davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

and want to be rich and enjoy life's
best things, and would like to swap
life with somebody! Very we'll. Let me
help you, If ! can
Let us stand on this corner and watch
the occupants of automobiles dash by,
and make your selection from the
richest, for many of the very rich
would like to swap with somebody.
THAT one" o. never; he's the un-
happiest man in town. has an incurable
disease that's gnawing away his life.
"This one" Ny friend do you know
him? He's a friend of mine. lie has a
great sorrow that lies upon his heart
like pail. No. nor the next one. /
know him well. lie is conscious that
his wife's love is not for him. Nor this
one. lie is spending a fortune to es-
tablish the health of his only child.
Nor this one. lie is in debt for that
car and his home is not his 1t be-
longs to his creditors. Nor this one.
He mas a shady reputation. Nor the
next. lie is a good citizen, but has do
nestle sorrows that nearly crush him
- but ] must leave you now, my time
is up!
Well, madam, If you insist upon it.
| snail try to help you. Make your
selection as the women pass. No. not
that one, she is the most unpopular
woman l ever knew-people cannot
bear her. Nor this one-she is in black,
as you see: the tread of death may be
sun heard in her home. Nor this one,
with veil so thick you cannot see her
features. She Is the homeliest woman in
The city some say the homeliest in the
World-you wouldn't make an exchange
win her. Really, | cannot help you.
good-byi
You see, the swap of the life for an
others means that all we have and are
must go. The wife must be left behind,
and the other mans wife is TO fill her
place. His children are to become yours,
and that little blue-eyed daughter whom
YOU love more than you do your own
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04
TOMBECKBE--No. 1O-By B. F. Riley D.

could be the more readily enlisted in his
proposed expedition against the Ghieka-
saws. In order TO subdue the hostile
Chickasaws. he proposed a unique ex-
pedition which he would head in person.
The dominions of the Chickasaws were
remote from Mobile but he would make
Fort TombeclSbe the base of his opera
tons, while he would bring them again
into subsection.
Accordingly Bienville summoned the
garrisons from Natchez and Natehitoehes
to cooperate with the one at Mobile in
the up-country expedition. As it was
regarded as a sort of picnic outing a
company of volunteers, composed of cti-
zens and merchants from New Orleans
asked to join in the excursion. Every
thing was gotten in readiness. Thirty
rough dugouts and an equal number Of
flat boats or barges were arranged along
the shore ready to join in the diversion
of subduing the Chickasaws. In due
time, Governor Bienville appeared i'm gray
uniform pumed hat, and bright sword.
aiNl headed the expedition which sailed
from Mobile on the morning OF April L..
1876. The day might have been taken
as indicative of that which was to come,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

A number of Dutch scientists believe
that they have demonstrated the immor-
tality of the soul and have communicated
with the dead.
They are not the first who have had
such a belief, but they are among the
first to carry on their Investigations in a
scientific way
| did not start out to talk about the
immortality of the soul. however, but
about the strength of gentleness and the
weakness of violence
The Dutch scientists believe that they
have got into communication with the
souls of a number of others who revolte1
against tyranny by using bloody meas
ures against the tyrants.
Here is of the messages the sci
entists claim 10 have received from the
beyond:
HE have changed our thoughts about
revolutionary methods in this sphere. We
know that good cannot be done by kill
ing the Car or anybody. We believe as
strongly as ever in the right of the peo-
pie to rule themselves. but we know the
goal to be attained can only be reached
~ tuc ways u loNo, SShtltlitSS anu iSe-
SON."
Now, that is good fortune whether 1t
came from the souls of departed anarch-
lists from beyond the veil or from the
brains of Dutch scientists yet in the
flesh
In fact, the best part of all revolutions
has been attained by peaceful means. 1t
was only the counter revolutions that
We're bloody.
Truth wins through gentleness.
The spreading of the light does not en-
, tail destruction or slaughter.
John the RaStist believed in attaining
the kingdom of heaven by violence, but
the Prince of Peace counseled the win
ming OF 1t by love
John was the last and greatest of the
prophets of the old order. but the Nazar-
enc was the first and greatest of the
new
| The Great Teacher counseed nonre-
sistanee and the returning Of good for
| evil.
! Throughout the subsequent centuries
! the world has still followed John tile
BAPTIST In spirit, but now at last may We
/ begin to hope that it is turning TO the
/ Nazarene?
| We have depended on force and vic.
lence for the most part, but now We
know there is better way.
Now we are dimly experimenting thai
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

conditions generally plentiful food sup
rlies, little pressure of ambition, little
giorification of mere wealth, save to
the south wonderful immunity from
diseases of the mind. In the great
Canadian west we read of women be-
coming insane through loneliness. 1t
is so many weary miles to the next
farm that the poor things have no es-
cape from the grinding and reiterated
tugging of their own longinSs. They
have worry, though the crops be golden
and prospects good, worry because
there are no ways of achieving what
seems most desirable, the face, the
voice. the touch of 2nother woman.
But in the old conditions, in which
sill largely lives agricultural Alabama,
society was plentiful and wants were
few. with a feather bed and a frying
pan, plow and a gun, it was possible
for a man to live and raise children
Why should he fret? Neither he nor
his Weather neighbor spent much time
in frettng.
But in these days cities are multiply
ing and with them unattainable wealth
holds out its lure, insisting that it is
necessary. In the desire TO attain it
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

men and women undertake heavy bur
dens, tasks too great for them. The
struggle for existence becomes very
battle as to who shall possess.the great
est share of the worlds rewards. Money
becomes the symbol of the power OF
man over his fellows In western cities
and increasingly in all cities, the new
conner is appraised wholly as a means
of enriching the others.
Now the game of money is a most in
teresting and enthralling game for
those VINO play it well. 1t gives little
pleasure to the ordinary citizen, who
knows little of the rules, and who has
no stomach for the risks. In a world of
intense individualism these weakiings
must either stay out of the game or be
ridden down by those stalwart polo
players. An enormous proportion of
these who begin to save a little money
are presently out of the ranks of the
saving class. Insurance companies
make something by policies that are
begun and are not continued. Many a
lot of ground was advertised the other
day by the tax collector, because first
or second or more payments had been
made, or even all payments. and at
the eleventh hour there was not even
enough to pay the taxes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

Rather my purpose is to call halt
on worry, to point IL l can, the solu
ton, the door of egress, the mnzzle for
the dogs of care.
Is 1t not fact that worry is the ne
cation of hope and hope the negation
of worry? a reasonable aud well
founded hope is all that a man needs
to sweep the blaekness from his brow
and his heart. Because the situation
is hopeless and he sits looking, look
ing, looking at the same brick in the
same wall, and cannot bore his way
through, he is wrung and sulfocated
and throttled by his care.
Analyze this again, and it means self
distrust. He hasn't Che skill. the means
to base hope on solid foundations.
worry is therefore self distrust. Men
lose their grip. They so out in the
morning fearing defeat, not expecting
victory.
And the cure for thise You may
sneer at 1t if you will, but if you do
you will sneer at all the Wisest men
who have ever lived in and out of tic
Pible story. You may call it religion"
and so ignore it, but you viii ignore the
only way of conquering worry The
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

in very truth the goal to be attained
can only be reached by the ways of love,
gentleness and reason"
We are learning the strength of being
gentle.
1t is seldom that ! see the pleasant
Ohio countryside where | dreamed away
my boyhood, yet, i'm truth, | see it every
night and every day.
/ For we have other eyes than those Of
the physical vision, and the scenes that
we love are never lost to the eyes of the
mind
Even yet | race barefooted over the
hills, tramp along the paths of the COW
pastures and through the woods run
away and go fishing, swim in the old
creek, eat pawpaws persimmons and
wild grapes, play Indian dig holes
with my bare toes in the sands of the
road and do all the other delightful
things that are done in boyhood
Now | have four boys of my own, and
in them | read myself as 1 used to be.
They look at picture books with the
same wide eyed wonder | used to know.
They watch ants. toads, "darning
needles and bugs with all the fascination
| once felt and are quite as active citi-
zens of the republic of boyland as was
their dad before them
Thus not only in memory, but vicari-
ously, through these lads of mine do
renew my youth.
IL is great to be boy and greater to
keep the heart of a boy through all the
long dusty ways of manhood.
Would be a boy again? | don't know.
There are two sides to that question. But
would ! be a boy always? Yes. a thou
sand times yes. There is only e.-s .ac
to that.
If ! We're actually a boy again maybe 1
would not find the same wife and have
the same four boys | now have. That is
a thought that makes one gasp. You
see, we would take fearful chances by
! going back. But by being a boy always
we take no chances except the chances
OF happiness.
| No. Take il all IN all, J think I would
rather enjoy my Boyand in memory and
through tile eyes of these SONS OF mine
than TO travel the back tran in reality.
Believe me- there is more than pleas
tre in Keeping young in heart. There
! is health. perennial interest. ambition.
buoyancy and renewal Of spirit.
| Ii is a fearful thing TO grow old In
mind and body both, but a beautiful
thing to grow old in body alone while
I keeping young in thought.
For he who becomes aged in heart dies
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

were, kings die like other men" A
monarch exclaimed, you look upon my
crown and my purple robes but did you
know how they are lined with thorns,
you would not stop to pick them up
All of which means that there is no
sphere of life without its sorrows and
dsappointments.
Men often fancy that if they had
large means they would surely realize
the golden dream of lifes perfection,
leaving behind them the thousand cares
and anXieties that harrass them, and
life would be so different. | suppose
it would be different; but there would
be only different anxieties, different
worries and annoyances. It would be
merely an exchange of one quality of
life's defects, for another sort. 1t
would be like one of whom we read in
that fine old Irish story, Roy O'Moore,
who abandoned the errors of the
Catholic church to accept those Of
Professionalism"
Life's satisfaction is not purchasable
in the markets where gold is currency.
If it be found at all. it will be among
the lowly quite aas often as elsewhere.
But wherever it be found the discovery
will be made, that, it proceeds not from
what one has and holds,- but from the
life within Many of the rich are quite
as discontented as many of the poor.
Do you recall the wild murmurings of
Faust. with all his wealth? He hears
the chapel bell ringing, and says,
Accused chime, as in derision
1t wounds me, like a spiteful shot,
My realm is boundless to my vision
Yet at my back this veXing blot:
The bell proclaims with envious bluster
My grand estate lacks full design
The brown old hut. the linden cluster,
The crumbling chapel, are not mine.
NO sorer plague can us attack,
Than to be rich and something lack
The Ginning bell. the linden's breath
Cypress like air from vaults of death,
How shall ban it from my feeling?
rave when e'er the bell is pealing."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04
,s,.ss..,......s,-.,.s....

no time to go to their homes Then
they went To the jail to prepare poor
fellow for the salloWs. Thence to see
a dying girl, who had been injured In Ii
mill by the bursting of a boiler. Then
to cosy little home i'm which lived a.
widow and her blind daughter. 1t was
nearly sundown so they started back To-
the rectory. on the way. the clergyman
said, 30 let's go i'm to see poor young
man here. he was hurt in an automobile
accident yesterday" They went in 1t
was dark when they got to the rectory
At o'clock visitor called in the inter-
est of a funeral to be eopducted next
day. At O'Clock a man and his wife
came. The poor fellow had been on Il
long spree and wanted to take the pledge
before the clergyman and wanted the
prayers as he said, "Of somebody that
had influence with Cod" At a quarter of
10 a young couple came to T., married.
for which service the clergyman received
$l.25. Then asked his friend, the me-
chanic, How many days in the month
do you live this way, just as you have
today?' We'll some days I have less
to do than l have done today. but l.
suppose that | average % days out of
the 30 just as have lived today
usually work from early morning to
about 10 at night. Sometimes I have an
hour or two of my own. and then / go
TO the baseball game; sometimes at night
| go TO a concert, or to an opera, or to
see a good play at the theatre. For il
| had no relaxation, | should break down
in a little while. Then besides all this.
| meet the various organizations of my
church in their frequent meetings. | have
had light task today Now, will yon
swap life with me?' Excuse me. Id
rather shove the jack plane a week than
to have your job one day
II you could swap your life with an
other man, whom would you select for
the exchange? / venture 10 say, that
you'd lose in the bargain. and III little
while you'd want to get back to your old
life, even If some things were still in it
that YOU wish were absent
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

rid of the breeding grounds and carriers
of microbes.
This is all good. wholesome and neces-
sary, only it has not gone far enough.
1t has not gone far enough in a ply
sical way. The whole nation should take
up the crusade and literally clean house.
But especially
1t has not gone far enough in a men
tai way We should have sanitary
thoughts.
Nor has it gone far enough in a moral
way. We must lead clean lives. We
must do this for reasons of public health
if for no higher considerations.
We must get disease not only out of
our back yards but out of our minds
We are coming more and more to rec
ognize the value of the factor of
psychology, we are doing this in bust
of our fellow men. We must also do
it in the matter of health.
Man is not solely or chiefly physical.
His mentality is the distinctive and domi-
mating thing in his makeup
Therefore the sanitary movement must
include this most important part 1t
must be not only of the outside, but of
the inside.
The mind has greater control OF the
body than any Of us has perhaps realized.
Why oanont this control he used for
health?
In the last analysis this is a matter
for each individual It should not be
left to practitioners who ply their trade
for money. II Should be thing OF COM
mon knowledge and common practice.
! We should set over our fear of imagi-
nary things. There is nothing to be afraid
| of except ourselves.
All the good Of the universe is for us
| if we are for the good OF the universe.
we suffer only what we ourselves create.
| If it seems otherwise we have not looked
| far enough. We are more complex be-
inss than we realize, and the causes In
| us NAV reach back farther than we
| ina gine We manifest that which we
are. We i've out that which we have
fashioned
The only thing FOR us is TO get ia har-
, mony with the mental moral, physical
and human law We must think health
ijshtness. success wholeness on every
plane and faith in each other and in the
soul of things.
Let us have sanitary surroundings BY
all means. But let US also have sanitary
minds.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

AS Faust represents many men and
women in his unlovely dissatisfaction, [
repeat that gold the currency of the
worlds marts, cannot purchase happi-
ness though one had all the shining
ore of all the towering hills There is
la crumbling chapel, brown old hut
and a group of lindens somewhere in
the world that cannot be bought, and
our happiness is destroyed because
they belong to someone else.
Therefore, / say. that mans happi-
ness does not always depend upon what
he possesses, nor upon what he lacks.
satisfaction comes from within. And
by the same token, / argue that one
unhappiness does not usually como from
what he is denied 1t also comes from
within We see life as it is reflected
upon the mirror of our own tenpera-
ment and disposition and it is beau
tiful or the reverse in agreement with
our inner selves. So that, we ourselves
are responsible for much of our dis
satisfaction. Hence l believe that Ten
nyson is philosophically and morally
true when he says, in the Idyls of the
King,
70, purblind race of miserable men,
How many of us at this very nour,
Do forge lifelong trouble for our
selves
Ey taking true for false. or false for
true"
In much are we like a certain lady
whose name l could give. She used to
sit in a dark room from which the
sunlight was excluded by closed win
dow blinds and thick curtains. Then,
because the room was dark, she would
light her lamp, complaining the while
of the darkness. OF course, as you may
have supposed, her mind was unbal-
anced. But many who pass for sane
people do practically the same thing
With regard to life. We sit in the dark
ness, While the sunshine is flooding
the world with its glory. We pull down
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

~ L course, it is impossible to eX-
change ones life for anothers.
~ | do not ask the above ques-
ton because I believe 1t may be done.
f;ut / make the inquiry because there
are people whom others envy; of whom
taey say "Ah. IL | could only live that
life There are some who engage in
pleasures. while you are obliged 10
toll; they receive princely incomes, but
you are dependent upon your weekly
wagesi they live in luxurious homes,
while you pay a monthly rental for the
inconvenient little home in which you
lave housed your wife and children
and they shine SIS lights in the social
world of wealth and prominence, but
Your family is unknown socially and
your daughters move in a humber
sphere and may not hope for brilliant
marriages, while your wife reads of
What soes on "in high life and Won
ders, These conditions have the effect
Of making some people dissatisfied
With their lives and they say II should
like 10 try the other way of living"
Well, suppose it were possible TO
swap lives with others, with whom
would you make the exchange? Mind
You, ii is not the exchange of some
things in the life of which ] am writ
Ing, but 1t is the entire life; and this
includes al our possessions and pleas
Lres, as well as all our worries and in
conveniences. You give up all, and
accept ALL the good, bad and indif-
fsrent of another life. There is. OF
course, line drawn, which separates
the children and their mother from
those things which one swaps; for they
are living beings with Wills of their
own, and therefore. no one else can
determine for them in so grave a mat
Ter. Though man would swap away
his own life. he has no right TO swan
he life of another for the life of tie
party of the third part.
BUT you tell me that YOU are tired
OF TINS everlasting poverty and labor
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

thousand deaths, but he who is young
inside never dies al all, but has drunk of
the waters Of Immortality
And in the process Of keeping our hearts
young children help, especially If they
are our own children. Onr beings are
SO wrapped up in them that we live their
lives with them, and in so doing live over
our own.
We follow them toddlers and through
boyhood and girlhood up to the magic
land of their first loves. We go with
them every step Of the way, We ses
through their eyes and understand their
viewpoints and fresh outoolIs on things
1t is like drinking of the fountain of per-
retual youth only to be with them
When was a boy? Why. bless yotir
soul. ! am a boy and intend to remain
so to the end OF the chapter.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

usT above the point where the bridge
of the Southern railway spans the
Tombigbee. at Epes station, in Sum
Ter county, may be seen a clump of cedars
on a high chal<y bluff overlooking the
ilVer. This is a historic spot, for here
9oVernor Bienvllle had built Fort Tom
beekbe, as an outpost of civilization. The
harest traces of the old fort are left in
Sie snght mounds still to be seen, but
u was at one time an important base
10 Bienville
BY tampering with the savages in the
interior of Alabama, English emissaries
mad occasioned such confusion as to give
10 Bienville much annoyance whatever
may be said of the conduct of England
IL this connection, and it was reprehensi-
Die enough, it was at par with that which
was done by the French. Both nations
look advantage of the untutored savage
ana laid under requisition his worst pas
slois IN order each to avenge itself on
the other. On the part of England how
ever, this continued much later. and that
hauon was responsible for many of the
atrocities perpetrated OH Americans
On one occasion two artfu warriors ap-
peared at Mobile with every possible show
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04
w

w sa' It !. v.aa vas' ;. wears n's'a: @sa '' 's
suppose that the two words
come from the same stem To wear is
originally to put on clothes. and then
TO have a custom or habit, and then to
srow shabby because used so continue
ously or else to endure without grow
ing shabby. To worry, on the other
hand, is connected with the other Saxon
word, to wiring, and means to strangle,
as dog worries sheep, shaking and
pulling them about, and often actually
choking them. So do the dogs of care
strangle human souls, terrify human
minds, and wiring the hearts of men.
Definitions seldom help much but il
We will define worry. we must say
that it is a state of mind produced by
inability TO discover the ways and
means for achieving what seems Il nee
essary or most desirable end. The
more desirable the end or the more
necessary it seems, so much greater is
the worry arising from lack o. means
to achieve it.
When Dr. Searcy, the eminent alien
Is of Tuscaloosa, told us the other
day of the immense increase in the