management involved changing some of the ideas and policies of the fathers of the eighteenth century
 ITO one who has faith in democracy working out it's problems in the future. it might even be matter of secondary importance whether Roosevelt lived up to his present ideas. so long as he uses his opportunities and his very great op- portunities, for educating the people along these lines of thought.
 "The world still moves. So much so that the history of the last two hundred and more years must give pause to those who turn their eyes to the past. and to the fathers of the past, for implicit guidance"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
TWO INsTANCEs

" O
 A Kansas man takes off his hat when speaking to a woman over the telephone. Truly a polite person. We happen to know married man who frequently eats several cloves before speaking to his wife over the telephone.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
BEFOREHAND.

"So you are going abroad?"
 "Yes. I'm on my way now to the Henry " Stiggins.''
 Why, the Henry W. Stiggins doesn't leave until tomorrow
 T know 1t. I merely want to count the lfeboats on board
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
BARRED FROM PRAISE.

"Can you speak asgood word for Rigs by?" T would like to, but I can't The only adjective he ever uses in a compliment tary sense is classy"
 VALE.
 A jolt,
 A jar:
 Farewell,
 T. R.i
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20

Greeley, Col. proposes to become the first flyless city of the country.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
PHANTA sMAGORIA

Last night I proffered a waiter a tip which he politely but firmly returned to me-"
 What happened then?"
 '"The clock struck a. m. and I turned over on my left side"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-20
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES
EVEN so.

EVEN so. Spite of heartache, Spite of sorrow, Spite of all the Ills we borrow, This old world is Hard to beat. Even a worm thinks Life is sweeti