davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

preparation and study, which he had not
 had.
 But
 Such is not the case with the man or
 woman of whom it may be expected with
 reason that he or she will be equal to
 the execution of an imposed task. Such
 a person is not to be permitted to shirk
 behind the statement: 'I don't think I can do this thing;
 have never tried it." If those who had never tried a thing
 were to be excused from attempting 1t the worlds progress would come to a sudden and deplorable end. Remember what the wise Portuguese WI ote:
 Fear of great duties is as bad as con- tempt for little ones." The phrase belongs to Robert Raikes the Englishman, who devised the modern Sunday school. It was Raikes who went into the highways and byways of Glou- cester, his native city, and noticed the crowds of ragged boys and girls with nothing to do on Sunday, the one day of the week when their time was not taken up with hard work. (The Englishmen of Raikes' time, about the middle of the eighteenth century, thought 1t was all right and not contrary to the teachings of religion to overwork young children six days of the week-but a mortal sin to require them to labor on the Lord g day.)
 So Raikes won immortal fame by estab- l fishing schools wherein children could be
 taught religion and ethics and morality on the Sabbath.
 l Raikes was journalist by profession, and he had passion for probing into llfa
 He called 1t "botanlzing in human na-
 ture." He went about studying human nature. He agreed with Pope. the Eng 1 fish poet, who wrote that l "The proper study of mankind Is man. 1 To botanize properly you must 90 out | Into the fields with your magnifying glass and your box for carrying homo specimens.
 To ''botanixe in human nneupeP you
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

|, any man was hurt. and as sure that he is hurt that continueth in any error or ig- norance whatever.-Marcus Aurelius
 There is here no word of reproof for the falling into error. The wise old Roman knew in his day and generation as we know in ours that in his whole moral ea- reer man is as prone to slip as Is the baby learning to walk.
 But the baby rises and totters on. So does man.
 1t is the continuance in error that hurts as the philosopher says When a perAua has had pointed out the right way. lighted by the lantern of wisdom and the search- light of experience. his own and others, continuance In the wrong road is wilful. persistent, shining.
 The road of lifo is a long. long road stretching back from the spot whereon we stand to the remote depths of an tiquity, and 1t reaches forward to a far point ahead, which forever moves onward as the human race grows In age and ex- perience and wisdom. One of the things which distinguishes civilized man, and man with a long his tory of culture Is hts ability to 1es ahead further than his barbarous con temporary or his forerunner In time.
 We are the true ancients." said Bacon.
 meaning that we are really old in the age of the world.
 And for guidance we have the accumu- lated wisdom of the centuries. All the more shame to us. then, if we fail to follow the moral teachings of tho ages as embodied In books and in ths tea chings of our parents If we sin we do
 so against our better knowledge not in the blindness of ignorance Says Tennyson: T am part of all that have met. Yet all experience is an arch where- through
 Cleans that untraverd world whose mar gin fades
 Forever and forever when I move. He might have said that we are a part not alone of all that we have met. but of all that our forefathers and forsmothers met. ,.. --~ss
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

vVIELLEsLEY college the famous A] school for young women, had
 " fire the other night. The main building of the college, the fine college hail. was burned and many or the students had narrow escapes from death. Roll call disclosed the fact that eight were missing and volunteers had to go into the burning building and arouse them from sleep.
 The college suffered great pecuniary loss, which it's friends are now trying to make up. But 1t learned that 1t had in it's student body some wonderfully fine specimens of self contained, re- eourceful brave young women.
 Two of them especially received and deserved mention in the news. These two, Miss Moffat and Miss Donnell. arc called the herones of the fre--not so much from what they did as for what they did not do. What they did was to alarm the students and get them out of the burning building as quickly as possible. What they did not do was to scream "Firer'
 And for that they are praised.
 To have yelled "Firer' in a burning edfice filled with sleeping students would have precipitated panic in all likelihood and led to loss of life. 1n- stead. these two cool headed young ladies went from room to room. rapped on the doors and, when the inmates responded, told them, Put on your wraps"
 When there Is real danger 1t does no oOod to yell ''Ftre!"
 It does good to tell foilrs to pull themselves together. put on their men, tai ''wraps' and march in calm. cool. orderly fashion away from the peril. That Is why we should listen to the words of wisdom uttered by sane coun- selors. rather than to the wild eyed ranters. whose only end and aim Ia alarm
 There are those who shout at us with frenzied gesticulations that our houses. social, economic. financial or national aro a1re. xhey want us to-4ush eboat
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19
GETTING INTO POLITICS-By Hugh w. Rob,

There is great opportunity in the way of the candidate. We have seen that even running gives him license to declare with all the fervor of his soul that he is not as other men, and that his opponent Is, that is, when other men are everything that he himself Is not. So there is reason why the man who can afford the luxury should run. It is worth much to abuse your enemies in certain safety There is no danger. In the present, one candidate calls the other liar, and the other says. You're another" In the old days, when other than rich men could run for office-in the days of Clay and Webster and Calhoun-when a candidate spoke un- truthfully of another, he fought a duel In other days things were entirely more decent, too.
 If the rich man Is beaten he congratu- ates his opponent. He forgets that he has spent months trying to fool the peo- pie into believing that his opponent was
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

F nickel were placed over the present
 city of Hamburg, Germany, with that
 city about the center of the coin it would practically cover the cradle of our remote ancestry. When history gives the first glimpse of these people, they were a hardy folk, rough, determined. cour- ageous, and in their habits piratical. In his history of Germany, Tacitus affords q number of interesting glimpses into the life of these ancient people. He speaks of their auburn locks and blue eyes, large frames capable of great power in sudden emergency, and yet impatient of exacting and protracted physical exertion. After the lapse of almost 2000 years. it is won- derful how we'll preserved are the charao- teristics named by the Roman historian.
 There was, however, a lack of adjust ment of the latent and capable forces Of these ancient people to their original cli- matic conditions. The climate was cold and cheerless, with marsh, waste and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

vancement and that of the world, will become infected with the same fever and will do something to help himself.
 Your dropping of the stone in the water, you see, will start ever widen ing circles of wholesome showing.
 How weak an excuse for slothfulness and indifference that is--that our neigh Dor shoves too hard!
 Let him. and do likewise,
 Economists and physiologists tell us that for every person who is overwork- ed there are dozen who are under worked, who do not use their powe. s to their full extent. Sometimes this Is caused by physical disability, due to disregard of the easily learned laws of health
 But more often just plain sheer lazi- ness is the cause.
 Arnold Bennett gave the world a recipe for living on 24 hours a day. Others before him have written and preached of the crime and sin of vast ing time. "the precious stuff of which life is made
 cause your neighbor is showing hard. Join him in showing and see how much faster you two together will get on than does the worlds lazy, indifferent populace
 No person who was ever worth his salt feared competition. He saw in It only spur to his own faculties, an in- centive to bring out the best that was in him.
 If your best Is inferior to the highest powers of others, that is not your fault. The Rev. Dr. Was\ gton Gladden. gave us the expression ''A ,ted money" and President Hadley of k ale once recom- mended the ostracism of persons who ac- quired fortunes in shady ways. Now comes Vice President Marshall with q definition of clean money. l He says: l Some people have thought that I ob. jected to mans making money. be- 1 lieve a man should make every dollar SC
 cleanly that his infant child can cu
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19
BY-PATHS OF HISTORY-OUR

shoal prevailing, while the rivers moved with sluggish drag toward the sea. The people were much given to eating flesh and to drinking strong liquors, habits adopted from time immemorial to resist the dampness and coldness of the climate. The garb of these primitive parents of ours was made of the skins of heavily furred animals.
 A restless. migratory race, these origi- nal Germans would shift from region to region. expecting in each instance an inn provement of condition. Instinctively they were home loving people, fond of freedom and independence. lovers of jus tce, and regardful of womanhood. It will be remembered that 1t was in this region that chivalry was born, and born of the barbarians that these people were. They entertained an exalted idea of their importance as compared with other peo- pie, and while cherishing justice among themselves, they did not regard It a vic- lation of this principle to oppress others.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

that of mastery, control Not only low ing freedom and independence for their own sweet sal<es. but having a hatred of being dominated by another. Is a re- tained characteristic of the Anglo Saxon. From this grows his sense of superiority. There Is not another raoe to which the Ang1o-Saxon comedies this. No matter where one meets the Anglo Saxon there is the consciousness as we'll as the assertion of superiority to every other. This has given the Anglo-Saxon self-satisfied boise. unruffled, un- shaken, calm. He is not so easily ex- cited as others, Is unmoved under the most trying conditions, Is unjostled amidst the throes of agitation. un- daunted in the face of danger and cool and commanding on the field of battle and on the darkest and stormiest of seas. The Stoics, the American Indians. and others drilled themselves to en- durance. while with the Anglo Saxon 1t is largely Innate.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

crook He eongratulates him. And his victorious opponent receives the con gratulations Each smiles into the face of the other. and gives a knowing wink.
 They say to themselves; "Of course, we were joking.
 They were putting one over on tho peo- pie, the people who ehewed the ear of each other because they differed as to which of the self-styled crooks they should elect to office. And thus 1t goes in the heat of the campaign when no man is a sane man.
 And another bauble which tempts the man who doesn't need the money to enter politics Is the chance of buying victory. If he wins, he proceeds to punish his en- emies and forget his friends. When he acquires extraordinary art in punishing his enemies and forgetting his friends he becomes a politician with a large fol- lowing. Ills critics declare that he will be henccforth unbeatable. So when a man is elected so thoroughly has he
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

must go out provided with the heart to feel, the soul to be touched and the mind to understand. You must take with you a sympathy with mankind in its various ways and relations"
 You must be permeated with the feel ing that you are going out not into 8 world of "specimens'' to be classified and arranged. but into world of fellow men and women.
 Then you may do some real ''botanizing in man."
 It Is the most fascinating study in the world. And as your acquaintanceship with your fellow creatures increases so will grow youi toleration of their faults and weaknesses.
 "To know all is to pardon all," said the
 He might have said with equal truth ITO know all is to understand all and to make allowances for all.'
 The ripe fields of human botanizin g know no season. Summer and winter, spring and autumn. are all harvest sea- son for the man or woman who goes out with an earnest purpose to learn some thing of the lives and struggles, the problems and temptations, the failure and successes of his fellow man.
 More of us would make good if our neighbor would quit showing" says a Chicago newspaper paragrapher.
 Sounds smart. but is 1t true?
 Imagine world in which no neigh bor showed. (By showing is meant, of course, competition in the great world race for advancement In which we are either consciously or unconsciously en- gaged.) You and I, however active our intelligence and desire for progress. would have to hold still and mark time. for we might otherwise have to fight against a desperate mass of ig- norance and superstition and pessimisIn. To overcome opposition and inertia is the set task of showing So shove with all your might Per haps your neighbor. seeing you push 1ng with all your energies, mental and physical and moral. for your own Ad-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

was accompanied the term lost it's origi- nal significance and retained only that of wanton violence. The Romans first called them vandals, and because they not only roved but took. the word came to have it's present meaning.
 Follow the Anglo Saxon since first he emerged from the dreary region of his original habitat and he has wandered the globe over, and his territory today girdles the planet. The figure Is an old one-the sun never sets on his posses sions. This spirit has never departed from the English tAnglish). and 1t ac- tuated our later ancestors who took forcib1e possession of this continent. In their westward migration they were stopped by the shores of the Pacific and in the possession of vast con tinent they now disclaim any idea of future conquest, as we learn from a recent address from President Wilson at Mobile.
 Another dominant trait of the race Is
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

In the twilight of the history of the race we get glimpse of his idea of governmental order. AS barbarians the old Angles and Saxons had tribes and clans. as do other primitive peoples, but when we come to examine their rude systems of government we find them founded on principles adjusted to their natures. and therefore not savor- ing of pure arbitrariness. They had primitive laws which they enforced ac- cording to their ideas of justice, and in the enforcement of laws they had In embryo our jury system. the idea of which originated, not in modern Eng land, but in the dark forests of Ger many. The Idea of forming government In adjustment to the nature of man furnished principles which endure to this day. The Anglo-Saxon has been not only a great nation builder, but a builder of enduring forms of govern ment
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

This same germ was inherent in the characters of our ancestors. who had nos yet learned how to refine it and glaze it over with an attractive name Our for beasr went al 1t with view of openly possessing it. and if force and violence were necessary, then these were straight way invoked This was especially true if the one from whom it was wrenchcd was of a different people. Among them selves 1t would have been unlawful and unjust
 This was shown when they were in vited down Into Britain by the Celts to assist in resisting the inroads of the Pfcts-they assisted by taking possess sion of Britain, and for centuries there was not a more bullying nation than Great Britain
 From the migrtory disposition of the old Angles and Saxons, combined with their rapacity came our word, vandal, which originally meant wanderer, but because of the violence with which 1t
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

kicking the candidate off the stump with 3 decent foot prompted by an outraged stomach, the queer people will applaud. When We remember that candidate has an immortal right to play the hypocrit. We can readily find excuse for the man who enters politics.
 And that is not all The candidate has a perfect right to hurl yituperation against his opponent. He can call him a thief He can call him coward a liar. a brute-a man who guzzles liquor and beats his wife. He can call him de- signing politician, a tool of predatory wealth. The more viciously he assails his opponent the louder the people ap- plaud. That candidate, in the eyes of the people. should win who more success fully abuses his opponent. So thoroughly has the candidate learned this lesson that he stills his conscience and proceeds. He knows that his opponent is not a thief or liar or murderer. He knows that he is hypocrit For he. himself. is one.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19
Roberts

learned the lesson that in a day he for gets. He punishes his enemies for four years. And for four years he basks in the smiles of sycophants. Before the vic tory he declared himself the Napoleon of the day. After the victory his fdverite pastime consists in listening to athers called him Napoleon. He goes abroad be- cause he is wearied with the plaudits of his own people. His appetite for that kind of stun is inordinate. On the train he tells the porters that he is the govern or. And the porter. well paid. tells every other passenger. And every other pas senger turns his head and looks at the governor. And the governors soul. en- larges. He has found new reason for his belief that the world Is his, shriveled up and lying at his foot.
 Candidates talk of issues. Issues arc straws with which politicians tickle the imagination of those who have little. Is- sues are stings about thumbs to remind the people that certain candi-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

In politics a man has an opportunity to secure office. When he is in the midst of the struggle he enjoys the excitement. He becomes thrilled in the heat of com bat. just as two yearlings are thrilled when they spend an hour each morning trying to butt out the brains of the other. or to cripple the other With well aimed kicks. And in the heat of combat he has the only opportunity of fered to man to f1atter himself eNtrava- gantly and get away with it. He can compare himself to the gods, and the people will applaud. He can compare his virtue to that of Diana. his strength to that of Hercules, his manly beauty to that of Apollo, his character to that of the Nazarene: he can compare his gen. eralship to that of Lee, his daring to that of Stuart. his skill to that of Jackson. He can point to himself as the man who saved the country. the church, the temple and the schoolhouse. And instead of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

lis teeth on it without getting microbes. like man who loves money, but don't want him to hug q dollar so close to himself that he Is in danger of being arrested for taking liberties with the Goddess of Liberty"
 Put in a whimsical way by MT. Mar
 shall. but containing much truth. Note particularly that expression about
 a babys cutting its teeth on It's fathers dollars. It Is currently believed that in some places mothers give to their child Ten silver dollars to cut teeth upon. al- though 1t is hard to find anyone who has seen this done
 But anyway
 The underlying idea Is that man
 should not leave as heritage to his fam fly any money upon which there is the stain of unrghteous cuuisition--money, In other words. that is covered with the germs of dishonesty or covetousness or
 unfair dealing.
 | Such germs will surely and inevitably | breed disease fin the owners They will
 become infected with the virus. Money, the bacteriologists tell us. fs 6
 prolific breeding place for germs. Not all the germs are those of typhoid fever or | tuberculosis or diphtheria or any other of the horrid illnesses which afflict man. | kind. Some of them are the figurative | bacteria or bacilli that are as harmful to
 the moral nature of man as the germs of
 diseases are dangerous to his physical welfare.
 You would not knowingly leave your children an inheritance Of disease germs, | would you?
 Why. therefore. will you take the chance
 of conveying to them the deadly infec- ticn of moral destruction?
 ! And wherein In essence is leaving l tainted money'' to your children differ ent from giving germ laden teething ring to your innocent infant? | If anybody shall reprove me and shall make 1t apparent unto me that in either | opinion or action I do err will most
 gladly retract. For 1t is the truth that l
 seek aftezs by which am sure that mover
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19
ANGLO-SAXON ANCESTRY-By B. F. Riley, D.

They had an aspect of arrogance and of sternness, which latter quality showed it. self often in violence when they We're opposed or resisted Their lust of per- sonal possession made them rovers alike of land and sea. and whatever came within their hands was theirs.
 Progressive civilization has euphumisti- eally changed the aspect of the idea of avarice and of covetousness of these an- eient folk, for several other politer terms have been adopted to give a softer color ing to the passion. We now call it com mercialism, business acumen, success sharpness. enterprise, and much else. in proportion to the nature of a given deed just as we have quit stealing and have gone merely to defaulting and instead of running away, we now only abscond It Is not insisted that avarice or covetoas- ness underlies all these terms named but the end in each instance is gain, and in many cases 1t matters little how 1t comes. This is the fact, call it what we may.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

date has a reason for being. Issues arc things to be well remembered. during the campaign-and we'll forgotten afterwards. But for the fact that issues are in= variahly forgotten, Alabama long ago would have been transformed into a paradise with just enough of the apple and just enough of the snake and just enough of the Eve to make things lively and the Adam we'll content. But Alabama has not been transformed-and will not be. So smile when the candidate rants about issues. Issues are his hobby horses on which he rides over your intelligence.
 Politics is the sport of the rich and tho nuisance of the man who wants to live uaietly and de- gently, So outrageous have conditions become chat honest men would little ob- ject 10 the re-estahlshment of the divine right of kings and the memorable rule of primagenitu. After all. that little settle ment at Runnymede was something Of a joke