davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
LUKE M'LUkE SAYS

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
 You think wagon makes a lot of nolse when it is empty. But you ought to hear a man when he is full.
 About thls time of year a man wonders whether it is his conscience or his liver that haunts him, and he doesn't know whether to repent or take calomel
 When married couple separate be- cause of misunderstanding you can get that they are separating because they understand one another too well.
 A good dancer is supposed 10 be light on his feet Ana . iot of them look as though they were pretty light at both ends.
 Tell a girl that she is looking fine and she will hunt up mirror and powder her nose.
 Two can live as cheaply as one if they are twins and have an old-fas shioned mother. The lad who is waiting for his ship to come in can usually be found waiting where he can see the schooners crossing the bar
 Send one boy on an errand, and it will take him a half hour Send two boys on the same errand together and it will take them two hours.
 A man never discovers that he can't af- ford an automobile until after he has pur- chased one. Before marriage he sees only the rose. After marriage he sees nothing but the thorn.
 A hero is man who marries on Sl5 per week.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
Increase of Commission Cities

Lamartine declared that revolutions never go backward, and while 1t IS not certain that the commission form of government may be construed as a revolution in politics, certain it is that no municipality which adopted the in- novation has gone back to the ward system or aldermanic form of govern ment.
 The movement originated in Texas, and in 1909 the Kansas City Star issued a booklet upon the subject which showed that outside of Texas there were but thirteen municipalities in this country under the commission rule. Of these six were in Kansas and three in Iowa.
 The Star has just issued revised edition of its brochure in which it is found that the commission is operat- ing in thirty eight states of the union and that more than three hundred cities and towns have adopted the new form of government. Here is the list:
 Kansas has 3S, Pennsylvania 2S con- mission cities. Illinois has 23, Texas and Oklahoma l 9 each. New Jersey IT, Mich igan and South Dakota 13 each, Cali fornia 12 Louisiana and Wisconsin 10 each. Iowa and Alabama each have nine. chi sXop hoc oi oh Colorado, Mississippi and Tennessee have seven each. North Carolina, North Dakota and Minnesota each have six. West Virginia South Carolina and Utah nave five each, Kentucky and Ne- braska each have four, Florida, Mis- souri, Ohio and oregon each have three, Idaho, New Mexico and Wyoming have two commission cities each, and Ari- zona, Arkansas, Georgia, Maine, Mary land Montana and New York have one each.
 New Orleans, with population of nearly S50,0O0, is the largest comms- sion city. Other commission cities with more than 100000 population are Jersey City, 267.000; St. Paul. 214.000 Denver 213,000; Portland. 207,000; Oakland, 15o, DO; Birmingham, 192, 2,000; Memphis, 131, 900: Omaha, 124,ooo; Lowell, 1o6,000i spokane, 104,000
 From this showing it is evident that the commission government is grow ing in popularity or at least that so far public opinion has found nothing in the way of city management to ex- eel it in municipal economies or gen. eral merit. It looks as if it has become a stable factor in the political ethics of the states.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
RISING OF THE DEAD SEA

From the Sunday School Times
 Reference was made in these notes about a year ago to the rising level of the Dead sea. The wonder Of travellers Is that the sea does fill up altogether-that Is, to those travellers who do not know the phe- nomenal power of evaporation which the sun has in this deep valley of the Jor- dan, valley whose depth gives it al- most a tropical climate.
 As there is no outlet from the sea, the level of its surface is always at the point of equilibrium between the inflow of water and the evaporation. Dr. Mas terman, of Jerusalem, who has for many years made meteorological observations and records concerning the Dead sea, and given them to the public through the Pal estine Exploration society, has recently given a summary of most of the changes of level since the year 1soo and with this also a resume of. the evidences of the rising of the sea during the last cen- tury. Briefly, the evidences are these:
 l. The persistent tradition of the Arabs, confirmed by the record of travellers (seitzen, 1906. and Irby and Mangles, 1s1s).
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
Of Interest to Business Men

Members of the Birmingham Business Mems League can well afford to help along the music festival project" said a merchant who happens to be at the same time a music lover.
 'The plan of forming an association with capital stock at the price of BIO a share is meeting with decided approval. Many shares have already been subscribed for. but whatever is to be done in the way of promoting the festival should be done in the next two or three days I under stand that in order to secure the St. Louis symphony orchestra for a festival in May the contract must be signed early in April
 "One thing that I particularly like about the new plan is that there will be no call ing on guarantors for money to meet a deficit. I sincerely hope that the mem- bers of the Business Mems League will show some enthusiasm and help this good cause along"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
The Viaduct at Last

Construction work on the First avenue viaduct will begin not later than June 1.
 There is nothing that Birmingham needs just so much as this viaduct After many exasperating delays; was reached yesterday between the city and the railroads, compromise was reach yesterday between the commission and three of the com panies affected-the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron, the Louisville and Nashville and the Southern railway While the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company is not a party to the agreement, it is understood that it will pay it's part.
 The city is to pay 25 per cent of the cost of construction; but the com pensation is worth while, for accord ing to the agreement with the cor porations, they are to finance the city's part at low rate of interest. And next the city will be relieved from the payment of abutting property damages. The proposition that has been agreed to will mean a saving to the city of many thousands of dollars, as compared with the proposed ar rangement which had been previously submitted by the railroads.
 The great thing after all is that start has been made to rid Bir- mingham of dangerous grade cross ings. These crossings have been a frightful menace. As a part of the agreement that part of Second avenue passing through the Sloss property is to remain closed for a period of ten years. The original proposition of the Sloss company was to close it for all time.
 The viaduct is to be completed within a year. The people of Avon- dale, Woodlawn and East Lake will then be able to ride back and forth on the street cars with a feeling of security that has never been known under present conditions, and with great saving of time. Birmingham is growing very fast, and the larger it becomes the less excuse there is for allowing dangerous grade crossings in any section of the city. After the First avenue viaduct is built it will be only a short time when others will follow.
 The commissioners and the rail roads are to be congratulated indeed on getting together and making possi- ble the announcement that ground will be broken for the First avenue viaduct within the next few weeks.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Widespread Interest in Underwood

'If Democratic Leader Underwood is not elected to the United States Senate by a large majority his admirers in diff ferent sections of the country will be much disappointed" said Adolf Weimar of Minneapolis.
 T was in New York and other eastern cities last month, and many men I met expressed great interest in MT. Under woods candidacy. The famous Alabam- ian Is regarded by republicans as well as democrats, as. one of the greatest states men this country has produced in re- cent years. I am glad to learn since yis- iting this state that Mir. Underwoods ma- jority over Hobson will be overwhelm- ing"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
BACK TO THE PEOPLE
the Chicago Tribune.

ioHl tne tDlcagO IT'D une.
 A woman writer left New York re- gently to go back to the village where she was born. She was going there, she said, not in search of atmosphere. as some of her literary friends sup posed. but just to live. Nor was she going back to her people to "uplift them, IS others ot her city friends thought The people back there in the valley, this woman asserted, were practicing the Ten Commandments faithfully, and 1t would be travesty to speak of uplirring them She rather hoped to be uplifted by them The attitude which this woman takes towards her people back home is ex- ceedingly wholesome, exceedingly re- freshing, and, incidentally, is the best way to get atmosphere. Many others of our popular writers and novelists might well follow this woman's lead. They might well go back to the peo- pie, not with the uplift, "holier than thou' attitude with which they now come-not to study" them, "observe, them, but just to live among them. be one of them. It would do them good
 The major part of the popular fic- ton of today has lost nearly every connection with real life. The average story or novel deals with unreal peo- ple and describes unreal situations. The advice of the writers to go out and live among the people might also be given to the editors and publishers of fiction. especially to our magazine edi- tors. At present these editors seem 10 be printing their magazines for the taste and approval not of the public bnt 0f afbar.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
Have Kept Cities Guessing

''The organization committee which will district the country for the federal re- serve banks has been extremely reticent as to the cities to be selected for the reserve centers," said P. B. Edwards of Washington, D. c.
 ''It has been taken for granted all along that Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco will each have a federal reserve bank, but the southern cities are still kept guessing. have heard that Birmingham was a strong candidate, but if this city is se- lected Atlanta will be greatly disappoint- ed for the Atlanta people have been claiming that they had it cinched At anta and Birmingham cannot both win.
 ''The committee will doubtless make it's official announcements within the next day or two.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31

ties and the populace was loudly grumbling. Even the women had gone to work in the barber shops, unloaded barges upon the quays and drove the meat and provision vans to the mar ket.
 The government noticed the sooth- ing effect of the cigar upon the aris- toeracy and upper classes at time of universal discontent and concluded that the justification might be wrought among the masses by acquainting them with the new luxury. The manu- faeture of tobacco was established as state monopoly and the police were instructed to see that the comforter was duly distributed among the peo- pie. The effect was instantaneous and the cigar became at least temporary panaeea for all ills and deplored de- privations. It was to Paris what snuff had been for a long time to England. The occupants and habitues of the Tuilleries tabooed the smoke pipe as common, and the populace aped the Tuilleries. The practice obtained al- most universally throughout the city until the disaster of Leipsig when even tobacco became too costly lux ury to be indulged in by the masses.
 The cigar is again in public favor throughout all France and what part it has played in the prosperity and contentment of the republic must be left for students and savants to de- termine.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31

who seldom came in contact with his employees. Few people knew him inti- mately and the story is told that he once visited a theatre where some players attracted his attention. On asking who they were he seemed sur prised to learn that they had been playing for him in Boston for five or six years. His desire for cleanliness, both moral and physical, continued until his death. It is said that he would frequently drop into one of his theatres and inspect it from top to bottom to see if the caretakers were doing their duty.
 The career of a man like Keith merely goes to disprove the assertion often made that "what the public wants on the stage is filth. Salacious and indecent performances may for a while attract certain element, but that sort of business doesn't last. It may be large at first but dwindles rapidly. "The Old Homestead" is not great play, but it is clean and in comparison with such pieces as "The Girl From Rectors" or "The girl in the Taxi,' is decidely more profita- ble. The latter plays were soon done for, while "The Old Homestead has for many years enjoyed the most as tonishing popularity, even with Den man Thompson out of the cast, and it continues to draw crowds wherever presented.
 Theatrical managers who contend that they are merely trying to give the playgoing public what it wants, when they present indecent situations and smutty dialogue, are either genu- inely deceived, or else they are try ing to shift the blame from their own shoulders. No play was ever written that could exist for any length of time on indecency alone, and in most cases the greatest financial returns are to be had from the plays that live
 Keith devoted his life to vaudeville, but "Decency and Refinement" will win approval just as surely on the Legitimate" stage.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31

re-sentenced to be hanged at San Quen- tin prison on Friday, June H.
 Every effort was then made to induce Governor Budd to grant clemency, which he did to July g. when no attempt was made to carry out the sentence. Thus the case dragged on until the end of the year and no stone was left unturned, finally an appeal being sent to the su- preme court at Washington This last effort was refused on January ', 1898, by declination to interfere and Theodore pnrant was executed on the morning of the same day at 10:37. :n the San Quen- tin prison, which is the California state penitentiary.
 Tomorrow-.T Trial of Admiral Byng."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
ARROWS OF OUTRAGEOUS FoRTrNU

ffolu Iopuldr Magazine.
 Rastus was sorely wounded From his face gore flowed in rivulets and in the outer covering of his substantial head there were sundry gashes and openings. He had been the victim of a brutal as- sault.
 The physician who treated him for his wounds was sympathetic.
 Great heavens" he said. Somebody has beaten you up in a terrific manner. You must have been hit at least nine CT ten times.''
 Dat aint no joke" said Rastus, who was still trembling. T don't blieve I wuz able to git out ob de way ob anything dat wuz throwed at me-"
 Then you ought to learn a lesson from it, suggested the doctor. Hereafter you ought to stay far away from people who indulge in this sort of thing"
 "Dar ain't no chance" Rastus ob- jected gloomily You know, boss. I ain't got de price of no divo'ce."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
A T'horsby Visitor

The Rev. A. A. Swanlund, pastor of the Concordia Lutheran church at Thorsby, Is spending few days in Birmingham.
 'Thorsby, in Chiffon county, is good town, but we need industries to insure growth and future prosperity" said MT. swanlund. Ours is a Scandinavian com munity and my congregation Is made up of Scandinavians. Those settlers who came from the old country are tillers of the soil. They have prospered, but un- less We have manufacturing establish ments to give employment to the new generation we will lose many worthy young men, who will seek occupations in Birmingham and other cities.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
TIT FOR TAT.

Some remarks of ours about the Chig- ger Belt in east Tennessee and northern Alabama, printed in a current magazine. and which we admit are not too compli- nlentary, seem to have stirred up some southern folks to the point of asking us why? We can do no better than para phrase MT. Kipling in reply: NC have eaten your bacon and "pone.' l We have drunk your wild cat dope The hill that ye praise we have roamed for days In search of a towel and soap. Was there aught that we did not share?- All manners of things that bite, Your chiggers and f.eas. behemoth bees And your gnats ad infinite? We've writ of the place ye live In numerous. humorous spurts; But on the dead, twas the truth we
 said.
 And perhaps ts the jest that hurts.
 Buffalo Evening News. We have eaten your nutmegs and beans; Your Washington cake thought grand The hills of old Maine we have roamed
 in vain
 In search of an acre of land. Was there aught that we did not share?- Things that nature defeat. Men with long hair, maids with short
 hair
 And your suffragettes not sweet. We've writ of the place ye live Where life is that Of a worm And we'll ye know as gospel twas true, And maybe that why se squirm.
 A WAGoNER.
 She: T think that sonata is the most moving music I ever heard.' He; NO; the rattle of d furniture van beats it all hollow
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
POSTCARDS IN MISSION WORK rom the Christian Eerold

From the ChrlStlan Herald.
 The Rev. Alan Presley Wilson, S200 East Lombard street, Baltimore has de- vised an excellent use for old postcards. which, with so many, have ceased to be a fad. Mr Wilson gathers these cards and forwards them to missionaries, who print gospel messages on them and hand them out to those with whom they come in contact One missionary writes MT. Will son: "A crowd of men, women and chll- dren followed me for half mile yester- day begging for some of the postcards you have been sending me for my work. ..
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
TROUBADOUR AND JESTER
MY INSPIRATION.

fou say your girl has pearly teeth;
 II m sure they are no whiter nan the White keys of my sweetheart Who is Just my typewritel.. ou say your girl has dreamy eyes: That naught their beams can letter. But a deep inspiration lies
 In my machines each letter. She speaks to me, she sings in me And sets my thoughts to spinning when 1 commence to write my -arse Know not at beginning What l shall say: how I shall end:
 Write in sad vein or lighter. l don | despair but just depend
 For thoughts on my typewriter.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
A ROMANCE OF CLOVELLY
By Kate Douglas wigg1n.

Kate Douglas Wigg1n. ' AVE you e'er seen street of Clovely? The quaint, rambling street of Clovelly? With it's staircase of stone leading down the sea- = To the harbor sleepy old, and wee, The queer crooked street of Clovelly. Have you eer the lass of Cvelly? The sweet little lass of Clovelly?
 With kirtle of reaching just her knee, And ankles ankles may be, The yellow-haired lass of Clovelly. There's good, honest lad in Clovelly, bold fisher lad of Clovelly With purpose straight and swagger As the of his boat when breasting sea- The brave sailor lad of Clovely.
 Have you e'er seen the church at Clovely? Have you heard the sweet bells of Covelly? The lad and the lasse will hear them. may be- And join hand in hand to sail Life's soa, From the little stone church at Clovelly.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
"HOMER OF PROVENCE,

From the New York Sun.
 ''The Homer of Provence" Lamartine called Frederic Mistral, the French poet, who died on Wednesday, He was in a peculiar sence the leader of his people and even the honor of the Nobel liter arure prize, which he shared with the Spanish Echegaray in 1904. did not de- light him more than the devotion of his own neighbors
 When he was a boy the ancient pro- vcrcal dialect had almost disappeared from literature and those who spoke it were ridiculed. But Mistral's mother sang to him the old songs, he loved the patois and when only + began to write poems in provencal. When he produced "Mireio' in 1Sa9, Lamartine exclaimed:
 "A great epic poet is born-a true Ho- merle poet in our own time primitivs poet in our decadent age, a poet who has created a language out of a dialect, as Pctrarch created Italian; one who. out of vulgar patois, has made a language full of imagery and harmony delighting the imagination and the ear.'
 Mistral became president of the Feli- brige society, which riveted interest in the old provencal customs history and people His wife who was Mademol- seile Marie Riviere of Diion, was in 1878 crowned queen of the Felibrige at the floral games held in Montpelier, which have been for 40 years great events in southern France
 After the qualification of the third long poem. 'Nerto,' in 1884, Mistral was per suaded to go to Paris. President Grevy welcomed him and literary societies of the capital competed in a bewildering series of banauets in honor of the pro- vencal. ''Nerto" received the prix vitet from the academy.
 But Paris was not to the poets taste As soon as he could get away MistraI returned to his cottage, where he com pleted four years later Lou Tresor dou Felibrige." a dictionary of all the dia- lects of the langue doc. containing every word and phrase, proverb and legend that he had gathered through many years ws wsndering through the south of France
 He who holds his mother tongue holds the key which shall free him from - chains" was Mistrals favorte maxim ''N eHStsiph'iSu thc spiilt ol TeuDT1ge movement as expressed by Felix Gras: T iove my village more than thy village; love my provence more than thy prov ence; I love France more than all"
 Until serious illness overlook him two years ago, Mistral was hale and straight as an arrow. His great form and hand some face were as notable as his lack of affectation and simplicity of life.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31

The life story of Big Tim" Sullivan will be shown in moving pictures. Joe Sullivan, who is said to resemble Tim will play the principal part in a drama that smacks both of real life and fie- ticn. One of the scenes will show Tim Sullivans family landing in America from Ireland. His christening, his school days and his life on the Bowery will be shown. Many of the localities where he was a familiar figure will be pie tured, as well as many of the people with whom he was closely identified The films will be exhibited in the Delancey Street and Avenue B theatres of New York, where Sullivan passed most of his life.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-31
As to New Postofffce Building

notwithstanding the report sent out from Washington recently that it would De two years or more before work could
 De begun on new postoffce building
 here, it is reasonable to think that Mir.
 Underwood will be able to induce the treasury department to hurry up a bit, '' said member of the Chamber of Com
 merce. 'If the government architects are two years behind with their work outside architects should be employed for the more important cities Uncle Sam has bought large site here and more than $Soo,oO0 of the last appropriation.- O0O,UO-will be left for construction Work should be started by the end of the present year. About three years will be required in erecting the new building. By the time it is completed it will cost probably several hundred thousand dol lars more than the original estimate called for. That usually happens in the case of vast edfices"