davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
WAITING

By John Burroughs. Serene, I fold my hands and wait,
 Nor care for wind, or tide, or sea: rave no more 'gainst Time or Fate, For To! my own shall come to me. stay my haste, I make delays.
 For what avails this eager pace? I stand amid the eternal ways,
 And what is mine shall know my face. Asleep, awake, by night or day,
 The Friends I seek are seeking me: No wind can drive my bark astray
 Nor change the tide of destiny. What matter if stand alone?
 I wait with joy the coming years; My hearth shall reap where it hath
 sown.
 And garner up it's fruit of tears. The waters know their own, and draw The brook that springs in wonder
 height; So flows the good with equal law
 Unto the soul of pure delight. The stars come nightly to the sky.
 The tidal wave unto the sea: Nor time. nor space, nor deep, nor hiyh. Can keep my own away from me,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
THE WORRIES OF WEALTH

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
 One of the disadvantages of being a person of great wealth is the continuous bombardment of begging letters that must be endured. To comply with these re- quest would exhaust a Rockefeller for tune in day.
 Mrs. E. H. Hartman has turned over to the bureau of municipal research up- ward of 5000 letters that she has receiVeo' embodying applications for sums or vary ing amounts, the whole aggresating the hefty figure of s267, 7,oooo0o. Mrs. Hartman has replied to all the communications ana preserved them. The municipal researcn bureau is to make classification or them and publish them in book form, drawing general deductions from them which may throw light on many problems connected with public and social needs
 The publication will be interesting and unique. Probably some of the writers Of letters would prefer that their epistolary efforts were left out of the collection, but the plan seems to be to use them all Most of the applications were for aid for institutions of an educational or charit ah,e character Six hundred persons
 
 wanted to negotiate personal loans and the amount of these in the aggregate was more than s5.o0000O. Three thousand letters contained personal appeals for financial a assistance. Some of the writers wanted comparatively insignificant sums, but one western woman coolly asked for sl GOO. 0o0 as personal gift and assured Mrs Harri- man that the amount never would be missed. The institutional requests totaled s21s, ,00o.ooo. Most of the purely personal appeals were from women, and it is stated that. in general, the letters were written by persons of culture and education, the number sent by cranks, ignorant persons and children being comparatively small The letters were received from all parts of the world. the great majority, of course. coming from this country.
 Multi-millionaires. as rule pay no at tention to correspondence of this kind. Mrs Hartman has set good example in
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
The Stock Market

Henry Clews, in his Saturday review, says in part:
 "The stock market received a consid- erable jolt on Monday by the decision of the supreme court regarding the Union Southern Pacific merger. As the compli- cations attending the disintegration of this huge consolidation began to be real ized a feeling of uncertainty developed: gradually extending itself to other combi- nations which it was feared might be exposed to. the same disrupting process As regards the Union Pacific, it is of course recognized that the various con sttuents will continue in business. that no cutting of rates will be likely to fol- low, nor any serious disturbance to the volume of the companys business New ertheess, the discovering and readjust- ment process will be highly complicated and may produce more or less friction or uneasiness in the final adjustment Such possibilities induced selling which
 il not been for the strong support ac- corded the stock at the start. It is true that during the dissolution of the North ern Securities concern, Standard oil and American Tobacco companies, many of the constituent properties advanced in price after disintegraton. In other words. investors wore more frightened than hurt by enforcement of the antitrust law. As yet, however, it is too early to assume the same effect regarding Union Pacific. Several other railroad and industrial properties showed more or less weakness u consequence of this decision. But in
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
REFLECTIONS OF 4 BACHELOR

From the New York Press.
 The better new things are the more age bemoans the disappearance of the old ones.
 A girl gets Interested in man because if he weren't the one it would be some other.
 The best way for girl to get per- feet figure is to be the heroine In a novel.
 Fierce bulls and sly old dogs to make girls scramble over fences the way they do.
 Nothing makes a woman hate d photograph Of her more than for 1t 10 look like her.
 The way woman tells she is expecting bad news is she fells like having nice cry anyhow.
 Making man crazy over her is so easy for a girl that after she marries him it's just as hard.
 After man gets certain amount of money he has to work so hard to hold on to it he can't get any more.
 A man couldn't be known to have made 5000 without 50 of his friends frying to set 5000 each out of him.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
The Cotton Crop situation

q see that the statistieians have re- ported some 12,000,000 bales of cotton as already in sight, with the probability of 100000 mere farm bales to come, said a former cotton merchant.
 "In my travels through the black belt I was struck with the rather unusual fact that many public ginners had fin- ished their work for the season ten days prior to December l. When we re- member than it sometimes occurs, that this work has not been completed ill some sections, until we'll into February, this statement will awaken surprise with many. The fact is that the crop here in Alabama is at least one fourth less than that of last year. This is not so very unfortunate as it might be, mad the price not in part compensated to de- gree: that is, cotton in November sold at prices which made three bales of the present crop bring as much as four halcs last season, at the same period And in this present month this is further im proved by even higher prices, but there is. an offset. however. in unusually heavy sales so that not much is left in the hands ol lHt III thO bioSh Seit oN least.
 What a great streak of luck the state of Texas is playing in. Last season she made short crop, with lower prices; this season she will make over one third of a 14.0o00,0 ,0o00 bale crop. with near one fourth higher prices.
 Speaking of Alabama's short crop, reminds me of the remark of negro tenant on Dallas county plantation, when asked him how he regarded the coming year as to farming, he replied: Boss 'twixt the hookworm, the boil wee vii, and the egvances (advances) his next year sho does look full O trouble for us niggers-yassah!
 "It is my opinion that both the hook worm and the boil weevil bugaboos are being overworked; early blowing and close cultivation, with the old stalks burned will destroy the one, and plenty of hoe work and sorghum, will drive out the hookworm. The old-fashion remedy, the buggy trace used wisely, would cure any ordinary case of the hookworm 1 believe"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
CAUSES OF BURGLARY
By BILL VINES

Burglars as d class are usually in hurry, and they might not take kindly to interrogations regarding their trade; sometimes they are very courtly in their manners and one feels like it would be a pleasure to meet them under different circumstances. but this does not mean that they would not resent questions purely of private nature.
 Before hastily deciding this important question, therefore, We thought that per haps it might be well to have an investi- gation. Nothing is determined these days without an investigation. If Congress, then, would appoint a committee to inves- tigate the burglar it would probably fill a long felt want. There have always been laws for the suppression of the bur glar as there have been laws for the sup pression of the trusts, but as we know neither of them will stay suppressed. There is not much use in suppressing an individual or collection of individuals, if they steadfastly refrain from staying that way. Hzz
 Burglary as a profession is. to be de- plored. The youth of the land should not J best known and most successful burglars have been compelled to spend a large part of their lives as guests of the government under conditions not altogether ideal.
 Of course, some people may look upon the profession as fine stepping stone to something greater. But it is very rare. indeed, that burglar ever amounts to much. l doubt that there is a single man in Congress today who was ever d burglar. Some times one of them will get to be an alderman or something like that, but it is not often that he ever obtains employment or office where his previous experience is of any great benefit to him.
 So there is really no great inducement to an ambitious American youth to follow the trade. If, therefore, the real cause could be ascertained, why so many of them do so, 1t would prove of vast benefit to society, for then the cause might be removed. Personally, We believe that it is not so much what the boys read, for all boys at some time of their life read stories of adventure, and it is great task to prevent them doing so, -as it is how they are raised. If boy is properly educated these days and times, he will soon see that burglary is really the most unprofitable way he could possibly select in robbing the public. There are legiti- mate methods far more effective which do not border onto the spectacular, and in which he can have the aid of the po- lice instead of their opposition
 Still, the better way is to try to make an honest living. It is sometimes hard to make an honest living, but one can sleep much better if he gets his that way.
 In the meantime we are firm in the be- lief that Horatio Alger's books never made a single boy turn burglar Some books might have furnished an inspira- tion to some boys, but the chances are that those boys had been allowed to go too long without the proper application of an instrument of torture to their sys- tenn where it would be most effective.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
POINTED PARAGRAPHS
From the Chicago News.

From the Chicago News.
 It takes romantic woman to arrange Tor the marriage of her children before they are born.
 It's safe bet that most Of your friends are people who want you to work for them without pay.
 It will probably take the average man long time to get used to being an angel If he ever gets chance.
 or course, love is blind, but it might be just as we'll to remember that the eye sight of the neighbors is good.
 lne successful man strikes while the iron is hot. but there are others who fail to recognize hot iron when they see 1t.
 No doubt prophet would have more honor in his own country if the natives didn't get tired of hearing him say "I told you so.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
Senator Morgan's Canal Services


 The Bulletin of the Southern Con- mercial congress suggests that the name of the late Senator John Tyler Morgan be connected with some lm- portant defensive or other work of the Panama canal. Senator Morgan fa- yored, it is true, the Nicaragua route, but he was for years the ablest and most persistent advocate of an interoceanic waterway. No one did more to concentrate interest in canal connecting the two oceans. The route he favored was not selected, but that fact did not lessen his services as champion of waterway.
 He does indeed deserve to be con- sidered one of the fathers of the great canal, and when the names of big Americans who had. stood by canal project from first to last are being honored at Panama it is to be hoped the government will not overlook the canal services of Alabama's great senator who became an advocate of an interoceanic canal almost from the day he took seat in the Senate in 1877.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
WHERE WE'RE ToM,s ARMS.

From the London Answers
 In the crisp, bright October air the sweet young thing had been for drive with her sweetheart, and returned freshened and glowing with excite ment.
 ''Oh. mother" she cried, Tom and I had the narrowest escape from an aw- ful accident. The horse nearly bolted. and I don't know what would have happenedl
 We were going through narrow lane, when all of a sudden a pheasant got up from the hedge and flew across the horses head: and before Tom could grasp the rein-
 "Er," inquired the young brother wasn't he holding them, then?"
 And it took long time to explain clearly what actually did happen.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
Civil Service and Political Plums

The country has been gradually educated to the civil service idea in the matter of filling federal positions. Samuel J. Tilden was believer in the principle of the merit system and while governor of New York put some of his civil service ideas into prac- tice. But the first President to give the civil service system fair trial vas Grover Cleveland, in both admin istrations. In his second administra- ton he greatly extended the civil service rules.
 While many political workers seek federal office in every change of ad- ministration the vast majority of the American people limit their political activity to voting, and therefore are indifferent to the political spells question. Of the thousands of Ameri- cans who do seek office comparatively few will be successful, but there is a wide spread feeling that Woodrow Wilson, when he becomes President, should revoke President Taft's sweep ing order issued recently which placed thirty-odd thousand fourth class post masters under civil service law. De- partment clerks and consular posi- tions are better filled by competitive examinations, but there is no reason why any intelligent man in country town or cross roads store should not make an efficient fourth class p6stmaster.
 Under the old spoils system many
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
Men With Hobbies

When a man takes Up hobby anu becomes thoroughly interested in it, ne generally develops into crank on that particular subject, said a well known poultry fancier, yet question if any hobby gets next to a fellow like the breeding and raising of chickens. There are many reasons for this, but to my way of thinking the prospect, not only Of indulging in a hobby that affords much pleasure, but one that holds out the alluring prospect of profit, is the main reason. While the raising of chickens on large scale is undoubtedly profitable If the proper methods are used, yet the average chicken fancier rarely realizes any profit on his investment. This, Of courst, applies to the raising of pure bred birds. But be that as it may, once fellow has the bug he is willing at any time to drop his business and talk chickens with any one who shows the least interest in them
 ''The other day two well known chicken raisers were discussing the approaching poultry show, when a prominent attorney came up. Here comes another chicken crank said one of the chicken fanciers as the attorney joined the group. No, am not a chicken crank he replied, I am just d--m fool about them,' This expresses it generally, for many man is only fool about his particular kind of birds"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09

 most cases the decline was more the result of fear rather than of any solid ground for apprehension. For some time to come, however, the Gnion-southern Pa cific adjustment, affecting nearly sl,aoo'- oO0.ooo in securities, is certain to be an influential factor in the stock market.
 "The monetary situation shows some betterment; liquidation, renewed gold im- ports and preparations for the bank call having placed the banks in much im- proved condition. Indications point to continued general demand for money ow- ing to the wide activity Of business. About the close of the year rates may advance owing to the exceptional annual demands hut this will only be temporary. Spec Ilative requirements are strictly mod crate, for the reason that legitimate bus mess demands are more insistent and must first be satifed.
 'The European money markets are set ting down into a more comfortable po- sition now that the Balkan warAis prac- tically ended.v
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
Great Musical Attraction

"Of the half dozen or more high class chamber music organizations in this country the Flonzaley quartet is easily in the lead, according to critics and music lovers in New York and other large musical centers," said a member of the musical set.
 Like all celebrated artists the Flon zaleys command large pay. An effort was made to induce the Flonzaley man. agement to give concert in Birming ham last season, but without avail. A movement is on foot now, l under stand, to bring the FIonzaleys here in January and I know I voice the senti- ment of all music lovers when l wish those who have taken up the matter all success.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
From the New York Evening Post.

From the New York Evening Post.
 nRESIDENT TAFT remarks. in his H message to Congress today, that a 4 full discussion of government bus mess requires more space than one mes sage of reasonable length affords To this every editor and every reader-if any reader are left-will say amen. Presidential messages have been growing intolerably long. MT. Tafts remedy IS to send in three or four short ones-a "short' one, in presidential definition, be- ing considerably more than a newspaper page. But there are other ways of avoid ing the surplusage. It is not necessary for a President to appear to go upon the theory stated by the mediaeval writer quoted by Hallam: "This I say lest any thing be left unsaid. There are whole sections of the ordinary presidential mes sage that could be severely cut down or left out altogether. The long rehashings of departmental reports-with leisureiy phrases such as T observe that the Sec retary of War recommends" or T note that the Secretary of the Navy urges could nearly all be omitted with no harm done. Still, if the whole must somehow be got through the printing office, we ought to be thankful to MT. Taft for giv- ing it to us in separate doses.
 There are other reflections about such a message as he lays before Congress to- day which he does not refer to, but which must occur to every one who gives any thought to MT. Taft's situation. He is now obviously as one simply going
 ( 4t.s through the motions. However sound the positions he takes or the arguments he uses, neither he nor anybody else expects Congress to pay the slightest heed. An outgoing President almost inevitably takes on the guise, in the last four
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09

X"I SHINGTON. December S.-Spe-
 A/ cial )-There is much ado these
 W days. or probably we should say, there is not so much ado, as there Is talk talk being the cheapest commodity on the American market-about the class of literature which is indulged in by our young boys and girls. Public libraries have been purged of such books as those writ ten by Horatio Alger. and there is a gen. eral spasm of conversation going the rounds about what the young ought to be allowed to read
 Interest in this line of talk has been intensified in this city lately by the esca- pade of a youthful burglar who has been giving the local police a treat and carry ing on continuous performance in diff ferent parts of the city This boy gath cred, as he says, inspiration to ''burglc' from reading Rallies and such tales of adventure, and he concluded that it was a very easy way to make a living. Of course, reading such books may contrib ute in way<to an inclination to wander round in the night and appropriate such merchandise and incidentals as one can
 
 tory is any criterion to go by. there seem to have been folks, conducting the bur glary business for very lon gtime.
 Books and moving picture shows, how ever, cannot be wholly responsible for all the highwaymen we have in this country who operate extensively outside of Wall street. We say this because we had them in large proportions before there were so many books, or really before there were any books at alI and long before the moving pictures were invented. Prob ably if the statistics were available there were as many folks obtaining their living in this way before the time of the dime novel in proportion to the population as there are today, maybe more. This is no brief in favor of the dime novel or the moving picture show. but Is written merely to show. if it may, that perhaps more fundamental for the young to so wrong than the mere reading of book.
 Of course, it is very annoying to be rudely awakened in the middle of the night. when one is not dressed for com tion of the Smith and Wesson works into ant things, by total stranger who thrusts the cold snout of the latest edi- tion of a Smith and Wesson works into the pit of your stomach and causes the cold shivers to chase themselves up and down your cerebral column and respect fully asks you to disgorge your belongings promptly. One feels that this is no time to enter into an argument with the bur glar or try to engage him in conversation regarding the scientific and fundamental reasons which most contribute to his oc- cupation. At such times one is naturally indifferent as to whether the burglar de- cided to burgle after reading Rallies" or "Alkali Ike,' and was doing so merely for the sake of adventure, or that he was prompted by a desire to wear your watch and spend your coin.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-09
Wedding Fees in This Country

The subject of wedding fees has come before the public through the objection or rather criticism of Mayor Gaynor of New York to charge of city official for performing a mar riage ceremony. In discussing this subject the Boston Globe says it is able to report from hearsay that $1O is the fee most often given in New England, and it seems to be a fair compensation for the services rem dered.
 The wedding fee is always a puzzle to the bridegroom, for there is no rule or standard to go by. Fees of $5 may in the rural districts be more common than $10 fees, and those above $10 are largely confined to the wealthy. There are, it is true, many marked down fees, but a good average is, no doubt, the $10 fee named by the Boston Globe. This fee is satisfactory to both the bridegroom and clergy man, and it may be considered the national fee in all cities among the well-to-do. But wedding fees really range from $1 to $2O in the country at large, and no one city and no one class can say what it shall be- It is really matter of conscience on the bridegroom's part.