davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04
ROMANCE OF ALABAMA HI

many boys and girls were forced to
trudge the distance of several miles each
morning to attend. and return the same
distance home every afternoon. Tin
buckets with curved wire handles would
contain the dinners of the children of a
given family. School periods extended
from in the morning till 4 in the after
noon, with three brief intervals of recess
during the day. For a well regulated
school. the furniture comprised plain. un-
painted seats, none too comfortable, and
unpainted desks. Where not so well
regulated the seats were of split loss,
bacl5less. with peg supporters. and no
desks, save that of the teacher, which
was used at different times by given
class of students in taking writing les
sons from the teacher
This teacher sat on a platform. which
was slightly raised, in order to give him
complete oversight of each pupil. With
in his desk were securely kept the sinews
of discipline in the form of a number of
we'll seasoned hickories, flexible, tough,
and just long enough for faithful execu-
ton. These were source of terror to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

Where the turbid stream of human life
is particularly black and muddy stands
the Bowery mission, in New York. Its
surroundings are poor. TO its doors
streams a continual procession of the
down and outs" Many of them leave
it regenerated. aided and heartened to
face the world again. In the past five
years it has helped more than 10000 men
to obtain the work that was to set them
on their feet again.
There was an interesting ceremony in
the mission not long ago. The infant son
cf the secretary of the mission was dedi-
Gated to the work of his father.
The baby is only a year old. His life
work has been selected for him. lie
will devote himself to saving the lost. t,
helping the derelcts- who drift to the
doors of the mission
Unless he disappoints the hopes of his
father and those associated with the
father in the work of the mission.
No doubt the lad will grow up fine and
strong anu we'll educated and God fear
ing. No doubt his father will instill into
him early, as soon as his Juvenile mind
can comprehend, sense of the nature of
the work to which he is dedicated. His
training will fit him for the task.
But
While he grows in grace and strength,
how about the raw material with which
he will have to work.,
His expansion in body and mind will
proceed while the growth of others goes
on When he shall have arrived at mans s
size these others will have reached the
same goal.
Helper and helped, they will all be men.
His father has dedicated him TO the
task of helping others. The fathers
and mothers of these others-shall it
not be required of them that they shall
SO dedicate their children to goodness
and usefulness that they shall not need
his aid?
1t is their duty to reduce the supply
of down and OUTS of derelicts with
whom the Bowery mission and others
of Its kind will have to deal. The good
men who labor for the lowly, often
amid the most discouragipg of sur
roundings and circumstances, would be
pleased If they could feel that the
stream of men seeking aid at the door
of their missions would diminish and
dwindle and finally fail altogether
To lessen thus the supply of human
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

constantly throbs in the forms of life
about US.
We believe the new year upon which we
are entering just now will come upon
the world day by day. week by week,
and month by month"; that the seasons
will be as heretofore: that seed time and
harvest will come and pass; that tides
will ebb and flow, and that flowers will
bloom to deck the earth with beauty as
they have done ever since the first dawn
broke upona the beauty of Eden Yet
there is no man who understands the hid
den forces of activity and life underlying
these complex phenomena. And so. while
we max not understand the mystery OF a
mans diving and living again, the fact Of
Immortality commends itself to the rea-
son and TO the hope of mankind
There is another thought that forces IT.
self into my revery at this solemn mo-
ment of the death of the oldNYear. Not
only shall we live in our proper and es-
sential personalities N the ages to come
but we shall live in the characters and
lives of others. Life is not a unity 1t is
a mysterious complexity in which many
determining forces are introduced by men
and women brought into contact with us
No man lives unto himself. He lives unto
and in others. Generations OF the past
are living in their posterity today They
live in the results of spoken words acts
performed, examples set forth. and in in
huences eXerted in the long ago. and In
the songs they sent ringing down the
years to mems memories and hearts.
Though their bodies have long lain in the
silent cemeteries life does not end with
death, and they yet live as moulding
forces in mems characters
Their echoes roll from soul to soul.
And live forever and forever"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

everyone who had missed spelling a given
number Of words, walked mechanically np
to the teacher and took his drubblns.
Every class of spoilers was only a body
of culprits on trial.
One OF the choice pranks OF those eatly
days was that of turning the teache;
out" When a holiday was desired. and
had been previously declined. a revolt
was almost sure to follow. \ secret con-
elave Of the big boys. was held, mu-
tiny was hatohed, a fearless ringleador
was chosen. the plans were laid, aud the
time Of the real issue awaited. On the
morning Of the desired holiday the young
Gensnirators would reach the school an
hour or two in advance, barricade every
door and window SO that none could en-
ter. and quietly await the coming Of the
teacher. lie would usually demand that
the hol.e be opened, when the leader
would inform him that it would be done
solely on condition that he would give
them n holiday.
The teachers ingenuity, tact, or phys
ieal strength was often sorely taxed
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

all alike. for under the nature of the dis
cipl1ne there were no immunes in view
of certain infractions.
The rules of discipline were generally
harsh, hard and drastic, the very essence
of the unreasonable. a pupil failing to
spell a given number of words. or to
give a given number of correct answers,
was straightway drubbed This was done
in a most mechanical way, as the ma
chinery of discipline must. of course, run
regularly Nothing was said, but the
teacher would administer the logging.
and go straight on with his other work.
The fear of punishment so far from act
ing as a stimulus. was a barbarous him
drance. Study was not pursued so much
as pleasure as it was done from fear
of punishment.
A big boy" one past Is generally, was
given the alternative of fogging in the
presence of the school, or downright dis
mission. No respect was had for the
difference between a laborious, earnest
student, who might be slow of acquisition,
and one who was bright and quick,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04
lurle

derelicts is the task to which the moth
ers and fathers of boys and girls must
dedicate themselves If they are to per-
form their whole duty.
The stones of Lancaster do some
times whisper, even yet. of rich men
passed away-upon whose great pros
perity some, of these old doorways
frowned sullen in the brightest wealth
er-that their clave- gain turned to
curses as the Arabian wizerd's money
turned TO leaves and that no good ever
came of II, even unto the third and
fourth generations, until 1t was wasted
and gone."-From "a Lazy Tour of Two
Idle Apprentices" by Charles Dickens
Eight years ago a famous American
clergyman. leader in his community
made the expression tainted money" a
household word in America. He used
it to express what he called ill gotten
gains, and he added to his celebrity by
refusing to concur In the acceptance
for missionary work of part OF
great fortune.
He called the money unclean and
asserted that its use would bring dis
credit on the work. The man who Of
fered the money did not like the criti-
cism and was troubled by 1t.
But this American clergyman of to-
day had been anticipated by Charles
Dickens And Dickens had been pre-
ceded by the man who wrote the book
of job when he said
He that is greedy of gain troubleth
his house."
Before the pyramids were dreamed
of the world had it's philosophers to
tell 1t that unrighteous gains brought
with them the sitting of conscience
and the uneasy head on the pillow.
The instinct of possession and OF
amassing is inborn in humanity. Right
ly directed and regulated 1t is power
Tor good, not for evil. If 1t be permit
ted to grow and spread so that it fills
the entire mind and heart and soul
however, 1T crowds out and kills the
better, higher feelings.
You remember the old stories about
the devil buying mans soul for a
price? Well. the old fellow Is a cheat.
He does not pay the price agreed upon.
He disburses spurious coin. His metal
is counterfeit.
"As the Arabian wizards money
money which comes with the taint Of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04
HEART TO HEART TALKS-By Charles N Turie

merely sentimental mouthing, the
name of a song, or is 1t still a living
reality among Americans, who gave
to the world the author of the song?
when great, rich, powerful corpo-
ration like the Pennsylvania Railroad
company finds 1t needful and profit
able to order its employees to be saw
ing
How about the ordinary person?
The company has issued an order
directing its working force to be SPAR
ing in the matter of light. Turn out
your light when 1t is not in use" says
the official responsible for the econom-
ica1 management of the road. In New
York a big publishing house tells its
employees to turn off the light when
you are away from your work. Ten
minutes light saved daily is five hours
less meter charge a month"
Another big company has found that
the installation of pencil sharpening
machines in its office has cut down
its bill for pencils 40 per cent.
If these business houses, with mil
lions of capital and with well paid Of
ficials find it worth their while to pay
attention to '1ittle" things
How about the private person?
Look about you. Is there not some
place in the regimen of your daily life
where there is useless expenditure?
If you are guilty of the little wastes
which mean great losses in the aggre-
gate, stop them.
1t will pay.
There are wastes of time as well as
of money and material We need not
all be like the man who boasted with
truth that he had learned Greek in
the intervals of waiting for his wife
to dress for the opera. But we can
stop up the little leaks of time by
which our store of that priceless COM
modify is wasted.
Time is the warp and woof of which
your life Is woven. Why waste the
thread?
And, reverting to our original theme,
as the value of your time in the ma
terlal affairs of life, is measured in money
and the things which money will buy,
why taste your life by not looking after
the small extravagances?
Do not be afraid of that old bug-bear,
the cry of false economy"
If you look up the meaning of the
word economy in your dictionary you
WIZ see that there can be no such thing
as false economy.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

Molooh presiding over the knife as wen
as the name, it must be tanned. cooled.
nade gentle. as the lrst and most i'm
pcIatiyey necessary step.
II is evident TO those who watched ths
FIRST attempt to make Jefferson county
Tree from the evils OF the whisky business
that the decision was made by the votes
of many who quickly regretted their ac-
tioa, rot because they wished for whisky
but because they saw that the action was
so drastic as To involve its own defeat
Add to them the many represented by the
crowds who. on the first day OF open
saloons, rushed in. lined up at the bar.
ana voeiferously or rapturousy drank
beer, and you have the explanation of
both elections
In n word, the necessity Is recognized
that the moral guillotine and testing ma
e5iino be made less deadly, less crude, less
Vindictive less Wholesale The knife
must be changed. This is the common
view-either il must be changed or abol-
ished. But If abolished It win come back
again. To change II is the serviceable
thing, and In fun keeping with the in
adequately sociallsed conscience Of our
time. Beer must be allowed men, so that
they will be perfectly willing TO forego
The dangerous and vlrile tussle with a
Dr. Guillotine as now equipped. Call 1t
9 ptiful compromise who viii. At least
it is sane and viii lead 70 a condition in
which law can be enforced, moderate
drinkers contented. crime vastly reduced
temperance enormously promoted the
whisky interests beaten by the brewers
and the morally weak and ignorant shell
tered by their stronger brothers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

tender voice OF his mother as her gen
tie lullaby sang him into the quiet
world of sunderland. He remembers
the old home, the little school house,
and easily recalls the forms and faces
'of many who have lain in the sacred
qsiet of the cemetery since the years
of long ago. His body, according TO
science, has changed many times; but
no process of augmentation can con-
vince him that his soul has not re-
mained the same soul through all the
years. Disintegration, DEATH cannot af-
feet the soul adversely, but II intro
duces it into conditions that lberate it
and permit it to bound away into a
higher sphere where the physical body
is not needed and would be in the way.
SO in the ages to come the soul with
its forces and faculties, with it's viii
and memory, with its intellect and af-
fections will think, act, and love.
These conclusions are believed not
because science establishes them, but
because the greatest Teacher has de-
clared them. 1t is not unphilosophical
to accept conclusions upon the state
ments of authority. We do it con-
stantly in the sphere of mental and
physical science. And why should we
withhold our assent in regard to the
souls Immortality when the greatest
If all Authorities declares the fact?
To say that We do not believe it be-
cause we do not understand how it can
be, lobically commits us to the grossest
inconsistency For we are always ,ac-
cepting facts, and acting upon the sug-
gestionS of PROPOSITIONS whose UNDER
lying philosophy battles our compre-
tensions. We do not understand them
but we believe them and act and live
in harmony with them. Actual living
requires faith in the forces and phe-
nomena that encomnass Us and thai
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04
Human Nature in Street Cars

Two able-bodied men in middle life
held long argument in a Walnut Hills
car the other day as to which should
occupy the only remaining seat. SAYS
the Cincinnati Times-S Star. The cour-
tesy of each man toward the other
was most punctilious. The older of tho
two finally yielded and was about to sit
down when he noticed woman stand
ing hehind him. He moved aside in
her behalf when the other man pushed
his friend into the sat saying: shes
probably been to matinee all, the
afternoon and isn't entitled to a seat"
That point of view prevailed.
Across the aisle sat thre husky high
schol lads They were not tired. and
school lads. They are not tired. and
standing in front of them, and by COM
mon consent allowed her to continue
standing. They simply did not UNDER
stand why on earth they should get up.
II there was no excuse for the selfish
behavior of the boys there was stu
less for that of the men, for they
were trained and disciplined during q
time when courtesy toward women
was more insisted upon and observed
than now. They belonged to an age
OF ld-fashioned politeness," but they
seemed to have. outgrown it or thrown
It aside. There is little Justification
for their deliberate discourtesy. The
only value their churlishness has IL
to show to the average man how petty
he appears to others when he delib-
erately makes choice between good
and bad manners. and elects the latter.
As for the boys. they probably re-
ilected the prevalent lack of home
training. When eugenics are taught In
the schools, it might not be bad idea
to teach proper department around the
hearthstone.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

by juncture like this. It was not an
easy thing to handle a half dozen or
more determined boys. Just merging
into manhood. and those whose quie1
grudge prompted desire for tilt at
any rate. and the teacher must either
YIELD and thus lose his grip thereafter.
or take the chance OF a rough and tum-
BILE With the odds against him. The
usual method OF settlement was to
sound truce and compromise on soma
satisfactory basis. one advantage al
WAYS lay on the side OF the teaeheT--=zzs
matter how stern or severe his method
os adjustment In quelling the rebellion.
he would have the moral reinforcement
of the parents. but it was an advantage
that might prove more than a forlorn
hope If he should attack a body Of
muscular country boys.
Happily those days are gone. with
some slight advantages, perhaps, over
some of the present methods. but with
immensely more disadvantages. At
least. the tyranny and brutality of tho
olden days have given place to common
sense.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

1T is the midnight hour and one-half
of this revolving globe whereon we
live lies in the blackness of starless
night. My Imagination hears a deep
toned bell from the shadowy tower of
Time tolling out the passing of the Old
Ykar. A few more breaths, a gasp or two,
aid the Old Year will be gone, and from
out a mass of disappointed hopes, with
cred flowers, vows and promises never
kept, and the gray ashes of roses there
will spring the unfamiliar form of the
New Year
1t is a time for memory. Yet, memory
Is not the only mental faculty that the
passing of the Old Year excites into ac-
tivity. For while memory has to do only
with the past, sober thought projects one
nNo the infinitude of time, to the years
that are yet to be. and into the ages to
come that shall continue their solemn
roll over the plains of time and eternity
after this small world on which we live
has long ceased to be. To think of the
vast future is not a mere sentimental
fancy, it may engage much of the time
most profitably spent in revery, for it's
Influences may be practical in the life.
One might be prompted to ask, What
have we to do with the ages to come?
or With the years that have not arrived2
I{VSe have a relationship with the ages that
fhave passed, because we are the out
growth of them. Our civilization, our So
cial order, our political security, and our
religion, all had their rise in the mist
crowned heights of the far away hills of
the ages, like streams bursting from
mountain sides and flowing down through
the spreading paiNs. What we are we
owe to the ages that are gone but why
should the ages to come interest us?
All this thoughtful person acknowI-
edges. Yet we have more to do with
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

| ton of the last day" Yet IN the chill
dren whose merry prattle was the sweet
est music of the old home. they will live.
In tho generations through the ages to
come they will live For their influences
and examples continue in their posterity.
anC will till the stars grow cold. VIII
the life Of the parent in the child be "a
blight or a blessng2 In the years to
come when the child 1as grown to man.
hooc and has learned the hard lessons OF
the world. will he bless or curse the day
of his blrth2 WIN he honor recolections
Of his father or curse his memory?
In the ages to come to soul In eter-
nifty how unspeakably insignificant will
seem many of the things which men now
think Of most importaacei How petty
Will appear the bitter strfes. the hot
competitions, the burning iealousles. and
the possessions OF this present life for
which men barter the most lasting and
the highest things Of character and per-
scnal worth. How insonsequential and
poor viii appear such titles as merchant
prince" railroad magpate." cattle
king How small must all earthly
things seem when looked upon from the
realities of the world where the soul shall
be in the ages to come. How dim the
glory, How meager the wealth. How
short the life.
But | pause The bells announcing the
arrival of the New Year are now silent.
and the church towers and steeples
wherein they rang a few moments ago are
siill and dark The small boy no longer
blows the hoarse tin horn. The only
sounds hear are the chcHng of my writ
ing machine and the slow tick of the old
clock This great city. for | am writing
In New York. has at last gone to bed.
When 1t awakes In the morning 1t will be-
gin its letters-19l4 How odd the figures
seem. 1914 since what? or Whom?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

THE monotony and particularly of
her complaints (sclight though the COM
plants were in comparison with their
cause) necessarily blunted the edge of
compassion. Mrs. Povey and her sci
atica againl Poor thingl She really is
a little tedious They We're apt not to
realize that sciatica is even more tedious
than complaints about sciatica. From
"The Old Wives Tales" by Arnold Ben
nett.
Let not the edge of your compassion
be blunted!
There is in some minds too decided a
tendency to regard suffering as inevitable
and incurable.
There's grandfather, for instance, with
his rheumatism. He desires to be brave
and tries hard. for he was a brave SOL
dier in the war and bore his part worthily,
but in late years the demon rheumatism
has seized hold of his joints and torments
him.
He complains sometimes. Who would
not complain? And then, as in the quota
tion from the novel, there is a tendency
to consider him a bore" To tell him
dured" is not much of a staff for him
to lean upon when the pains seize him.
So also in the social world.
They told Marie Antoinette, Queen of
France, that the poor were complaining
for lack of bread. The complaint was
old to the ears of the queen. No doubt
she had said many times. why. they are
always complaining and whining!"
So when they told her that the poor
lacked bread she said, ''why don't they
eat cake?"
The idea is the same as that involved
in telling the suffering that they must
have patience Such advice is cheap
What is not cheap is the helping hand.
the active sympathy. the taking of what
ever measures are possible to alleviate
the distress and check the pain. If every
one who expresses sympathy with the
poor and then passes on were to add his
mite to the work which is being done to
help the poor, soon there would not be
so many poor to be helped.
Patience and work-these are the two
sovereign remedies for distress, physical
and economic.
When the evils are such that they can
not be relieved-there are few such evils
the use of patience is Indicated" as the
doctors say. When effort will bring about
betterment of conditions, work. personal
concerted work. is needed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-04

In the ages to come we ourselves. in
our essential personalities, shall live
In the early twilight of mans history
when his soul was in revolt against
the thought of nom existence after
death, one cried out IF man die
shall he live again?" The sages and
philosophers of his times could only
guess at the answer. No man could
speak with authority out of the mists
of doubt and uncertainty. 1t was the
case in the time of Socrates and Plato
They guessed at a life after death. The
wisest scientific thinker of the past
or of the present cannot say, of his
own wisdom and research, that death
ends all or that death does not end
all. Science does not know. But one
who speaks as never man spake has
forever settled the enquiry of the soul.
There is life after death. There's a
jolting of the train at the junction,
but the train goes on. There is dis
solution at death of the soul and body,
but the soul goes on.
What is there in death to rob the
soul of its life and to consign it to
humiliation? What is it that dies?
Only that which is composed of mat
ter can die, and that the soul is su-
perior to material disintegration the
plain mans observation convinces him.
For example: Medical men assure us
that physical disintegration is a con
stant process in the human body; and
that every seven years one loses his
former body and acquires a new one.
So that he who has lived 20 years has
had 10 separate bodies. But has he had
10 separate souls? Does not the faculty
of memory alone demonstrate that
through all the changes and chances
of his life he has had but one soul-one
mind, and one memory? He remembers
.odav the scenes of his childhood tha