davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20

been in business now between 25 and % years, Not long ago she had to build a bid structure for her workers. 1t is one of the finest factories in the south. It is three stories high, modern in every re- spect. has it's own power plant. and every piece of machinery in the workrooms Is operated by electricity There are 100 girls working at machines. They labor under the best conditions that the time affords. The most approved sanitary appliances have been installed. and every room Is as light and airy as 1t can be made. Tn the busy seasons Mrs. Taylor is in tho fac tory from a. m. to D. m She designs or passes upon the design of everything that goes out Of her establishment. She is the boss and director of the whole es- tablishment. There is nothing that goes on in the big structure that she Is not familiar with. Her business has grown to staggering proportions She has the names of 2i.000 customers on her books.
 The postoffice force in Bowling Green has had to be increased time after time to handle the immense vol rme of her mall matter When she sends out circulars she almost swamps that postoffice She Is on the go all the time once a month or so she makes a hurried trip 10 New York Be- fore she departs from Bowling Green she sends 100 or moro telegrams. When she arrives here there are scores of men to meet her at the Waldorf-As- toria and show samples to her. She Is one of the largest individual buyers in America. Every time she comes to New York her purchases of laces. rib- bons, cloths. braids. buttons. notions. giinps, silks. yelvets, things. etc, ag- gregate s100,000 or more. She cannot spare time 10 go to all the jobbers or to the mills. They have to come to her, and they are glad to do it.
 She has her business so systematized in this buying branch that she usually is able to leave New York the night she arrives. Then she hurries back to Bowling Green and takes up her work tbere. From the first Of September to the first of January her factory is working at high pressure, andeit works at capacity. too. from the first of Feb rnary until the first of June. That gives three months in the year to Mrs. Taylor for observation and travel. Six weeks of these three months are taken up in her two trips to Paris. for she
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20

does not allow anything to interfere with her journeyings to the French capital for new styles and to keep abreast of the latest developments of her trade.
 Her children have married and her household cares are light today. she has little but her business to worry her. She Is very fragile and with each suc- ceeding year it Is more and more of a marvel to all her friends and acauaint- ances where she gets the nervous energy she draws on so freely. She still makes dresses for the women of Bowling Green. She makes dresses, in fact, for women in all the states of the union. She even has customers in New York city. She makes dresses for the girls of Cedar Blufr college and of Potter college. but they are not the girls she made dresses for 25 years ago. They are the daughters of those girls of a former day.
 No woman in America has made SO many garments for women as this wee woman of Bowling Green. How long she will continue in active work is doubtful She Is thinking of retiring. She has been clearing s50,000 year for a good many years now. That is an average of almost sl0o0 week. It Is as much as the Presi- dent of the United States got salary until recently. It Is as much as the heads of some of the great corporations of the United States receive.
 She has standing offer from one of the biggest firms in America to take over her business whenever she wishes to re- tire. and to pay her, in addition to the purchase price. sl0,ooo a year for the use of her name.
 A woman of only s5 pounds earning $o.- GOO a year is wonderful A fragile little woman who has a living in her name alone is almost as wonderful. But the most wonderful thing of all about this woman of Bowling Green is the lesson she has taught to the women of America. She builded with the instrument that is fa- miliar to all womenkind-the needle. She has proved that the small town offers op- portunity as does the great city She is living example to her sex that initi;y tive. courage and ability will win succe1
 in large measure in small town just s easily as 1t will in a large city. T's woman who could succeed in New Yors can succeed just as well elsewhere l., IS a matter of Individuality. not of eu- vironment.
 Copyright. 1912. by Richard spilana.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
Az 80 rb. Worue1> Who rEakes $50.O0G

Women love to sew and when they sew they love to gossip. Her girl friends and her young women friends used to sew with her, to chat and, incidentally. to get ideas from her. They would work on q skirt or a waist, a party gown or a walking dress. but somehow they never were able to fashion their garments so prettily and so daintily as could Mrs. Taylor. She had knack for doing the thing just right. She was very obiging and gave much of her time to her friends, but there were so many of them that wanted her assistance that it encroached upon her household duties. Occasionally, when some one wanted dress for particular occasion and Mrs. Taylor was so busy that she could not spare any time. the suggestion was made that if Mrs. Taylor would help out in this particular instance the friend would be glad to remunerate her.
 Many women, especially the women of the south ,are reluctant to work for pay. For long time Mrs. Taylor declined all such offers, but money is great attrac- ton, and after few years she began to think of the many things she could buy for herself and her children if she earned a little on her own account. She could hire somebody to do the actual work, she reasoned with herself, and merely direct the worker. That would not be as if she were just sewing woman. The more she thought of this the more 1t appealed to her, and finally she decided to take an order
 She studied a long time before she de- termined as to the amount to charge for the first piece of work. The woman who got the dress thought she had a great bargain. She had, but Mrs. Taylor was perfectly satisfied. for she had made profit. After that she got quite a lot of orders. Bowling Green is a considerable distance from any large city. It has 4, fair number of people in medium circum- stances. It has. also, several colleges and schools for girls; Cedar Bluff college and Potter college being the larger of these institutions. Usually girls who are sent to colleges are able to pay for fine dresses. If they are studious they have not much time to make dresses for themselves. When the college girls learned that MrG. Taylor would take orders for dresses, they
 iocked to her. So many wanted her to make garments for them that 1t embar- iassed her for a time, but not for long. She sent and got samples of cloth, and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
SAnVUAn3 AkAwHsnUN

pay 2 cents pound on my baggage to bring 1t into the country, and l am told that I shall have to give $250 to get a permit to leave.
 The interest charged on the foreign debt is something like s70o,00o per an mum. That Is equal to a tax of some thing like $10 per family. Enough flour to make one of our four-cent loayes of bread pays cents in duty, and other things are approximately high.
 A Land of Mortgages
 am told that the Costa Ricans are in debt up to their eyes. There are many individual mortgages. The people are sanguine and the better classes will mortgagN their crops at 1 per cent a month and upward in order that their wives and daughters may make a show that VI are any worse than our citi- zens y are now borrowing money on their homes in order that their families may have joy rides in automobiles. But still 1t is bad enoughl Take, for in- stance. the fiesta, which occurred at the close of last year. One of the American ladies of San Jose tells me that she knows a milliner who sold 200 hats for that occasion at cost of $7O apiece Many of them were bought on install ments and will be worn out before they are paid for. You will be the moro sur prised when I describe some features of the festivities for which these hats were worn. One of the foreigners has told me about them. Said he:
 The fiesta was held in the Central Park, which Is used for band concerts This had been fenced off so that the com
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20

"O the average young man or wom-
 an living in a small town or city.
 x New York, Chicago or some other great human hive, is the place of possi- bilities What is there for ambitious youth in dull, somnolent town? It is like a prison to them. They chafe and fret and inveigh against an unkind fate that keeps them among such surround ngs If they could get away they think they would make their mark in the world. Queer that they never can zee that it is the person and not the place that makes success.
 Down in southern Kentucky there Is sleepy old town called Bowling Green. Its very name Is indicative of ease, content ment, recreation and freedom from the hustle of business. No one would sup pose that Bowling Green would lend it. self to industrial activity, yet little woman has made it one of the greatest centers in America in one particular line of business She is a mite of a woman, weighing only 80 pounds. She is so small and so fragile that 1t is marvel where rhe gets her tremendous energy. Shs earns s0,0o0 a year for herself-and she \ earns 1t in Rowling Green.
 She Is nearly 60 years old. There are few women in America who make more money year after year from their own energies than does this remarkable bit of femninity. She has furnished one or the best examples ever given of what re sourceful woman can do, for she has built up a fortune with a needle, She has demonstrated what woman can do in d Emall town. She has shown that a woman far from the city can succeed in big undertaking just as well as can the wom- an or man in the city She has exempi- fled what wealth there is in the needle when woman uses it skilfully and well.
 The little woman is Mrs. A. H. Tay- for. She was born in Bowling Green, was married there, her children were born there and she is going to live there for the rest of her life. She was a wee bit of girl and grew into wee bit of woman. She had no business train Ing. As matter of economy. she made her own dresses. She loved to sew. Like all young women. she desired to be well dressed. Like all daughters of Eve she delighted in pretty things and always wanted to be right up to the hour in the prevailing styles. She had rare talent In the fashioning of her clothes. What ever she made for herself looked well.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
HplcYCos TA RIcqIytA11lLYi

and had they gone to Washington on a similar errand they would probably have been received by President Taft and that would have suffieed Here they were made the guests of the nation and sS5o00 was spent in their entertainment. One dinner was given them in the foyer of the National Theatre, which cost $50 a plate, and at this, after the guests were filled with champagne burgundy which cost So bottle was brought In and served in gobets which held almost a pint At the same time the cigars ran short and the man who managed the din- ner explained that he did not expect more than three-fourths of the diners would smoke. and as only 100 sat down at the tables he had thought seventy-1ve cigars quite enough. Among the other extravagant entertainments recently given were those in honor of Secretary Knox, He had ball and dinner in this same theatre.
 Tuesday is Beggars' Day
 In country like this you would ex- pect to find poor people; and Costa Rica has them and to spare. l do not know the average wealth of the people, but 1t must be small, although the best classes seem to have plenty. l know that san Jose has numerous beggars. They roost on the steps of the cathedral, they hang about the market, and you find one or more of them on every block in the busl- ness parts of the city
 Going to the bank this morning to get some money on my letter of credit was surprised to see half bushel of match boxes, of the little safety variety lying next the cashier, on the counter inside | the windor. As I waited. an old man hohbled in and held out his hand. Tho cashier gave him three match boxes. whereupon he bowed low and went away. A moment later beggar woman with a child in her arms trotted in and reached out for some matches. She was handed three boxes. Then came another lame man and then woman beggar with a cigar in her mouth. Each took out three boxes of matches, and the procession con- tinued until fully dozen poorly clad Of these lame, halt and blind had been sup piled. I asked tho cashier what this all meant. He replied
 Tuesday is beggars' day It Is the ono day during the week when the beggars have the right to march from bank to bank and business house to business house and ask aims. Every establish ment prepares for them. and the custom 1 is to give them to cents. Just now there Is a scarcity of nckels. however. and we give out boxes of matches in- stead. They can peddle these for about ? cents apiece and thus get the money to satisfy their wants"
 This custom seemed interesting to mo. and, upon leaving the bank. I went around to other business establishments to see what was doing In one store tho merchant was giving each beggar three cigarettes. In another they were supplied | with candle or so, and a third and more thrifty man, & green grocer, was furnishing apples all of which were de- cayed. saw one beggar who had re- eeived three of these rotten apples brealc them to pieces soon as he came out on the street and throw them away curs- ing the giver
 FRANK c. CARPENTER
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
7hElZgZ7oiML .1EAZpEE EEzSNrJuAn

all done in Italy and shipped here to be put up by Italians. The most beauti- full marbles were employed in the dec oration. and the walls and ceiling are covered with pictures which were painted by Italian artists in Italy and then tacked' into place. The marble columns which uphold the roof are carved with masks of tragedy and comedy and with other appropriate figures, and the frescoes are either allegorical or expressive of the beauties of Costa Rica. The furniture is equally magnificent. It is gold plated, up
 holstered with silk tapestry, and upon the walls are mirrors each as big the
 floor of the ordinary parlor surrounded by gold frames made in Florence.
 This parlor Is almost as long as the east room of the White House It Is 10c
 feet wide, and has a ceiling about 30
 feet high. It Is lighted by electric chan
 deliers, designed for the occasion and
 the execution of all Is such that it
 makes one think of that famous room
 of the sultan at Agra, of which it was
 said:
 Its artisans worked like Titans. and finished like jewellers"
 The orchestra of the theatre is en- tered from the ground floor and from
 this parlor the ground floor. which leads to- the boxes. There are three galleries of boxes all finished in red plush and there Is a special box for the President. The orchestra chairs are of dark brown leather, and they
 are wide and comfortable They are so made that they can be removed and the floor can be raised and made level with the stage. turning the whole into | a magnificent hall for dances and fiestas. The stage is immense. and its scenery. made for this city of 30,o09 people. is of great variety and in ex ce1lent taste. It was In this theatre foyer that Secretary Knox was given
 a great dinner. and this was followed by a dance In the orchestra.
 Taxing a Nation for the Few It was Nero who set Rome afire that he might see a big conflagration. and,
 as the story goes, he fiddled during the burning. It was for the few rich and we'll of this town of San Joso
 that Costa Rica was loaded with the atrical debt, and they amused them
 selves here while the people toiled to pay the bills. Not more than one tenth of the population live in the capi- tal and of these few, not more than
 one-tenth can afford to go to the thea
 tre There are no railroad facilities
 which make 1t possible to run in and
 out to attend shows, and the cost of
 bringing troupes here from Europe Is
 such that comparatively few can be
 had. Nevertheless, the theatre was
 paid for and Is kept up by a govern
 ment subsidy. All the money has come from a tax, which, until this spring, has been IF cents Costa Rican per kilogram upon all goods imported It has amounted, in round numbers. to about 25 cents of our money on every 100 pounds of goods which have been consumed by the people, and the tax
 has included such things as sugar salt. grain, flour, and in short, everything
 that cafne into Costa Rica Being an
 indirect tax, every one has had to pay
 1t, and this is so of the barefooted
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
San Jose, Costa Rica,


 Y EFT me give you some pictures or
 this little land of strange contra A dictions. They are merely impress sions, which see in passing. Every one tells me Costa Rica Is the best of the Central American republics and find in 1t much 10 admire. The people are kindly. The upper classes are well edu- cated, and even the peasants have that manly independence which comes from their being landowners Ninety per cent of the whole are of the white race and. although the descendants of Span iards, of a part of that race not filled with revolutionary blood.
 Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala change their presidents at every outburst of passion, and the bullet defeats the choice of the ballot. Costa Rica elects her president for term of only four years and for the past generation her every ruler has been the choice of the people.
 The country is one of reformers. Its rulers have advocated sanitation, educa- tion and modern improvements. The people are now annually spending a dol lar a head on their schools, and they have free lands which are open to set clement to those who will farm them.
 Costa Rica has rich soil. It raises some of the best coffee on earth, and is a land of mighty banana plantations. It supplies more bananas to our country than any other part of the world. It has a fair foreign trade, and that its people are good spenders Is shown by the fact that they buy more than they sell. Their imports last year were over ss OO0,000 and of these about five millions came from our country.
 Costa Rica's Fine Theatre
 This is one side of the picture. The other is that the nation is wildly extrav- agant The people are full of emotion and want to do things in the large. There are three notable instances of this in the three finest institutions of the capital. One of these Is the National theatre, an- other is the insane asylum, and third great prison which lies just outside this city. Costa Rica contains altogether about as many people as our national capital and San Jose has perhaps 5000 all told Nevertheless, the theatre here cost over S2,0O0,O O0e. It's decorations are finer than those of any amusement place of New York, and it ranks third among the theatres of our half of the world
 The National theatre Is directly oppo- site some low one-story government buld- ings which are roofed with red tile. The great structure dwarfs its surroundings and makes them look mean. It Is entered by wide hall upheld by pillars of marble with capitals and bases of bronze The ceiling of this hall is covered with fres- coes from Italy and the walls are of Italian marble Statues made by great artists face you as you enter, and at your right and left are restaurants where ices and drinks afe served between acts.
 Passing through this lobby, wide mar be stairs lead to the foyer or great salon, where the spectators walk about during the longer intervals of the plays. This Is beyond description gorgeous. In- " thing finer in Europe. The work was
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20

mon people stood on the outside, with lot of young men and girls, some of whom were no better than they should be. sitting between them and the more fashionable crowd within. These young men and girls sat on the rails of the benches with their feet on the seats. They were all dressed in their best, as were also the high-class Costa Ricans walk ing inside
 Then, when the band played. the men and boys of the city walked around throwing confetti and squirting at each other and at the girls with syringes filled with water. The greatest of license pre- vailed, and they were no respectors of persons In the past. the perfumery bot tie with the ordinary bulb has been used but last January the boys bought all the syringes and waterbags that the drug stores had on hand and, putting these under their coats, they squrted alike on lady and peasant. Some of the young men, not satisfied with water, filled their reeeptacles with sticky red mixture called kola juice and squlrted this on friend and stranger alike, At the same time confetti was brought in by the bag ful and thrown everywhere. The mix ture made a nasty mess, and 1t destroyed many beautiful hats and gowns. Never theless. the people seemed to think 1t was fun
 Dinners at $50 a Plate
 The Costa Ricans are proud and their pride runs in advance of their pockets. Take. for instance, their entertainment of delegation from Salvador which was here not long ago. The delegates had just come to say good day, as 1t were,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-20
MARBLE CoLU1mlnsxpE Rc4z2E
peasant and the leather-shod rio wherever they live.
 Why the Insane Asylum

wherever they live.
 Why the Insane Asylum
 In my talk with the president of the republic I referred to this beautiful the atre and also to the fine insane asylum.
 He replied: "They are both grand, but it seems to me that the remark of an American tourist who came here this year was not far out of the way. The man said: After seeing your theatre I can easily see why Costa Rica needs an insane asylum It should be to contain the men who persuaded the people to build the theatre.
 As to the insane asylum 1t looks like the palace of some tropical prince. It is magnificent and is well equipped with all modern appliances for the treatment of the mentally weak. It Is we'll managed and is said to be one of the best of its kind on the continent.
 Another institution of which the coun- try is proud is the national museum. This contains good representation of the natural history, and archaeology of Costa Rica and of it's resources, and some of It's industrial features as well It has a col lection of axes and hatehets made out of the hardest of flint and of rude stone knives which are polished like mirrors. These show something of the stone age down here in Central America
 And then the animals and birds. There are monkeys ranging in size from rats almost to gorilas. There are armadillos with coats of mail and iguanas. a sort of lizard. as big as a cat. This animal has skin like a snake. and fins like fish, the latter running along its back from the head to the tall There are also stuffed tapirs as big as good-sized ponies. which have bodies and shouts much like hog, but with ears and hoofs like a horse There are sloths, deer, leopards and cougars and hundreds of varieties of birds. There is no end of the objects which represent the civilization which was here at the time Columbus discov- cred America, and the collection of pot tery probably antedates that period by some hundreds of years This museum shows the wide interest of the Costa Ricans in history and science and 1t is another example of the contradictions everywhere to be seen. It shows that the nation if it were really rich would spend large part of its means upon cul- ture. But, alas, it is poor.
 A Big Debt and High Taxes
 The national debt Is a little over S1S,000,000. This Is according to a re- cent refunding agreement which makes the obligations pay 1 to per cent in- terest. but which as the bonds were sold at much below par makes the act ual interest rate considerably greater.
The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1912-01-19

Bis tbaE bef5leA Presenting the most
GORGEOUS enc Display the 0rphem STAGE New