davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

And wait His coming from the sky, To wed my happy soul"
 have no doubt that MT. Wesley wrote this hymn with all devoutness; but 1t reads as if he wanted her to understand that he was glad the courtship terminated as it did. John Wesley was not as con stant as Isaac Watts. No doubt, after been He married the widow of a former London merchant. She had no sympathy with Wesley In his work and finally left him, He made no effort to induce her to return to him, saying: "She left of her own accord; she may return if she so de- sires"
 The well known hymn beginning, ''I would not live alway, l ask not to stay Where storm after storm rises dark o'ey
 the way
 was written by William Augustus Muhlen- berg in the year 1924 It used to have place in the hymnal of the Episcopal church; it Is retained in the hymnals of some churches. It is said that the rever- end author had been rejected by young woman at whose feet he had laid his heart. Like nearly all rejected lovers, to console his discomfort he sought the solaee of poetry. He "would not live al- way; indeed, many a man in his rejected and dejected state, has not wanted to live at all As Muhlenberg wrote 1t originally the poem began: "I would not live alway-llve alway be-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28
BILL VINES ON THE PROHIBITION CONVENTION

festo in the shape of platform with less than 300 words, the burden of which is 'down with licker," a senti- mint hartily agreed with and moor consistently praetised by both of the old parties, and indorsed by the Yung Bull Geese.
 The Nasional Prohibision Party is composed of three or fore perfectly lady like gentlemen frum each state. who beleeve that ticker should only be used for medisinal purposes, and that man should under no sircum- stances ever take a drink-except. when ordered to do so by his fam merly Physisian, or in case of em- mergemsy when the fammerly Physi- sian cannot be found-when one feels like it.
 They think Uncle Sam ought to take a high sect on the sprinkling cart, and the capital ought to be filled up with
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

was. pr. Bestor was native of Con- necticut, where he was born in 1797. Re- moving to Alabama by way of Ken lucky. when he was "A. ne began at once career of usefulness which extended practically through half century, a pe- riod which embraced all the great revo- lutions through which the state has passed. In none of these was he an idle spectator nor uninterested agent.
 His educational advantages were the best the period could afford, and these afforded him the buttr.ss of an ever wid- ening sphere of knowledge. Possessing an intellect at once readily receptive and retentive. he was a. diligent student in a number of fields of research. From sur face facts he probed toward the bottom of principles and reached conclusions a. first hand. If occasion arose for a modi- flcation of opinion on any matter, he yielded to new evidence, though it bore him to position diametrically opposite to that originally held. It is the small man who never changes a viewpoint. The
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

manhood to it's promotion. Founded about the time of the last visit of General La Fayette to America, Dr. Bestor derived it's name from that of the famous French man, while to the cultured village which sprang up on the plateau on which the school was located, the name of La Grange was given in honor of LaFayette's chateau in France.
 This was the grst school incorporated in Alabama. To the school the legislature of Alabama in 1924 deeded a half section of land. Though called an academy. the grade of the school was high, and did ad- vanced work. At that time Dr. Bestor was everywhere alluded to as the great educator, and his fame was spread throughout the state. Later, in 1880, the Methodist conference of North Alabama, Middle Tennessee and North Mississippi founded d school for young men in the village of LaGrange, which also became famous institution. Three years later pr. Bestor removed to Greensboro. talk ing with him as far as practicable all that
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

pertained to Lafayette academy. and in that chief town of the canebrake es- tablished another school and remained at its head for a number of years. Still later he removed to Sumter county, where for 1o years he divided his time between preaching and planting.
 It was while serving as legislator from Greene county In 1857 that Dr. Bes- tor revealed the first vision of a com prehensive public school system for the state. His study and investigation of the subject led him to see that with pre- vailing conditions unchanged, Alabama could never emerge from its gloom of iliteracy. The scant facilities afforded by local or denomlnational interests were altogether inadequate to existing de- mands. Schools dotted the state over at favored points, but the ignorance in large areas of the state was little short of the dismal.
 Stirred by conditions like these, Dr. Bestor sought to go to the legislature
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

all worth if there be no place nor hearts where they may be divided.
 Home. sweet home.
 A charm from the skies seems to hallow
 1t there
 Which. sought through the world, Is ne'er
 met with elsewhere.
 Old man Frits ran away from his fam fly when Johnny Frltts was years of age. and the Fritts family had a hard time 10 get along. The mother went out to work and Johnny grew up with the weeds in the town streets
 Whatever mischief might be done by the boys of the village most of it was laid to Johnny. Often the good wives lectured their young sons, using Johnny Fritts as the horrible example of wayward youth.
 Johnny's habits. indeed were bad enough. He smoked and chewed and drank and swore, and nobody cared.
 One night drug store was burglarized and cigars and whisky and few stamps taken, whereat the local seuths, work ing on the theory like father like son. ar- rested Johnny Fitts.
 He was sent to the reformatory on gen eral principles.
 They did give old man Fitts' son 8 chance in the reform school. and Johnny became a model. After he had been there year with a perfect record he asked for a parole, to which he was entitled.
 They turned him down chiefly because he was old man Fritts' son. Other boys who had committed grayer crimes got their paroles on lesser showing. They had pull.
 Again at the end of a second year, with a 100 per cent showing on conduct. John ny Fritts asked for his parole, and 1t was refused
 What was the use of being good?
 Young Frits brooded over his unjust treatment and became one of the worst boys in the reform school. and they put him in a little iron cage too narrow to sit down in eight hours at stretch.
 Rebellious, defiant, guard tried to punish him, and he killed the guard.
 He was sentenced to be hanged and taken to the penitentiary And there he met-whoW?
 Old John Fritts.
 Convict No. Ss5 looked through the bars
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

of the death room at convict No. 5o19 and
 exclaimed, My God It's my Johnny! He
 has his mothers eyes
 Who made Johnny Fitts a criminal?
 Heredity in old Nelson Fritts, environ
 ment in a neglected boyhood Is that all?
 No Add to heredity and environment the cruel injustice of a state! Here are two pictures. Inside the Hotel Vanderbilt New York, eight women. stylishly gowned, and eight
 long haired lap dogs sat together at an elaborate luncheon. The women were rioh women. The dogs were of long lineage and blue blood, pedigreed, imported prize win | ners. and the luncheon was given In the special honor of a Chinese spaniel This canine was champion of his class The Chinese room of the hotel was not Chinese enough to suit the fastid ious taste of the dog owners, so deco | rations were hired and money lavishly spent to make the room resemble royal palace in Picking. Chinese gods grinned from pedestals, and Chinese
 screens and tapestries were every where fin evidence. A Chinese chef was hired and pre- pared a special menu for the occasion. The women ate and fed the dogs, each sitting beside it's owner and devouring the morsels offered by dainty fingers. That Is one picture. Outside the hotel. attracted by the
 laughter and banter of the women and the yaps of the toy spaniels, four wide eyed east side youngsters in tattered garments peeked through an open win dow on the alley side. Their mothers. doubtless, were too busy with their washtubs to know how far away the kids had strayed. Should they turn up by supper 1t
 would suffice.
 The grlmy youngsters, three boys and girl, paused when they heard
 the strange ki-yis of the aristocratic spaniels.
 Whats them dogs doin'?" asked
 one. Thought they didn't let dogs In them swell joints"
 .Aw, we can find out" answered an-
 other. placing soap box he was talk ing home for kindling under the win
 dow. Sadie. the only girl of the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

It is still that way. The Nasional Party, however, does not poll the full strength of the prohibision vote in the United States. There air just worlds and worlds of life long Prohibisionists who march rite up and vote to put flicker out of their town or county, es- pecially if the Express service is good, who renig with a grate deel of emfasis when it cums to putting it plum out of the country. They do not feel that they air abul financially to take trip abroad evvery now and then.
 Then they feel that our Merchant mareen is not at stage of devellop- mint that it would stand the traffic if we had Nasion wide prohibision law.
 One grate truble the Prohibisionists have had, is getting there followers to stick. In most cases demmicrat is always demmicrat and he hates re- publican with Dark Brown hate, for
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

that he might acquaint the representa- tives of the people with the results of his disinterested investigation His plan was that which actually came to prevail many years later, but after he had passed away.
 In the legislature he threw his cul- tured being into the single cause of edu- cation procuring for 1t a special com mittee of which he was made the chair man. He prepared with great pains and labor an elaborate report and a bill to be offered, and in due time it was submitted. The measure met with stout opposition especially at the hands of B. G. Shields of Marengo, the chairman of the general committee on education. who resented the policy of a special commit tee as a reflection on hmlsef and his committee. In the opposition, MT. Shields was supported by Judge Smith of Madi- son. But general committees had never done anything. and for that reason Dr. Bestor asked for a special committee.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

two classes represent respectively obsti macy and consistency. Obstinacy Is the infexiblity of pride; consistency. the in- f1exibility of principle.
 On reaching Alabama Dr. Bestor was impressed more by the lack of educa- tional facilities than by anything else. In the valley of the Tennessee there were multitudes of young folk growing rapidly toward manhood and womanhood, with scarcely any facilities of instruction, He at once became the pioneer champion of general and public education in the state, and was the first to agitate the question in a comprehensive way. He sought to supply the deficiency in the northern part of the state by founding the once fa- nous school in those parts known as the Lafayette Female academy. The school was patronlzed by the wealthy planters of that region, and became the initial means of contributing to the womanly culture for which the section was remarkable Dr. Bestor was the principal of the school and devoted the culture of his young
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28
FREEDOM-By George Eaves, D. D.

the story of a strong man, nor of a par- ticularly wise man. But it is the story of a man, simple, frank, piteously unveil- ing the throbbing of wounded manhood. wounded self-respect. It compels tears because 1t compels readers. Here is q boy who was converted to order, because at his age people joined the church after becoming new men through the operation of the Holy Ghost. Here Is youth who went to school and college, a poor school and a most inefficient college. to be "pre- pared for the ministry" not because he was called to 1t by any voice in his own soul, but because such a step was to be expected of the son of a tradesman prom inent in the chapel" Here Is man in whose soul the poetry of Wordsworth had suddenly awakened a new conception of God-not the God of the little Calvin istic plan of savaton," but the God of nature-and the conflict that arose swept him from one place to another, till he settled to earning his plttance in the bus mess of publishing heterodox books.
 The parallel between Rutherford and Voysey must not be pressed too closely.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

Meantime much sympathy had been evoked, and some wealthy friends secured place for Voysey by hiring Saint Georges hall, where he lectured and preached fin a JenSin Lloyd Jones sort of way. and thus organized what is known as the "Theistic church."
 Now similar currents of popular theolo- BY produced Charles Voysey and the au- thor of the bit of biography to which ref erenee has been made. Bring a great ice age down upon eafth's tropical valleys and even your elephants will grow defen- sive and massive coats of hair Bring deadly child of Calvinistic or Unitarian orthodoxy on human society and preach CTS will arise to wrap themselves in an astonishing garb of intellectual inde- pendence. Alas, your mammoth elephant Is certain to be caught at last. imprisoned in avalanche or ice-1oe, and eaten of wolves. long centuries after his demise And your independent rebel against re- ceived theological proprieties may easily become "a portion for fvrces.'
 Mark Rutherford's autobiography is book, a real book, very great and sig nificant book. though 1t runs to no more
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

figured in the national balance sheet.
 Why?
 Probably because our laws and leg islation have been almost entirely ji- rected to property interests. Our eco- monies know nothing but dollars as rep resented in real and personal property.
 That is why you can stir the country into agitation concerning the conserva- tlon of our resources-timber and minerals and water power-whle proposed legis- agtion concerning pure food and child labor and employers liability meets with a slow response.
 Why so jealous of the destruction of timber and coal and so careless of the destruction of men and women and chil- dren?
 But, glory be,
 The times are full of significance and our statesmen are coming to under- stand that, motives of humanity asidA men are more valuable than money.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

YN it's phases Dr. Bestor's character
 many-sided. He was at once plant J CT, statesman, philosopher, educator and minister of the gospel Richly favored by nature, his gifts had the polish of the classical lapidary and the expansion which comes of research, thought and experience. He lowered immensely above the ordinary man and the babble of the multitude. Like Goldsmith's ideal preach CT, pr. Bestor rose
 "As some tall cliff that lifts it's awful
 form,
 swells from the vale, and midway leaves
 the storm,
 Though round it's breast the rolling clouds
 are spread,
 Eternal sunshine settles on it's head" There was nothing of the maudlin or mediocre type in his character. Every movement and utterance, his face and bearing, all bespoke the man that he
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

evver and eternally. Also when a man is a republican he usually stays that way so he can keep on the pen sion roll. But with the Prohibisionists it is alas differint. He is strong prohibisionist along in Januery and maybe up to March, but when the Book Seesun cums in, just as likely as not he1 git all illuminated and try to bite a poliseman. It is sad site seeing a lifelong prohibisionist ever since last November trying to bite the left ear of gardian of the Peece.
 The Prohibisionists evvery now and then elect Mayor and city clerk, and feel verry chesty, but the chansss air that when the results of the next election is tabullated it will be found that Saloon keeper frum the forth ward has run rings round there can- nydate for Mayor ,and they have got to do it all ovver again.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

gressman takes drink he'll have to go to Urope. The only truble about this is that they could newer git a Corum.
 They insist that a man who newer takes a drink of watur only in the cold gray dawn of the mawning aftur, when he usually gifts up and trys to rap his system round the city watur wurks and ton of ice, should not be trusted with the affairs of grate Nasion.
 They have it figgured out that there is moor rum drank in Washington ev- very day than it would take to float a battleship, and they want to get up here and see where they cum in.
 The Prohibision Party was born yeers and yeers ago, but it has not dun we'll. They tryed to rage it with out a bottle, and it has been virry sickly and peevish thro' the teething period.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

X IISTUR EDDITUR-In the hur- MI " and the hustle and exsite- mint of nommynating can- nydate for Presidint by the G. O. F. at Chicago, and the Demmicrats at Baltimoor and the Bull Gooses at Oys- ter Bay, we have overlooked to a certain extint anuther grate Nasional Convention who have assembulled and gone thro' the usual roteen of saving the country; let loose the fire-wurks, minus the fire watur, and nommynated a cannydate, I forgit his name, but that don't matter; he is a promlnlt citizen of sum phase or uther who does not smell of cloves or Gin Rickeys- for President.
 The Prohibision Pary have met. They met at Atlantic City where they could be inspired by large view of watur; they have issued there manni-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

"HE interurban stopped at the Poor
 Farm station,' and the car window
 ! framed this picture:
 sitting in front of the main building in the evening sun were the old men and women-infirm, done for, twisted.
 Expressionsless they sat- Down and out, they were without hope in the world. With nothing to look forward to but the slim dole of niggard charity, they are without ambition save for food and a bed. For them the path has abruptly ended They can no farther go' and they seek to go no farther.
 The men read no newspapers, and .Ae women have no knitting.
 The train slides on into the suburbs where live the we'll to do. On the porches and lawns, here and there. are the old men and women. and as the low July sun gilds the tops of the trees they, too, sit in the sunshine.
 But how different
 These old men smoke their cigars, and the old women chat with others over em- broidery frames. Some read the evening papers. All have in their aged cheeks the tint of the good blood that comes from plenty of good food Their rooftrees are secure. They sleep in soft beds and keer some money in the bank. The train glides on into the tenement district near by to the business section and here also are sitters in the sun. Here and there they sit, old men and women that have been tossed aside in the industrial world as things foredone. They sit lstless, silent, the battered old men smoking their clay pipes and the poor old women holding their hands. Their aged eyes must be dim from the salt tears they have shed over what might have been. Aged sitters in the sun! All of them have done their share in the worlds big work, and some have done more than a share Some have prospered and look toward a long, serene day ere the shadows of eternity shall close in; fothers have failed and look to children or charity-regretful, hopeless. dependent Is that fair deal?
 Maybe so.
 And yet it would seem these aged folk, whether prosperous or failed. when limbs are stiffened and the blood runs slow,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

Statesmen who haven't such burning thirst. They think if statesman would drink coka-coler and ginger pop, only, he would not be so apt to git all lit up, so that when he went down Pennsylvanier Avenuew about ? p. X. he wouldn't so closely resembull torch-lite procession.
 They argur that legislator who has soaked up 13 bottles of musty ail, and 19 hyballs, is in no state of mind to tell whether he wants one card or three in the draw.
 They have it doped out that ev- very time a Senator makes a speech, he has to throw Il slow gins down his gils to massarge the dust off of his Adams Apple, that the gray mat tur under his roof, if enny, will be floating round in See of boozine like a cockroach in bath-tub. They want to fix it so that evvery time con
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

group, clambered on it, by invitation, and gasped at what she saw.
 "oh, Mikey. they's a feedin' dogs in there-swell women is. Givin' 'em all sorts of classy stuff too. And one dogs got his feet in womans plate, and she don't care" Each child had look in and they they started home ,, ward. and Sadie said. little wist- fully, Some dogs don't get very much, but ] wisht I was one of them dogs"
 Look on this picture and then on that
 The pictures themselves are sufi- cient excuse-if they set you to think ing,
 Get out your Eusebius or your Fer rero and read the stories of the start ling contrasts of the Roman world and ask yourself. How far have we travelled in 20OO years?
 In dollars how much Is a man worth to his world?
 Of course 1t depends.
 In slavery days an ablebodied col ored man would bring from 5000 to $2500 on the auction block.
 ouHB 'rittkb brought 10 tnlS COun- try sell themselves in peonage so it Is claimed, for something like $500 for a period of five years
 l said to my friend. a prosperous lawyer, How much are you worth 2" "One hundred thousand dollars" he replied. When l expressed surprise he said, T earn per cent on s100 LOGO 5000 year-and therefore l am worth that much"
 Experts have figured the cash value of a man.
 According to Dr. Parr the net value to Great Britain of the average citizen aged 20 years is 5000. He gets his estimate by subtracting the mans keep from his probable future earnings
 Men are more valuable here
 American men are valuable because of their better earning opportunity In comparison with the Englishman the figure is surprising. Prof Irving Fisher estimates the average American at the age of 20 to be worth S400o. That Is to say. he is worth that much in cold cash to the United States.
 People are a countrys most valuable asset. but nevertheless they are seldom
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-07-28

all the decencies of life to say nothing of it's morals. Yet he was rescued while still a young man. The manner of his reformation and transformation he re- lates in the most remarkable hymn, in some respects. ever written. This hymn is still retained in some church hymnals. It was often sung in other years, to the tune of Phillips but l think the poem loses much In the singing It may be recited in sermons and addresses to bet ter adventage. The author gave the hymn the title, Looking at the Cross" It begins:
 'In evil long I took delight,
 Unawed by shame or fear;
 Till a new object struck my sight, And stopped my wild career"
 Newton was the author, also, of that wonderfully popular hymn that is sung the whole world round:
 Amazing grace. how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me-
 In the year 175s Newton became a min ister of the Church of England, but was not ordained until 1764. He and Cowper were close friends
 It would not be remarkable if one should find here and there in the hun dreds of hymns of the churches some lit- tie hint at a secret romance which the author all unwittingly has incorporated in his lines l have already referred to what seems to be such hint in New mans exquisite lyric, Lead Kindly Light" But there are others of which we be more certain. To illustrate: