davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

tween the materialism and the idealism of the truth? I do not believe that the world is in merely for a grand smash, nor do you believe that. IT our barque sinks it sinks to another sea. Every smash up is only a phase of reconstruction. We are seeing the end of type of civilization. only in part Christian, though bearing the name. It appears to he the duty of modern Christianity to step into the con- ilict The age to come will be no less spiritual, but much more practically Christian. Christ regns today over eee- tain elect lives. He is 10 reign tomorrow over all society. He will do 1t through | the church.
 But I must close this trade. I am sure you are needlessly pessmistic as 10 tho character of the men and the type of work they will do under the present ir- spration. What you call evaneelists have certainly bred other than perfect evan gelism. I doubt whether a more. danger ous thing besets the modern church than to fall into the hands of certain evangel- ists They are not only shrill and spourF, but dangerous and blind leaders of the blind, largely because ignorant of this very region Of things concerning which we are talking. largely also beeauss they give no reverence to the intelligence and self respect of their audiences
 When the day dawns and the shadows have all fled away, il will be seen that no man can lightly speak evil of Christ. aftee he has been doing work in His name IIe is on the way to the Throne. As you say. those who are going to help put Him there must be willing to bear their cross
 Who is bearing his crossP Is not the phrase almost infinite In meaning? rhs modern Christian Is well fed and prospeN ous. but if he is strong and prosperous hk must bear the inflrmtties of the weat and cease to please himself He will soon learn what bearing the cross means Could YOU wish a bigger movement for the modern church than 10 begin thus 10 bear the cross2 Believe me,
 Yours as ever.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

likely to be. Only let him have the faith of the marytr and not complain. If a man thinks it is only "a mans job' to enter the list of the social re- formers, then let him accept the oft re- peated challange, and go in for that. l hear it on every hand. The church, 1t is said, must make good. It must do the needed work and show itself practical and able to cope with the evils that abound. Many. I must believe, think this, and are entering the ministry with that thought. It is a sad mistake. l am sure, that is to bring disappointment. l do not in the least go with all this modern sociological talk as to the work of the church. It will miss the Spirit of God;
 it will degenerate; it will develop shril reformers and scoldng shouters, but not evangelists with the charm of Him who so speak that people wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth.
 Now l did not mean to say all this | am glad I came here, (to small semi rural church) if for no other thing than to see how empty and dead church life may become with a conventional religion and with little or no appreciation of the love and light of the Gospel You furth- CT say, Do not misunderstood me, when l say that to me all this tendency in our time all this demand that the church should leave it's old way. the way of Paul. and undertake the regeneration of things is the very essence of apostasy can see the pull of it. I can appreciate the arguments put forth for it. l have read Rauschenbuseh, but l ana convinced we are leaving the way of real power even for world regeneration. It is, I know the call of the day, but it is the call of the enemy, and so will be seen after a time, It is another cult: it is not like some forms of error; it Is funda- mental and it is Anti-Christ Neverthe- less when a man says he has call that way l have no more to say If it be a departure from the Faith, then of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

vor. men and women of holy and blame less and prayerful lives, whose main inter- est it is to day to turn the world upside down for the honor of Jesus Christ Is this right for them as individuals. but wrong when done together as an organi- zation of the whole body?
 On the mission fields, too, the practical work of healing mems sicknesses and eX- hibiting Christianity applied to every day life. is precisely what attracts most powerfully and in the end upsets even the government as it has done in Turkey and | in China, as it is certain to do wherever l the social life and the existing political at titude are in frank antagonsm to the spirit of Jesus. We are coming back to the confession: "IIe must reign till all things are subdued under His feet
 In our anxiety to preach the gospel I think we have in the past been leaving out the Kingdom, the royal authority of Christ The veal inwardness of the new movement Is a new emphasis upon that authority. a renewal of the confession that he is not only Prophet and Priest. but King. It thrusts the Kings will upon the industrialism and commercialism and the social ways Of every nation. Those august claims which it was the glory of Paul to preach on behalf of Christ; the claim that He Is the only rightful King of human hearts or homes or empireS-are We grown so mollycoddle. so weak l<need sd failing in spinal marrow, that we dare no longer make these claims for jes IS Christ? Is our Christ somehow a less com manding figure than the Christ of Paul? Or do you mean that His present answer 10 human is that He cannot inter- fere, that people must drag along and do well as they under evil circun- stances until the Millennium. or until they die? Is t not perfectly clear that the ministry of the church ought 10 include all sorts of workers; men with the social message. able to put the gospel even in terms of social science able 10 link those scientific facts with the practice of Gods love and care, able to span the gulf be-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

recognize that the church would have something to say against the greedy hab- it's of modern commercial industrialism. But what can we do? Is it enough simply for a minister here and there to speak reproof. especitlly when the people to whom he speaks are not present? Is 1t enough for the church to have a con science opposed to this cruel commer- cialism, but 10 refrain from expressing that conscience by way of demanding public law, or otherwise attempting to | actually smelorate conditions? Looking l at the thing from this point of view, is | it not plain that words like these, "If I do not the work of my Father, be- lieve me not have a bearing on church duty?
 Turning, however. to another theme, the influence on the spiritual fife of the church, if ministers in large numbers be- come enthusiastic social workers, at tempting the regeneration of modern con- ditions: I recognize with you the tremen- dous dangers involved but am sure, and think can prove it to you, that though such men may seem to lose what you call a spiritual motive they regain it and with power If they should lose the spir- ituai impulse, indeed. their power for so- cial regeneration would be void. Precisely because they have this spiritual motive We may rightly expect them 10 have so- eal interest.
 You speak Of the way Of Paul. It was one of Pau's favorite expressions to say that the church is "the body of Christ
 Precisely what did he mean? or what did John mean when he said. "As He is that is Christi so are ye in this world Or what did Jesus mean when he said, "fde works that I do shall ye do also?' Evi- dently the works are such as those for which He was famous-works of mercy to the individual and to groups of indi- viduals-what may be called social service works. I have no doubt that Paul when re wrote "Ye are the body of Christ. :" was thinking of the church as the proper engine for doing the same social service
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

inhabited by good laundry help, and
 rats. For moor than thousand yeers the Christian Missionaries have been hammerring away at this vast hord
 of Stone Immage worshipers trying to get a foothold of sivvilization into that benited country, where they eat Dog without him being duly canned and seesuned by the Almost Packing
 company, and get down and SCOUT there noses in the mud before Clay Billican with decorasions of Alligator teeth, and glass eyes, and there labors have met with little success. Now and then sum chinaman would see the Lite. and rise up and say he had it, only to walk off sum day with the gate receepts, or murder his Sunday school teecher, or attend sum sosiety function where they served Mission cry on Toast for luncheon, which was strictly against his obligasion. The
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

Fauntleroy style Not being that sort of boy, he revolted and ran away.
 He turned hp in a day or two minus the curls.
 His mother knows more now.
 There are many ways by which you can make miserable the life of real boy.
 To dress up manly little fellow in a manner markedly different from that Of
 his fellows and turn him loose among them is to subject the poor boy to a merci- less lot of critics. He becomes a target. Other boys ask no better fun than 10 jibe at him in the street vernacular' call him a sissy boy" pull the curls,
 blacken his eyes and rub his nose in Inc dust. Poor kid. It is hard enough for youngster in the republic of Boyvile to adapt him self to the democratic treatment ac-
 corded it's citizens without suffering the
 handicap put upon him by the fad of a fond and foolish mother.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

region toward the west began to be opened. MT. Smith migrated toward the south. became a minister of the Metho- dist church and offered his services as missionary to the Indian tribes. Hated because of their ferocity, the prevailing idea in the initial years of the 18th cen tury was that of the destruction of the red man, but Mir Smith felt impelled to take to him the gospel of salvation.
 His labors were not confined to any particular region and he trudged the coun- try over imperiling his life among the wild tribes, who came to love him because he was one pale face who sought to do them good He founded an Indian school near the Chattahoochee and taught the Indians the clements of the English lan- guage When Bishop Asbury. the most indomitable of all the Methodist bishops, came to the south MT. Smith was his close friend and adviser. and most valu- able were his services to the bishop in
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

Charles Dickens was celebrated on Feb ruary !.
 Dickens,
 What a picture gallery of characters ap- pears at the mention of his name-Plck- wick and his friends and the immortal Samuel Tiny Tim, the embodiment or cheerfnlness and love; David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and Fagin; the Cherryble brothers: Marley, who was dead as doornaiI and Scrooge; Dick Swiyeler and Little Nell.
 He was preacher of rightpusness and kindness and justness.
 And purity
 There is not word in all those So vol umes of his % years of writing that, dying, he would wish to blot-not @ word that pure child cannot read
 And
 How he hated cruelty and hypocrisy and meannessi And how he exalted good ness and truth and beautyi His high pur- pose and earnestness are living rebuke to the fimsy novel writers of our day who are all for art and nothing for the heart.
 He put an end to the prison for debtors.
 He closed the doors of the Yorkshire type of schools.
 He made hypocrisy hdeous in the tumble ITriah Heep and crime repulsiye in Bill Sikes.
 He made Pecksniff an adjective and wrote il in front of very plOuS nnfnDug. Every pompous ne CT do well is bIcaw- Der
 Why does the world continue to read and love Dickens? Because he photo graphed life He of all artists held the mirror up to nature. His wonderful power of observation made the portraits. clear.
 Note this:
 One reads Dickens and gains the fac ulty of seeing hunans and things The same sort of people he pictured live about us today, and we know them not until we have learned to look at them with his eyes.
 To know Dickens is to have an observ- ant. kindly friend at one's elbow He is also ar inspiration. He saw the good and emphasized 1t. He saw the bad and characterised it. If there is any book of his you have not read read 1t. II will not hurt you. II will help you. Honor to his memory, ] Little Sammy Blister of New York ran away from home A search was made, the newspapers. printed the story, and the mother wept for her boy. | Which is nothing new. | But in Sammy's case there was reas- on. He wanted his hair cut like pas.
 His mother forced him to wear long hair and dressed him in Little Lord
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

average Chinaman does not inspire confidence. He is sum different frum us and it is certainly going to take yeers of pasients to make him citi- zen that will cum up to the require hints of the Constitusion. He is ac- customed to curius and dark ways, and while the Revvolusion in which an American was the Leeding Lady ovverthrowing there rotten and des- potick Guvvernmint is a big step in the rite directsion, still menny diff culties and grate problems air yet to
 be solved before China can drift out of the dark clouds of opium dreams into the brite lite of Christian Sivvi- lization. It is probabully best for us that they air so far behind the times, for if they knew there immense power they mite wade into Christian Urope and chase Kyser Wilhelm and his whiskers off the map, and cause his
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

tress or two out of the hide of the Rushan Bear, is sumwhat Chesty, and feels her Oats like a yung Muzzouri mule that has just found out it can kick. I have yerry little faith in enny protestasions of friendship cum- ing frum these yellowbacks; they air all Charter members of the Annynias club, and while l am in full accord with all efforts to Christianize Jay pan, Corea and China, believing it to be the only way to finnally effect reel sivvilization, 1 am convinsed that it is slow to take, and that all early pro- testasions of goodness and love rum
 the Toe -Cripplers must be discounted. Invariabully when you trust China man you get Sung just as soon as it becums his interest to string you. He
 is as deceetful in his conduct and con- seals his reel intensions as successful
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

Rev. 1saae smith continued his mission ary and evangeliste labors in Alabama till forced by the weight of years and the results of the privations of pioneer life to retire from the scene of activity. He lived, however, 10 see the state of his adoption pass from an infantile stage to one of great population and prosperity and to witness the eonsummaton of much of that of which he was one of the original prospectors. Retiring in his
 last years to Monroe county Georgia, he died at the age of 76 On the moral and spiritual side he was one of the founda- tion builders of the state of Alabama
 His labor and sacrifice deserve reeogni- ton alongside that given of men whose stations in life gave them great conspic- uousness in the public eve. He was of the class of men who labored in eompara- tive ohscurity, passed away. and in due time are forgotten. but their works oo follow them In their everlasting results.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

One Lung Ching Chang, and his American advisor will be grate suc- cess in the Big Leege, but we have our doubts of them climbing verry high in the percentage collum for the first seesun or two, and in the meen time we would advise the American Millitery High Muekity Muck not to let his ambision lead him too far away frum sudden communication on the outside world for help, otherwise he mite end his brillient career in man. ner comforting only to those who par took of his sad remains.
 We don't like to be a Nocker, but in our humbul judgemint we believe that China and Jaypan both Will bear a ;ood deal of watching. Keeping close tab on 'em won't hurt enny, and it mite do a lot of good. Yours trooly,
 BILL VINES.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

ter-the ardent but devout preacher. tile great French patriot and the half hundred warriors each with his hands over his face praying In the wild woods of Ala bama. The prayer was an unrestralned outburst of joy at the meeting of the old commander and devout invocation for the preservation of the life Of the friend of American liberty.
 Yielding to the hospitable pressure of the boy soldier of other and stormier days, Lafayette was taken to the humble cottage of the missionary in the woods. and in order partly to entertain the dis tinguished guest and partly to afford him an insight into aboriginal life Mir Smith arranged for a game of ball to be played by the Indians. The day over and LaFay- ette was taken Into the cabin, served with the scanty fare of the pioneer mis- souary and beside the primitive fire place the two, the missionary and the great Frenchman, sat that night and fought over the battles In which both
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

Another eccenlricitv of this great paint CT is that his one idol is his father.
 Mancini says the most of the pleasure he gets from the large prices he is paid for his pictures is that he can spend the money 10 make the old father happy One of his famous pictures is of his father.
 He is his fathers boy"
 He forgets he is a man with a great reputation and treats his father as he did when he was struggling art stu dent. His first impulse on seeing his father enter his studio is to embrace him in the same way he did when a child.
 Mancini explains that his father strug- gled and made many sacrifices 10 enable him to get his art education.
 Now. if these "eccentricities' show Man cini to be insane give us more such mad painters.
 We have heard much Of the eccentrici- ties of genius" but few of this sort
 Psychologists and pathologists may dis agree as to what is sanity or insanity.
 But
 A great man who loves the common people and who shares his successes with them and who dearly loves the old fa- ther who for his sake in the days of pri- vation ate many short dinners-why, he is glorious. sane or insane.
 In half an hour you can
 Toss a pleasant joke to half a score of persons and Tighten their daily task or help some youngster do his difficult sum or lift him over some barrier Or
 You can hold friendly converse with some discouraged neighbor, or write a postal card to some lonely one. or mail a mes sage of fraternal greeting Or
 You can speak the little word in sea son to your wife or husband to shorten the weary day and bring the often smile or get in touch with the optimism of na- tnre and give yourself impetus for the duties of the morrow. Or
 You can read a page or two of Tenny- | sou or Ruskin or Hugo or the other | masters and think their thoughts and feel the beat of their emotions after | them
 Or
 You can relax your tired nerves and strong bent energies and while resting link yourself with the infinite forces that make for strength and righteousness. I All this you can do-and more-in one short balf hour. | On the other hand 1 In one half hour you can move among 1 your fellows with mo glorious morning face' or word of cheer or you can speak the words that smart and scorch and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

sylvania There was a cordial demonstra- tion of mutual affection between the old French veteran and the younger man. now a Methodist preacher The painted Indian warriors looked on the exchange of greeting with evident pleasure. It so happened that Lafayette reached the Ala hama side just at the point where stood the humble school building of the intrepid missionary.
 The first demonstration of greeting being over, MT. Smith eschewing all conven- tionality, and in keeping alike with his Methodist zeal and the joy which he ON perienced in meeting his old commander proposed that all bow in prayer. When Lafayette and Smith dropped on their knees the Indian warriors did the same, and there on the banks of the deep rolling Chattahoochee. beneath ancient oaks, in fervid and loud demonstrations of prayer the voice of MT. Smith rang out through the deep forests. The picture thus pre- scented was worthy the pencil of the mas
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

X 4 Y Dear Friend-Your long and M Interesting letter concerning the l work of the church in our age, and it's relations to such things as the Men and Religion Movement and what is called '-social service,' and the ameli- oration of human conditions, is too in teresting fer me to keep it all to myself It occurs to me that a great many other people. especially here in the South. will be interested in our discussion You are yourself so experienced, you have been so long in the work, your mind IS so clear, ands so unencumbered with pre- judice, and you are so loyal to what Is called the older view, that l am sure q great many people will be most sympa- thetically inclined to concur in what you say I wonder whether in answering you, I can fairly represent you to those who may read this letter.
 Certainly, there is no question at all before the people of today, that com mares in importance to mankind with this question, What is the duty of the Church today" I quite agree with you that if we get the answer wrong, We shall suffer and the following generations will suffer through our failure. But there are two sides to that question. If our wrong answer is wrong by failing to see the things that ought 10 De recos- nized as a long neglected duty, so that we shall continue to neglect H, the re suits will be at least as disastrous as if we on the other hand, undertake dut- ies which are none of our business.
 As you say. q can see that the coming years are to be exceedingly trying to all who would enter the ministry. One must choose between various tendencies Some are, to my mind, erroneous and will bring to comfort; some are shallow and inandequate +*% If a man is really called (te the old line of pastoral service) and can stand it. a crucixion is sure to come Let him accept the chalange and go in for martyrs life, for such it is
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

planting Methodism in the lower south.
 All real teachers are greater learners than instructors, for in their zeal to iin- part they must first come to acquire. MT. Smith was an assiduous student and with the growth of his years was an accuniu- lated stock of both wisdom and learning. As he passed the meridian of life he be- came a power in his denomination and his counsel was freely sought in the high circles of his church. When in 1925. Gen eral Lafayette visited Alabama in his tour of the south. he passed through the Creek nation, in Georgia, and was escort ed by a body of Georgians to the Chat tahoochee river and consigned to the care of 50 painted Indian warriors, who vied with the pale faces in doing honor to the distinguished visitor. Rowing Lafayette across the river to the Alabama side, he was met by Rev. Isaac Smith. The great Frenchman instantly recognized Mir. Smith as one of his boy orderlies during the campaigns in New Jersey and Penn
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31

K To man in the early annals of the M state had more varied or TO- l mantle career than the Rev. Isaac Smith, g. courageous missionary of the Methodist church. His life and labors do not find recognition on the page of sec uar history, but the contribution which he made 10 the state in it's early forma- lion wins for him meritorious place in the states chronicles. It is doubtful that his name and labors are familiar to the present generation of the great body of Christians of which he was an early or nament, but they are none the less worthy of becoming record
 MT. Smith enlisted from Virginia in the army of Washington while yet youth. Bright and alert he was chosen an order ly by Washington and served in that ca pacity under both Washington and La Fayette.- When the new nation started on it's independent career and when the