davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05
STARVATION-By George Eaves, D. D.

as this is to believe. The real books
 are spiritually creative. They run all
 the way from imagination and devo-
 tion to scientific technicality and no
 life can be quite outside the charmed
 and charming circle. They may be
 almost miscellaneous in their scope,
 and still be literature. They may masquerade in the form of a monthly magazine and yet be of the immortals, or they may be dressed in morocco
 with gilt edges, and be themselves no more than fleeting cloud. ss Does the illiterate father or mother lose more than the son or daughter if books are excluded from the home?
 What adds a peculiar poignancy to this question is the widely attested fact that
 with all the enormous circulation and sale of Bibles, fewer and fewer homes give the old honorable place to the
 family Bible, the place of the primi tive threshold altar in the home. It is not
 read, for the family prayers of the
 past are in desuetude. If 1t were read
 there would spring from it's fires a
 hunger for other literature also. We
 must, indeed, admit that read, as we
 say. dogmatically, without imagination and without liberty, read by an intellect in chains, even the Bible can hardly
 produce a thirst for knowledge or a
 loving reverence of the form and mean ing of great writings. And yet not even the most intolerant dogmatism, overlooking the imagination of the reader can quite quench it's wondrous
 fires nor quite quell the surging winds of poetic impulse and ethical passion let loose by the Psalms of David. the sermons of Isaiah. the apocalyptic dreams of St. John. But as a common and portentous fact, with or without dogmatic atmosphere, the Bible is not read. Its neglect is apparent in every school and college. The picked children of elect homes do not know 1t. Those
 who read it often dwell too much on it's unliterary elements, what must be called the unreal characteristics inn puted to it. God in it speaks to open
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

is good and gradually to relax a hold on that which is not desired. in the up ward start of nation, requires skill of statesmanship which must compass the little as well as the great.
 English civilization dates from Alfred All that civilization implies is to be civil, and to be civil means not to be violent. Violence which had so long swayed the people over whom he was called to preside, that 1t was not easy to subdue it to gentleness, and this could not have been done. nor is it ever done, Independently of kindly and persuasive means. Civilization breeds gentlemen, not in the fastidious and aesthetic sense, but in the essence of character. Alfred, then, was England's first real gentleman
 The horizon of his view of life was widened in his younger years by his being sent to Rome. Like all other sus- ceptible beings, Alfred derived from his observations in the imperial city that which was proportionate to that which he brought to the scene. The brilliant con-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

ears and quivering hearts, though these wooden shields and barriers intervene He speaks no less persuasively to those who approach the Book of books with every sense awake than to those who make a virtue of flushing their in- tellect while they submit their hearts to the divine volume. The one "Open Sesame" of the Bible is gracious loving heart; and l greatly mistake if the same condition does not hold with every oth- CT real book. Is 1t not the loving, loyal, gracious heart that discovers the mes- sage of the spirit in Tennyson or Shakespeare? Is it not even possible that the pages of Stuart Mill, Henry George or Karl Marx will yield sweet ness and power to the same spirit in the reader? Nay, is not the very es- sence of political economy commit nal love-passion, a passion for social Justice and well being? How then can the spirit reveal the truth save to the same will in him who reads and In him who writes?
 Admittedly this seems a long detour from my main thesis We return to our sheep: What do parents lose by by neglecting to furnish literary en- vironment, at least book shelf or two, for their children?
 ]. Very really they vugarize the home: fer they give quite undue prominence to mere physical necessities, and teach themselves and these others to live, move, and have their being in 8 world of fiat, black, commonplace vistas. They have an earth, but no sky. This is what we mean by the word "sordid D the nearest approach I know to the Eible. word ''profaul' It signifies a world without interests beyond the daily meal, tho daily toll, the daily gossip, tfe daily care, the nightly sleep. And our public life reflects our home condi- tions.
 do not leave unnoticed the hard lives of many, business men as well as lahorers. who go out in the early morn- ing to an exacting series of duties and return Jagged and ready for bed How
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

ton abroad that all stage folk are i'm moral. This is not the case. Have you seen the last prison report from a certain state official to this effect. There are nurses. school teachers, blacl1smiths. clerks, coachmen, police men. physicians. lawyers. preachers. and others serving in our penal camps, but there is not single actor among them It seems then, that some people not on the stage need elevating. Now, to reeur to the original subject. 1 think a revival of some of the old time TO- mantle dramas would have the whole some effect of driving some of the ob jectionable plays from the playhouse forever" My friend said. q think the modern play teaches many impor tant lessons. if it isn't too broad"
 Right there" l replied you miss the function of the play. It is not presented to teach people. While it may do this incidentally, and Eve no doubt that this is done occasionally, yet teaching Is not it's function. The aim of the stage is entertainment, 1t is an aid to recre- ation. The church is the teacher. our colleges and schools are teachers, but only secondari1y is the stage a teach CT, and nobody goes to the theatre to learn morals or anything else. They go to be amused, to laugh whole somely to enjoy artistic impersonation, or to be borne away from their cares and caroding thoushts by scenes of beauty. by sweet music or by fantastic conceits that are displayed before them in color and form"
 With an expression that plainly said "tne old plays be blowed," my friend said, Give me the new plays every time" What do you regard as some of the best of the new plays?' I asked 70. well, l should name Within the Law. The Leash of Love- and the Lure |" And you are not better off for having seen one of them.n 1 said. "NoM. if Ynn
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

ant who had brought tea and cakes, and then we talked about the weather, a sub ject which found us at agreement Tor we both said. "Such weather as this be blowed,' or words to that effect.
 PLAYS OF THE PAST
 The acting was artistic" I said, but I have no patience with these sex prob lem plays, as they are presented In these days; there is too much of immodesty in the plots and in the suggestions" My old friend helped himself to a bit of broiled steak. for we were at restau- rant taking a bite" as he put 1t, after the theatre, and then asked, What sort of plays do you like best?'' "To me the most agreeable ones are fantasies. come dies and romantic plays, with an occa- sional musical-farce thrown in. The play with salacious suggestion has nothing for me, and there isn't one of them that s worth seeing was my reply T don't agree with you. I think that many moral lessons may be imparted by them, even though l don't approve the whols play that might be presented" was his answer.
 l then called to his memory many of the old dramas of romantic quality Which our fathers and mothers used to see-dramas of the olden times when our grandfathers and grandmoth- CTS were young lovers, when chivalry was Illustrated by high excellence in artistic acting, and when people at tended the theatre, not to learn some thing, but to be entertained, and to return home in pleasant mood of mind The old plays, he said, were back mum bers, and would not be popular in these prosaic days. His sentiments said, "The old plays be blowed." He added, however. q think as you do. I think the stage needs elevating." I replied, q do not think the stage needs elevating any more than the people who go to the theatre. There's a mo-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

NJ. Babcock. the inventor of the famous "Babcock test,' which is of inestimable value to dairymen; Or. Robert Koch, the discoverer of tuberculin, and Dr. Paul Ehrlich, the finder of a remedy for one of the worst of manklnd's diseases.
 Their. eyes have not been covered with the binder of the dollar.
 They have striven for others, not for themselves. And their names will be recorded in the golden book of the world s memory when the names of the million aires are lost
 Service. giving. expenditure of self such Is the test of greatness, not the faculty of acquisition and retention.
 The ''shut-lns,'' those who are pre- vented by illness or disabements from gelng out, need not sit and brood in hope less sorrow. There's society which helps them to be userul to themselves and others in spite of their disabilities.
 The 'shut-ins" are folks who once be- lieved they were helpless and hopeless. Nc wthey, have joined the great and boneficent order of busy bees. Blessed change.
 Of course 1t needed active heart and brain and hand to set in motion the forces which are making the "shut-ins'' happy. There always has to be some body to conceive a great idea before the idea gets into working order. This per sen was woman, Mrs. Jessie DrinSwa- ter, and she originated the benficent Shut in society more than 90 years ago. For q generation 1t has been doing it's good work without the blare of brass bands It's object. like that of so many other worthy benevolent institutions, is help- ing the poor and afflicted to help them selves. That is the great end and aim or all truly philanthropic organizations. The "shut-ins' have their exchanges in the big cities, to which they send the work of their hands. Folks who are fond of exquisite handNork embodied ir embroideries. laces, linens, baskets, rugs book covers. etc.. visit the exchanges anG purchase the things exhibited there It Is a practical work of philanthropy not a charity.
 So much for the physically "shut-in.' How about those who shut themselves in mentality
 They need society. too, to lead then
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05
LET IT BE BLOWED"-By Dr. w. E. Evans

entrance me" What other books haS c you read?'' She named number. not one of which antedated the year 1900 Why don't you read some of the books of the great masters of English fiction such as those of George Eliot, Thackeray, George Meredith and Dickens" I ven- tured to ask
 Then she gesticulated. 70, those old writers be blowed," and by word of mouth said, "I can't bear them tried to read one some years ago by Dickens-let me see, 1t was called Vanity Fair, or some such thing. but there was nothing to it and l couldn't read it. l like something that makes you think. Why when take up one of Chambers novels, I just can't drop 1t until I reach the end" Without attempting to set her right on the au- thorship of Vanity Fair" I recommended some of the old novelists to her, to which she said. T don't see what people gain by going back to the books of the past We have plenty writers now who are the equals of the old writer's T wish you would name some of them" I said
 Why, almost any of them can write a book more interesting than Vanity Fair" and her lips gave a grinace of contempt which said, |" Vanity Fair be blowed." However, she did not name tho modern writers, ''any one of whom could write more interesting story than Van ity Fair q judge you like the old writer's" she asked, looking up to my face with isomething of pity for me
 Yes" I answered. q seldom read any of the new books, not more than two or three a year. but never tire of reading the old ones. I cannot tell you how often have read Vanity Fair I could stand an examination on that story, and be- lfeve I'd come from the class with honors It Is the same case with Henry Es- mond.' The Newcomes,' and others B." Just here her face said, "All of them De blowed," and she arose to meet the serv-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

sentiment. veered in the direction of de- mocraey and of popular government. What do the people wish? was the fore most consideration with Alfred. If tho wish was an erroneous one. he wcs.ss persuade to another course, and lend hil unlimited power to securing 1t. Alfred clung close to the common people. In later centuries that pusillanimous prince. George III, laughed at the career of AL fred. and spoke of him with patronlzhng pity
 Alfred's Idea of common law was de rived from the wishes. habits. ways and customs of the people. If they had a fOot-path that was used by the enf- dren, their parents, and grandparent--, then this path belonged to the people. and he insisted that not even the King could take 1t from them. With him con- mon sense begat common law.
 Against the dark background Of the past of English history, Alfred towers supreme, his form growing larger as tho centuries recede. Some of our modern statesmen would confer honor on them selves by study of the career of this great English sovereign.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

in years, he was in experience matured. Among his other qualities he brought to the throne a clear. unerring judgment, and q cool and vivid intellect. His dis erinination of judgment saved the young man from becoming top heavy in his sudden rise. To him elevation was not the occasion of elation, but quite the con- trary. It was Alfred who first fused Britain into a whole and made it Eng land. With the skill and tact of a mas ter. he welded the ineoherent masses, ce- mented them by means of Christian prin- ciples, and started England on its age long career. He engendered the love of law, subdued rashness into conservatism restlessness into patience. rashness into kindness, and love of domination into eomity. He was as religious as Cromwell. as firm as Washington, as stubborn as Gladstone Some one has defined a really great man as several eminent men rolled together This was Alfred
 Not only was Alfred England's first gentleman her first statesman, govern ment builder. and iudge-he was the real
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

cut of the wilderness in which they wander.
 They are those who live in the mental dark ages They are those who, "hav- ing eyes. see not. and having earn. hear not" They are not. perhaps. physically afflicted, but their mentalities arc warped for they shut their minds eyes to the evidences of progress and enlightenment which lie all around us.
 To them departure from the beaten paths of thought is anathema- They will not stir from their mental firesides be- cause it is comfortable there and nov ing is too much trouble They retire into their mental corners. and the world complacent. deaf and indifferent to all manner of new thoughts.
 Don't be a mental 'shut-in." Get into touch with advancement in any field with which your home and your business arc corcerned. Keep up with the times.
 Reconsideration Hagemeister of Gerder. Germany-have you heard of him?
 He is the latest "sensation' among artlSts. For 40 years Karl Hagemeister has been painting pictures In his little village, and no one knew about 1t. They are good pictures, painted with the pig. ments of sincerity laid on by the brush of power and true interpretation of na- ture.
 So the world found Hagemeister at. last in his cabbage patch and is now mal- ing an idol of him. His paintings are going to the galleries which house Mu. rillo and Velasquez and Da Vinci. Some of Hagemeister's fellow villagers fortunate enough 10 obtain examples oi Hagemeister's work before fame sought him out and crowned him, have disposed of them at good prices. tfe himself is reaping the financial benefit of his ge nius. More fortunate than the poet' end painters and musicians who starvec to death in garrets before the world sought them, he will have a comfort able old age.
 Hagemeister has painted portraits land scapes, studies In still life--anything. 1T fact. to help out the living he earned bl er,nning. But the scenes which he loved best to paint and which are in conse'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

same sacrifice be made by him toward herr" This question was thrashed out for quite time to the satisfaction of the fair speaker. She then asked What about the ohlldrenP Let them combine the names of their father and of their mother. thus linking them more closely to each: or let that matter be settled oy each individual father and mother She then urged tho. abandonment of the title Mrs." claiming that it is unnecessary to label women as spinters or married women. 'Tf woman were married or single. or had children or not. had a hus- band or not. 1t is her own concern and nobody else's. Society don't ask man first of all if he is married and has chil- dren or not: and what Is good for the ganeer is good for the goose. If Miss is the form of address before marriage for women, let 1t be so after marriage. too. Let the term acquire larger social sig nihcance. When women keep their own names. a woman will not have to explain her children by wearing tho name of a perfectly good, legitimate husband who's at home" There was more talk on the same subject It seems curious that women should seriously discuss this ques- ton, and yet it Is being widely advocated and Is listened to with serious ears by many thousands of women. some of whom have already adopted the new plan, prao- tically saying of the name that they havo borne in the past. let the old name te blowed! Wouldn't il seem odd for MT. Jones to be buying gowns for Miss Penelope Smith? And it might be some what embarrassing for Mir. Brown to buy rompers for Miss Salle Shoots little sonl In some cases, | reckon it would be a good thing, for there are instances Of husbands degrading their names which some women have to hear. to release them from the soied names would be only fair, but as a general custom. I say. let the suggestion 'be hlowed,"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

forms that which is worst into that which is best. It was under the care of one of the missionary monks that Alfred was sent to Rome. With his intellect cleared by a wider vision of the world, Alfred was prepared to ascend the throne.
 It must not be inferred that because Alfred was gentle that he was therefore effeminate. He feombined the gentleness of the woman with the courageous strength of a man. as all really great men do. He had qualities that were close akin to those that made Alexander and Caesar great in the esteem of the world. As courageous and daring as any. he had also tender, sympathetic heart.
 Alfred was yet a mercs boy when his eountrynen picked him from among many others to reign, being al the time only g years old. Though slight and slender in build. he had proved his per sonal prowess by four years of hard service in war. fighting valiantly by the side of an elder brother. Though young, he had encountered many of the hard sides of life so that while he WAS young
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

TNHE self-starved are the most pit
 fable of all men. It was my i'll
 As. fortune the other day to talk with two persons who bore evidences of ex- haustion from insufficiency of food. The skin was drawn and shrunken across their faces; their eyes were su- perficially bright, but the depth was gene; their lips trembled from weakness, as though on the verge of weeping. But worse than these things was the fa- natical unwisdom of which these two made confession. the refusal to work at an honorable and profitable employment whereby at least one of them could save beth from horrible suffering He would should be asked to do something that his conscience might forbid!
 Such examples are rare. Perhaps too few of us would prefer to starve than to surrender honest scruples. Most of us are tainted with the philosophy to which another man on the same day gave utterance in my hearing thus: ''The cnly way in the world Is to run big bluff. If you don't yoa'Yf never get oni'' I assumed that he expects his pretenses and unrealities to be so carried with an air of confidence that people will &C., trally pay him for being what he is not. This Is the opposite of conscien- tious scruples, though it often exists along with the Pharsaism that pre- tends to a scrupulosty which is itself pretended and unreal.
 More amazing than sporadic cases of physical self-starvation in the service of a distorted conscience, is an altogether commonplace sort of starvation, with no better excuse than that the victim has "ro time' to eat. Just as the unfortu- mates whom I have above described had grown thin anaemic, weak, unbeauti- fu, through lack of nourishment for the body, so these others are thin blooded, mentally weak and unbeautiful in personality because they refuse to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05

which should be permitted to remain dead.
 Resurrection is not for such. let it lie,
 Perhaps of all the mean forms of theft of which humanity is guilty this one of stealing a persons future is the worst.
 The past Is gone; the present is but moment; the future stretches before us all like great white page ready for the pen. Whoever spills upon a
 brother man or sister woman's future the blot of a past that mas been expiated is guilty of terrible transgression.
 One of the most valuable presents ever made by science to humanity" So says a good authority writing of the safety lamp for miners invented by Sir Humphrey Davy, the famous scien- tist. The lamp enabled miners to work without fear of the explosive firedamp, the worst enemy with which they had to contend. It added to the fame of Dayy, already in the very forefront of the worlds scientists, although he was only 3S years old. The world may well unite ill 1916 to celebrate the centenary of the invention of the Davy safety lamp and to pay honor to the memory of it's inventor.
 Friends of Sir Humphrey Davy-he had won his title few years before by his t1illiant scientific works-urged him to patent the safety lamp. They said 1t would bring him a fortune. Read his answer
 Tt might undoubtedly enable me to put four horses in my carriage But what could 1t avail me to nave 1t said thai Sir Humphry drives his carriage and four bought at the expense of miners lives?"
 It was the glorious reply of noble man. No knighthood or baronetcy con- forred by the King of England could ada to Davy's nobility.
 Fortunately for the world there have been other Davys, men of science who have not commercialized their genius 1 Wien they have discovered or inventet something of universal value to the worle
 they have almost literally shouted thei
 secrets from the housetops that all tn, world might hearken and benefit.
 Of such, among others. are pr. Stephel