davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
REAL BUGS THAT HAVE
CUT A FIGURE IN COLE

IL would seem almost impossible
that such tiny matters as caterpilIars
ana grasshoppers would figure in golf
yet instances have been recorded
Where a sizable dispute has arisen
over Just such matters says the New
York World.
well known golfer tells the story
OIL four-ball match which had fin.
lshed at the eighteenth hole with the
match even. They agreed to plav an
extra hole to decide the matter Tha
green was trifle sloping and on this
partieuiar day 1t was rather keen.
ohe hail, after the approach put. came
TO rest few inches above the hole
Inc PLAYER whose turn came next
was a methodical and deliberate ner-
soH' ana as the match depended on
ms next shot. he took an unusual
iehsth OF time in his calculation.
one OF those big, ufzzy caterpillars
at ms particular time happened to
crawl upon the bah and the weight
was lust sufficient to disturb the euuil-
Iprlum or the sphere, causing it to
move anG by curious chance it han
peHed 10 roll straight into the hole.
carrying the fuzzy mischief
win II. The owner of the ball i'm
ineolately claimed that it should count
stroke. OF course the other side vig-
orously protested and the match re-
NAMED in dispute for several days
The ultimate ruling. the matter having
oeeh referred to an authority to de-
eide. was that the ball should have
teen replaced without penalty, on tho
ground that if the ball had missed
the CUP and rolled 10 feet below. the
owner would undoubtedly have wished
tG replace it.
On another OCCASION grasshopper
inquired in match during a tourna-
ment The ground was hard and very
last The ball of the opponent con-
tlnued to roll straight for sandpit
after 1T was played. and it seemed an
II 1t would be strong enough to triclxle
in, but it finally came to rest on the
very edge of the pit AS the player
approached his ball a big grasshopper
which had been beside it, started off
ara disturbed the ball that it top
pied into the pit. The insect had ac-
tually kicked the ball into the haz-
ard. The narrator held that his op-
ponent should replace the ball without
penalty, and this was finally done.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
The Colonel's Sin

The next morning, when he listlessly
picked up the paper he saw the beloved
name of Whitford Priory-the full name
of the Lavington estate and its village.
To his disgust Lancelot saw the para
too common in those days in poverty
stricken districts-the case OF an unmar-
ried woman concealing the birth of a
child.
Then the name of Colonel Bracebridge
caught his eye. He gasped and hastened
to the colonel's lodgings.
But the Times had arrived before~him
The colonel was sitting before an un-
tasted breakfast. He had just come back
from fishing in Norway.
He was fearfully changed-all his old
self-confldent look had vanished-he was
haggard and worn.
DO not speak to me-" said the colonel
without looking up; sit was kind of you
to come. Do not go; 1 cannot be alone
This is horrible.
1.-The child was born alive-I know it
was She killed it and has written me
from her Jail. Why could she not have
waited?"
There came a postman's knock at the
door
There" said the colonel, did | not
tell you she would write to me? l must
be alone when | receive this letter. Stay
here2-and with firm, compressed lips
he walked to the door and shut it after
him.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
Nearing His Fate

A silence fell over the little group,
which was broken by the faint cry from
a distance of Stolen away"
Then the hunt began In earnest. and
when the hounds had got the scent the
scarlet coats flashed like sparks of fire
across the gray mist Lancelot envied
the colonel with his firm seat, his COM
plete mastery of his horse, his consum-
mate hunting skill and his man-of-the
world bearing.
When, at one time, the old squire came
up to say: Look out, there, Brace
bridge-you will kill Smith yet-he can't
ride" He will make fine rider in
time" shouted back the colonel.
I'm time" thought Lancelot putting
spurs to his horse.
1t was a vast amphitheatre of sward
into which the hunt rushed, and there,
in the center of the vast ring an OBJ
ject appeared which stirred strange
melancholy in Lancelot-a little chapel
ivy-grown, with a few yews and elders
about it and a churchyard with grassy
graves.
There was climbing rose over the
porch and an iron railing around the
chapel which told of human care.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
"Stalwart Souls of Heroes"

And there sat Lancelot by the cover
side, his knees aching with the cold
and wet, thanking his stars that he
was not one of the whippers-in who
were lashing the coverts.
Not that he was unhappy-he mad
no reason to be. In the first place the
hounds would not find and in the
next he had left at home, half fin
tshed. a review of the Silurian sys-
tenn.
Iancelot had been out late the night
before. In fact, it had been of the
morning when he arrived at home and
he was really not in a fit stale to ap-
preciate the feelings of our great
grandfathers, when after the third bot
tie of port, they put their black SILK
tights into their pockets, slipped on
the feathers and rode the tailed
hack 80 miles on a winters night to
meet the hounds in the next county
by 10 in the morning.
They are gone to hades, even these
stalwart souls of heroes'-the fathers
Of the men who conquered at Waterloo
and we, their degenerate great grand
sons, are left instead.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
nestiny's Leaden WEIGHT

This picture must include our hero
who rode his horse. Shiver-the- Tim
bers, as a fine young fellow of 20 VINO
can afford II, and has nothing else 10
}, has a right to ride.
Lanscelot had been very much given
watching himself and the weather
or instance--when he was in ms
Gems he kept a sort of soul almanac
18th such entries as this:
Tuesday, 22-Barometer rapidly iail-
ne: heavy clouds in the northeast. MY
ieart sank to gloomy forebodln9s.
Read Manfred and doubted whether l
should live long. The leaden weight OF
destiny seemed to crush me down TIL
the thunderstorm broke and restored
peace to my troubled SOUL
This, of course, was very bad. But
in Justice to Lancelot, it ought to be
said that he had grown out of it BY the
time our story opens
He was now in the fifth act OF MS
"Werterian" stage-that sentimeh1ai
measles which all clever men eaten
once in their lives and which, if taken
early. settles their constitutions Tor
good or evil If taken late it goes far
toward killing them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
Attracted by His Very Faults

When Argemone arose In the morning
her first thought was of Lancelot. His
face haunted her. The wild brilliance of
his intellect struggling through foul
smoke clouds had haunted her still
here.
She had heard of his profligacy, OF
his bursts of fierce Berserk madness.
Yet now these very faults seemed to
attract her and intensity her longing
to save him. She would convert him,
purify him, harmonize his discords.
She had found her ideal-she now had
some real object in life-something to
live for. She could hardly wait to meet
Lancelot and begin-how she did not
know.
She looked about almost angrily at
her beloved books and drawings and
said: 81 have only loved these things
for my own sake-selfishly, because
they fed my conceit of my own tall
ents But l will study no more, only
the human heart, and that to purify
and ennoble it."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
By
CHARLES KINGSLEY

LONDON slums. He thought he could get
some missionary work of that sort to
do
come to me in two months time =.
saiu Laneelot; Il must have time to
make up my mind, but believe 1 shall
20 Iofth with you, somewhere. to do
some work which the world has in
store for me. to do.
Maybe not here in London. mavhe
IN the country, but somewhere we to-
gether must labor to correct the wrong
to uplift the fallen, to make men bet
Ter because We have lived.p
Iresarva spoke gently of Honoria-
spoke with a gentle hopelessness and
clearly let Lancelot see that his heart
was. hers. But, also, he realized the
dli1erence in their stations and their
bringing up, their difference in MANY
ways which made up difference that
could never be gotten over.
He had, at times, been ambitious
had thought of going to America and
Australia, of building himself-of maxi
ing fortune, and then, beyond those
dreams there was the dream of Hon
ora. But now these things cou1d
never be.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
Arpemone Diving

Lancelot heard him walking about the
room overhead. Then he heard the re-
port of pistol and a body falling to the
hoori This, then, was the end of that
careless, reckless lifel
Lancelot at first could not stir; then
he called for help and sent for a sur
geon-but it was too late.
And now Lancelot felt that the last
link was broken between him and his
former gay companions-all had desert
ed him in his adversely but this one
and now he was silent in the grave. He
felt like the last Arab of some plague
stricken tribe looking out across barren
deserts
On the morning a letter was put into his
hands. 1t contained a few hurriedly
written and agonized words from Ho-
noria.
Argemone was dying of typhus fever,
contracted in doing errands of mercy
in the fever-haunted cottages of her
fathers village. Argemone was dying
and Honoria had, with some difficulty,
got permission from her parents for
Lancelot to visit her.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
CONVINCED of Few Things

He was now in the dare devil huht-
ing stage. and was convinced of only
few things-these were that he was
very clever; that he ought to increase
his fortune; that a great many thlhgs
in the world were very pleasant-beau-
tiful things especially. That it was a
fine thing to be a superior person,
gentleman like. courageous and gener-
Gus.
He had left college-as most men 90
with a fair smattering of classics and
mathematics picked up at his Intervals
of football and boat racing.
He had read Byron by stealth ana
had been flogged into reading OVID
and Tibullus
As for the love of women-that mad
been a thing taboo to him. But, OF
course, Iancelot was destined to see
his beloved
And it was upon truly national day
as regards the weather that he saw
her. silent, dismal distance stream
ing with the rotting oak leaf of the
last of March. a soulless, skyless,
catarrhal sort of day.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
Her Secret Kept

She placed OBTAINING hand upon
his arm and the magnetic touch
seemed to thrill through his whole
frame She had called him Lancelot.
He stood spellbound.
They got the half-drowned keeper
out of the water-at first they thought
he was dead-and at length he opened
his eyes and his gaze met that of Hon
oria who was bending over him in an
agony of fear.
One big, deep sigh welled to his lips
and burst Honoria seemed to recol-
lect herself, rose, passed her arm
through Argemone's and walked slow
ly away.
Argemone. sweet prude, thought it
her duty to read her sister lecture
upon her reckless display of feeling,
but profited little by it.
The most consummate cunning could
not have baffled Argemone's suspi-
cions more fully, than Honoria's utter
simplicity
She cried just as bitterly at the peril
of Mops as at the peril the keeper had
been ill-then she laughed heartily at
Argemone's seriousness.
When pushed>a a little too hard she
broke out into something very like
a passion and told Argemone that she
was not accustomed to see men
drowned every day.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08

dropped from his pocket? Is is in
f'rench-and am no scholar. Translate
for us, colonel"
The squire's groom had at this mo-
ton, picked up a book which had, in
deed, dropped from the pocket of the
incoming" Bancelot.
The colonel took the book and read,
'St Francis de Sales. Introduction to
a Devout Life"
Poor Laneclot! He wished himself
fathoms under ground, and was
ashamed of his book. The colonel
eravely returned the book to the young
man and bowed deeply.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
Hoping for Nothing

Lancelot knelt again and prayed.
When he lifted up his head he saw 'hae
Argemone was lying unconscious. Hast
ilv he rang for the others.
81 think you had better leave the
room. sir" said Mrs. Lavington, and
followed him out into the passage.
What she was about to say remained
unspoken for Lancelot, in spite of her,
seized her hand and wrung 1t with
frantic thanks for having been per-
D,itted thi some interview and passion
ate entreaties to be allowed to see
Argemone once more. if only for a
minute.
At that moment a shrek from Homo
ria came resounding from the sick
chamber Lancelot knew what 1T
meant.
you will not need to grant my
prayer. madam" he said; "Argemone
is dead"
Let us pass over the period of dull,
stdpefied misery that followed when
I4ancelot returned to his lodgings and
the excitement of his feelings had died
away.
After a while he aroused himself; he
must do something for a living or
starve. Il know nothing, I can do moth
ing, hope for nothing, fear nothing,
l am nothing!" he thought bitterly.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08

Bracebrdge yonder! returned Lance
lot.
"Oh, he is witty enough" said Arge-
none, "but he lives on the surface. He
is altogether shallow and blase. His
good nature is the fruit of a want of
feeling"
The truth was that Argemone felt her.
self mmeasurably superior to the colonel
for the simple reason that she could
not understand him.
That night, when Argemone had retired
to her rom. she sat down and red one
of her own poems. the subject of tho
poem being "Sappho."
Lancelot, on his part. when he reached
his room, sat down to pen a long letter
to a cousin of his, a young curate who
bad joined the "Tractarian movement"
In every line of the letter there was
wisdom of that profound sort which young
men scatter SO freely about when they
are in their early 20's.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
His Latest Theory

T ANCELOT SMITH had money
and he had brains-but no ex-
A< perience of life. The fact that
he had so little experience probably
accounts for his having so many the
ories.
One of his theories was that he was
n good fox hunter. So he bought the
most unmanageable horse that he could
find and went out to follow the Law
tington hounds.
II was down in the west of England
in a region where Square Lavington
was for many miles, the lord of the
major. rhe hunt met at the end of the
great fox cover.
Imagine a fiat wilderness of low,
leafless oaks fortified by long, dreary,
thorn-capped, clay ditch with the red'
sour water oozing through 1t at every
yard.
There was a broken gate leading into
a stright woodside ragged with dead
grasses and black with fallen leaves,
the center mashed into a quagmire by
innumerable horseshoofs.
There were some 40 hunters clad In
sAarlet, some four In black some
s2rinkling of young farmers resplen-
dent in gold buttons and green; pair
of sleek, dark stable keepers showing
off horses for sale.
Then there was the surgeon with his
macintosh on and some schoolboys
with their trousers strapped down to
the bursting point. Also a midshipman
on leave, humping about on fretty
horse-and the sailor was the only
merry one in the party
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
A CT A S SIC
IN A P A G e
Copyright, 1914, by Irving King. A

Copyright, 1914, by Irving King. All
rights reserved)
Charles Kingsley called this curious
story of his Yeast because he be-
iieved that the theories, principles, dis
contents and so forth with which he
deals so largely in the tale were all
working, like yeast, toward some end
of leavening the whole lump of So
ciety.
lust what Kingsley wanted done
about the various matters does not ap-
pear very clearly from his long dis
cussions of the situations. He seems To-
have been content in Yeast to point
out and criticise rather than to offer
practical suggestions.
That the agricultural laborer is today
better paid and better lodged than when
Kingsley wrote Yeast seems unde-
niable, and one can hardly imagine
country gentleman, like Squire Law
ingston, allowing his tenants homes to
become reeking centers of disease and
crime. But such things did exist when
Kingsley wrote-perhaps even now all
laborers' cottages are not model cot
tages.
The love story of Yeast" is a very
good one, but would have been much
better IL the author had allowed at
least one OF the sisters to marry hap
PLY.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
WEEPER WITH $4,000; NEW
PLAY IN OLD GAME

John Strant. real estate man, of No
206 Twenty-siXth street Brooklyn, saw
a young man standing at Fifth avenue
and Twenty-first street. Brooklyn,
yesterday afternoon. holding a paper
bag in his hand and crying bitterly
gays the New York World Strant
asked the youth what was the trouble
The young man stopped CRYING long
enough to say his brother had been
killed in Mexico. and that he had
collected $4,000 damages from the
Mexican government and had come tn
New York to sail for Italy. but had
missed his steamer and could not get
another until Monday. He was cry
ing because he did not know where
to go in the mean time.
just then man who had come I'm
ana listened to the conversation sug-
gested that it would be a good idea
IL Strant would take the weeper home
with him until Monday. Strant con-
sented, and on the way to his home
the conversation turned to the $4,000
the youth said he had collected
The weeper said that he had $1,000
CT 1t In the paper bag. The third
man said that as Strant was going
to take into his house a man who had
so much money he ought to show
he was a man of means. The two
induced Strant to get $500 as an evi-
dence of good faith.
Then the two men wanted the $500
added to the $4,000 in the paper bag.
Strant refused to turn it over. Then,
he alleges, they sprang on him, grabbed
the money and ran.
Strant shouted and chased. Police
man John Keane heard the shouts and
the fugitives were caught by Strant
and the policeman at Fourth avenue
and Twelfth street and locked up on
Strant's charge of grand larceny. They
described themselves as Samuel La
Rosa 10. of los Madison street, and
Joseph Catona. 20. of IS Market street
Manhattan. The paper bag contained
IL s1.OO bills wrapped around news
paper clippings.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
LancelOt as an Artist

After the incident of the pool Lancelot
took a great interest in Tregarva and
began to hold long conversations with him
regarding the evils of the present social
system and the best means of eradicating
them.
ting well at The Priory, as Squire Law
ingtons place was called. The time
came when he had to throw away his
crutches and go up to town. But as soon
as he decently could he was back again
at The Priory.
One day Lancelot made a drawing of
Argemone and took it TO her. AS she
bent over the picture suddenly dream
of a new destiny came to her. and she
blushcd to her very neck.
Her whole soul seemed to rise to her
eyes and a single tear dropped on the
paper. She turned hastily away.
''You do not like it?' said Lancelot; Il
have been too bold?''
mo, no, no. You may leave the draw
ing"
Lancelot slipped silently out of the
room-he hardly knew why-and when he
was gone Argemone pressed the drawing
to her bosom, covered it with kisses and
then hid it away in the furfhest corner
of her writing desk. And yet she fancied
she was not in love!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08

He felt that, somehow, things we're
wrong in the social world-that there
was too much wealth and ease in the
hall and too much misery in the cot
tage.
In her work among the poor In the viii
lage Honoria had heard much of Tre-
garva's goodness, had seen him among
the people and the two had been much
attracted toward each other-that was
clear.
But the social gulf was fixed so wide
that it was impossible. Tregarva would
never think of aspiring to win the love
and hand of his masters daughter.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
Kindred Souls

The expression struck Argemone. 1t was
the right one and seemed to open vistas
of feeling which she had not suspected
In the young man.
At once the two began a long conver-
sation filled with soul" book TALK
and "transcendentalism.
I'VE shall suit each other. / see, bet
ter than most who come here. You must
come to us often"
What, better than the glib Colonel
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
Disaster

When Lancelot went away the next time
The squire, good-natured soul, saw the
courtshp progressing with pleasure, and
even the worldly Mrs. Lavington was not
disincined to have Lancelot for a SON.
in-law.
Now all of Lancelot's money was in
vested in a bank of which his uncle was
the managers The bank failed, leaving
Larcelot almost penniless-and that put a
new complexion upon the matter of Arge-
none and love.
A rich young lord was anxious to marry
her, and Mrs. L.avington thought it per-
fectly absurd-a flying in the face Of
Providence-that Argemone should refuse
the rich young lord and still want to
marry the poor young man.
Lancelot was in London trying to bring
some order out of the tangle Of his
wrecked affairs when he received the fol-
lowing letter from AArgemone:
my beloved-my husband" she began;
"yes, 1 will call you so to the last.
have rolled at my mothers feet in agony
and have been refused. And yet I have
obeyed her after all.
1--WE must write to each other no more.
And now you call me weak-yes, 1 am
weak, but 1 must be dutiful to my pa
FONTS BY this self-sacrifice alone can I
atone for past undutifulness. l seem to
...1. stand now how women die of love,
Farewell, beloved"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
The Social Gulf

At this Argemone held her tongue.
Of course, the idea that daughter of
the house of Lavington could fall in
love with a gamekeeper was too alb
snrd-and yet-and yet Argemone was
not quite satisfied.
This Tregarva was a man who had edu-
Gated himself UP to a certain degree;
was very religious in his way, which
was the Dissenting in a rather radical
form-and had the welfare of the laborer
ard the. laborers family at his heart.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
Dismissed

Stupefied and sickened. Lancelot turned
to the letter from Mrs. Lavington which
had inclosed the one from Argemone.
There blameess respectability proclaimed
itself.
II cannot deceive you nor myself by
saying that I regret that providential cir
cumstances have broken off connec-
ton which l always felt to be most un-
suitable.
Il rejoice to be able to say that my
daughters intercourse with you has not
SO far undermined her principles as tN
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
One Last Interview

That evening he entered the Priory
He entered the sick chamber-dark, si-
lent, cool. with the scent of vinegar
in it,
The squire sat. half-idiotic, in an arm
chair He smiled as Lancelot entered
and tried to hold out his palsied hand.
Mrs. Lavington moved proudly back
from the bed and Lancelot gazed once
more upon his betrothed.
faint voice-O how changed,-called
to him: "Lancelot, Lancelot, You are
not afraid of the infection?" she asked
weakly. Il was not"
Lancelot threw himself upon his
knees by the side of the bed. No one
stirred and then Argemone said: Nov
all of you go away" They went and
the two were alone.
Il don't look so very ugly, do I, dar-
lingo said Argemone; mot so very
ugly, though they cut off my poor hair
though 1 told them not to-but l kept
a lock for you"
And feebly she drew from under the
pillow a long. auburn tress and tried to
wreath it around his neck-but could not
and fell back.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-08
His Dreams INTERRUPTED

With a rather bad grace and grum-
bling to himself at the interruption of
his dreaming and fishing, Lancelot
hobbled to the bridge to greet the
ladies.
Argemone drew Lancelot away, as
women only know how, from the 9TH
ers who were now chatting and laugh
ing with Claude Mellot, rather &C.
centric artist who was on visit to the
Iavingtons.
'"Why will you be so sad and lonely,
Mr.. Smith," began Argemone.