davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
In the Musical World

Notwithstanding the frequency with which music lovers hear large orchestras in which the notes of the oboe are in- portant in tone coloring, many persons who attend symphony concerts and grand operas are still ignorant enough to con- fuse this instrument with the bassoon which is it's natural bass and which is very different in appearance" said a ma- sician. Now, however, that we have an oboist in Birmingham in young Memoli 1t will not be long before everybody here whc is musically inclined will be familiar with this fascinating member of the woodwind family.
 When the Minneapolis orchestra visited us last spring Mr. Oberhoffer, the con ductor, gave charming and instructive talk on the various instruments, and not only had the particular instrument that he discussed held up in full view Of the audience, but he had the performer play a few bars on it. The distinguished con- ductor called the oboe the arstocrat of the orchestra because, as he explained, all the other instruments tuned by it.
 "A dictionary authority has this to say: The compass is two octaves and a half with E below middle c as the lowest tone At the time of the oboe's entrance into the orchestra it was the most diff cult instrument to tune, and was given the duty of sounding the notes by which the other members of the orchestra tuned It is an important factor in the orches- tra, possessing as it does great versatility It's loud tones are piercing but the natural voice Is gentle and suggestive and can depiot the finer emotions
 'The oboe is naturally pastoral, and it's versatility referred to by the dictionary writer is strilSingly illustrated in the fact that in playing churchly piece it quick ly arouses a devotional feeling in the lis- tener. It can be as religious as the pipe organ itself, as those who heard Memoli rlay a composition entitled Prayer in St. Pauls church a few weeks ago, or those who heard him play a lovely pastor- ale at the Church of the Advent last Sun day night will testify.
 '"The oboe, or the English horn which is but another name for the alto oboe has the effect of moving one to tears when it plays that haunting homesick largo in Dvoraks New World symphony.
 "Memoli's father, by the way, has arr ranged the English horn largo for the oboe, and it will be heard here shortly at a public concert. I am told thsst young Memol is barely Is years of age He is a prodigy both in his mature feeling as evidenced by his playing and by his mtsi- cisnship, and could hold his own today in almost any symphony orchestra or string band"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
ARAB LIFE STILL PRIMITIVE

From the Christian Herald.
 In the wild deserts Arab life is as prlm- tive as in Abrahams time. Sheep are still slain to seal a VOW. The salt or bread covenant is observed, and when a man dies his tent is torn down and de- stroyed.
 Old names such as Joseph, Moses and Alexander are still in common use among Arabs, though pronounced "Hu- si1s." ..NIusa'' and ''Skandar.'
 To divorce his wife a man may repeat the formula Ent telek three times. us- ually saying it once makes the woman behave, and it's repetition is not neces- sary.
 The "evl eye" superstition is common, and the first injunction given 6 visiting foreigner by experienced Arabian trav- elers is that he must not point at animal Is or persons in Arab settlements.
 Arabs say man gifted with this malign power can look at bird flying in the air and that it will drop dead; that If he chooses to cast his wicked spell on a camel it may go lame or a child so se- lected will be struck blind.
 None of the lower class can read or write but the Arab is noted for his ready wit and his habit of speaking in allegory.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
HAIL ALABAMA.

Alabama's only claim to fame does not consist in it's being first in the alpha betical list of states. Alabama is also the first among states in the number of her children who are engaged in daily toll. She manages to keep over 10000 of her children under 16 en- ployed at gainful occupations. This is 45 per cent of all the children that Ala bama possesses.
 The next state in line of percentages is North Carolina--but why rob Ala bama of it's supremacy by even limiting that it has emulators?
 Go to it, Alabama. We shall look in on you a few years from now and see how this rising generation has turned out. Life.
 To Xlabama's sorrow be it said that some of her most blatant reformers employ child labor. They wish to re- form industrial conditions in which they are directly interested? Oh. no. They wish to reform their neighbors and lift up long petitions to the throne of grace on a Sunday,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
IN HOTEL HOBBIES
A Prosperity Year


 'The spirit of optimism has great deal to do with resultant effects on the business world, and I believe there Is enough optimism abroad in the land now to warrant the belief that the year just ahead of us will be year of prosperity" said J. ". Cauley of Chicago.
 'I run across a few pessimists who point to New York stock exchange slumps as indicative of unsettled business condi- tions, but we all know that the real ba- rometers of trade are crop prices and the metals market. The crops of last sum- mer have brought prices above those pre- vailing in 1911. These crops have added vastly to the wealth of the country. and as for iron and steel they have seldom been in such active demand or commanded such high prices as now.
 After the usual holiday quiet in busi- ness circles trade will be. believe. active in every part of the country. It looks to me as if 1913 would be a great record year.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
Larger Sales Than Last Year

"We have had good business here in Birmingham this year and especially has the last half of the year been a period ot prosperity," said H. J. Porter Tn my clothing business December sales have been 20 per cent greater than in Decem- Der of last year.
 'Everybody remembers that in 1906 this country was booming and the Birmlns- ham district was booming. Well, if we had a high degree of prosperity then, how much more cause is there for pros perity here now Birmingham is much larger city than it was in 1906 The pay rolls. if not doubled, have been greatly increased and altogether Birmingham IS in a far better position today than it ever was before. l am looking forward to the new year with decided optimism. be- lieve 1ela will be a new high record year in every line of business in and around Birmingham.
 "When I first came to this city to en- gage in business there was comparative lv little of the get-together spirit we have not as much now as we should have. perhaps, but rapid improvement IS heinz made in this respect. The good that the get together spirit does Atlanta cannot be overestmated and we need It just as much as Atlanta does. l believe the new year will start in with more or the get together spirit than ever, and' as have minated, the coming year will be banner year for the Birmingham T 1;ctriaf
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
TO A MATER FOWL

By William Cullen Bryant. Whither, midst failing dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far. through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way? Vainly the fowlers eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, As, darlSly painted on the crimson sky, Thy figure floats along. Seek'st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide. Or where the rocking pillows rise and sink
 On the chafed ocean side?
 There is power whose care Teaches thy way along that painless
 coast The desert and illimitable air
 Lone wandering, but not lost. All day thy. wings have famed, At that far height, the cold thin at
 mosphere, Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome
 land.
 Though the dark night is near. And soon that toll shall end; Soon shalt thou find summer home
 and rest. And scream among thy follows; reeds
 shall bend
 Soon, OCT thy sheltered nest.
 Thourt gone, the abyss of Heaven Hath swallowed up thy form; yer onr
 my heart Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast
 given,
 And shall no. soon depart.
 He. who. from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sAy thy certain flight Tn the long way that must tread alone Will lead my steps alright.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
THE AGED RouE.

THE AGED RoUE. Time was when he could lightly trip And flirt with chorus ladies, too, But latterly has lost his grip
 And strange to say, is feeling blue. He once was leader of the throng Of gay, light-hearted revelers, But now may never join the song That only sad remembrance stirs He sits alone and views the scene, A tear-drop glistens in his eye; Grace, Belle and Maude and tall Irene Have left him, with the days gone by. New faces smile where once he found Nepenthe in the golden wine, And others lead the festive round Till morning'sN hues incarnadine.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

From the New York Press.
 Bank balances shape more lives than destiny.
 Being a rich aunt without any children Is about the most popular job
 What makes a man specially disgusted with the government is to have cold in the head.
 A pair of oorsets can be more of q lseip to d girl in getting married than a thor ough musical education.
 A woman will nearly always lie about the salary her husband receives, and he always will about how much of it she gets away from him.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
THE FAIRY GIFT.

The fairy Godinother was on hand at the christening.
 She had come q long ways, and was little late, but of course no christening could be complete without her.
 So the family nervously waited for the anticipated blessing
 What do you expect me to wish hero she presently demanded
 Beauty replied the mother.
 "Wealth,'' said the father.
 Charm said the aunt.
 The fairy Godmother laughed in her most unpleasant way
 "Shel get contentment.' was her abrupt announcement. "Contentment $
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

everyone, and when the little office boy clapped his hands over a simple little present and called out loudly, Tt won't be many years before I'll be on that desk Mr. =" he was given a round of ap- plause.
 That boys got everybody helping him now. The spirit is in him, and he will go ahead like every ambitious boy.
 Everyone would rather help to build up than to pull down. Look how much en- thusiastic spirit is manifested to build up something when it Is proposed in Bir- mingham. No good thing was ever pro- posed here that didn't go through. No deserving young man ever came forward in Birmingham who failed. Look at the young fellows on the bench and at the bar. Look at the young fellows in the industrial and the business field. They have all gone ahead.
 I don't know one with the meat ane the sinew on his bones, and the brain stuff. who has failed to make a sue cess. I don't know town in the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
Growth of the Birmingham Spirit

When $50 commercial travellers of this city came together at the invita- tion of the Chamber of Commerce it became plain that Birmingham does not lack an army of boosters. This array should be and can be doubled in the next three years.
 Birmingham is indeed an industrial city, but that is no reason why it should not become mercantile and iobbing city as we'll It is we'll to manufacture goods to be sold in the south, and it is also well to sell in the south goods that are not made
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

The suffragettes have finished their Albany walk, and early in February they will start from the Battery in New York to carry a message from the national association of suffragists to Presindent Wilson in Washington, urg- ing him to enroll in the cause and to support it in his message to Congress. How many women will be in line where the message will be drafted, how many days the trip will require and who determined. They will reach Wash ington on March 4.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

The next Confederate reunion is to 26, and the people of Chattanooga are getting ready to make the reunion a great event.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
NO CHANGE TO SPOUT

From the Montgomery Advertiser.
 We fear that the new fangled speechless dinner will never become fashionable in Alabama, where the home grown orator is one of our most fostered institutions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
TIME FOR REFORM.

"I have just been reading about q celebrated murder
 Tn New York, I'll bet"
 No. This affair happened in Rome 2 "Nho was the victim?'
 Julius Caesar"
 Well. I do declare. And our inn migration laws are so lax that the very scoundrels who committed that crime are liable to come sneaking into passed,"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

The snow in New York and Phlla- delphia was is inches deep, and on ac count of the holiday much trouble oc- cured in finding laborers to remove it from the streets.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

When Mir Loeb goes over to private his Sunday school for trav- elers with undeveloped consciences will not be dissolved. It will do mission ary work unchecked.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

James Hamilton Lewis has 97 out of the 102 votes necessary to elect him United States senator from Illinois, and he expects to secure the other five votes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
A COOL PERSON.

That waiter didn't seem pleased at the tip you gave him"
 No, he didn't but you will have Ito give me credit for one thing"
 And what is that?'
 'I handed him a quarter with as much nonchalance as if it had been a dol lar.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

A man resumes the reading of news papers in two weeks after his wedding The wife does not until a year has elapsed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

If the inaugural ball is held in the capitol no gallery will permit thou sands to look down on the national, if not festive, scene
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

The decrepit old year is passing away with great deiiberation, and no little dignity. It will soon be has been, however.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

Collector of Customs Loeb of New York will go from the government ser- vice to one of the Guggenheim cor porations. His salary is to be s25OO0 a year. His demonstrated capacity and his untiring industry have commended him to private corporations.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

fee of the head of great government like this. The President is provided with a doorkeeper who receives a salary Of something like 5000 a year and he is assisted by several well paid men, who stand watch over the approaches of the general reception room and the secre- tariat. I do not believe in trying to imi- tate monarchical style, but I think some ceremony at the presidential mansion is proper.
 ''The first time I saw the inside of the White House was while Hayes was President Mr. Hayes was extremely simple in Shis tastes and there was a minimum of formality, but still he had a doorkeeper and comparatively few per sons who tried to get in to see him succeeded.
 When MT. Arthur became President he put on more style than his predeces- sors. He was proverbially elegant in bearing and was as lordly in his state purittilio as he was by nature genial and full of comradeship. But, strange as it may seem, MT. Cleveland had more touches of court style than had ever before been heard of in Washington Strange, say, because Mir. Cleveland was a true democrat socially as well as politically In his private life he had been a ready mixer and was very plain in all his notions in Tegard to society. But he was the first to have military at taches at the White House; the first to elevate the private secretary to sorne- thing like cabinet rank with increased pay. Mr Cleveland's successors have not only continued the manner of off cial organization which the great dem- ocrat maintained at the White House, but court style has been considerably extended. Mrs. Cleveland was, I believe the first lady of the White House the first lady of the land'-to employ a social secretary. And in these modern days no Presidents wife could well get along without a secretary for the first lady is overwhelmed with all sorts of appeals that are worthy of consideration or at least worthy of kindly aclSnowledg- ment.
 "I am sure that MT and Mrs. Wilson will prove to be popular with the off cial set in Washington, but nothing will be heard about the door being left open in order that everybody might drop in and say what they have to say to the nations chief executive without the usual pass words or introductions.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
SANTA'S BLUNDER

Santa Claus is evidently not a 'Spug."
 Why do you think so?"
 T notice he brought young Sprig- gins a motor car instead of some brains"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

The elevator, the automobile and the telephone are robbing the people of exercise and increasing their obesity.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

According to the society columns men have of late been getting great bar gains from the matrimonial counter.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

The Duke of Atholl has failed to es- tablish his claim to the earldom of OK ford ''It is probable, however" says an exchange, that he will just man age to get along without 1t, for he Is the possessor, besides his dul<edom, of two marquisates, those of Atholl and Tullibardine; two earldoms, Strathay and Stratharde, and two wis., counties, Glenalmond and Glenlyon, all in the peerage of Scotland"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

The spugs were like the progressives in one respect-they started too late to accomplish anything
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

Do your swapping early and then go home and draw up your New Years resolutions on the spot.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

In Bulgaria bachelors are taxed s30 a year, and the other countries think they get off on good terms.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

The President elect did not put any Christmas seals on the presents that he will hand out in March.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
style and FormaIl,y at White House

R's'V anu OAsAs's's's "t VI nhtC IhOuSC
 "I smiled when I read what Woodrow Wilson was reported to have said soon after he was elected President to the effect that when he got to the White House his office door would be open to everybody and that he would have no whispered conferences with anybody" remarked an old politician who lived in Washington for many years and who was in government service for a short while.
 T am an admrer of Presdent-elect Wilson and I can hardly believe that he was so naive as to think for a moment, or try to make other people think that he thought, that the presidential office could be run without a doorkeeper or without private conferences. Governor Wilson, as the chief executive of New Jersey, may have the latch string of his office door hanging out as signal of hospitality to Tom. Dick and Harry, and his conferences may be in full voice and
 in the presence of visitors to the suber- material sanctum, but no matter how that may be, it will not work that way in Washington. A certain amount of for mality is absolutely necessary in the of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
SLOW MOVING surrnAcErrEs

From the Anniston Star and Hot Blast.
 Tho New York suffragists, in footing it to Albany, made 10 miles d day. lt they don't heat that. they will never win in walk"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
A MAN OF MARK.

"Who is the pompous old gentle man strutting along past the drug store?"
 That's Major Whiffersby, the only person in Spraddleburg who ever re- ceived d cablegram.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

A century of peace between Englist speaking people will soon be celebrated
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
NED BRACE TALKS ABOUT THE SPIRIT
 PERVADlN(i BIRMINGHAM AND ITS YOUNG MEN

world with such future for young men as this.
 The big things that are planned for the Birmingham district within the com- ing year are so colossal that al- most wish I were a Henry Badham, with a half dozen strong sons-all splendid young fellows-to get in the game and aid in manning the indus tries and professions.
 Few of us of the olden age-even though we be but 10 or 15 years above the boys entering real life with this new year-realize what there is in this Birmingham district.
 There is enough for all Instead of scrapping over the chips and whet- stones let us look forward to the big things.
 Why not the ambition of the office boy and aspire to the higher desk? That's the better spirit, and the spirit of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

On January 9 Senator Bailey of Texas will deliver set speech in the Senate. It will be his swan song. AL though his term does not expire until March 3, he will immediately after speaking tender his resignation to the governor of Texas in order that his personal and stanch political friend Col R. M. Johnson editor of the Hous- ing the few weeks remaining before Representative Morris Sheppard be- comes senator for the full term
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

MONEY GONE.
 "Whats the matter with Briggs this morning? He seems to be in a frac- tious humor?"
 "Oh, Briggs has had the same wait CT for 10 years and he has just figured up that he has given the man enough money in tips to buy a comfortable bungalow
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
REFLECTIONs OF A BACHELOR

This is the first call for New Years resolutions, and it should be needed. :
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29

"Stiggs says he is going to use noth- ing but electricity for Illuminating pur- poses hereafter" Well! We'll! He's getting on the wa- ter wagon early"
 PAUL COOK.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
-HIs has been a big year in Birming-
 ham, and everybody seems happy over what has been done and is do- 

over WHdl udS Decii uOuC dhd 10 eo
 ing.
 was never so happy in my life as over hearing a meeting of the boys and girls who make The Age-Herald the other day when they were exchanging compliments and telling each other what good stories they had written, and what other people had said about them, and how well the printers had set type, and the stereo- typers and pressmen and mail room boys and carrier boys had done.
 They all seemed proud of what the other had. done. and were exchanging compliments over the esprit de corps of the modern newspaper as compared with the olden day one, where the reporter wanted to write scandal, or the editor wanted to roast the life out of poli- tician or a pessimist.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
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ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES
..,........................,.

better than beauty and riches and charm, and great deal moro lasting My new Goddaughter will find it espe- cially serviceable when she looks over her scrambled array of useless gifts ev- cry Christmas morning!'
 And taking her stick and cloak, the old fairy hoarsey chuclSled and went her way. Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-29
EMBARRASSING.

"of course you expect to have a rip- ping time on New Years Eye?"
 T hope not. The last time I cele- brated something ripped and I had to go home'