davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

Exclusive Service The Survey Press
 Bureau)
 Because of the lack of resident i'm itfative and leadership, the village of |x-for many years has failed to make prevail in hundreds of other com mHnities in our country They call for leadership and many of our young men who have the vision and the personal ity and who are Joking about for the best way to invest their lives might well consider the small town as field of service. On account of the inti- mate relationship man has with the people of a small community it is possible for him through leadership in a few years to transform an entire vll- lage.
 That this can be done is shown by the Memorial Library in the village of K. The library was tn. gift of & prom inent man and his wife who saw the need and gave the building to be used as social center for the community. The work was started little over five years ago
 THE SOCIAL CENTER.
 ifc @HCiitOiidi iIbTdIy iutiuutS d we'll lighted and ventilated auditorium accommodating about 200 people. Here entertainments, fairs and socials are neld Classes in physical culture for both boys and girls are conducted dur Ing the winter months. On two eve- nings week the people are enter tained with the best motion pictures This. serves to keep in their home com munity the young people who had ben m the habit of migrating to neigbor- Ing towns for these pleasures. A room containing a billiard table and other games attracts the young men and Keeps them from places that are of morally destructive character. Prac- ticaily every boy and girl in the village IS found at the library during the time It is open for their use.
 room with showers and bathtub was added to the equipment about two years ago and is used by the women ana slris on specified days well as by the men and boys. A manual train ing shop forms . part of the equipment of the Memorial Ibrary. Boys from
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

the letters of unbrea<able brass by the use of morphine, cocaine and other drugs. The subjects of the drug mania, when not driven 10 the use of the poison by physical ills. seek its effects to produce
 forgetfulness They must forget their poverty, their misfortunes. their losses, and their disappointmeA,s, and what bet ter way Is there than the way of dope,
 morphine. absinthe and the like? Thus they reason. Is the reader familiar with a novel that appeared about 20 years ago called "Wormwood" Ror some reasons the author Is styled "sensational;" but there can be no douD, that Corelli is earnest and faithful and broadly benevo- was written for goo- end namely, to warn against the use of absinthe, one of the most deadly, and vet, one of the most popular 'drowsy sprups'' known to men of today. In her introduction to ''Wormwood. the author says:
 There are, no dou.t, many causes for the wretchedly low standard of moral responsibility and fine feeling displayed by the Parislans of today, but l do not is undoubtedly the reckless absnthe-ma- mia, which pervades all classes. rich and poor alike. Everyone knows that in Paris the men have certain hours set apart for the indulgence of this fatal craze as religiously as Mussumer nave their hours for prayer, and in a very short time the love of the hideous poison cings so closely to their blood and system that it becomes an absolute necessity of exist ence. The effects of It's rapid working on the human brain arc beyond all imag- nation horrible and ineurabe, and no TO- mancist can exaggerate the terrible reali- ty of the evil. from France it has
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

Before I'd resume that habit I'd take a pistol and blow my brains out, for realize fully the absolute horror of it." replied; There's no need of doing either, simply be man. and save your self and your family by letting the stuff remain untouched" Only two weeks thereafter his reddened eyes disclosed an unsteady glare that told the sad story of cocaine's triumph and his misefah fall (
 l know of a young woman who con tracted the drug habit when mere girl. She was a person of many accomplish ments and of personal beauty A young man of fine character and not knowing of her vice, proposed marriage to her. For a long time her husband never once sus- and home drug fend Finally the young man found a hypodermic syringe. and asked for an explanation. She then owned up. With crushed heart he brought her to an institution for treatment She was q patient at this asylum when I learned of her. I became greatly interested in the case and made frequent inquiries as to her cure, but sad to say there was but little hope entertained for her, so plausible had she grown in her cunning
 70 the pity of it, Iago, the pity of it."
 From the head doctor of the asylum above named l heard some pathetic incl dents that show the drug habit to be confined to no one class of life for high. and lowly. rich and poor. in many cases are cursed with 1t. Said the doctor to me: Ladies of the hgest social circles sometimes come 10 me, whose arms and legs look like the skin of a rhnoeeros so long have they been punctured with ths hypodermic needle If one of them is saved it is rare l have little hope of the cocaine user He will not let you cure him if lying and extraordinary cum ming can prevent it
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

laudanum. Whether or not her death was accidental no one knew. There were sad rumors, but let 1t pass When the body of the young wife was placed at the grave to be lowered into it Rossetti stood by the coffin with volume of manuscript poems in his hands He spoke to the dead as if she were living, and told her that he had written the poems to her and for her and that she must take them. He then lifted her long golden hair and wound the tresses about the volume, and it was buried with her. sometime afterwards, Rossetti, at the suggestions of friends, permitted the grave to be invaded and the volume brought forth. Seven years had the poems lain In the grave, and when 1t was brought back to Rossetti there were strands of golden hair still clinsing to the book.
 In this same book, My Story" Hall Caine tells of Wilkie collins drug habit. He tells that Collins would drink a wine glass full of laudanum any time. and confessed that for 20 years he had been taking the drug to quiet his nerves and to inspire his brain It will be re- membered that Wilkie Collins wrote completion of Dickens unfinished story of Edwin Brood. Whether or not he con tinued the threads of the story as Dick ems would have done but for his deafh no one can say But I fancy that his own drug habit led him to write with zest of Jasper whose custom it was to frequent the opium den. where he smoked the pipe in order to forget his dabolieal impulses or to see them accomplished in fantasti visions. Willkie Collins be- gan to use the tincturu of opium for his nerves. So has many a man. who later discovered that the opium destroyed what nerves he may have had left.
 So fl is. Men and women go on forging
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

12 to 1e years of age have been instruc- ted in making useful articles of fur niture
 COOKING SCHOL SERVES COMMUN-
 ITY BANQUET
 Domestic science room with every facility for efficient and systematic work in sewing and cooking is includ ed The girls thoroughly enjoy the work and carry the training into their homes. One year the girls conducted a fair and from the sale of articles realizied a considerable sum which they used to pay their instructor in physical work At community banquet. the first of It's kind ever held in the vil- lage, the catering was done by the girls in the domestc science class. For several years the domestic science and the manual training work has been part of the school curriculum.
 The children are being educated to thrift and economy by savings system which has been introduced. For several years a number of the village boys have attended county camp and have been influenced for good through the comradship and the influence of the other boys. One summer a camp for girls was conducted.
 During the past summer 10-acre lot within quarter of mile of the village was rented and used for playground The playground contained baseball diamond and a basketball and tennis court. A cottage was built on the grounds and the secretary and his fam fly lived here all summer, giving super vision to the work at all times. On the Fourth of July. a big home day was held on the grounds with band music, baseball between two rival teams and other attractions.
 Before the new agency came into the life of the village of K a spirit of de- pression seemed to penetrate the entire The inhabitants were dis It was under such conditions that the Memorial Library was opened.
 START OF CIVIC IMPROVEMENT.
 In the first year of the work . vile lage Improvement committee was or- ganisisd. This was appointed-from the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

with domesueity a auietness. and. an uneomplaining spirit. all of which are foreign from the Tartaric spirit. but characteristic of the former Slav. IL was interesting during the late Balkan war to observe marked indications of these diverse qualities on the part of the na- tives of that mountain region, now di- vided into petty prineipalities. most of which were allied with Greece in the war against Trukey
 Among the races of men. no more interesting study is afforded of the ups and downs of people the changes and transformations which they have under gone than in that one quiet gentle and superior people who once populated the western confines of Asia. From being Slavs. they became slaves. and from be- ing tranquil people. averse to blood shed, they have come to love 1t.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

and hberty-loying. Such were these am cient people who thus proudly called themselves slavs but in their struggles with these violent races in upper Ger many they were overcome, and because of thelr quiet submissive and gentle dis position they were readily subdued and many thousands of them were reduced to the most cruel servitude In the slave markets they were openly sold by many masters. The sale of Slavs. in this way
 not alone reversed their previous condi- ton, but it completely reversed the mean Ing of their proud nanie. Being for sale, the market for their disposal came to De known as the Slav market. Thus it came to pass that this race proud, con tented, gentle and prosperous people, lost the significance Of their original name. which was changed by their condition to one of ignominy, which came to be our term, slave. Their giory was changed into that of shame ans degradation. No
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

spread. and is still spreading, over the entire continent of Europe"
 The terrible indictment against France may rightly he made against this coun- try.
 Change the word absinthe to the com pound habit-forming drugs. and the n- dictment stands against the United States Not that absinthe is not drunk here. for it is; but not so openely as in France, nor is it as popular IS across the sea. But all sorts of narcotics, destroying soul and body, are becoming more and more popular, and are taken by young and old, in many cases, with maniacal avidty and with an unquenchabe thirst. It is the national curse. It destroys moral per ception and makes possible villains on every hand.
 l recall woman of high social distinc- ton. the wife of physician. She had ac- auired the laudanum mania. The drug became necessary to her life, she thought She must get il. The merchants near her home had been warned against selling fl to her. Yet she must have it. Nso she became a thief. and stole II from stores or homes where she visited. knew a minister of a wide reputation His peculiar conduct attracted my atten- ton, yet l could not think that man in his high position could be guilty of vice. But the facts were told me later. Wakeful nerves had to be soothed by the drowsy syrups of the world Be- fore he utterly fell, in the estimation of men. he got grip upon himself and oNercame the vice.
 A few years ago l endeavored to save a skilful surgeon of splendid abilities from the cocaine vice. and from the utter ruin that started him in the face For a time. very short time, he endeavored to assert his manhood, and said to me:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10
SLAVS- By B. F. Riley, D. D.

"oro Ill our present language has under gone a greater reversa~ of meaning To De an original Slav was to be glorious and splendid, to be a slave is degrada- tion the deepest.
 Nor Is this all In the upheavals and revolutions or the centuries the Slavs found that in order to maintain their footing, they must transmute their peace aeieness into hostility. and in this re- Versal again, we find complete trans formation of eharater. From being se- rehe they were forces into sternness. anu rom gentleness. they were driven into militant mood, snu later centuries ma them among the most stern and stubborn fighters in Europe. Keeping at nfst within themselves, their migrations brought them into contact with other lIioes, into affinity with which they were aiso brought the Tartar strain was in Jested, along with that of others so that the modern Slavs of Europe have
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

A an adage that might as well
 A read "All the world loves it's mother" Someone has recently been quoting John Fisk to prove how great a debt the world owes to the mammals, by whom motherhood became so forceful fact in the evolution of mankind. But long before that age every bird that had nest was mothering it's offspring, and we know nothing of the early beginnings of the mother instinct in the long process of still earlier ages.
 It was Henry Drummond who first pop ularized the idea that evolution is more than struggle for existence; that 1t is indeed a struggle to secure the safety and life of the offspring. Who has not seen the mother bird defying death in the fangs or cat or dog or snake, while she leads the beast away from her nest? And who shall say that even in those horrific forms of saurians, bats and lizards, whose pom derous. bodies have been placed in our museums, and which lend historic verity to the old legends of battles with the dragons, bfutes whose females laid their huge eggs in the sand and made all the universe their incubator. there was no touch at all of maternal instinct? Is it possible that they grew so vast bulk be-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

nothing of the kindly and gentle traits of their ancient ancestry in the far-off times in western Asia.
 The modern Slav is now found in the Russian. the Bulgarian. the Servian. the Montenegrin and the Albanian. Crossed with the Arabian, as many of them are, the original traces of the ancient people called Slavs, are completely obliterated. It would seem that the present character of the Sav Is as nearly antipoda to that of the ancient people of that name. as well can be- Yet here are the facts with which we are furnished by history.
 The ancient Slavs have so mingled and intermingled them with other races, people and tribes that their identity is long ago lost. but conditions such as we have merely glanced at, have brought the reversal of character and of dsposi- tion. The race is now mongrel. and the modern Slav is found in Russia, Bohe-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

"O the great American fleet went word that the President had or /. A dered the ships to Mexico to en- force demand for an apology for an in suit offered to the United States flag. In a moment ships and men were astr with the hustle and excitement Reporters sought Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger, commander of the fleet, for an opinion on the situation. This was his only state- ment:
 We do not know what we will be called upon to do, but we are ready"
 England cherishes the memory of Nell sons, England expects every man to do his duty and America has had Law rence's dying words, Don't give up the |Nship;' Perry's. we have met the enemy and they are ours;" Dewey's, You may fire when ready, Gridley;'' John Paul Jones', We have not yet begun to fight with many another word of heroism spoken by navy men.
 Let Badgers saying be added to them. Let it be preserved in the histories-but not alone as a source of inspiration to fu- ture bluejackets and their commanding officers. Let the words be brought home to all Americans, uniformed or not.
 You do not know what you will be T fore, as well as you can, for anything that may come to you. One man in his time plays many parts says Shakespeare, and Act well your part. There all the honor lies,' we gre told by Pope.
 Ready when your country calls? Of course!
 The world has its eyes on you then. It is easy to be a hero when the band plays and the flies shrill and the drums beat, and you march away under the admiring gaze of friends and neighbors. There is the inspiration of comradeship. You are one of many.
 But ready in the everyday affairs of Plife, when there is no music to inspire and uplift when, perhaps. all incentive save the call of duty seems lacking, when the future seems to hold little promise?
 There is the true test. Keep plugging away. Work and in the work know that you are doing your best. No man can do more; to do less is shame. What if the guerdon seems small? The best reward is From within.
 Be therefore ready. Prepare yourself while you work in the present for better. higher things in the future. They may &come. Let them not find you unprepared tc enjoy them.
 60 far as the body is concerned, it is 1ecorded In the Sermon on the Mount that no man can, by taking thought. add one eubit to his stature
 But 1t Is not true of the mind.
 Consfder the intellect as something ybart from the bodily enyelope in which
 is placed. It may grow and expand in Ystrength and power until it leaves far be- hind it the brain which is it's home. All it needs is the right sort of food Very many of the men and women who have ruled the world With their intellects have been way below par in bodily power. They prove but sorry examples for the eugenists to cite.
 The famous painter Whistler painted . pertrAtt Of Thomas Carly1o1 q critic
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

N the dim twilight of history we find race peopling the western boundary
 of Asia, who were noted for their quietness, industry and prosperity. They multiplied in popuatio-,. and a tide of this remarkable people began to flow westward. This grena was continued through a number of centuries, till we find large segment of them in the re- gions of upper Germany abutting on the dominions of the Goths and Vandals. Till this time the characteristics already named were theirs, brt in contact with the domineerng Goths and Vandals, who were peoples the opposite in disposition to that of the Slavs. being wanderers pirates and despoilers. these Slavs were exposed, like others. to the spoliation of these rude races of blue eyes and tawny locks
 The term slav, in it's original signif- canoe, meant glorious, splendid, heroic
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

mia. Bulgaria and elsewhere. fellow very different from his ancient fathers. Among the people with whom the Slav is welded. he was always the superior. Where history first finds that race, it was really most remarkable people. when compared with most of their con- temporaries The tribes with which they became identified were. for the most part. fierce and nomadc.
 The first really great leader to arise from this mongrel mass was Peter the Great. Long before his birth different tribes. with different forms of govern ment were widely scattered over these regions of Europe and of Asia, and he 1t was who fused them into oneness and of many tribes and many segments of races he fused them Into a mighty em- plre which has endured 10 the present tune. and is one of the mightiest powers or the world. The Russians are proud
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10

In too many cases there is no one to intercede for such men-often they are unlettered and ignorant and unable to defend themselves witL voice or pen and public prosecutors and police off cials, desrous of making good records, expedate their cases.
 The result is the denial of justice and the infliction of injustice.
 The new system of having public de- fender to offset the public prosecutor has been found to work well in Los Angeles county, Cal. Justice Craig of the superior court of the county testified that the system has worked to obtain from de- fendants more able defense than they would otherwise have and has protected the public from the use of methods which
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-10
THE DROWSY SYRUPS OF THE WORLDLY Dr. w. E. Evans

| AGo's lying hints in regard to Des-
 demona's love for Cassie, had the 'A effect of setting the Moor upon the rack" and robbing him of all peace of mind and of all ambition, Seeing othello approaching, Iago says. in an aside,
 Not poppy, nor mandragora, Which thou owedest yesterday" Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet
 sleep
 Whic hthou owedest yesterday"
 In Anthony and Cleopatra there is another reference to the powerful opiate which Iago names. Cleopatra says,
 "Give me to drink mandragora
 That 1 may sleep out this great gap of
 time
 My Anthony is away"
 In both of these extracts from the plays we are reminded that at an early period of the world recourse was had to opiates for the relief Of bodily pain and mental distress. The early methods of extracting the mar cotic poisons, and of compromising them into "drowsy syrups" were crude, as compared with modern facilities in the laboratories, of course, but they were effective, and in some instances re- markably powerful. The number of }these narcotics known in the early ages was quite limited. It remained for scientific men, enlightened by all the advances of civilization. to multiply them manifold. It Socrates were living in the twentieth century, he could find much swifter way to make his exit from life than the hemlock method af- forded. Though death from hemlock