davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

AT tom the visitor started
do you know me?' he inquired of Mr..
vanderlip.
| Know you." replied Mr.. vahderlip,
why, bless your heart have thought of
you a thousand times. I've wondered
where in the world you had floated to and
whether you were alive or dead"
Would you mind telling me where 1
met you?" the visitor asked
. Where do you suppose but in Chicago?
My memory is better than yours. Don't
you remember when many a time as a
cub reporter + was stuck on a story YOU
helped me out? am the Frank Wander
| lip that you were mighty kind to when /
was a kid running around looking for
newspaper items 2O-odd years ago."
| A light of recognition, came into Harti-
gan's eyes.
| well! Well, Welll" he said. so YOU
are the little Frank vanderlip 1 used to
know then. and now you are the president
OF the greatest bank in the world"
| 1t isn't Vanderlip but r. L. Hartigan tha,
this story relates to. Hartigan was born
in Massachusetts In 81 and was taken TO
! Chicago when he was school boy AS a
youngster he picked up a little law in
the office of Judge T. A. Moran. Then he
was sent to West Point He was dis
missed from that institution for some
scrape he got into. He might have re-
mained as a cadet if he had given testi-
mony In which some of his West Point as
| sociates would have been involved. but he
refused to do so.
|
was sent to Union college, Chicago, and
| In 1858 was admitted to the bar of Illinois.
| 1t was while he was a struggling lawyer
practicing in police courts and hanging
around the civil and criminal courts look
| ing for business that vanderlip met him
and he was able to be of service to the re-
porter
Hartigan had penchant for the army
! and was active In the Illinois National
Guard At the outbreak of the Spanish
American war he held the rank of colonel
| in the Illinois militia He was appointed
major of the Thirtieth United States in
fantry. He saw a lot of hard service in
the Philippines. He resigned in 1900 and
lftook up the practice of law in Manila.
Today he is the great lawyer of the
Philippines. He handled the Friars case
for the Roman Catholic church. He is
counsel for the archdiocese of Manila,
for the Standard Oil company and for a
multitude of corporations. He got into
banking and now he is likely to be the
biggest figure In the banking affairs in
that section of the far east.
All of this is a pretty good result for
a Chicago lawyer of comparatively small
practice to attain within 15 years.
Every American who goes to- Cuba is
pretty certain to run across "Cap" Hus-
ton, as Capt. T. l.. Huston, formerly of
the United States Engineering corps, is
| known. The captain is from Cincinnati.
| He had a good deal to do with the build
| ing of the waterworks of that city.
| He is an engineer of high attainment
He has done some wonderful things in
! Cuba. He was In the army that drove
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT

physical demonstration. and all of that
lk. 1 have known excellent people going
through various religious exercises to pro-
duce a certain glow of the heart, as the
scriptures say, Ibid not our hearts burn
within us as He talked with us by the
way?" But the difference between that
and this consists in the fact that in the
one case the disciples received an afflat-
us unsought, and in the other case they
try to work 1t up by what are well called
exercises"
Longfelow's well known poem, "The
Vision Beautiful" will come to the minds
of many: "Hadst thou stayed, l must
have fled: this is what the Vision said"
Clearly the poet is mystically correct,
and far more scripturally orthodox than
the deacon who goes to prayer meeting
in order that he may be made to feel
good"
But, going back to the earliest mystics.
we must keep in mind that though the
apostles themselves frankly exhibit deep
mystical character, it is to a semi-pagan
mind, Plotenus, the great Neo-Platonist
and eclectic philosopher, that the mysti-
cal movement in Christian history Is
traced for it's source
Now what had happened? Simply that
the gospel of John and Paul had been
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

ford d. Bucknam in it's service before
He abominated graft. He loved to work
He had ability of a high order He was
loyal and honest. Various of the mer
who had fattened on the rottenness OF
the Turkish government tried to influence
him. He either drove them from his pres
ence of exposed them They never had
met such man before. The Sultan was
delighted.
The Sultan had in his navy a vessel
that had been undergoing repairs for 25
! years. The vessel had cost $1.0OO0O0 to
build and So 100000 had been spent up to
that time In repairs. The Sultan asked
, Bucknam what that cruiser could be
! made serviceable for. Buc6nam told him
he could take the vesesl to Kiel Ger
many, and have 1t repaired for $4,000.
He took it over there and had the work
done. Incidentally he was attacked by
some cut-throats hired by Turkish Off
cials and was In a hospital for some time.
He returned to Constantinople with the
cruiser and informed the Sultan that he
had 5000 left.
From what?' asked the Sultan
''The repairs only cost $1,000 $4,000 less
than l expected" Bucknam replied.
The Sultan said something that was tar
tamount to Keep the change
Bucknam is now Bucknam Pasha, that
is, he is Lord Bucknam of the Ottoma n
Empire. He has been a valiant soldier in
the war against Italy and In the war
against the Balkan allies. In the Italian
war he carried through the only success
full expedition that Turkey has to ITS
credit In the Tripolitan affair.
After landing his expedition. Bucinam
Pasha, with the daring for which he .s
noted, went to Sicily. then up the boot of
Italy to Austria and in Vienna took train
for Constantinople. If the Italians had
ever caught him they would have hanged
the American pasha.
In the war with the Balkan allies, Buck
nam Pasha commanded in the only en-
gagement at sea in which the Turks were
successful. That was the battle in the
Aegan sea, where he sma ashed the Greeks.
lcuay bucknan Pasha is the head of a
big mercantile house In Constantinople.
which is known the Ottoman-Anglo-
american company. II deals in every
thing from ships to screwdrivers, railroad
equipment to toys, factory supplies, or
anything or everything.
Residence abroad seems to have rounded
out James Hazon Hyde. He wasn't taken
seriously when he was In New York and
when he considered himself a great per-
sonage because OF the institution his
father had built up. He is an expatrlate
and lives in Paris. II Is reported that
he has shown some of the qualities that
made his father big figure in American
affairs.
The young man Is also reported to have
added materially to his fortune. He
seems to have fitted in better in French
society and in French business than most
Americans. lie has maintained large
establishment in Paris and through his
entertainments and his wide circle OF IN
fluential acquaintances he has been OF
real service to thousands of Americans.
Like William Waldorf Astor he has
no desire to return to this country. He
thinks he was harshly and unJustly dealt
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

o. nothingl' Pride helps us, and prid .
Is not a bad thing when it only urges
us to hide our own hurts-not to hurt
others"
LOVE
Although Sir James was a sportsman
he had some other feelings towards wom-
en- than towards grouse and foxes, and
did not regard his future wife in the light
of prey, valuable chiefly for the excite
ments of the chase Neither was he we'll
acquainted the primitive races as to feel
that an ideal combat for her, tomahawk
in hand, SO to speak, was necessary to the
historical continuity of the marriage tie.
On the contrary. having the amiable van
ity which knits us to those who are fond
of us, and dsinclines us to those who
are Indifferent, and also a good, grateful
nature. the mere idea that a woman had a
kindness to him spun little threads Of
tenderness from out his heart towards
her"
MORE ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE
'In fact, If that convenient vehicle had
existed in the days Of the Seven Sages,
one of them would doubtless have re-
marked. you can know little of women
by following them about in their pony
phaetons. Even with a microscope di-
rected on a water-drop we can find our
selves making interpretations which turn
out to be rather coarse: for whereas under
a weak lens you may seem to see a crea-
ture exhibiting an active veracity into
which other small creatures actively play
as if they were so many animated tax
pennies, a stronger lens reveals to you
certain tiniest hairlets which make vor-
tees for these victims, while the swallow
er waits passvely at his receipt of GUS
TOMS"
A COURSE OF LOOPS AND ZIGZAGS
signs are small, measurable things,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

creeds and catechisms. The meaning of
scripture being no longer the prime
question. men began to re-define the
authority of scripture. And 1t is in this
melee and confusion that once more
the mystics are speaking. They are
saying-some of thefn-"What though
the old ground is no longer possible
to us? Have we not a personal eXper-
fence OF God, worth more than any
definition, than any creed, theory
dogma, opinion soever?" Along with
these is the other wing of modern
mystics. those properly called Theoso-
phists who, as l said in an earlier
paper, seek after a sign" and who
titillate their psychic nerve process in
order to persuade themselves that they
see the sign.
Wooden and bovine persons look on
from the shelter of the oowshed at all
this stir and bleat with apprehension. But
most modern men and women are grow
ing, like the students of Alexandria. in
an age somewhat like that now passing,
keen to get at the truth of the mat
ter. Because the old authority is weak
4 much Christianity unchristian
and unbeautiful, 1t is no wonder that some
o. o4. .fneosopnsts, like the first mystic
Potenius. prefer to go to Persia and In
dia for their inspiration instead of getting
back to Paul and John and the Master
Himself. No wonder that even those who
seek Him sometimes question whether
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

unintroduced nefghbor. Destiny stands
by sarcastic with our dramatis personae
folded in his hand"
A MANS A MAN FOR A THAT
did not an immortal physicist and in
tclpreter of hieroglyphs white detestable
verses? Has the theory Of the solar sys-
tenn been advanced by graceful manners
and conversational tact? Suppose we turn
from the outside estimates of a man, to
wonder, with keener interest, what is the
report of his own consciousness about
his doings or capacity; with what him
drances he is carrying on his daily la
bors; what fading of hopes, or what
deeper fixity of self-delusion the years are
marking off within him, and with what
spirit he wrestles against universal pres
sure, which will one day be too heavy for
him and bring his heart to final pause.
Doubtless his lot is important in his own
eyes, and the chief reason that we think
he asks too large a place in our con-
sideration must be our want of room for
him. since we refer him to the Divine re-
gard with perfect confidence: nay, 1t is
even held sublime for our neighbor to ex-
pect the utmost there. however little he
may have got from u.s."
''AND TO OBEY"
"The betrothed bride must see her fu-
ture home, and dictate any changes that
she would like to have made there. A
woman dictates before marriage in order
that she may have an appetite for a sub
mission afterward. And certainly the
mistakes that we male and female ,mortals
make when we have our own way might
fairly raise some wonder that we are so
fond of it. :" We mortals, men and
women, devour many a disappointment
between breakfast and dinner-time; keep
back the tears and look a little pale about
the lips, and in answer to inquiries say,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

Where science has challenge the geology
of Genesis, and where criticism has dis
covered multiple authorship of psalms and
prophets. and where historic uncertainty
has clouded ancient documents, the mys-
tics have saved the day for multltudes,
saying: What though all these tnings
are so? You still have your own soul
and a living God Whom you may talk
with face to face, as man talketh
with his friend What though all L.
old views fade? New and worthier views
are yours, higher, far more beautiful, far
more intimate. far more satisfying"
Thus they recover for Us not only the
credihility but the authority and tha
poetic splendor OF our faith
1t is this that must be called Christian
mysticism which is coming most happily
to the aid Of faith In these days. Perils
certainly are In it's train. but the church
Will be wise to welcome the mystics,
though 1t give little attention to the theo-
sophists. Moreover 1t is possible for us
in these days. as 1t was hardly possible
to Plotinus, 100 years ago. to properly
appreciate the nuptioal philosopy UNDER
lying the gospel as preached by the ear
Hest apostles and even by the Master
Himself. For He. too, was Mystic and
Hereto to the men Of His day when He
said: III ye had known Me, ye would
have known My Father Also
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

themes that dissolve In air away while
more serious subjects were being conned
under the roof of the tabernacle. No
class more gladly hailed the camp meeting
than the old-time. thrifty slave, who ap-
peared on the scene with crude articles
for sale. The old black nanny was
present with her coll of haring bandana
about her head and wearing her snowy
apron. while shes sold her long ginger
cakes, while the old uncle dispensed from
an earthen jug good 'simmon beer" or
corn beer, while others we're venders of
watermelons and sugar cane.
Other organizations more formal and
formidable have come to take the place
of the old time camp meeting. but 1t is
doubtful that they accomplish the same
henefcent results. The camp meeting
was a social cement which blended most
beautifully iwth that which was spiritual
in wide region and in its discontnuance
there is occasioned a gap which nothing
has come TO fill.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

a small glass of beer costs 20 contavos
| that is, 10 cents.
| The Mayor of Manila is a bachelor. He
keeps open house the year round in fine
old Spanish structure which is known as
the Ermita, on Gallo San Luis, near the
Luneta. There hasn't been a prominent
hasn't been the guest of w. w. Brown.
He has made lot of money in contracts
and is a millionaire many times over.
Hundreds of men who have been strand
ed in the Philippines have been sent home
at his expense and they have Travelled first
class. Families in misfortune have been
, supplied with money and transportation
/ back to the states by him. He is the
Angel of the Unfortunatcs' in that part
of the far east.
There isn't more popular man in the
Philippines with the army and navy men
than the fat Mayor of Manila" There
are colonels and generals of today whom
he lent money 10 and 10 years ago when
they We're lientenants and captains, and
there are commanders and rear admirals
who do not forget the kindnesses he
showed to them when they were ensigns
little higher up the scale.
It's sight to see the Mayor of Ma
nila'' when he is out for his daily airing.
He is so big and the weather is so hot
that he does little walking. He rides in a
jinriksha that had to be made especially
for his bulk. There is not another We
hicle in all the Philippines big enough to
| accommodate him. When he is abroad
he is kept busy waving to the right or to
the left to men or lifting his hat to the
women.
The Mayor of Manila" is just one OF
that great number of Americans, little
known in this country, who have gone to
distant lands and become important per-
sonages. You will find them everywhere,
in Yokahoma, Shanghai, Constantnople,
Paris, London. Sydney, Rio, Valparaiso.
Cape Town.
Take the case of Ralph d. Blumenfeld.
Late in the summer of 1888. Blumenfeld
1oated into New York from some place
in the middle west He was broke and
hungry. He was a telegraph operator
and had been In the great strike of that
year. He went to 1S7 Broadway, where
the United Press had its headquarters,
and asked Walter P. Phillips for a job.
Mr.. Phillips had nothing to offer him.
AS Blumenfeld turned away there was
something about his look of detection that
led Mr.. Phillips to call him back.
You look as If you were In pretty hard
luck" said Mr.. Phillips. Are your"
II am" said Blurnenfeld. II haven't a
cent and I haven't eaten in two days"
Mr.. Phillips gave IS to him and told the
young man to come back the next day.
He made a job for Blumenfed and the
operator worked for him five or six years.
The last work he did for the United
Press was as operator taking its report in
the office Of the Evening Telegram of
New York.
At the time of the Johnstown flood
Blumenfeld, who had been in Johnstown.
wrote an article and turned 1t in to the
editor of the Telegram. 1t was his first
effort at newspaper writing. The editor
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

| Judgment Of his neighbors and the mourn
full perception of his wife certain facts OF
his past life which would render him an
object of scorn and an opprobrium of the
religion with which he had distinctly as
sociated himself. The terror of being
Judged sharpens the memory. lie sends an
inevitable glare over that long unvisited
past which has been habitually recalled
only in general phrases. Even without
memory the life is bound into one by
zone of dependence in growth and decay;
but intense memory forces n man to own
his blameworthy past. Withmemory set
smartng like reopened wound. a mans
past is not simply dead history and out
worn preparation of the present. 1t is not
a repented error shaken loose from the
life 1t is a still quivering part of him
self, bringing shudders and bitter favors
and the tinglings of a merjted shame"
THE END OF A BEGINNING
Every limit is a beginning as we'll as
an ending. Who can quit young lives
after being long in company with then
and not desire to know what befel1 them
in their after-years2 For the fragment
of an of a life, however typical, Is not
the sample of an even web. Promises
may not be kept. and an ardent outset
may be followed by declenson: latent
powers may find their longwaited pppor-
tunities; a past error may urge a grand
retrieva1 Marriage which has been the
bourne of so many narratives, is still a
great beginning, as 1t was to Adam and
Eve, who kept their honeymoon In Eden
but had their first little one among the
thorns and thistles of the wilderness. It
is still the beginning of the home epic
the gradual conquest of irremediable loss
of that complete union which makes tho
advancing Years a climax and age the
harvest of sweet memories in common
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

largely lost within two centuries of the
Masters birth. The age of the apostles
had given place to that of the commen-
tators. and now the age of commentary
was giving place to an age not of specu-
lation only, but of commentaries on the
commentators. Texts and doctrines had
hardened into sledge hammers and tests
of the orthodoxy. Christians were begin
ming to shout each other down. Dreary
debate on theory, debate piled upon de-
bate, theory piled against theory, lay
heavy on the mind of the church. Ephe-
sus and Alexandria were the chief homes
and battlefelds of theories and of debates
A species of scholasticism was abroad. in
which men We'd with one another in prov
ing propositions that added their heads
and put hell into their hearts I do not
mean that now there was no practical
Christianity or humble dscipleship left
in the world or in the church, but that
the other thing was becoming a blazing
sign and characteristic.
And in these particulars the begin
ming of the third century was not un-
like the past generation of western
Professionalism. l may even say of west
ern religion. There are men and wom-
tn still living, hundreds of them, nay
thousands. who have witnessed petit
Jogging and sectarian debates between
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

dramas. Our vanites differ as our noses
do; all conceit is not the same conceit,
but varies in correspondence with the
minutiae of mental make in which one of
us differs from another"
IT is BORN IN HIM
Where. then, lay the spots of COM
monness? says young lady enamored of
that careless grace. How could there be
commonness In a Imam so well bred, so
ambitious of social distinction, so gener-
GUS and unusual in his views of social
duty? AS easily as there may be stupidity
in man of genius If you take him un-
awares on the wrong subject, or as many
a man who has the best will to advance
the social millennium might be ill-inspired
in imagining its lighter pleasures; unable
to go beyond OffeDbach's music. or the
brilliant punning in the last burlesque."
THE DAYS OF FIELDING
"a gret historian, as he insisted on
calling himself who had the happiness to
be dead 120 years ago, and so to take
his place among the colcssi whose huge
legs our living pettiness is observed to
walk under. glories in his copious remarks
and digressions the least imitable part
of his work, and especially in those ini-
tial chapters of the successive books of
history, where he seems to bring his arm
chair to the proscenium and chat with us
in all the lusty ease of his fine English
But Fielding lived when the days were
longer. when summer afternoons were
spacious and the clock licked slowly in
the winter evenings"
DESTINY
But any one watching keenly tho
stealthy convergence of human lots, sees
slow preparation of effects from one
life on another, which tells like a calcu-
lated irony on the Indifference or the
frozen stare with which we look at our
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

| with at the time of the insurance investi-
cations.
| But all the Americans who have at
tanned power abroad are not popular
Take the case of Lebbeus Wilfrey, who
was consular judge at Shanghai. There
isn't a place In the world to compare
with Shanghai. 1t has six governments.
The French, who have the largest terri
tory within the city limits. have their
own municipal establishment: the Portu-
guese rule in their bit of the city; tho
| English hold sway In theirs. the Ger
mans are gruff and official in theirs the
Americans hold their end up in their
, own bit of the town. and the Chinese
manage somehow to exist in the native
quarter
A man who commits murder in the
French section of Shanghai seeks refuge
in the Portuguese or English or Chinese
or American or the German.
There are some strange characters
along the China coast. no stranger In
the world. The scum OF the world is cast
up on those shores.
Judge Wilfrey has the reputation of
being the best hated man from Suez to
| Saghalin. They are still talking along
the China coast of what the Judge did
when he cleaned up Shanghai One of
the boasts of the east has been the foul
ness of Shanghai. The American part of
that city was as clean as a whistle when
the judge got through his work. He ia
cut in Denver now, but they are still
cussing him In China. He is one of tha
expatriates who made good and was con-
tent to come home. The others look
across the seas and think OF America,
but rarely or never come back
(Cor yright. 1918. by Richard Spillane)