davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

be done for them. My correspondent de- aides that this is ''all vain babbling and Imagination" He has never seen any Christ or blood of Christ, nor has he ever seen any man who has.
 He appeals to me to do the things that Jesus did, in agreement with the pledge, ''1'he works that do shall ye do also" |" Surely there is need enough in this suf- ferlng worldi Because there is no vir- tue in this salvation theory 1 have lost confidence in the importance of Scrip ture," he says. He says that the only people who profit by the Scriptures are the priests and preachers who do so "by robhing the mouths of men, women and children" He concludes that the Scrip lures cultivate hatred and pauperism and faith in a God who proves powerless to save the Titanic. and so fails to justify the promise, There shall no evil befall thee"
 have chosen to set all this down and to print all my answer because I frankly credit my correspondent with sincerity, and because I have no doubt that he represents a class of persons who, for such reasons as these are giving up their early faith. The last thing want to do is to incite others to disbelieve or to con demn this or any other person for failing to believe.
 Most of the misunderstanding and con- fusion betrayed in these questions arse from the common failure of teachers to show the children, as they are able to un- derstand, that the revelation of God to man has been progressive. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews recognizes this and speaks of the truth coming "by divers portions and in divers manners" That is to say, there is no justice in my friends attempt to transfer Abraham to this 20th century anno dominil Granted that these charges against all the patri- archs are true. is it not also true that
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

ican public, that our grate feeders tell us that when they lose they want to Dye, we would not have to worry so much ovver the high prise of liv- ving.
 Take for instints Teddy Roosefelt, Teddy has the utmost faith in the in- tegryty and patryotism of the Peepul of Illynoise and Pennsylnanier, but up to this time he has not committed himself further than that, he wants to wait and see the Returns. He has lost all confidence in New York and Dakoter, and so far as that feller Barnes is concerned, if he got good chanse he'd Bite him, and he would not trust him in the Pennytensiary. It seems a pretty sure Cinch that when you see a statesman so trust ing of the Peepul that it's a sign that he wants the Peepul to trust him. Don't get the idea that you can bor- row mummy frum him, that ant what he meens, he meens that he is trust
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

justified in contrasting his own instinetive feeling about Gods justice with the lame and halting conceptions of parts of the old Testament.
 It follows also that the messages which came to Israel impelling them to conquest or directing them to worship or to care for national separateness and segrega- ton from idolaters are temporary, adapt ed to the civilization out of which they grew. And it further becomes clear that God did not "writer the Scriptures ex- cept as the mighty Spirit impelled men to go on record with the truth so far as they saw it. It was not final in Moses day, nor in David's, nor in Isaiah's. Was 1t final in Paul? The One, the only One. with any appearance of flnality never wrote n word that has been preserved; I mean the Savior Himself. And He Is final because He gives the only adequate and perfect exposition, in practice, of the spirit of God, who was measureably pres ent even in all the others, but immeas- urably in Him,
 Now Is 1t not also clear that my friend has fastened attention so largely on the faults and the temporary defects of these men of the Old Testament that he has done grave injustice to his own intelli- gence? What though David erred? Does that destroy the 2Sd Psalm? Does 1t de- stroy or discredit the 51st Psalm? Grant, ed that the story of the past could not be told truly if such horrors as he men, tons were omitted. are there none but horrors in that past? Has he forgotten the fine, the splendid, the immortal things? Certainly he need not lack in- stances of grotesque unfitness if he trans plants the past 10 the present, and judges Old Testament men by modern ethical students. but all history is full of similar grotesque, if you choose to be unscientlhc and so tumble together what
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

impossible or the Bible useless by tho change. Any man who is willing to do his duty. as he sees it in the light of all the teaching he can secure. will know the place of strong foundations. The Mas ter is the same Jesus who confronts him in the New Testament story. In Ills pres- enoe my friend will find one who knows all about tho worldwide heartbreah and woe of men the wrecks and disasters and herosm and victory, and who is with men all the way through. It Is surely a greater thing to be brave, true man and die than 10 live by virtue Of a mira cle. Major Butt Is everyway nobler and more satisfying than If he had been su- pernaturally rescued from the icy waters.
 But does not my friend see that in the process of the ages God is saving men even physically, and doing greater deeds even than those of the gospel story? Lot him consider what 1t means that we knew beforehand that the carpathia was hastening to save the passengers on that doomed liner, called by God through a sleepy boy out of empty spaces of the sea. Hence. all things considered. I am sure that the sincerity of his own soul is the means whereby all this confusion will become quite clear to my friend. whom I thank for his courteous setta el The Bible does appeal to tho imagination. Why not? Is not the imagination as good and as human as anything else we have? Surely our imagination Is not to be de- spised. since 1t is precisely that quality in the soul whereby we identify and hold converse with other souls. If 1t we're not for our imagination we should be sheer, stoid animals It is in that fine world of feeling and thinking and willing-the vast world of the spirit-that the battles of life are won. It is high world dominated by faith and hope and love, where we all know the value of prayer and the fulfill ing of the promises.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

ing you to vote for him, and if you don't, you air bonehed and can Chase yourself. I asked feller the uther day, who was Barking at a crowd of Honest Suns of Foil, about the advan- tages of the Inissiatiye the Refer rendum and the Recall, to tell us sum- thing about these grate remmedies for all humane ills. He admitted that he had newer seen Refferrendum or evver even shook hands with an in- issiative, but he sed he was perfectly familier with the prinsiples of these grate Fundamentals Truths. Go to it seys I and enliten us. He did so, and while I did not have the mental ca passity to follow him in detail, gather that the Peepul would be the Stuff under his grate fundimental. If this thing was law as I understand it. old man Jones would go by old man Smiths driving old Beck, about twice day, and say, Hello bruther Smith lets go down and vote; you know we have to Inissiate law on
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

tive and Refferrendum and Recall in the days of Washington and Jeffersun and Clay and Calhoon, and we don't need 'em zow. If we will be just little careful about who we elect, we can go rite ahed and make q Crop, insteed of putting in all our time vot- ing. Ifthey adopt this Plan, I change my views on Votes for Wimmin, let 'em vote say, let 'em do-all of the voting, we men will have to make a livving and help pay the increase in taxes to pay the cost of all the cleo tions, and Austraylian Ballots.
 Neether of the Crate Parties will put the Inissiative the Refferrendum and the Recall in there Platforms, and if they do it will simply be to snag the vote of the Un-Inissiated, and will meen no moor than the plank declar- ring for Tariff reform in the last Re- publican platform, and will cum no neerer being maid into law. Rest Easy. Yours trooly,
 BILL VINES.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12
CHALLENGING, THE BIBLE-By George Eaves, D. D.

time has divided. Jesus is not a mission ary of the same spirit as Elijah. And yet in Elijah's own day that seer was a mag nifcent soul. with the true spirit. If my friend can't see how this can be am sorry, for it is certainly the fact.
 And this explains also the sayings of John and of Jesus about no man ascend- ing to heaven or seeing God. In the true, full, absolute sense of seeing God, it was impossible for Old Testament heroes to have that joy For It Is a spiritual per- ception and they lacked the knowledge physical experience like that of Enoch, or Elijah. whatever that may have been. bears no necessary revelation to actually entering into the Presence of Him and seeing Him who is tho Father of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Light and Love.
 Versions of tho Bible? Certainly! Men have always been trying to put the truth in other tongues. The earliest attempt on a large scale grew out of the domicil- ing of large numbers of Jews in the Greek world. where they lost command of their old tongue. This gave rise to those Greek transations which are repre- sented by what is known as the Septua- quint. or work of the Seventy. of course there are variations between these trans 1ations. Why not7 The amazing thing Is that we still have data for getting an al- most perfect version for ourselves. But the variations are of little moment except to those students who are working out an exact text.
 The most i'm rortant thfun is fhe terriblo experience of dislllusoning and doubt through which this correspondent is pass ing Let him believe that he is passing. not that he has como to full stop. Let him be sure that his former child-idea of God and the Bible has gone, never to re- turn; but that faith has not been made
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

.F a meek and unpretentious mold, Bishop N. H. Cobbs never failed to impress the public with his piety and exalted character. Rising an humble station in life and ascend by dint of merit to the highest place lin the gift of his church, there was ling in his bearing to indicate his |ciousness of the honor attaching to
 position. There was a total absence D his manner of that self-assertion |sense of. self-importance so often at- ling to those as highly honored as
 Bishop Cobbs.
 njoined to this was a cordiality of
 t which loosened all restraint and
 b every one whom he met feel that lad met a friend. A placid smile as lral as sunshine mantled his face and ln additional charm to his personality.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

that he lied to his neighbors. was guilty of unlawful relations with others than his wife, and so fanatical as to believe 1t his duty to butcher his son. In the same way Jacob is summarized as a liar, swindler. rascal, etc., etc, and father of number Of illegitimate children who became "the representative heads of all of Gods people. and after whom the F gates of the New Jerusalem are named.'
 The story of Lot rightly moves our friend to indignation, and David also is classified with those fsx whose arrest a large reward should be offered. Solomon. Of course. is condemned and the Song of Solomon is reckoned unfit to make a text for sermons.
 Discrepancies are instanced, as in the contrast between Johns statement that mo man hath seen God at any time, and the alleged meetings of patriarchs with Him .'face to face,' and in the rec ord of Enoch and Elijah ascending to heaven, whereas mo man hath aseended into heaven,s according to the New Tes- tament. By comparing passages in Ezra and Nehemiah my correspondent con- ciudes that God had nothing to do with writing them.'
 Again, he has discovered that there are several kinds of Bibles, Hebrew, Greek, English. septuagint. All differ" And he says that the difference between English versions are wide. but that If the first version had not been faulty there would have been no need for re- vision."
 A still more serious statement then foi- lows: ''In my experience I can honesty say that I have never known God to ful- fill one single promise of the many hun dreds recorded in the Bible." This is con trasted with the statements that He will fulfill "every desire' of the heart, and that if any two believers agree as touch- irg anything that they shall ask 1t shall
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12
BRIDGE AND RIFLE PRACTICE
French Girls Tastes in Recreation as
 shown By Paris Evening Classes

Paris Correspondence London Standard.
 A report on evening classes, recently published, gives some amusing informa- tion as to the pastlmes. desires and am bitions of the girlhood of the Paris pro- letariat. Some of the classes are pro- vided by the municipality. Here the line followed is much the same as in the continuation schools and evening classes in London, but these brain taslxing in- stitutions are supplemented by schools where varied instruction of 8 lighter kind Is given.
 Girls are taught anything from poker work to pottery decoration, and from 18th century gavottes and chaconness to the dances labeled grizzly bear. bunny hug, and so forth
 But the old fayorlte pastime, the art of playing the light comedies of De Mus set. Moliere and others. and the rather different art of playing the mandolin are not abandoned, and classes of these kinds are stlll largely followed.
 Until last year, apparently. the man. dolin classes had the greatest following of all. This year. however, two rather 0ttASttiA AttiCatiOilS nave conquered It's pride of place. Bridge and rifle shooting are the present favorites with the midi nettes of Paris. Whether the great vogue of the carbine and the miniature rifle range is due to the exploints of Carouy, Bonnot and Garnier, or to the long spun legend of Nick Carter" one can scarce ly say.
 The coincidence, however, remains. An other coincidence. however, is more ade- auately explained. Gunsmiths today re- port most extensive boom in their trade. People have been coming in and buying small arms. especially automatic pistols and revolvers. and they have shown greater readiness than the average custo- mer. if Is said, to pay the higher prices for the better class of arms.
 An estimate given today puts the sale of small revolyers and automatic pistols during the last five or six days at 10 times the average. One of the largest houses dealing In recognized makes of small arms reports that whereas 1t sold on an average only five or six pocket arms day, it's daily average for the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

mummy, and long on mizzery. But this Recall part seems to be sumthing new, and kinder added on because it sound euphonius. About the most we can get. out of the hole bizness is,
 that you must Trust the Peepul;" all statesmen beleeve in that, they have the utmost confidence in the Peepul;. and would trust them with enny thing in the world, exsept the marking of there own ballots, and they air per- fectly willing to risk the judgemint of the Peepul on all matters consern- ing the publick veal, and cheerfully abide the result. It's a grate pity that this simple and confiding trust. that our polytisians have in us, is con- fined entirely to them. If the Bank CTS would leern sumthing from the polytisians and would only trust us also, this life would be One Glad Sweet Song, and a Six Sylender Joy Ride. If the grosery man had that butiful and abiding faith in the Amer
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

used to tell about Joseph and David and Elijah and Daniel and the shepherds and the star and the baby in the manager.
 When he would go to his bedroom he called his mother in and said:
 q want you to tuck Harry in bed and hear him say his prayers, Now l lay me down to sleep" Then he would say, "Mother, set the light out in the hall and hold my hand in yours and sing me to sleep with that sweet Sunday school hymn:
 CT think when I read that sweet story
 of old,
 When Jesus was here among men. How he called little children the lambs of
 his fold;
 I would like to have been with Him
 them"
 For two blssful weeks Henry w. Grady played he was little Harry on the old farm with his mother.
 And she?
 which her boy Harry walked. And why not?
 Maybe it was only coincidence, but only short time after Grady returned from the old home he was called to make the annual address before the New Eng land society. in many respects the great est oration since the war of the rebel lion. "rhe Old South and the New.p
 And your mother?
 A. ,f..o |. been too busy to go back even for day or two and be her little boy again?
 Of all the statutes I have seen in this country two have always gffpped me the statue of Abraham Lincoln in Lin- coin park, Chicago, and that of the elder Mackay at the University of Nevada.
 Almost every one has seen the Lincoln statue or picture of it. It strikes you as being a replica of the real Lincoln.
 The other was erected by Clarence H. Mackay as a tribute to his father, the founder of the Mackay fortune.
 There 1t stands. the semblance of a young man of sturdy bearing. He wears a flannel shirt, which is open al. the neck. Corduroy trousers are stuffed into cow hide boots. On the head is a slouch hat. A miners pick is clnched in the right hand.
 That is the real Mackay.
 Afterward he became millionaire. and the statue would have shown smooth groomed. conventional figure in frock coat and high hat.
 But Mackay was man before he was a millionaire.
 And the rugged figure of the miner labor
 by men of toll. They laboriously blazed the way to our present day prosperity. And of these heroes of the early~faith was the bronzed miner, who, like Moses,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

the Eradicasion of Hook Wurms in McNaths Beet, and vote on the Ref ferrendum of steem whistles on Pee nut Parchers, and the Recall of two Justices of the Peece and Probait Judge today, and tomorrow we must inissiate a law for the pensioning of disabulled voters and for the Recall of the Beef Trust"
 We have too much of the rong kind of voting in this country now, and not enuff of the rite kind. If we didn't have enny thing else to do but vote this mite be a good thing. The Peepul, for instants could settle the Lorrimer case in just about one day, if they could only be led to it, and the United States Senate took steen yeers and spent ovver a hundred thousand bones. If they would Referendum the suit they had against the Beef Trust to the Peepul, it would not have cost the Guvvermint half million Kopecks to acquit lot of Grafturs,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

When he worked with his hands he married a girl who, like himself, was poor She worked hard, economized, de- nied herself. Saving and slaving, she lost some of her beauty. What matter ed? They were growing rich and would enjoy their day of prosperity together.
 Then the man became a thing.
 He looked into the face of his wife and saw her fading beauty. She did her best to please him, but the old clfarm was gone. And then
 This creature in male garments hap pened to bump into girl who was artful. him and smiled.
 She hypnotized the millionaire. He was determined to have her. He was rich. He could buy her. And she was for sale.
 Tho end was apparent from the be- ginning.
 The male creature sent his high priced lawyers to the old wife. She had literally rgiven herself to him, body and soul, through all the years. The lawyers of fered her much money if she would agree to the divorcement. She refused
 The millionaire seldom entered the home. He was seen here and there in company with the pretty young girl
 Finally, stung by neglect and humil- lated by the stories, the wife brought suit for divorce. And when the trial came on the newspapers weIe full of the scandal in high life"
 -t,ar, a4fI with the pretty woman. And almost every day the old wife cried
 When the millionaire came back his new wife was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And by and by the scandal mongers whispered other tales about her.
 Who was the millionaire? You will find his name either in Dun's or Brad streets commercial reports.
 And if you will look up his history you may find that once he was a man.
 Rev. R. J. Campbell, London preacher. thinks the world is growing no better.
 He says there Is no reason for human existence, and all the ages of progress have cost more than they have come to-
 He says we are no better off than Egypt and Rome because we have the same battles to fight between right and wrong. the same struggles to endure against the spirit of creed and selfishness
 Cheer up, MT. Campbell.
 What hope of the race can there be save in these very struggles?
 Cannot he see on every page of his- tory, especially during the past 100 years. thestremendous strides made in humani- tartan progress?
 Has not slavery almost disappeared from the face of the earth?
 Can he not see on every hand the iis- Ing walls of asyiums and homes for the friendless and children and the aged, hos- 1itals of every sort. free clinics, juvenile
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

The individual merit of Bishop Cobbs was shown by the fact that with the scantlest educational advantages in. early life, he turned his stock of information to the greatest use by teaching school in the rural districts of Virginia. With him, to teach was to learn. for in order to give effective instruction he had to prepare the way in advance by assiduous nightly study. After all, this Is the most effective way of procuring a solid education, pro- vided one knows how and what to study. Mir. Cobbs always brought to his rustic classes the enthusiasm derived from knowledge newly found, and the enthusi- asm was contagious, as 1t always is un- der conditions like these.
 By such methods as these the young man came to widen and deepen his ca- pacity, and thus became qualified to grap- pie with the profounder studies which
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

l1 ISTUR EDDITUR-What is this Inissiative and Refferren- lA dunn and Recall that we hear iuch about? Sum of our gratest fsmen air verry enthusiastick It it. There air times when our le statesmen enthuse to beet the | ovver ennything that Listens !, and this Inissiative, Refferren- and Recall Bizness has a Classy Id. We have tryed to look it up, we can't find much lite on the
 ect. We do find that the Populite |y, in its original platform, in In they weer sum stout on De- ds, demanded the Inissiative and Referendum, and they have been hnding it evver cents. Sumboddy ht to hand it to lem and let them
 Happy. They also demanded
 or mummy and less mizzery" for
 Peepul, and that's good doctrine,
 we air sertainly sum short on
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-12

Bishop Cobbs had none of the strik- ing clements of the popular pulpit ora tor He was terse and condensed in statement and yet proJectile in force. Behind his utterances lay dynamic conviction which was imparted and im- pressed. His preaching was more to the heart than to the mind. He be- lieved, therefore he spoke.
 lie shared deeply in the sentiment awakened by the issues that shook thes country in the early sixties and pre- dicted bloody fratricida1 war. but he was spared participation Tn it's horrors. On January II, 1861, while the secession convention was assembled in Montgomery and while the pulse of ex- citement beat strong, and Just prior to the adoption of the ordinance of seces- sion Bishop Nicholas Hammer cobbs passed to his reward.