davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

n BISON Sunday and Tuberculosis
 e Sunday fell on the same day this X year. The appointment of such days is evidence tthat this whole land is growing In It's national consciousness be- yond the old stage of boastfulness to the more sane stage of national wistfulness. contrition, self-questioning. Hence the churches of all sorts are thinking today
 or ought to be thinking of the wounds fin our body polite, the wounds of dis ease, the wounds of crime and vice which have fostering infection of de- pravity and hate, and which produce upon the land gaunt, sad buildings where men suffer and their souls die by inches
 The whole fierce wound of national crime and penalty, of broken law. of law unenforced. of law derided and ig- nored by the average citizen. of police tyranny, of fees obtained through an- others agony and shame, of fruitless suffering, of beautiful souls trampled in the filth out of all semblance of beauty, the whole vast problem of our youth who get impulses to murder before they emerge from the spelling book, the problem of social ignorance and social neglect, whose sequel is the Jail the reformatory, the lunatic asylum-chal- lenges and amazes the thoughtful pa- triot. But a Sunday devoted to this na- tional wound expresses our united con- sciousness not merely of a share in the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

ebauty. or stability of heart or mind; a
 form of piety which bespoke the inward
 energy of the soul directing human
 thought to some god with a view to d. vine approval of human action. In those days man ascribed nothing to himself, but credited everything to his patron god or gods. if he conceived that he had more than one. Mortals were the falimiars Of the gods, and walked and talked with them, being at times under their special tutelage, but it Is to be doubted if, ex- cept among the benighted and utterly su- perstitious of those days this walking and talking with gods were other than is att tributed to Abraham in the Talmudic ac- count of his conversion: ''Beholdng the brilliant splendor of the morning sun, - says the Talmud. 'and the glory which it cast upon all objects" Abraham said, Surely. this brilliant light must be god to Him will I render worship" And he worshipped the sun and prayed to 1t. But the day declining and the suns bright ness fading, and the radiance which 1t had cast upon the earth being lost in the lowering clouds of night; the twilight deepening into black night, he ceased his application saying: "No; this cannot be gods He looked toward the four azure winds of heaven when, the moon
 with her attendant myriad of stars ap-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

homage also of Clement K Shorter. of Mrs. Humphrey Ward and of her more famous uncle. Matthew Arnold Ones heart grows hot with indignation at all this useless waste of the most precious gift of the gods.
 So might speak of great musicians like Chopin. of poets like Keats and Schiller of humorists like Artemus Ward, all Of whom died to prove that we are slow and stupid to be cheated by this monster John Paul Jones was not conquered by the British navy, but he was laid low by con- sumption. Among southern poets we mourn tuberculosis destroyed Lanier and Limrod. Fine souls were John Sterling, Henry Kirk White, Lawrence Stern-ali
 My time and space arc gone. It is enough to repeat the text of my sermon: And when 1t comes we shall see the edu- He healeth." Yes, in spite of our slow and careless ways. the forces of healing are tremendously effective, oven in the infected body itself, Much mightier are they in the great mass of mankind. And they will be irresistible; tuberculosis will be brought to an end, when i'm the com
 ing days all the men of good will come together to save the whole community from this vast and far-stretching woe eational value to the race of these whips and spurs to progress, and on the grave or every victim of the disease we shall unite the legend, He died that we might live"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

considering the progress which the hu- man mind has heretofore made, and is daily making in theology, 1t were ques- tionable whether Prometheus did not have an insight into the future far beyond the stop which has been the resting place of the Christian interpreter of the trag- edy. Voltaire may have intended such a prophecy, foreseeing the consequences of his own faretiousness.
 And yet refreshing humility pervades the pride of these old pagans:
 Subjects of love, gods. thousands three
 times ten.
 On teeming earth there are, who guard
 fates of men
 says Hesiod, and as the year did not af- ford a sufficient number of days fin which to celebrate each of these 30000 gods they had sort of All Saints day which they called Theozena, on which the omitted gods were collectively celebrated But some divinity of theirs shaped every day and every event fin the life of man. Health, wealth, prosperity; poverty, sick ness and diversity; success and failure were the visitatlons of some divinity, and to some god they attributed any special powers of sight, hearing, taste, touch or smell; strength or weakness. ugliness or
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

loving kindness and tender mercies." It ought to be read in a national way, for 1t was written with the whole nation in mind God was reckoned the God of in- dividuals indeed, but supremely con- cerned with the nation Do we not come to far worthier grasp of the old Testa- ment when we recognize it's submer- gence of the individual man in the larger Individuality of the nation? And does 1t not smite us with new patriotic enthu- siasm. exultation and pride, when we think of America as the prophet thought of Israel. and claim for America what the sacred poet claimed for the chosen nation of his time: that her diseases are being healed and her iniquities are being for given?
 Certainly we must come to that concep- ton and must make that claim The whole meaning of the present vast re- vlvai is that the physical life and the po- litical life of every land have been re- and have been made participants in the glorious liberty of the divine immanence, made harmonious with the movements of infinite goodness. The prisons have to be made responsive to this reality. Today we are cursed with a curse, even this whole nation" because prison life is Q life poisoned and robbed and crushed In the sacred name of law, and retribution is a vast engine designed to dehumanzc It's victims. We work such an engine, we
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
The Charm of Memory

Elizabeth Woodbridge In tho Atlantic
 Monthly.
 The charm Of memory lies. think, fin the quality which 1t gives things. at once of intimacy and remoteness. The fascina- ton to us of recalling our past selves, our former surroundings. lies in our sense that they are absolutely known to us, yet absolutely out of our reach. We can recall places. houses. rooms until every detail lives again. We can turn from one thing to another and, as we look at each. To, 1t Is there. IL has a realty more poig- nant than the hand that we touch or the flower that we smell. Sometimes, 1t ia true. present experiences. even as they occur. have something of this quality. They do not need to reccde into the past to gain this glamor. Certain places have it. cathedrals sometimes and still lakes Certain things forter it--hrelight, and si- lenee, and the steady fall of rain. Ger tain moments give birth to 1.-the iumin- ous pause between sundown and dusk. afternoon with It's slant of light through deep grass or across quiet river. This. l fancy, was what Tennyson was think ing of when he called the lotus land inc land wherein it seemed always after noon" In that land these magic moments were prolonged. and thus 1t became the land or reminiscence
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
Prayer is the souls sincere desire Unuttered or expressed.

Prayer is the souls sincere desire
 Unuttered or expressed.
 All persons pray.
 Some of them may do so unconsciously some pray on their knees; some on their
 feet; some pray aloud; some utter nc
 word-but all pray. Some pray in thought or desire: some in deed some pray piteous prayers; some the prayer of anguish; some the fierce imprecatory prayer-but all pray. Look about you. Cannot you see the prayers?
 Here is crippled boy. He lies wit,
 twisted legs in big baby carriage and offers lead pencils to the passersby. If you will look into his eyes you will see an appealing prayer. Wonder is scrubwoman. She gets ur at o'clock in the morning and scrubs
 floors from to 8. She walks to and from the big office building to save cal
 fare. Is there not prayer in her very attitude there on her knees? Go into the police court There is a woman with faded face and
 hardened hands. once she was pretty
 but work and deprivation have robbed her, and because she no longer pleases
 her brute of a husband hc beats her She has had him arrested. but does not
 want to prosecute. In her face is the prayer of perplexity. And wonder is a young fellow who ir a drunken frenzy used knife on hi,
 friend. Sorry enough now. In his every pose in the prayer of remorse. That poor girl She walks gayly enough tonight. But she has sold herself for bread. and could you look when. betimes. she sees herself as she is, you would witness prayer
 of agony and despair. And that mothers face Can you not see in 1t as she fondly looks on her babes prayer for their pro lection and future? Prayers? See the attitude of the hope less dweIler of the slums; watch the tor tured features of the pain racked hospita patient; peer into the heart of the suicide If only we could read the hearts of sin
 ming, suffering souls the world around What prayers! And some of them we can help to an swer We cannot pretend we do not set or hear the pleas. But Having seen SD much and listened SC long, are we becoming callous and un- caring?
 If so. what q chance we miss to hell
 God answer some<of these prayers!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

Continuing for a period of years in his private practice. Judge Clay was chosen in 1927 as a representative to the legislature from Madison county Two years later he was elected to a seat in the national congress where he served with great efficiency for three terms of six years.
 Offering for the governorship in 1885 against Gen. Enoch Parsons of Monroe county. the election resulted in his polling almost twice as many votes as his opponent. It was during his term of office as governor that troubles arose by an outbreak on the part of the Creek Indians. Governor Clay at once ordered out the state forces and as commander in chief. took the field in person. cooperating with Gems. Scott and Jesup of the army of the United States in the suppression of the disturbance. For about three months the troubles continued, but the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

ment of the conditions for the greatest happiness to the greatest number.
 Mir. Clay retained his seat in the na- tional senate only four years, when he retired because of his financial con- cition, to improve which he returned to the practice of the law. However, his previous service on the supreme bench induced Governor Fitzpatrick to appoint him to a position in the court in 1s43. Here he remained only q few months, a fact which 1t seems was com templated in the appointment.
 An additional service rendered by Governor Clay, and it was the last pub lie service for the state, was that of the prepara ton of a new digest of the laws of Alabama, to which work he was appointed by the legislature. His manuscript as he had prepared 1t, was accepted by the judiciary eommittee, submitted in unchanged form to the Legislature, and has been In use as
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

1 There never was such a thing as some
 day and never will be. There is only today.
 Takin' our chances as they come along
 And when they ain't pretendin they are good. -Kipling.
 Ever watch children when they were
 pretending? What delight they have in playing grownupsl The little boys pre- l tend they are Indians or soldiers or cowboys. The little girls pretend at
 keeping house and that the doll is q
 baby, and they make and receive calls Hike their elders.
 | Well, we are children l Children a little larger grown. Can
 not we also get some happiness out of pretending?
 Why not make virtue of necessity
 and when the chances do not come
 along. go ahead, pretending that they do?
 Pretense may prove valuable. Do you remember about the poor It, tie marchioness who discovered that orange peel, water and sugar would
 make a pretty fair wine if she pretend tuf Sne got lOt Ol tOIllOIl Oul UT the make believe. There's virtue in assumption. The so called new thought" Is large ly built upon assumption or suggestion.
 You suggest to yourself that you are
 In the enjoyment of good health You
 continue to assert the fact until the
 Assumption is a fact. You assume you are prosperous You persist In that as-
 sumption. You thus adopt the opti-
 mistic state of mind that brings pros perity.
 Assume virture if you have 1t not. AS a man thinketh in his heart so 1 is he" If he thinks himself mean he will be mean. If he thinks himself yirtuous he is apt to be. Pretending to be happy is more like | ly to produce happiness than 10 sug
 gest to yourself that you are unhappy. The children have discovered that. l Tolerance of bad situation and the determination to keep sweet through 1t all have pulled many q mortal out of
 the slough of despond. | I know a mother who tells her chii- | dren they are the best children in the Ineighborhood. Those children, in fact.
 are perceptibly better than those whose mothers tell them they are naughty.
 Nothing helps like approval.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
HEART TO HEART TALKS-By Edwin A. Nye

1 And approval of oneself goes long way toward accomplishment.
 Difficult? Yes, at first. It is diffl- cult to pretend that you are happy when you are not or that things are good when they seem to be bad. But The optimistic view will change the complexion of things if anything will. Certainly the pessimitic view will make them worse. Let us pretend the chance will come to us.
 And probably 1t will. Tony Donate. an Italian section man, was in the employ of the New York. New Haven and Hartford railroad.
 For nearly 20 years he had rendered faithful service.
 A wife and six little girls were entirely dependent upon his labors
 One day last May with others he was working on the tracks near the New Haven depot. An express train was com ing In over the freight tracks Donate saw that a heavy tie was lying upon the tracks.
 quickly the Italian leaped down and threw off the tie. Before he could jump back to safety the engine caught him and crushed out his life.
 He had averted a catastrophe
 At first the railroad company refused to pay more than the funeral expenses and a months wages to Donato's family. Charitable persons intervened, and the company finally paid the destitute family $3O00.
 The sum should have been 5000. the minimum pay for the loss of human life.
 Now there is movement to secure the Carnegie hero fund, a fund that Is dis tributed to the survivors or those who dis tiuguish themselves for bravery fin the saving of human lives. So far this at tempt has been unsuccessful.
 This is the objection offered:
 Donate. it is claimed by the trustees Of the fund. was killed while In the dis charge of his duty and therefore is not entitled to recognition.
 Forsooth
 Cannot man be a hero in the performs ance of his duty? Is not the brave engi- neer who goes down with his engine in order to save his passengers merely doing his duty? And is he any the less a hero?
 But
 In this case the objection cannot hold Donate was not engaged in the mere per Sormance of his duty. lie vas not paid
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

Next winter" said my friend. "I am going to begin course of special study''
 I smiled. I knew my friends weak ness-a disposition to procrastinate. He was capable and sincere, but had formed the fatal habit of postponement.
 Do you remember the venerable sexton in "Old Curiosity shop who always talked of doing things next summer?'
 It was characteristicaliy human.
 So many of us live in the perennial hope of some day" some sweet, future day when we shall have time for inn provement, when the rough ways shall be smoothed, when we shall begin to achieve some worthy end.
 This Is a mental mirage.
 Like the will-o ltlie- wisp, it lures us on through bog and fen and foul morass, holding our hope for the future, and we follow on until-
 The mirage rises.
 Disillusion comes. No longer through the shifting kaleidoscope of our hopes do we see the feathery palm trees and the bright waters of the oasis of our fancy. The chance is gone. Grown too old or too weak for accomplishment. we are without satisfaction.
 Do not walt for some day.
 Some day is an illusion. If you would do good or be good, improve your mind or body. call on your neighbor or write your letters or begin your enterprise. It will be no easier tomorrow or the next day or some other day than today.
 Do it today!
 The disposition to 'resolve and re- resolve. then die the same" Is In all of us. So that if we are to get anywhere in the world we must get a move on now!
 Want to be more systematic in business. more useful to your friends, kinder to every one? Begin now.
 Want to quit your bad habits, pay your bills more promptly make better use of the chances that come your way? Begin now.
 Lash your lazy soul to liveliness.
 Today Is the accepted time. Today is the day of accomplishment. Today if you hear the lure of the futile future harden your heart against 1t.
 Wipe ''manana' off your lexicon.
 Let the children follow to find the end Of the rainbow. You are grownup. Your task is cut out for you. Go to it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

stir up an argument at moments mo- tice-when it Is past ouarreling and has retrogressed Into a sort of mutual admiration groove. The fact that we can clamor noisily and we'll over es- sentials and non-essentlals is what has given me hope for the American na- tion l have hope for the political ig- noramus If he will give me breathing room to state my case: and I can even have a certain respect for my fool reighbor who will give me an oppor- tunity to prove he is an ass.
 That, I suppose, Is one of the pur- poses of all sane and foolish doctrines: that men may confab and wrestle in heated arguments to the last ditch just for the sake of the confab, the wrestle, without any idea of coming to an agree ment. While one can hold there are two sides to every question, one can still vociferously swear that his own is the important side. And to minister tn this everlasting need of Man-Alive
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

ability. though younger than any other member of the new court his assoct- ates chose him as chief justice, and he thus became the first to occupy that exalted station in Alabama.
 The rapid increase of population and the newness of conditions in young state were productive of increasing business, and called for men of legal ability. In response to this demand, Judge Clay retired from the supreme bench after a service of four years, and resumed his private practice. It was shortly after this that he felt im- pelled in response to a mistaken de- mand for vindicated honor. to brook a grievance against Dr. Waddy Tate, of Limestone county, by engaging in a duel with that gentleman. The result was the infliction of a painful wound to each, and the affair was over. Hap oily for civilization it has outgrown this method of settling disputes among men Of sense.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

member, but was chosen the chairman of the committee charged with sub hitting the original draft of the con stitution. Tn one especial sense he is, therefore, the father of the state of Alabama.
 It was evident to the state builders of Alabama that no one was more pro- foundly concerned in it's fundamental construction than MT. Clay, and no one among those who had chosen the ter ritory as a future home, was abler to serve the young state in its first tot terings in seeking to get full upon its feet. The breadth and clearness of his vision, and the unusualness of his ability marked him as one who was in great need under such initial condi tions. The character of his strength had been shown, and he was destined to become one of the early leaders of of the new state. He was therefore chosen as a member of the supreme court. and in recognition of his legal
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

marriage portion. It is the aggregate of careful saving of small coins.
 The French peasantry are the most thrifty and the most contented people in the world With an absurdly small hold ing of an acre or two of land they are independent. We waste moro than we save. Noting the disposition of the average American to push pennies Into slot ma- chimes, q recent writer among us makes this suggestion: Why not each of us own his own ma chine?
 Why not2
 Here is the opportunity for reducing the high cost of living. or the cost of high living. Place q slot machine near your front door. so that morning and evening as you go out and in you may utilize your copper cents.
 Think 1t over. Even If you do not in stall the machine the suggestion may put you in the way of thriftier habits.
 Quit patronizing the slot machines and begin patronizing yourself.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

|KT ATURE, it seems, has endowed |1N woman with a capacity for suf- x fering beyond that of man. The faithfuiness of a frail woman in an
 emergency, under stress of mind and
 body, is always a marvel. There's Mrs. Peter Bourque. Her husband was the keeper of the lighthouse on Broad Bork Island, one
 of the Magdalen group, Nova Scotia. During a fierce storm her husband slipped from the rocks and was drowned Mrs. Bouroue, slight, delicate woman, fought with the sea for its victim and after heartbreaking struggle recov- cred the body.
 But she was not strong enough to bring the body into the house and was forced to leave it lying on the rocks. She stood literally between the quick and the dead Leaving the dead, she must keep the beacon light burning and ring the bell to save the living. Many times during the four days and nights of this experience she heard the whistles of passing ships; but, warned off by the lights, they sheered away. Her small children could not attend the lighthouse while she rowed to the main nQt stayed at her post, hoping against hope
 of rescue. Put yourself in her place. What stress of anxiety and grief and mourning, And while thus suffering in mind and body one compelling thought was ever before her: There on the rocks lay the unsepul-
 chered body of her husband demanding Christian burial.
 But
 Out wonder on the ocean were ships freighted with precious argosies. Hu- man lives were dependent upon her light to save them from the peril of the rocks Her duty was to the living.
 Her endurance had reached the limit Her supplies were running low, and her little ones were threatened with starva- tion.
 Nevertheless
 Nerving herself to her task. through
 | biinding tears she faithfully tended the beacon and rang the bell.
 Supreme courage-diyine courase-kep' her stanch and faithful. Finally, almost week after her hus- band was drowned, the grave guardian
 l of the lights, with her little ones, was
 | rescued by the chance call of steamer.
 Could woman's fortitude and loyalty
 j further go?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

~ ovERNoR CLAY was among \ r the pioneers of Alabama. He O was a native of Virginia, the son of a revolutionary soldier. and was educated at Knoxville. Tenn. Law was his choice as a profession, to the practice of which he was admitted fin 1909, and in 1911 he located at Hunts vile, which continued to be his home till his death in 1886.
 From the outset. he showed profound interest in the territory and in the pro- motion of It's affairs, and two years after making Huntsville his home he enlisted against the Indians, and was chosen the adjutant of his command. His name Is prominent among the territorial legislators in the two ses- sions held prior to the admission of Alabama into the Union.
 When the constitutional convention was held, MT. Clay was not alone a