davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
FRENCH INGENUITY

From the Washington Star.
 Some 30 years ago General Non Man teuffel was the military governor oI Alsace. The German, who apparently hated all that was French once engaged in dispute with French diplomatist at a public dinner. The Frenehman vauntingly claimed the superiority of the French workmen over the artisans of all other nations. There does not exist, ' he exclaimed, a thing so ugly but that the skill and genius of Frenchman can not make of it a thing of beauty'
 fingered by the contradiction, the old soldier pulled a hair from his~ brstly gray mustache and handing it to the Frenchman, said, curtly;
 Let him make a thing of beauty of that and I'll concede your claim
 week later the mall from Paris brought a neat little box for the general. In 1t was a handsome scarfpin. made like a Prussian eagle. that held in it's talons a stiff gray bristle, from each end of which dangled a tiny golden ball. One was inscribed Alsace and the other Lorraine. On the eagles perch were the worlds You hold them, but by a hair
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Thought for Republicans

Each session of the legislature said Bibb Graves of Montgomery, chairman or the. state democratic executive com
 mittee, finds one or more republicans oc- cupying seats. Inasmuch as Alaabma IS overwhelmingly democratic, the few send anti-democrats to the legislature should not take advantage of their oppor- unity. A republican in the legislature always attracts attention. He is an od- dity. He cannot take part in the pro- gramme. for the programme is invariably democratic
 "Of course. if the counties which act from spite send republicans to the legsla- ture, nothing can be done to change the situation. However, Alabama counties should send democrats because the reason for sending representative is that rep resentative might secure for his county the things his county wants and requires A republican in an Alabama legislature has no hope of achievement His plans are scotched in the beginning. He can not serve his people. As stated, he is an oddity. Therefore. all counties should send democrats because it is only through democrats that results can be achieved"
 The chairman returned to Montgomery yesterday afternoon. During the cam- paign, however, he will make frequent visits to Birs1ingham
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
Captain Darby's Death

Capt. J. Lawler Darby, the faithful adiutant of Camp Hardee, United Confederate Veterans, has passed over the river to join his comrades who had gone in countless battalions be- fore him. He was familiar figure in Birmingham.
 Despite his age-he had lived through 75 summers-he was as erect as any young soldier and on the day of his death was observed walking with his usual elastic step. But better still, right up to the last his heart was young and tender. The army of Northern Virginia had no more intrepid soldier than Lawler Darby. but outside of the battlefield no woman was gentler. He was a model of courtesy.
 Few men here were so widely known as Captain Darby. He was es- teemed in this community for his up- right character and in the circle of his personal friends he was greatly beloved. A Christian by profession he was a Christian in practice every hour of the day. Consistent with his unostentatious manners his piety was unobtrusive, but no veteran or casual acquaintance was long in his com pany without feeling that he was a religious man and that his religion was deeply rooted. He was always happy-hearted and always cheering to Respondent friend. Captain Darby was ready at all times for the sum- mons of his Maker Such blameless life as his was an example indeed to old and young alike.
 Captain Darby will be greatly missed, but comrades and neighbors will keep his memory ever green.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
For Humanity's Sake

No benevolent enterprise in Bir- mingham or Jefferson county has greater appeal for thoughtful men and women than the work of the Anti Tuberculosis association. It is real charity and much more. It IS pro- tective in a very large degree.
 When the Jefferson County Anti Tuberculosis association was organized a few years ago comparatively few persons seemed to understand it's i'm portancc. It was regarded as one of the many charities of this city and nothing more. But it's far-reaching work for good is now better under stood, and the officers of the associa- ton are more generally and gener- ously supported.
 { Mt only are tuberculosis cases treated and the patients in many in- stances cured, but of vaster concern to the public is the fact that the spread of the dread disease is checked. If the anti-tuberculosis work here IS heartily appreciated the time will come when official mortuary reports will show few deaths from consump- ton of the lungs. Tuberculosis will become almost extinct.
 Solon Jacobs, one of Birmingham s most public spirited citizens, is now the president of the Anti Tuberculosis association. He and his associates in the good work are endeavoring to raise money to install heating appa- ratus in the hospital quarters of the Anti Tuberculosis camp. The appeals in whatever form will certainly meet with prompt response.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
How NfcNeeI Stands

There is no question:" said d member of the Maine colony, that John D. Me Neel of Birmingham, internal revenue col lector for Alabama and Mississippi has made good. Before he was appointed to office he had the confidence of the Presi- dent and the warm friendship of Secre- tary McAdoo. Since his appointment he has fulfilled his promise and there is no official in the service who stands higher at court than does he.
 'I was considerably gratified sometime ago when The Age-Herald carried a story to the effect that the local revenue office was rated in Class A, the highest class. That was a compliment for McNeel, and McNeel, who has labored in and out of season to make his office a profitable one for the government, deserves all the compliments that might come his way.
 Some days ago Mir McNeel wrote to Washington suggesting that he be em- powered to employ an extra clerk or ste nographer to be paid a salary of 800 per annum No sooner had the suggestion been made than the secretary knew that another clerk or stenographer was needed Therefore. as might have been expected. he immediately wrote MT McNeel that his suggestion had been favorably re- ceived and would be given the proper at tention in the immediate future
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
o, GREAT BEYOND!

By Rabindranath Tagore. l am restless. am athirst for faraway
 things. My soul goes out in a longing to touch the
 skirt of the dim distance. O Great Beyond, O the keen call of thy
 flute. l forget. I ever forget. that I have no
 wings to fly. that l am bound in this
 spot evermore. am eager and wakeful, 1 am stranger
 in a strange land. Thy breath comes to me whispering an impossible hope. Thy tongue is known to my heart as it's
 very own. o Far-to-Seek, o the keen call of thy
 flute! I forget, ever forget, that I know not
 the way. that have not the winged
 horse. am lstless, I am wanderer in my
 heart. In the sunny haze of the languid hours,
 what vast vision of thine takes shape
 in the blue of the sky. O Farthest end, 0 the keen call of thy
 flute, forget, l ever forget. that the gates are
 shut everywhere in the house where
 l dwell alone.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
LUKE M'LUkE SAYS

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
 Some of the fellows who believe only half of what they hear always believe the wrong half.
 Some girls marry for love. A few marry for money. And lot more marry be- cause it is their last chance.
 They are all alike. A little girl with ring that has a glass set is perfectly contented until she meets another little girl who has ring with two glass sets in 1t.
 Every man knows that he is the most skillful poker player in the bunch and regrets the fact that you can't beat dumb luck
 If you steal money you can serve your sentence and get sometime off for good behavior. But you never get off that easy when you marry money.
 A bachelor can be fool and live in blissful ignorance of the fact. But a married man is reminded of it dozen times u day.
 The accident insurance companies are not in business for their health. That's the reason why you can't get a policy that insures against accidental mar riage.
 A third party never makes a hit with a republican, democrat or a lover.
 Some fellows can't wait and try to beat the barrier with biplane or a mo- noplane. But most of us are willing to do our flying after we become angels
 It may surprise most married women to know that the word husband had its origin in the term .house- bound" mean. ing a man who had taken a wife and was bound to his house.
 Us old dubs like to knock marriage But there are mighty few of us who dc not envy old King solomon.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
IN ALABAMA SANCTUMS
Birmingham and Mobile

From the Mobile Register.
 The Mobile Tax league delegation brings back from Birmingham cheering gence with which Birmingham business men respond to the call for a state wide movement for better tax laws and relief from the burden of double and negotiable taxation. Best of all per- haps, is the showing of desire for CO., operation between the progressive men of Alabama's two largest cities Mir. W. II. Armbrecht is quoted as saying:
 Birmingham men who spoke at Fri day nights meeting expressed much satisfaction at the conference between Mobile business men and themselves. They called attention to the growing spirit of cooperation among commer- cial interests, and said that cities be- ginning to appreciate their intcrde- pendence, are falling in line
 Mir Charles A. Cunningham voices the same idea:
 Mobiles interests and those of Bir- mingham have always been along the same lines, and l think the business men of each of these cities wish to see the other community grow and prosper However, this question of tax reform has brought the two towns even closer together, and 1 believe now it will be even easier than before to get from Birmingham whatever CO., operation Mobile may need in any un- 'dertaking''
 This is the right view. The people of the two cities have much in com- mon; and not only in this tax mat ter, but in other matters of mutual concern they can and no doubt will act together, forming d strong force for the accomplishment of good for them selves and providing the basis for movements of benefit to the whole state Let the spirit of cooperation he fostered and its growth eneour- aged.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30

pital. An injured nurse was there, but instead of having the tendons of her wrist cut she had been burned by the explosion of an alcohol lamp on which she was making tea.
 No doubt there are many other re- ports of this kind in circulation equally without any basis of truth. We imagine that Red Cross nurse would be comparatively safe on any battlefield in the world, no matter who was doing the fighting.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
SUMMERS END

learned, taught in no school of practice, but true heaven descended gift, one of the few gifts stin left us in this fairy god-motherless world of hard facts, the secret, that is, which some possess of making stuoy vivid and real, as play IS real.
 How some teacherse can do 1t and others, as learned, as devoted, as loVing,. utterly fail is their own secret, apparent- ly incommunicable All we can do is to stand admiringly by and appraise the result
 Mothers are heard discussing their chlt' dren: No George just hated his books until Miss " got hold of him; now he likes to study Yes there was my little Pauline the same way; that teacher sure is a wonder" And so it goes
 A guess may be made, as hinted above, that the secret of such successful teach ing lies somehow in connecting books with life, the childs lifa that is, of play. Not in the least by making play of study: that has been tried and was d dismal failure; but by leading the child. unconsciously, to see that there is no one of the facts, which seem so dry and un1 real to him but can be transplanted to one or the other of his worlds of reality. that of sense or that of imagination, and so become real.
 
 of science and of mathematics can be thus put into the sense world, by handling things, by experimentation and by tool practice, and all the facts of history, lit erature and languages can be put into the world of imagination. Once there, where they belong, where the child's growing mind can play with them, the teacher need not worry about memory or hatred of books because what once had to be studied and memorized will have become a delight.
 It is because America has such a large and growing number of these born teach-, CTS who can make study real and vital to children that the end of vacation is no longer dreaded as it once was.
 Touchstones
 Whining schoolboy
 Creeping with shining morning face Reluctantly to school
 is not seen nowadays. However, it may have been in Warwichshire 400 years ago. in America today the children do not ing and shouting, the boys with brisk, business-like steps, the girls, as if ready and eager to chamber up the steps of ral schoolhouse where instruction is free aAd where merit always wins.
 Each little unit of all our many natioSL alities enters in as into Jerusalem of old, "where the toiIers go np," and if they do not receive the blessing. they, and their parents are aware that it Is no fault of the education so freely offered.
 Most of those childish hearts are beat ing high with hope. They know indeed that the summer is over. but they know as well that the harvest is not ended. and they have faith that 1t will never be said of them educationally, 'Ye are not saved."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
READY FOR FURTHER ORDERS

From the National Monthly.
 Captain Lawson was owner and pilot of the packet New Orleans, plying the Mississippi when it broke banks. There were miles of rushing waters. Only an experienced eye could tell the channel Captain Lawson had been at the wheel for 36 hours He was exhausted from loss of sleep. Rastus, a colored pilot aboard, was called to the captain.
 Do you see that North star?'' asked the captain.
 Vas boss
 Well, hold this boat on that star"
 Vas, boss.
 When the captain awoke an hour later his boat was winding in and out among the trees. The captain was indignant "I thought l told you to hold this boat on the North star?' he cried.
 Tor, boss, wes done passed dat star long ergo
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
Atrocities" Unfounded

Although at first great many newspaper readers in this country were inclined to believe the stories of atrocities committed by the German troops in Belgium and France and others gave credence to charges of a similar nature made against the sol diers of the allies, the opinion prevails now quite generally that such allegations must be taken with grain of salt. At the be- ginning of the war extravagant rumors were circulated which charged the Germans with mistreating American tourists. These were later proved false by the tourists them selves.
 While it is much more difficult to disprove charges of unprovoked se- verity on the part of the Germans in some instances and there are doubt less atrocities committed on both sides ''in the heat of the moment" still, it seems more and more certain that. considering the fact that war itself is a relic of barbarism, the combatants are conducting themselves about as well as might be expected. The Ger mans, it appears, have not been quite as destructive of architectural master pieces and public buildings as at first reported. A great many stories of atrocities committed by them have al ready been disproved, while in other cases severe punishment seems to have been deserved.
 A very good example of how such yarns get into circulation is given by Chicago man, now in London, who made a personal investigation of the charges that Red Cross nurses had been maimed by German soldiers. He was told by an American woman that 40 Belgian Red Cross nurses were Tn . London private hospital, each with the thumb and the first two fingers of one hand cut off. He went to the address given him and discovered that the story was without any foundation whatever. He was also informed that there was Belgian nurse at St. Thomas hospital with the tendons of her wrist cut He went to this hos
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
Recalling Cotton Tom

l The announcement that one thou sand Alabamians arrayed in cotton clothing would march from somewhere to Birmingham recalls the spectacular effort-or stunt, shall we say in these modern times ?-of J. Thomas Heflin, M. C., few years ago.
 Congressman Heflin, now serving his fifth full term, is today abreast of the ablest of democratic sages. He started out in public life with rollicking humor; also with political acumen and large stock of human nature built on hog and hominy and potlicker. But as young congress- man, Tom Heflin attracted the atten- tion of the nation as humorist rather than as a statesman. Now, however, in this last half of the year 1914 there is no more practical or sedate member of the House of Representatives than he
 But to go back to Heflin's jejune days in Congress. He made happy hit by appearing on the floor of the House arrayed in apparel of white cotton goods-shirt, undershirt, neck tie, coat, trousers, socks, and gaiters all of immaculate cotton. He made speech on the floor that day which raised him to the rank of a national celebrity. It was an apostrophe to the south's staple.
 The New York Sun dubbed Heflin Cotton Tom" Some of the ribald newspaper writers vainly sought to discredit his standing as a solid man and leader of his district But all level-headed editors gave the Alabamian credit for being not only honest but seer. The clothes he wore that day were as prophetic as his speech. He told of the diversified uses that cotton should enjoy and of its coming greater kingship.
 After Heflin's remarks got into the Congressional Record and were read by constituents and others the whole cotton situation settled down to the even tenor of it's ways. But that  speech, if dug up today and reprinted in the Record, would fit in with re- markable impressiveness to the south's distressful cotton situation.
 The buy-a-bale movement is pro- gressing. It has already accom- plished much good. The volume of business resulting from the movement has not been very large, but sentimentaally it is bound to tell. Yet no matter what the result of the present condition may be, Congressman Heflin will go down in history as the father of the idea that periodically and senti- mentally cotton can be made to ap- pear finer than fine linen, with it's market value correspondingly high.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
From the Bunalo Sunday News.

From the Buffalo Sunday News
 The harvest moon has waned. The milkman comes later each day. The lake shore is yellow with golden rod. The cricket that lives in the crack beside the fireplace in your summer cottage chirps shriller than asmonth ago, and begins earlier, for she knows her time is short The housewife is writing down pork chops and steaks instead of salads and ices on her daily cooks list. The pretty siris downtown begin to look shivery in their open neclSs, and Labor Day is past
 That is the one infallible sign of sum mel's end. The tiniest tot in the primary grade knows that with the first Monday in September gone into the limbo of dead yesterdays vacation is over and the ar tificial business of learning things out of books has to take the place of the real business of life, namely, play.
 For disguise it as we will, schoolrooms and the study of books are not realities to the normal child in the same sense that out-of-doors and the things which ne can see and hear and handle in vacation time are real.
 The child lives in two worlds, the world of sense and the world of imagination. Both of these words are pre-eminently places in which to play, and, since play is the business of it's life, it has little use for hard facts which cannot be played with.
 Dates of wars and deaths of kings, how many cubic feet in a tank 22 feet long and 16lh feet wide and eight feet deep, the boundaries of Afghanistan, how unreal they seem They may do for Gradsrind club of grown people. but there is nothing really practical about them, for they can not be played with; you either take them or leave them, these facts; there is no twisting or turning them this way or that. They are "old. unhapy, far-on things compared with the matters of vital interest which have occupied him in vacation. such things as dogs and tents and bait and canoes and fishing and swimming and playing Indian.
 And that other world. so near to the world of sense and yet so far off, that of the imagination. It is not a normal child who does not live and play there as well, the world where dwell the heroes and demigods, the fabulous monsters and all the lorelei and fairy folk.
 yoltaire said: "If there were no God. men would have to invent one So if there were no heroes. children would in vent them. for heroes they must have. And right here, we come upon the secret of the born teacher, j secret not to be
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
IDLE OPINIONS.

 A bachelor is man who looks at ths clock boldly and not furtively when Hs stays out late at night. Many man entertains lot of other people by the good opinion he entertains of himself.
 Crimson dew may make the flowers grow. but it never yet revived broken heart
 People who go out and look for trouble don't have very far to go, as a rule. Folly is the frivolous offspring of in. discretion and may be born at any hour in a mans life.
 One of the most famous men in the world has only one gesture, that of smoothing down his hair. The moral isl Limit your gestures. PAUL COOK.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
THE TYRANNY OF THE TAILOR

From the London Express
 Tailors are growing as tyrannical as dressmakers. A West End tailor told me on Saturday quite seriously that he habitually declined to make dress suit for any customer who would not consent to have his shirts specially cut so as to insure the correct fit of the waistcoat. He added that he had refused to sell lounge suits to several would-be cus- toners who were quite willing to pay the high price demanded, simply because in his opinion, tbeir poor physique or doubt full sartorial distinction would be a bad advertisement for his clothes.
 Every man who wears his new suits must discard every tie he already pos sesses and purchase special ties of the same pattern as the suits but two shades he emphasized this point-two shades darker We'll well,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-30
Fuzzy Passes Through

Fuzzy Woodruff passed through Br- mingham yesterday en route to Salt Lake City. He was occupying a drawing room on the Louisville and Nashville train No. and his friend was portly gentle man in striped trousers. with a horribly hristling moustache and healthy bank roll.
 Fuzzy, who is well known throughout Alabama as result of his work on va rious and surdry newspapers, good. bad and indifferent. declared that he would be gone for several months. and that he might never again return to Alabama.