davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

I "The old Curiosity shop was published | in book form separately from series of sketches in the year 1Si0. To me this is | the least interesting of Dickens stories. Of course everybody follows the fortunes and misfortunes of Little Nell with tender
 solicitude until her death, then we are willing that she shall lie in the silent grave until the last day. But Dickens sorrow as he expresses it at the death of
 the child is beyond all reason in an au- l thor. His grief is maudlin, fl is excessive, Il is beyond all bounds.
 "Barnaby Rudge" first appeared In series of stories. but was separately pub lshed in 1S41. The real crux of this story | is the Gordon riots of 17s0. As no one had | ever introduced this historic period into | a work of fiction, Dickens had an ambi- | ton so to do, and undertook the task with absolute success. Barnaby Rudge is | great descriptive novel; indeed it fig great narrative told with power. For the best description of London in the old days | read chapter XVI. Grip the raven that | insisted, Pm the devil." had his actual life in pet raven that Dickens owned. If the reader is man, and on cold stormy night would enjoy life to its full, let him fill his pipe. draw his big chair near the open fire and read of and ini- agine himself at the old Maypole, an an
 cient tavern built in the days of Henry VIII; let the reader take a seat In fancy, at one of the tables of the Maypole and listen to the storm without and the con
 versation within. Comfort? Well,
 should say.
 Martin Chuzzlewit' was published in
 separate book form in 1874 All trained
 nurses. to say nothing of other people.
 should read this great novel, even though
 the London hospitals of today are not
 what they were in the time of Betsy
 Prig. Here we make the acquaintance Of
 the pious humbug. Mir. Pecksniff, and read
 of the utter condemnation of the con sicence of Jonas. Here is the work of master. The remorseless horror of Jonas,
 the surging hell fire within his breast. -he utter bangs of despair. are nowhere more
 absolutely invested with terrible emotions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

1864 forbade more than five persons to-as- semble for other form of worship than that contained in the Prayer Book Un- der laws like these Bunyan went to Bed. ford Jail, breaking his heart over his be- reft family. and especially over his blind daughter. but steadfast, immovable. al- ways abounding in what he knew to tha work of the Lord. There he wrote. "Grace Abounding," the Holy War" and the in-- mortal first part of the Pilgrims Progress"
 Persecution Is q sword with two edges., and it's point Is never quite so deadly as the hilt. The church of England has never recovered from the loss of those elementsa which went out in 1862. But now at thay end of two and half centuries We rndj England celebrating a great Protestant| pageant in London. the spiritual sons of Howe and Baxter and Bunyan plannin q. it; we find also the same forces allayine' the panic fears of the Orangemen oe Ulster and marching shoulder to shoulder' with the Irish Catholics, we find the dis endowment as well as the disestablfshs ment of the Protestant church in Ireland a worthy precedent for like procedure In Wales: and we find the great universities of Oxford and Cambridge proud at last to welcome and to honor Congregational and Presbyterian colleges and scholars likewise the descendants of men driven. out in 1862.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

THE founder of Mansfield col college s,s OK, OK,
 ford and it's president for the first
 ! quarter century of its existence Dr. A M. Fairbairn, has recently passed away. Along with DTS. R. W. Dale, Bald win Brown and Guinness Rogers, wltn some splendidly devoted laymen, Far bairn sought to undo the villainy of more than POO years in English church history. It is poetically fitting that this year he should have laid his noble old head upon England's bosom and breathed out his soul to God Dale and Baldwin Brown have been at rest for years. Only the other day Dale's great platform com panion Rogers, in extreme age, betook himself to his bed in the green earth. Now closing and rounding out period of battle and victory, the greatest scholar and probab the greatest constructive leader of them all. Andrew Martin Fair- bairn. has joined the spiritual bivouac. Brown and Rogers were not of the sor, who get into the worlds encyclopedlas' because they wrote no books. Dale ana F-ajrbairn were among the great construc- tive forces in modern religious thinking. Where the four met was in a holy crusade for the life of the free churches of Eng land to undo the outrageous wrong m- ficted upon the spiritual life or the na-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

pendulum If it swings much too far in one direction. it will in the nature of things. tend oppositely too far
 For the secret of play, as we'll as of work, my children is to avoid the limit line. I pass this on to you for your future governance One never quite under stands the wisdom of sobriety until he overpasses that limit-line.
 It was through no fault of the waltz that the bunny hug" or the ''Theodore glide came into existence. It was be- cause the hitherto safe and sane affair as practieed had lost It's accustomed thrill through too much repetition by two young persons. (That explanation seems quite lucid and final. don't you think? Whatever you do, do not let the children see thlsD Any parent who ob- iects 10 his son or daughter indulging in this precocious style of waltz might do well to carefully define for their children the various meanings of limit-lne. There can be but one moral to this announce ment: Two cotillons each week is enough for any young person.
 In that tragedy of ITamelin-town, so delicatelY told by Robert Browning, is the final word of reproach to all neg
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03
OBJECT LESSON ROADS
Uncle Sam Has Experts Who Show
 How to Build Them

From Harper's Weekly.
 During the past eight years nearly 10000 miles of improved highways have been built in this country. The bureau of roads at Washington is doing all 1t can to im- prove the roads and with as little ex- pense to the general government as Is possible.
 Last year, for instance. it put in 52 lob ject lesson roads" built with local money where community wanted to improve it's highway system. In such cases as these the bureau of roads sends an ex- pert to the locality and he tells the au- thorities what kind of road they can build with the money available
 Usually a mile of the type of road se- lected is built under the direction of the bureaus expert and the local authorities complete the work. These 52 sample roads constructed last year represented an outlay of s120,000. while the govern ment's part of the cost amounted only 10 $40.o09
 It has been found that local communt- ties lose more approximately over bridge construction than over road work. This is a specialized type Of construction about which town councils and county commissioners know but little. and many contractors are in the habit of putting in
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

and had Cromwell's bones thrown out Of consecrated earth and exhibited on gib- bet at Tyburn with those of Ireton and Bradshaw. One good lady of my ac- quaintance sums up all she knows of Cromwell in the statement that he turned his troopers horses into the churches and so destroyed many grand old shrnes whose stones might otherwise have re- sisted the encroachments of time. To have such a canting rascal finally cast to the society of moles and bats were surely consummation to be grateful for And when the aforesaid bonnie Prince Charlie, with boon cavalier companions, got him self securely established in England, painting the Puritan gray with such red as he could pinch from the cheeks of strumpets or draw from the heart of Sir Harry Vane, was not that also something of an improvement?
 Now it Is to be said that the intellec- tual progress of all English speaking peo- pie and their progress in the arts of po- litical liberty are merely phases of one fact, quite inseparable, mutually reactive and independent. With these must go also their amazing advance in commercial. industrial artistic social strength There are not four or five advances, but one ad- vance, one royal progress upward. King
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

hunor and distinct ability to find good cheer everywhere. The name "Boz' Dlok- ens took out of his early home. It was inc nickname of his little brother.
 1 "The Posthumous Papers of the Pick- wick Club began to appear in lS56, in monthly numbers. and in 1887 came out Tn
 hook form It contains no plot. IL IS sl'n-
 nlv a record of the most ridiculous ad-
 ventures of certain gentlemen AS thls
 book circulated throughout London ana
 the world everybody took to laughing, ex-
 cept few people who said the author
 was a slanderer of religion. The preface
 to the "Pickwick Papers will show Dick
 ems defense against this charge.
 "Oliver Twist" which first appeared in
 three volumes, was published in lS3S.
 There was only one writer in England,
 or for that matter. in the world, who could have described the death of Bill Sykes as we have it in "Oliver Twis,.
 That man was Charles Dickens. It was dramatized in response to great demand,
 and played everywhere. In this country
 it was played by Edwin l.. Davenport as
 Sykes, and J. W. Wallack, Jr., as Gagin, l in the bD s. l un0eTstdHu tndt IL IS lo De revived on the American stage next sea- son.
 "Nicholas Nickleby" was published in full in 1899. This story was begun, So Dickens tells us, within a few months after the publication of the completed 'Pickwick Papers There are very few now" Mir. Dickens visited the Yorkshire school districts in order to learn at first hand the existent conditions. They de- served the excoriation which he gave them
 under the, title of managers of Do,ne- boys School Dickens was so perfectly true to the school conditions and the char
 acters of the Squeerses that he was
 threatened with numerous suits for libel
 by Yorkshire school masters, who were so
 much like Suueers that they were sure
 that the novelist meant them. Whether or not Squeers was taken from life, sure we are that two persons at least in this
 story were. Mir. Dickens says the Cheery- bel brothers were actualities in real life.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

utter confusion and retook the redoubt to- gether with 100 prisoners and three flags. Thirty big guns were at once trained on the point but Colonel Pettus bore away his spells without the loss of man.
 At Vicksburg he was again conspicuous throughout the seige. was captured when the city fell, but soon exchanged, after which he was made a brigadier general. His command was engaged in the battle of Missionary Ridge, and was with John ston in the series of conflicts which ex- tended from Dalton to Atlanta and Jones' boro. When Hood was appointed to sue- ceed Johnston the brigade of General Pettus was with the army throughous that disastrous campaign and no com mand of the army was more hotly en- gagged than was his brigade. It was he who forced the passage of Duck river, forming his men in squads in the face ot galling fire from the rife pits of the enemy, and succeeded in driving him from his entrenchments with the bayonet
 l On the retreat of Hood from Nashville
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

gins with humor and closes with chast- ened humility and love.
 "David Copperfeld" was begun in iS45 and published in book form in 1850. Dick ems said: Like many fond parents, have in my heart of hearts favorite child and his name is David Copperfeld. With many besides the author David Cop perfield of all Dickens mental children is loved most. It Is generally known that something of Dickens own life Is intro duced into the story, but fancy that less of his biography is used than many think. However, there Is something or the ad- thor's life in the novel. l think that peo- pie quote from copperfed oftener than from any other of his works, with one possible exception. "rhe PickwclS Papers" one of the most beautiful oits of literary composition that I know I, beg to commend to the reader. Ii Is the short description of the departure Of our old friend Mr Micawber and the others from England for Australia.
 Bleak House followed ''DaYid Copper field" and was issued complete in lS53. This work had mission. It's aim was 10 bring about certain reformations in tne chancery courts of England. TO this end the author used the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, as the first chapter shows. The case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce "drones on" and ''drags on' in chancery forever. Men may come and men may go, old law yers may die and new ones ocme 10 ne bar, kings may pass away and be sue ceeded by heirs apparent or non-apparent, yet the matter of Jarndyce and Jarndyce still lives and has it's being in chancery. There is a curious cause of death de- scribed in A,ieak House spontaneous combustion" That is the combustion of alcohol within a man. or the combustion of q man whose whole physical being is soaked with alcohol and the destruction of all physical tissues by the flames su- perinduced thereby. When 1 read Bleak House" for the first time I was studying medicine. not that I ever expected to be- come 9 physician any more than I expect ed to become a lawyer when I was study
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

T oNG and notable was the career Of Edmund W. Pettus. Born two - years after the admission of Ala bama into the union, he was practically identified with all the great periods which came into the history of the state. En- tering life early he shared in all the epochs from the early stages of state hood till his death at an advanced age.
 In many respects the career of General Pettus was a remarkable one. Left an orphan by the death of his father while yet an infant, General Pettus was reared by careful and devoted mother. The best possible scholastic advantages then extant were given him and he was able to lay the basis of long and eventful ca- reer. His scholastic course was taken at Clinton college, Tennessee.
 General Pettus was a man of solid qual- ities, both mentally and physically. He was six feet high, well proportioned, with broad, massive shoulders, a large head, and commanding presence. He began
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

Charles the Second is a mere incident in the story He seemed to retard the move ment. Really he gave it much needed opportunity to find itself. How abso- lutely he failed to express the main cur rent of Anglo Saxon ideals of civilization must be gathered from the fate Of his brother James. Charles died in the spring of 1885 In 1888 Pronce William of Orange was the bosom that swept the Stuart reac- tionists into the channel.
 From one point of view the fierce con troversies of that period are wholly re- Iigious debate whether the sovereignty of England should be Catholic or Protes- tant Much more profoundly 1t must be observed that the issue whether or no an English king should rule the people or the people rule themselves In the strenuous opposition of the cavalier friends of the Stuarts there may be seen what still blights the minds of many good men, a deeply rooted fear of the people a distrust of all who are without the glories of birth and college training. But against that cavalier antagonism there came into existence in the reign of Charles the Second free press and the Habeps Corpus Act The philosophy of llobbes and Locke was working itself out in in- telleetual and political ideas before which
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

the practice of the law at B, and except ing the interregnum of his career as a soldier of the Confederacy. continued fin the profession until he was elected to the national Senate from Alabama. Tn that capacity he was serving when he died, at the advanced age of s4.
 His career as a lawyer began at Gaines vile, Sumter county, where he was first associated with Hon. Turner Reavis. His ability was promptly recognized and soon after beginning practicing he was elected district solicitor and reelected after the expiration of his term, but resigned in 1851 and removed to Carrollton. Pickens county, where he resumed private prac- tice.
 In 1853 Mir Pettus was appointed by Governor Collier to fIl a vacancy in the district solicitorship. Characteristically fair and just, he won great favor and popularity throughout west Alabama, so that when he offered for the judgeship of the circuit in 1855 he was easily elected
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

Chairman of the Ways and Meens
 Committee called for suggestions. Bazarrs and Bazoos and Oyster sup pers had been ovver worked and did not look promising, and evvery one reealized that sumthing new must be sprung in order to get the Marry and Foxy Tite-Wadd to Dig. They sprung it. and it was Progressive Dinner, A Progressive dinned is ritely named with the loud pedal on the Progress sive-it is one Glad Sweet Song of Progression, but the dinner party is like Tariff reform, you just hear it mensioned. We'll I'm game all rite, and I'll tackle enny thing once, so I went up against this Progressive thing. It won. About 6:30 bunch
 of us old Mavericks passed up our supper and cleared for battle. We marched up to a handsum home on
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

Byrons description of the tortures of smiting conscience is tame beside this.
 "The Cricket on the Hearth" to which I have already adverted, was published complete in 1si5. This is a story of love. suspicion, poverty, cruelty and intrigue Bertha, the blind girl, and her gentle old father, Caleb Hummer. stand in the fore front of the novel. This Is most whole some story and should be in every Sunday school library.
 ''Dombey and Son. was published in book form In 1s4s. though as a serial in the magazines 1t had been running since lS46. It's first title was "Dealings With the Firm of Dombey and Son" This takes rank among the greatest of Dickens novels for even in the works of this great master there Is .a difference of excellence. This work contains some of the authors finest humor, some of his most rational pathos. and some of his best studies of human nature. "Dombey and Son" was written in part by the Lake of Geneva, then taken up again in rance, and finally finished in England. The account of little Paul's death was written in Paris on dark winters night, and when Dickens wrote the last word that recorded the death of the child he walked through the Parisian streets the rest of the night mourning the fact that he and his little friend had parted company forever. There was one thing that made Sir Henry Irving great actor; it was his attention to particulars, to insignificant things. Let anybody recall him as Matthias. in ''The Bells" and he will see this. I wish had the space to illustrate what mean. How ever, one element of Dickens greatness lay in the fact that nothing was too small for his notice. Recall Dombey's house, the rooms therein;5 the old instrument makers shop; see how he fills the shop with all sorts of nautical things familiar to seagong folk, and-but I may not par ticularize. for 1t is everywhere the case. It is so with the people that he would have you remember. and nowhere does he describe them with greater particularly than in 'Dombey and Son" The book be-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

cape and rejoining his command. On the occasion of the promotion of Colonel Gar ratt at Vieksburg, Pettus became the colonel of the regiment.
 A notable incident in connection with the seige of Vicksburg gave to Colonel Pettus fame for leadership and unques- tioned courage throughout the army. At an important point in the works the on emy had captured valuable redoubt and Gen. stephen D. Lee was anxious to have it retaken. The undertaking was full of peril and the success of the undertaking was doubtful. To perform the perilous undertaking Colonel Pettus volunteered to the commanding officer his services. Neither his own regiment nor any of the others were willing to be led into so peril ous an undertaking. but Waul's Texas Legion volunteered in a body to make the hazardous attack. So formidable was the redoubt that the enemy supposed him self secure from attack. Taking advantage of this condition Colonel Pettus, at The head of the brave Texans, dashed una wares on the enemys threw the forces into
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

thing to a finish, or bust, and there was no danger of busting. l intend- ed to save the peece of Ham got as a souveneer of the occasion, and got it on the end of a tooth pick but while trying to drop it in the back of my watch it fell on the floor and could not be found. I am afraid it was car- ryed off by an Aunt or sum uther in sect. We then progressed up to the next stasion for chicken salid. At this phase they maid the salid rum the sad remains of an old hen who had lived on our street for years, and had successfully raised several large fammilies rite in our midst I could not eat the salid, was too sad, l felt as tho 1 was called upon to devour q persunal frend, and I was grateful when sum lady played soft musick during the time my cannaballistick comrads eagerly chewed up what was
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

that time was the notorious J. Q. smith, as conspicuous for his lack of knowledgal of the law as he was for his impotence and presumption. On one occasion thsre was a ruling of this incompetent official which was so foreign and far fetched as to evoke from General Pettus the daring remark that in practice of many years and as a presiding judge himself at ons time he had never heard of such a ruling. With a eomplacent and self satisfactory afr the ignorant man on the bench moved himself with greatly assumed composura and replied: "Ah General Pettus, you have great many things to learn yeti'-
 Sharing in all the momentous moye- ments in the political history of the state in the period of rehabilitation following the reconstruction, General Pettus would not consent to accept public office till 1897, when he was chosen United States sen- ator from Alabama. In this capacity ha served till his death, in 1905, he and sen- ator Morgan dying within a few months of each other, leaving vacant senatorial representation for Alabama in the high- est branch of Congress.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03

the duty of protecting the rear of the army was imposed on the brigade of Gen eral Pettus. With intrepid and dogged courage he held the enemy in check at many points. and perhaps more than any other saved the army of Hood from utter destruction. His last service was in North Carolina, where his command was engaged in the battles of Kingston and Bentonvile. General Pettus being se- verely wounded in the latter.
 The war being over General Pettus on- tered again into the practice of law in Selma He shared in the struggles Incl dent to the era of reconstruction during the entire period of which he rendered the most faithful service at great personal sacrifice, declining meanwhile any public recognition of his services by offiical po- slton. His long experience and native skill placed him in the first rank of prac- tice in the Alabama courts and often his patience was taxed in the courts presided over by the incompetent judges who oc-
 cupied the bench during the dark period of reconstruction. Among the judges Of