davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

That perfect man and that perfect wom- an, moccasned with glittering dews and clothed in crystal air, were our parents. By right of blood ours should be bodies of strength and forms of beauty. Our ancient heritage was the broad breast of courage and the rounded bosom of tender affection. the mighty arm, and the clear and flashing eye that widowed every mo- tive of the mind and signaled forth the passions of the soul.
 But the bequest came with conditions attached. The Herculean arm must meet the stress of wild and simple life; the flashing eye must measure glances with the eagle in his sunward flight, and sweep the panoramas distant rim where val leys stretch and rivers roll. We must go out into the sunlight and the air that
 blows fresh fields and mountain sides; we must sometimes seek the leafy. lonesome
 calm of trackless solitudes. where an- tiquity wears the virgin freshness of her youth: where flowers grow and birds sing as they did in the morning of the world . where the stars are just stars. as they were to the simple shepherds of long ago. twinkling out no hint of the endless sys- tems which they form-no trace of the vast and fiery orbits which they keep to preserve the equilibrium of the Master S plan.
 All flesh is grass" and these transient temples in which our spirits tarry for a time are built from the essences of e1e- mental nature. Ere my body rose from
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

Jesse Collins, another radical who won popular applause by his advocacy of three acres and a COW" for every work ing man in England; he saw A. J. Bal four with his lackadaisical smile pre- tending to be highly amused at the Idea of any sensible man attempting to bring relief to a victim upon which vultures were feasting. Cold, callous, prejudiced hearts were in the breasts of these men and their cohorts that filled these tory seats, but, nothing daunted, the old gladiator faced his opponents. and In words of living passion made the cham Der ring Ireland" said he in conclud- ing, stands at Your bar expectant, hopeful almost suppliant. Her words are the words of truth and soberness She asks an oblivion of the past. and in that oblivion our interest Is deeper than hers You have been asked to- night to abide by the traditions of
 which we are the heirs. What tradi- tions? The Irish traditions? Go into the length and breadth of the world, ransack the literature of all countries find if you can a single voice, single
 book in which the conduct of England towards Ireland is anywhere treated except with bitter and profound con demnation. Are these the traditions by which we are exhorted to stand? No. they are broad and black blot upon the pages of our history"
 English democracy responded to the noble appeal; the bill was read a third time and went to the House of Lords. In that chamber the bill found Al cham pions against 419 enemies. Ireland was again laid like corpse on the dissect- ing table, while Lord Salisbury as prime minister, assisted by his nephew, A. J. Balfour. in the House of Commons.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

ground out coercion laws that aimed ito drive discontent beneath the sur face" Twenty years of resolute gov ernment," said Lord Salisbury. will set tie the Irish question:" and he yigor- ously applied the remedy.
 Following the defeat of the home rule bill of 1893 Mir Gladstone retired from Parliament and died in 1898. The union- ists had a big majority, and wishing to do something spectacular. launched tho nation. with true jingo spirit. Into the Boer war. Although England eventually won. yet 1t was at cost and under eir- cumstances that had the effect of bringing an overwhelming defeat upon the unionist government. and the liberals were re- turned to office In 1905 by the biggest majority ever known in parliamentary elections. Campbell Zimmerman was prime minister and MT. Asquith held seat in the cabinet. Upon the death of Campbell Zimmerman in 1908, Mir. Asquith became prime minister and David Lloyd-George chancellor of the exchequer. John Red mond was leader of the Irish nationalists. The unioEists got up war scare and called for an immense increase in the navy. Lloyd-George met the demand by putting tax on land to meet the ex- penditure, and the House of Lords re- jected the budget. From that action of the House of Lords followed the veto act which made possible the present homo rule bill. Without the veto act not MT. Asquith nor 10 MT. Asquiths could have forced the House of Lords to pass the bill, and the remarkable feature about the situation is that the House of Lords itself made possible the means by which 1t was shorn of It's veto power. The lords stepped into the trap they set to catch Mir. Asauith, and barely escaped
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

the gulf of mystery to become the castle of soul, 1t was herb and flower and fruit and grain. From under the golden vest that wraps the wheat's rich ker- nel-from under the husk of the homely corn come the muscles of men ana the sinews of nations
 And thou, fair woman, whose subtle charms have conquered all the conquerors of this world; remember that thy beauty, ere 1t did assemble in thy face and form, blushed in the blood of purpling vineyards, paled in the cataract's yelling mist, and harvests which nursed thy willowy grace from the breasts of voluptuous souls.
 But we have broken the emerald apron strings that bound us to Mother Earth. The world has wandered from the wilder ness to the city's walls. from purring streams and silent haunts to rattling streets of stone, from starlight and dew to arc light and dust.
 We call this civilization. and I love to think that it Is; but has not the body surrendered too much to the mind? In the contract for the upward march, has not the physical man failed to retain his vested rights? Is he not too content to stoop and groan and shamhle up the hills of knowledge. while the intellect scars and circles through all the skies of thought? Would not the mind fly freer and higher If the body were moving apace, with more vIm in his veins and more steel In his step?
 Some pale and peaked champion of thu
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31
Struck Gold at Last Strike

From the Washington Post.
 Tt has been my experience that many of the greatest paying mines have been practically given up," observed w. A. Timmons of Porcupine. Canada, at the New Willard.
 Tn the Porcupine is the biggest gold mine in the world. It has paid { per cent month for several years, and 10 still yielding in geenrous quantity. It was by the merest accident that 1t was developed. The owners of the mine had faith in 1t, but after spending a lot of money and doing more worK on the thing they were about to give it up. The men associated in the enterprise were diseour- aged. because there was nothing to show for their efforts.
 'Tt was decided that work on the mino should be discontinued. and one of tho owners was designated to go back to the mine and gather up the machinery and abandon it. Just as he was starting for the place another of the owners had second thought. and declared that hS was goingeto stick for a while longer- He did. and it was the last stroke thae developed the riches of the mine be. lieve 1t has yielded more gold than an& other mine of its size in the world"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

look down on this physically perfect pair, and call them savages. Indeed the human mind has climbed a mighty steep from that far time. It has con quered almost everything save death. Knowledge has spread It's wings and lifted us to the secrets of the universe. Where that perfect man saw only twinkling points of light in the mute mysteries of the stars, we have dis covered the infinite utility of God and unveiled a host of marching worlds analyzing it's every drop of water and countless atoms and measuring it's i'm measureable distances. Old errors. su- perstitions and false philosophies have been buried in the crypt of piling ages.
 But coupled with this amazing pro- gress is a tragedy. Back there in the wilderness. in the dazzling light of dawning knowledge. we forgot some thing. As we came eagerly up the hills and heights of research and in tellectual attainment. we left some thing behind It was Gods image, the human form divine.
 We left 1t in the quiet dusk of un- slaughtered woods. along the timbered afsles of rest: left it by springs that trill eternal music to honest thirst; left 1t beneath the bending boughs of fruit ed groves and in the glimmering light of harvest fields; left 1t amid velvet mosses and fluttering leaves. where rugged pathways rise and wind to con- quer cliffs and crags.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

fldence--when hope.s great wings ara strongest. Iris the hour that points to the universal Roal-'tis the resurrection's image.
 For the city cannot pass away. It is the beating heart of trade. the parade ground of ponp and glory. It will ever hold aloft it's bright candles to scorch the foclSing wings or its human moths There learning stores her books and art her treasures. The beauty that poets gather must find it's worship fin tho shop and busy street: the inspirations of the masters are peddled like soap and shoe strings on the crowded thoroughfare. Whoever unclothes a fair ideal or arrests a rapturous thought, like him who finds a nugget of gold. must run with 1t to the market place. Every picture that springs immortal, from the brush of ge- nius. every statue that rises, deathless from its marble bed. must be prsoned in some swarming Louvre, to bless the eyes of tho moving millions on their short journeys to the grave
 But, while the throngs fold their arms around their man-made treasures, let us pray the fates that there will ever be wild. neglected spots beyond the din of the ceaseless battle, where he who will may go-where cool shadows are tied like hammooks. in the tangles of gnarled and grassless woods where quiet fields wave their banners of promise from afar, and where the foamlng cavalry of dashins 1 streams gallop down from the hills to l join the massing columns of slow-marcfil ing rivers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

ceasingly demanded the restitution of their parliament.
 OConnell was an advocate of constitu- tional action, and although supported by over 100000 people. made dismal fail ure and died broken-hearted. He was succeeded by the fiery and impetuous Young Irelanders. and they were crushed. Later came the Fenians, powerful rev. olutionary organization, but honeycombed with traitors and informers and they, too. were crushed. Then 1t was that Isaac Butt. brilliant lawyer, who had won distinction by defending the Fenians ac- cused of high treason, seeing the folly of physical force movements, founded the Home Rule league and advocated a return to the constitutional methods of O'Con- nell.
 The policy of the Home Rule league was to send men to the English Par liament who would devote themselves to the home rule cause and by consti- tuttonal means work for the repeal of the act of union. The policy was good, but In practice 1t was a rank failure. What could 30 or 40 home rulers do in Parliament of 670? England, 1t is true, had her political parties then as now but they were parties only on English questions; on Irish questions and especially on the home rule ques- tion, they were all one party--anti- home rule. The apparent hopelessness or the movement tended to make many of the avowed home rulers very remiss In their labors, and furthermore the home rule banner was taken up and Violently waved by many perfidious knaves and rascals who found under It's folds a stepping stone to office of honor and emolument at the hands of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

English ministers. Tn due time Isaac Butt retired to die, disappointed and heartbroken man. Following the death of Butt, Ireland, to quote the words of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Hay like a corpse on the dissecting table," and English political parties pursued the even tenor of their way.
 But Ireland was no corpse. however much she looked like one. It only needed the voice to arouse her once more to action and that voice came from a young man, unknown save in the possession of a name inherited from a glorious ancestor, a man faithful to his people and his country when 30 many proved -faithless. In that dark hour this young man, Charles Stewart Parnen, stepped on the scene and the future leader was immediately recog- nized. In the quiet retirement of his life at Avondale in County Wicklow he had read and studied the history of all the previous movements and he un-
 and downfall. He expressed his con clusions in after years in the memor- able words. "No movement can hope to succeed that depends upon one man. When the man dies the movement dies
 unless he has a successor to continue
 the work"
 In pursuance of this view Parnell re- established the Home Rule league upon the lines laid down by Isaac Butt and | in addition thereto made 1t obligatory upon every candidate for member of Parliament who sought election as a home ruler to pledge his word of hon. l or ito sit, act and vote with his fell | low members under the direction of their chosen leader, and to preserve a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31
EDUCATION A DEBT-By George Eaves, D. D.

''Ye are cursed with curse, even this whole nation." said the same great preacher who most plainly foretold the passing of the curse. And so we have been cursed, this whole generation of merchandising. manufacturing man. kind. with the curse of selfish wealth. wealth easily acquired. wealth that easily corrupts it's possessor and the world he infests But it is the sim gular honor of the age now dawning that its function Is to consecrate It's gold to pave the streets of the whole city. passion for social well being is evolved, and the children must catch 1t.
 They go forth. these smiling lads and lasses. confident but not unwistful. not wholly unafraid. An. 1t is strange and wonderful emprise on which they are starting. But the path of safety for them and for their age is the path that leads through rough places and many temptations to social reform, and su- premely to the abolition of poverty. No cheap, ready made nostrum will here suffice These men and women of the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31
ING THE DECLARATION-By B. F. Riley. D.

ease, and it was considered tbat tho Congress was not in formal session. there was much freedom indulged. After Ham cock had written his name. in large box car letters, he raised up and said: There. John Bun may read my name without spectaoles." Then he said. Come up. gentlemen. and sign 1t. for we must hang together in this thing. With demur twinkle about his eyes, Franklin. a ready wit. replied. Yes for if we don't, We shall all hang separately" Benjamin Harrison of Virginia. whom John Adams described as "a luxurious. heavy gentle- man." turned to slim and slender Et- bridge Gerry and said that when the hanging should come he would have the advantage of holding his own at the end of a rope. while Gerry would ba kicking in the air long after it was all over with him.
 Thus went the jocularity and banter. the exchange of Jest at the expense of different members. while there was be- ing signed one of tho most important human instruments ever penned by man.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31
Copyright. 1914. by s. B. Parkinson.)

Copyright, 1914 by S. B. Parkinson) n ACK beyond a thousand years of history, man strides forth
 - through the shattered sunlight that dapples the primeval forests soft, cool floor; proud-headed. power-con- scious, draughting the unpoluted att mosphere with lungs that have never felt the menace of the great white plague. Unfettered sinews lace his agile body where, rolling muscles rise to proclaim that symmetry of strength without which there Is no such thing as masculine beauty. The lines and curves that bound out his graceful limbs have long since vanished from them only in the cold images of rock forms of Olympian gods.
 Up from the rivers sparkling edge, primal bath chamber of natures rustic suite, comes the queen of his heart faithful pattern of fair Eve, and heir to all her charms, in her eyes the un- troubled light of Sirian stars. shining above shadowy deeps of love. Her dark and cloakfng tresses. sweet with the breadth of the wild grapes bloom, her complexion coppered by the kisses of many suns. she is more beauteous than those airy nymphs who sprang from out the souls of poets, to make merry in the classic woods that bordered on the fair Aegean.
 From the summit of centuries we
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

sets success. personal success, before the young man as his God-appointed goal has been too costly and wholly unsatis- factory experiment. But 1t would be idle to deny that it still. holds the field in the popular magination.
 And hence the present season of com menoement orations, graduation essays, and beribboned parchment. brings again to the observer the recurrent and insist ent question once more. Cui bono? What is the use? Are these thousands Of our splendid youth to plunge into the melee. and sweat and struggle, as their fathers did, for competence. and if possible for a fortune? Is that all? Is it simply that they will receive more dollars than their fathers received. while they compete, as their fathers did not. with the girls that are their sisters or that they might have hoped would become their wives?
 It is a gray and pitiless question, laden with sleet, prophetic or competed gases in the deep, subterranean world. where explosions come.
 Most happily we are not left to stupid reiteration of the question. Quite an-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31
BY-PATHS OF HISTORY-DRAFTING I'll

of meeting of Congress. Hfther the red haired statesman went direct, and in one of the little hired rooms. with writing cabinet on his lap. Jefferson wrote the i'm mortal deliverance. At that time Jeffer- son was B years old and had not been sufficiently long from college either to avoid or to shear away the rhetorical redundancies. yet but few of those ap- peared in his draft. Some of his terms were too heated. and one or two pas sages needed to be eliminated, while one or two others still lacked compression in order to soloditfy.
 After completing it he submitted 1t to each one of the subcommittee. Ad- ans and Franklin. each one of whom iinderscored a word or two which he thought should be changed, which was done. when it was indorsed by the en- tire committee and submitted to Con- gress for amendment adoption or re- Jection. Adams was surprised to find in the original draft denunciation of slavery so sweeping from Virginian. but was none the less gratfied The paragraph which contained this pro- nounced declaration against slavery
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

future must undertake to learn and teach the art of living and to secure for all the means of cultured liveli- hood. And the highest difficulty will be vanquished when they have forever crushed the ancient superstition that the hardest manual toll is degrading or unworthy of a gentleman. The abo- lition of poverty does not mean thu abolition of toll. but of the degenera- ton which toll now creates
 Meantime education is a debt. It can never be paid by words or promises. but only with the hard cash of dis cipline and love of life.
 Hail then to the graduates who go forth to understand and suffer and win their way 10 the thrones reserved for them that servei For them the high, excellence of training and attainms spells ability to work And the
 spiration of work is not that 1t is dc for reward but In the payment of life long debt. We must he the stror est and the hest and the most succe ful we can be, not as measured by & but as measured by the inspiration lives emanate upon others
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

was greatly amended before the final adoption of the declaration.
 The submission of the report of the committee of five. already named, was the signal for a long and heated de- bate. Every word was closely guard ed, every statement made was consid- cred with respect to It's bearing on the constituency of the nation now just struggling to the birth, as we'll as to the formidable enemy now encountered and the future generations of the new government Where views were ex- actly the opposite middle ground of agreement was found. Hence the con stitution is largely representative of compromise views in order to harmony and unanimity This has been urged as an objection to the constitution. when. in truth, it is its chief merit. In a measure like that there could be no monopoly of view. If so. whose was it to be? A great country was in prospect with destiny which these primitive statesmen foresaw in part and the diversity which has always eN- isted was in embryo in that original
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

those days Of less formality, the Con- gress should vote plump on the meas ure. The day came. and still the tide of debate was running high. Members were still haggling over minor points both of principle and of phraseology. yet many were ready to vote. The weather was extremely hot. and from a horse stable. which stood near by. the big horse flies swarmed through the wide open win dows, and stang the members through their silk stockings, for all wore knee brooches with buckles at the knee, and every member had his colored hand kerchief out and industriously piled 1t in swishing off the troublesome horse flies. That these buE2ing and stinging insects had much to do In terminating the wordy war and in precipitating the vote, as members became more desperate under such conditions, there is no doubt
 The sun was declining fast westward. when the declaration was spread on table and the members began to sign. John Hancock. the President, seized the quill. and in a sprawling way wrote his name and as the members were not at
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

other ideal is thrusting itself upon the modern schoolboy. The age of gold will not come by the best of gold. and the teachers of the children are among the nrst to perceive that newly discovered but most ancient truth. The purpose of education is not to equip the boy for the battle of life, so that he can learn to snatch away what his fellow possesses. or climb upon his fellows necks to power. In every school at least a giimmerng perception has been dawning recently that success Is always measurable by the value of the service one can and does render. Only service justhes wealth
 Education is a debt, and that debt Is incurred by the child against its will, or independently of its choice Not all the educated have been to school, but none have learned anything .n school or col lege till they have learned how deeply In debt they actually are. It was tho community that made the child's life and health and training possible To escape that debt is forevermore impossible. Life offers only the opportunity to repay what each one owes to all.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31

our national life. the delusion of per sonal advantage at the cost of the community. probably no man living is able adequately even to comprehend. In after ages the careful student of the centuries may hereafter perhaps de- cipher the dread hieroglyphs that have been written in almost every state of this union. We have had democracy in form. We have enjoyed the mani- fold blessings of the Christian religion. We have multiplied schools and col leges. And yet only so slowly is emerg- ing a conception of patriotic life that is fit to compare with the magnificent possibilities that stretch their fair up- lands to the eastern sky,
 The ideal of parents who have sent sons and daughters to be educated has generally been what Is called success. We have fairly worshipped success. What ever stands in the way of success Is taboo, and has been taboo these many years. And when we define success we frankly mean personal wealth, the winning of position, the escape from the ranks of the slaves into the ranks of the owners