davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

The big boys played there so industri-
ously and constantly that the grass
had no time nor chance to grow. Did
of anything Of that sort? Not he. He
merely called the boys and invited them
pleasantly to help him keep the boys off
his lawn; the reward for this neighborly
act was to be s5. And the Grider lawn
was soon blossoming like the rose, and
every boy In the neighborhood felt a per-
sonal responsibility for its care and beau
ty: And as business proposition his ar
ransement quite appealed to Mr.. Grider.
These were big boys, though; a little lad
in rompers couldn't stop grass from grow
ing. Arthur is a grandson of Mr.. A. H.
1eges, a prominent Georgian, as we'll as
the w. A. Chenoweths
Master Mortimer TIarvie Jordan Jr..
bears his fathers name, one that means
much in this community He is the
grandson of Mrs. Florence Jordan and
the family name, Harvie," and the name
Mortimer have been bestowed upon
many members of the Jordan clan, so
that many pleasant associations cling
about them. Baby Mortimer is a pean-
tiful little fellow and the veritable idol
of his grandparents, Judge and Mrs. Zel
Castor. Master Culpepper Exum the
son of city commissioner. is bit older
than either of the other youngsters and
the finest boy imaginable. He has a tiny
'brother Frank Kinney Exum, and a
sister who promises to be a beauty like
her mother, Lestra Kinney, whose name
she BEARS
Scores of Aittle Girls
There are scores of little girls whose
charm is not only beauty. but bright,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

keen intellect. Tt is odd, sometimes, the
fancies that originate in the brains of
these quaint little folk One tiny tot
who started to kindergarten this fall in
the dear little slips of dresses made with
the gathers falling from the neck "bish-
OPP fashion, a bit of lace about the
throat and sleeves and no more trimming.
She is darling in these little frocks and
has dozens of them that way, but the
first day at Kindergarten sent her home
with quite a different notion. To IMAM
N.Y." her faithful old nurse, she said:
Il don't want to wear this dress, or any
like it, ever again; give me the one that
has the trimming down the front and the
yoke in the top and the others that are
made like 1t, but don't ever put this cne
on me- Nanny stood aghast But
Madeline" she said, you have only three
of these; you haven't enough to throw the
others away What is the matter that
you don't like them? And with her fun
ny little finger puckered up she told the
reason: THE children say I wear my
nightgown to school; they all told me I
had on my nightgown, so I will never
wear any of them any morer" This quite
positively.
Nanny persuaded and cajoled and
promised all sorts of things, and the next
morning as they entered kindergarten
together she Indignantly whispered story
OF her little charges trouble to the teach
er. Swiftly and tactfuliy, ethe teacher
said, Come here, Madeline; come here.
children, all of you" and as they gath
cred in an eager circle about the two
she said, Il want you to see this beau
tiful little dress. Look at the way it
is made here around the neck, and see
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

beauties in the Youngest" set and an
other is. Grace Martin, daughter of Mr..
and Mrs James Martin, named for her
mother, Grace Andrews. Mr. and Mrs.
c. NJ. Stanley have a beautiful little
daughter Lila. and a son, younger, who
was named for his father. Cassius, Jr.
Mr.. and Mrs. Allen Jemison's children
are Allen, Jr., and Aliska. Mr.. and Mrs.
r. w. Barretts little son is Edward
Ware and Barrett, Jr., and the two lit
tie girls, jamie and Kathryn Butt. MIR.
and Mrs. William Walker have several
lovely chidren-the older, William and
Cullom, and a darling baby girl. The
bright little son of Mr. and Mrs. Will
liam Romeyn Lathrop is a ''Jr." just as
one finds in most families. He Is q
splendid little fellow-a real rollicking.
playful, happy boy There are several
charming little divers. children of Mr..
and Mrs. w. G. Oliver-Billiy and Bing-
ham and Dale and tiny baby boy. One
of the younger Honly sons is DR.. and
Mrs. Robert Gums wee boy, Robert
Gum, Jr., and another, younger still,
is Roy Thomas Huffman, Jr. His mother
was Annie Ward before her marriage. A
beautiful little boy is Robert Darden,
Jr. His mother was Lucille Milan
One of the most beautiful little girls In
Birmingham is the youngest child of Mr..
and Mrs. William Walker (Mollie Cullom)
and Mr.. and Mrs. William C.. Sterrett
have two lovely little children. Drum
mond, the small daughter of Mrs. Eva
Conner Fraser promises to be pretty, vi
vacious and charming like her mother,
the daughter of Gov. and Mrs. B. b.
Conner. She has several lovely little cous-
ins, the children of DIR. and Mrs Frank
Nabers (Bevelle Comer). Two little peo-
pie who represent two of the old Jefferson
county families are the children of Mr..
and Mrs. William S. Mudd,. the latter
Nellie Nabers. Three of the most at
tractive children pictured today are in the
group-the two Kelley children and their
handsome little cousin, Ernest Patter-
son, the son of Mrs. Lottie Austin Pat
terson. The two younger are George Kel-
ley, Jr., and Austin Kelley, a pretty lit
tie girl who promises to be the counter
part of her mother, dainty, charming SD
same Austin.
One might continue ad infinitum, to tell
of the bright boys and girls. the pretty
ones and the very good ones, for there
are hundreds of them here who might
be noted in any of these classes. But a
very true commentary to make upon the \
children of Birmingham as class Is
that they are the children of parents
who know excellently we'll what is good
for them-this showing in the fact that
the chld-snob the child-prig, the
child-tyrant and the precocious child
which modern writers on the subject de-
clare they find in great abundance-are
here noted for their scarcity. In their
stead oneefinds the healthy, happy, sweet
tempered little people-a very small rep
Of whom have. been noted to-
day.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05
Tashn1et, She Who Answers Prayer

Gated and extensive syllabary. COM
prehension OF Aramaic (the language
of commerce and diplomacy the Chal-
daeic tongue and later the Greek
These libraries consisted of vocabu-
1aries, gra mmars and interlinear trans
lations compiled for the use of students,
as well as commentaries ON the older
texts and explanations of obscure words
and phrases The characters of the
syllabary were all arranged and named
and elaborate lists of them were drawn
up. These libraries were circulating
in character and books might be bor-
rowed from them by the students. But
they We're very voluminous and cumber-
some as they consisted OF clay tablets
upon which the words were engraved
by metal stylus.
There Is some evidence that papyrus
was to an extent employed, but if this
is so it has long since perished.
The Babylonian libraries were replete
with literature and science. They had
their epics, the titles of which have
come down to us and others have peen
preserved inaheir entirety.
One of the most famous of these was
the Epic of Gilgamesh. or Izdubar. now
called the "Nimrod Epic" Here we find
our first similarity between the Baby
lonian and Jewish records for Izdubar is
the prototype of Nimrod mentioned in.
Genesis.
| wish that time and space permitted
a recital at length of the details OF
thi0most charming story, but as l am
approaching Tashmet, / must content
myself with a simple summary of the
legend. After Izdubar. like St. George
before Jerusalem, suddenly appeared
and drove the Elamite invaders from
Erech he was offered the hand of Isn-
tar, the widowed queen whose husband,
Tammuz, had been killed by a wild boar.
butShe roughly rejected the. same. The
spurned queen called upon her father
Anu, the supreme God of the Asyro-
Babylonian pantheon, for she was of
divine origin, for revenge. Anu created
a monstrous bull and sent II to destroy
Izdubar, but that hero, with the as
sistance Of his friend, Ea- bani, lenli-
god slays the beast. Ishtar then in
duces her mother, Amatu, the wife Of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

A WHILE ago. when in the far east,
"a purchased a curiously wrought
= - bronze image of an admirably
draped female which the merchant who
sold it to me declared was found in
tho ruins OF Bosippa and was Tash-
met. the goddess who answers prayer
1 knew that Borsippa was once the
site of the present Birs Nimrud in a
country that once was called aBabylonia
and that not far from here We're DIS
covered many hundred clay tablets cove
cred with cuneiform inscriptions, and
that here was supposed to have stood
the tower of Babel Consequently be-
came Interested as to discovering the
identity. of Tashmet whom my bronze
image represented
have often heard it averred that
much, possibly all, of the scriptures
known as the Old Testament was in
epired from Babylonian records during
the Jewish captivity. even to monothe-
ism, but never had been so impressed
with the similarity of these two records
rntil / began my search for some
knowledge of Tashmet.
While Babylonia and Assyria were
sister states, they differed essentially
in character; the first being a land of
merchants and agriculturists, the lat
ter. like Germany of today, an organ
fzed camp. The Assyrian dynasty was
founded by successful generals who
were autocrats and whose palaces were
far more sumptuous than the temples of
the gods; the Babylonian kings were
priests whom revolution raised to the
throne, land priests they remained to
the last under control of a most pow
erful hierarchy.
AS is always the case under such con-
Babylonia, and this latter country had
its libraries in nearly every one of its
towns and temples. In fact there was
extant in the land in those days an old
Sumerian proverb that "he who would
excel in the school of the seribes must
rise with the dawn. Here women as
well as men learned to read and write
nor was such learning superficial as
it embraced a knowledge of extinct
0umerian as well as OF most compli-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

the sleeves; [ think this is the prettiest
girl wear to SCHOOL, And the admiring
and envious glances that followed the
small wearer of the frocls told its own
story. That afternoon Nanny was in
structed to Take these other dresses
and put them away; am never going to
wear any kind of dress but this SO
much for feminine nature, which, 1t is
said, thrives on flattery.
Among the Old Families
One of the old families in this section
is well represented in the roll of tiny
people-the Smiths. Mr.. and Mrs. Cal
vim Jones, the latter Annie Smith-have
two little ores, Calvin and Josephine.
Martha McDavid is the youngest Of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Patton McDavid's Urene
Smith) several children. Sheis just two and
as fascinating as two years can be. Out
at Roebuck Springs near them are the
Hugh Morrows, and their two smallest, a
re-Hugh and Libbe. Mrs. Morrow was
Margaret Smith. Across town, in Gray
mont, are the Hubert Smiths and their
two cunning boys, one j. c. Nelson
Smith, named for his fathers best friend ;
the other, T. O. Smith. ILL.,. namesake
for his grandfather, Colonel Smith.
The small granddaughter of another
Smith who is much beloved locally, though
of another family, is Rose, daughter of
Mr.. and Mrs. Ross Smith, granddaughter
of Mrs. J. Morgan Smith. She is some
what older than most of the others in
this group, and she is a lovely, lovable
little girl with promise of her mothers
beauty. Mrs. Smith was Jessie Eubank
Near her at Roebuck Springs is little
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

was successfully reached, but in ascend
ing still farther to the gate of 1shta, the
strength of the eagle gave way and Etan-
ma was dashed to the ground.
Astronomy bore conspicuous place in
Babylonian literature and was written
from an astrological point of view. The
zodiac was an invention cf Babylon and
solar and lunar eclpses were f6retold
with perfect accuracy. In fact. observa-
tories were attached to the temples and
reports were regularly sent by the astron-
omers to the king. The stars had been
named and numbered by them. tables of
lunar longitude had been worked out and
observations of the phases of Venus re-
corded. Great attention was paid to the
calendar and week of seven days and
another OF five days were in use. In
mathematics they had discovered the con-
yenience of the duodecimal system, their
soss being a unit of co., which corre-
sponded with a degree of the equator,
and it is a question among mathemati-
clans of today whether the duodecimal
system is not preferable to the decimal
In other words, would it not be more
convenient to run up to the numeral IL
before we began to double the figures in
stead Of starting at 10 as we now do?
that of the creation and its object was
to glorify Bel-Merodoch by describing his
contest with Tiamat, the dragon of chaos.
Bel-Merodach was the chief of the Il
gods of the Babylonian pantheon and
it was he who brought about the deluge.
His wife was Zarpaint who was adj
dressed as Belt ("The Lady.')
He was considered the compassionate
god of mankind relieving their ills with
the power and knowledge which his fa-
ther, the god of profound wisdom, gave
him. He was the patron of the magi
and his son Nabu was the husband of
Tashmet, the goddess who answers prayer
The first bek of the epic gives an
account of the creation of the world cut
of the primeval deep, or the separating
OF the land from the water, and the
birth of the gods of light. Then comes
the story of the struggle between the
gods Of light and the dragon Of chaos,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

Anu, and Mother of Gods to smite Ea-
ban and infect Izdubar with loath-
some disease resembling leprosy. To re-
siore his friend to life ard also to
be cured of his malady Izdubar visits
MS ancestor, Hasisadra, who had been
transplanted TO the realms of the blessed
and was enjoying immortality with The
rest OF the gods 1t was long jour
ney thither, but after many adventures
the hero finally reached his destination
when he Is cured of his disease, ana Ea-.
pina is brought back from the lower
world However, before effecting these
changes Masisadra relates to his kins-
man the story of the deluge.
This story is an exact counterpart
of the one related in Genesis. In it
Hasisadra says that he was living in
the city of Surripak on the Euphrates
when la, the god of the ocean, appeared
TO him and apprised him of the decision
of the gods to cause flood and ad-
Vlsec him to build a ship and thus save
himself, his family, his friends and Ills
goods. This he did, and when the waters
oftthe flood disappeared he left the ship,
which rested upon mountain and Of
Tered sacrifice to the gods. After this
he disappeared and a voice from heaven
informed his companions that he had
forever as a reward for his piety. He
is rightly termed. the '.Babylonian. Noah
and Berosus styles him xisuthros, and
says that he and his friends were saved
while the rest of mankind was drowned
on account of sin. He had been or
dered to build ship and pitch 1t with
IN and without and to stock 1t with
animals of every species. He. sent out
hrst dove, then swallow, and lastly
raven to discover il the earth was
dry The dove and the swallow returned
10 the ship. and it was only when the
raven flew away that the rescued nero
ventured to leave hts ark. He found
that he had been stranded on the peak
of the mountain of Nizir. the ''mo',n-
tain of the world.' where the Accadians
believed the heaven to, rest where they
placed the habitation of their gods ana
the cradle of their own race. AS Mir
lays among the mountains of Pr Nam.
Just south of Rowandix. its mountain is
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05
BY C. F. MARKELL

identified with Rowandiz itself On its
peak Xisuthrus offered sacrifice piiing
up cups of wine by sevens. and the
rainbow the glory of ANU appeared
in the heaven as a covenant that the
world should never again be destroyed
by a flood.
Rowandiz was tn Accadian Olympus.
and was believed to be the pivot on which
the haven rested. covering the earth like
huge extinguisher. The world was
bound to it by rope, similar to the one
with which the sea is churned in Hindu
legend or the golden cord of Homer
wherewith Zeus proposed to suspend the
earth after binding the cord about Olym-.
pus.
But this is ~ no means all that the
cuneiform inscriptions have to tell and
which the Jews learned in their Baby
lenian captivity. There is the legend OF
Adapa, the first man; he was fashioned
by the god Ea, out of clay, and, strange
to say, his obedience, not disobedience
was the origin of death. Adapa while
fishing had broken the. wings of the south
wind and was. accordingly, summoned
before the tribunal of Anu in heaven Ea
counselled him not to- eat nor drink there
and by following this advice he refused
the food which would have made him
and his descendants immortal.
Then again. there is the legend of
Nsmtar the plague demon. In Kings.
xvii, "a. mention is made of Cuthah. the
city from which were brought the. colon
lists who became the progenitors of the
Samaritans and the legend of Namtar
tells of Nergal. a god. of that city. Hades,
the abode of Nin-crisgal or Allat. had
been entered by Nergal, who, angered by
a message sent by the gods of the upper
world, ordered Namtar to strike off her
head. She, however. declared that she
would submit to any condition imposed
ons her and would give Nergal the SOW
.ereisnty of the earth Nergal. according
ly reiented.. and AllaNu became the queen
of the internal world.
Pride was punished in those days as
we'll as in the Christian era, for those
little clay bricks tell Of one Etanna con-
spring with the eagle to fly to the high
est heaven. The first gate. that Of Anu,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05
Split the Steak Seven Way.

From the New York Sun.
In her suit for maintenance MruL
suk2p7M ,Dexheirner' Of 81 Day street,
Orange, testified in Newark that an
unfair division Of steak three weeks
after marriage started her marital difA
ficulties She separated from her hns-'
band; Eugene Dexheimer, on March
last. - is..EY,@
Mrs. Dexheimer was widow with
an 1S-year-old son and 1S-year-old
daughter when she married Dexheimer
on May 10. 1911. He was widower
and the father Of two sons and a
daughter. the youngest of whom was
IL years old.
Mrs. Dexheirher charged that her
husband served all the better parts OF
steak to himself and his children and
the poorer parts which she said "ouT
netghbors would have thrown away. -
myself and my children"
On the stand Mr.. Dexheimer said het
gave his wife $2a and $z5 = week
and that she grumbled over money
matters and nagged hin.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

and Of. all my bijoutry there is. no ar
ticle of virtue that J. cherish more than
that tiny brazen Image. Sir Oliver Logan
has seriously contended that any inani-
mate object which Is the recipient of
great amount of affection or devotion as
a doll or an idol. imbibes a portion of
that sentiment and is capable of impart-
ing it again. to human beings. / have
read Of the florist who upon approaching
some favorite plants was impressed with
sense of deep sadness and upon in
vestgation learned that his wife had.
given one of them to a friend. The rel
naming pla1fs were mourning for their{
lost companion to such a degree as to
infect the florist with their sense of
grief Therefore, II what the Oriental
merchant told me as to the place of Tash-
NETS discovery be true, that yeneration
which for centuries WAS accorded her
may be responsible for my affection for
the image. At all events l love the
little brazen object and never tire N
contemplating one who answers praysU,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

kin, the other two. Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Hiden's fine little boy has his father s
name, and Mr.. and Mrs. B. b. Burtons
little son. about the same age, is Ber-
nard Burton, Jr.
The two youngest children of Mr.. and
Mrs. Troup Brazelton are Jane and Anna,
each a lovely child. and the little sons
of Mrs. Rose Wellington owen are Lu-
Glen and John Morehead Owen. The
little son of Mr.. and Mrs. Roblsy C.
Munger is Robley Munger. Jr., a fine
fun loving little fellow. He is the grand
son of Mr. and Mrs T. T. Ashford, and
of Mr.. and Mrs. R. S. Munger. The
grandchildren OF the latter couple are
quite numerous. Mrs. Paul Earle (Rosa
MungeD the Eugene Mungers, the Col
lett Mungers of Texas, and Mrs Alex
Montgomery (Ruby Munger), all having
attractive children. Little Elizabeth
Reynolds daughter of Mr. and Mrs B.
A Reynolds, and the two w. w. Clay
ton children, Billy Jr., and Charles, are
among the interesting circle at Gray
mont. Margaret Barr, daughter of Mr..
and Mrs. C. ]. Barr of Ensley, Is one
of the most promising children in the
community. She is beautiful and WIN
some, with sunny nature and sweet
mess to match her charming face Mr..
..
at school
The handsome Representatives of an
old family of this section are the sons
of Mr. and Mrs. Pugh Pearson, James
Pugh Pearson, Jr., and Robert H. Pear
son, named for the late beloved citizen
who was his fathers uncle. Their mother
was Emmie Eubank daughter of DR..
Alfred Eubank, representative of one
of the pioneer families of Birmingham.
The children of DR.. and Mrs. F. A.
Lupton may be mentioned among the in
teresting little ones. Micajah Woods
Lupton, named for his maternal grand
father, is four or five years of age,
butt his little brother is a wee baby.
Other Well Known Children
Florence Miner Birch is the grand
daughter of City Commissioner James
Weatherly. Hers is a good old Jefferson
county name; it belonged tor her mater
nal grandmother before her and Miner
is name associated with much of the
development of this section. Florence is
the daughter of Mr., and Mrs. Alexander
Clitherill Birch, Georgia Weatherly),
granddaughter on the paterna side of
Mrs. Allie Birch. She is quaint, thor
oughly feminine little creature, just as
may be said Of little Mary HaIisel Shook.
daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Paschal Shook
Carrie Sharpe). She, too. has her grand
mothers name sake and IL she grows
up to be as lovely as Mrs HI. A. Sharpe
her parents will have reason to be proud.
Her little sister. Margaret, is named
for an aunt on the paternal side. Two
quaint, charming little folk are Henry
Mosler Marx and Otto Marx. the small
sons of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Marx. Flea
nor Dale Warren, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Ed Warren, Jr, is one of the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05

Tiamat,. who was inimical to them Me-
Iodach finally drove. a great wind into
he1 open jaw and split her asunder.
forming the heaven out of one-half of
her body and the earth out Of the
other.
Merodach next arranged the stars in
order, along with the sun and moon. and
gave them laws which they were never to
transgress. After this the plants and
animals were created and lastly came
man fashioned out of clay. t
1t is not my purpose TO support the
priority in date. Of either the Babylonian
cuneiform records or the Old resta-
ed at the similarity Of the two. .tnd /
was pleased to have discovered the hig-
tory of her who answers prayer
While Tashmet was the name by which
the common people loved to address this
gracious goddess, in the Pantheon She
was known as Mana. Her sanctuary
was called ,E-an-na thouse OF heaven
and was situated at Erech. one Of the
four great cities Of the Kingdom Of Mini.
rodfi now represented by the, mounds of
the ruins of Warka. A stele of Asur-
.banipaL who feigned over Babylon 60e
year B. c., records that Erech was IN
vaded by an Elamite king 1886 years
previous who carried off a celebrated
statue of Mana, and that he (Asurbani-l
paD at the conquest of Susa, returned
the image to its ancient seat This
proves that over 2cO0 years before the
Christian era there were others besides
the Hebrews who believed that prayer
was answered, and that she who answer
ed it dwelt in heaven.
l, of course. have never tested the
alleged virtues of Tashn1et. but when
ever witnessed the gross idolotry dis
played by the ignorant peasantry of
Russia as they Frustrated themselves be-
fore the bejewelled ikons of their church,
es and shrines I could mot help but
feel that should chance to accord my
goddess little petition accompanied
by a genufection the simple act would
be no more impious than their degrad-
ing devotions.
However, must confess that lik<'