davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30

of calls from salesmen who have to catch these early trains
 Another thing I have observed Is to watch the expression of man when he starts to pay his taxi bill. If times are hard you can almost hear him grum- ble to himself. although his lips may never move. A frown will spread over his brow and he will tumble with his money several seconds before paying But, when times are good this same customer will smile at the chauffeur toss him a tip and have the money in his hand to pay tho bill by the time he Is ready to leave the machine.
 Tt Is easy to figure out these dif- ferent frames of mind In a customer. Take travelling salesman, for instance He gets up in the wee sma hours of daylight and calls for a taxi to take him to the station. If business Is bad and he knows 1t. he begrudges spending dime, much less the price of the fare. If business Is good. and he believes he will be able to land big order by get ting up early and going to a nearby town, he beams with a pleasant antici- patton over the expected business. Human nature Is a great thing, and from my observation of 1t lately, I am of the opinion business Is fine.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
He may contrive to keep in the lime light by urging the United States to go to war with Great Britain.
A Week From Today

The State Fair opens week from today and there is every promise that It will surpass all previous fairs in general interest. All the exhibits will be In place a day or two ahead of time and the entire machinery of op- eratlon will have been adjusted be- fore the gates open.
 It often happens that the first two or three days of a big fair find chaotic conditions existing. Not so with our State Fair. The fair asso- citation has made reputation for be- ing about ready on time. Next week 1t will establish a record of being in every respect ready. Therefore, not day will be lost to the visitor who comes to give nine days to the busi- ness of inspecting the various exhibits and seeking diversion in the amuse- ment features.
 A year ago the attendance at the fair was by no means small, not withstanding the fact that depression in the Birmingham district and throughout the state prevailed; yet 1t was not up to normal This year the attendance should be, and doubt less will be, far above normal. These are prosperous times. Every man, woman and child in Birmingham can afford to attend the fair, and as for the farmers, 12-cent cotton has made them forget that they ever heard of depression.
 Next month will see Birmingham and the whole of Alabama flush with money. And if the opening day of the fair draws out great crowd, large attendance on the other days will be assured.
 Let the people keep the opening date in mind and strive to make this October exhibition notable in the an- nals of Alabama State Fairs.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
A Friend to the Orphan

Governor Capper of Kansas has just issued letter to county clerks insisting that they do not humiliate recipients of pensions for widows by classifying them as "paupers," in their conversation and public reports.
 Kansas has very excellent widows compensation law which provides support for children of widows, and enables the mother to keep the family together in the home, and to send them to school. This is not an extravaganza on the part of the state, for it would cost the con- monwealth more to support children in orphans homes than it does by the pensioning method.
 However, in a number of counties the clerks have put stigma on humil- iation upon the plan by classifying the beneficiaries of the law as "pau- pers." There seems to be no law that Governor Capper can bring to bear to prohibit such custom, but the fact that he makes insistent demand upon the clerks will probably have the de- sired effect.
 At any rate there is little doubt that the entire populace will with one accord indorse the governor ill his stand.
 Governor Capper is bigger, be..er man for turning a sympathetic ear and tender heart toward the widow and the orphan. He is showing him self not only the governor of wealthy state, but the friend and pro- tector of the weak and helpless.
 And because of this, more than his undoubted business and political abil- ity, the country honors Governor Cap per of Kansas.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
Now We Have Wireless Telephon

4'o" we nave WITeleSS lelepnOny
 So great and so rapid have been the inventions of scince, especially in the sphere of electrical engineer ing, that today only demonstrations of an exceptionally startling nature arrest public attention or cause more than passing remark.
 But long distance wireless telephone communication, accomplished yester- day for the first time, is so wizard like and it's practical value so inn portant that the whole world will marvel and take time to discuss it in it's various bearings.
 Experiments conducted under the direction of Captain Bullard, chief of the United States navy's radio serv- ice, in cooperation with the Ameri- can Telephone and Telegraph com- pany and the Western Electric, eliminated in the clear transmission of the human voice from the radio station at Arlington, Va, to Mare Island, Cal, distance of 25OO miles. And to add to the wonder of it all, conversation started on a wire cir cult was automatically transferred to the radio and thence transmitted across the continent.
 President Theodore N. Vail, the chief engineer, and other officials of the telephone company who carried on conversations between New York and Mare Island were more than pleased at the demonstration. The voices were as distinct and as natural as if the distance were short.
 Secretary of the Navy Daniels, in making official announcement of the success of the wireless experiment, said the officials of the department might we'll feel "proud that they had been cooperative in the first practi- cal development of this latest march in the wonderful science of rapid communication"
 Yesterday was a red letter day truly for wireless telephony.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
Passing of the Independence

The Independence, "the oldest ship in the navy" a few days ago met ignominious destruction. All that re- mains of the staunch old ship are a few charred oaken ribs sticking out of mud flat in San Francisco bay.
 The, Independence, which was Americas first flagship, and began its career in 1872, has been used for a number of years as a receiving ship at Mare Island. Being finally put out of active commission, it was sold for the copper it's hull contained, bringing $35O0. The easiest way to extract the copper was to burn the ship, which was accordingly done.
 Not exactly finishing its work in a blaze of glory, was it? Yet the boat has done service and filled niche in the history of the United States that should not be forgotten. In fact, it is reproach to the patriotism of the country that such historic craft should be permitted to be sold as junk"
 What was needed was an Oliver Wendell Holmes to voice a poetic protest on behalf of the people. Then perhans the Tndeneudonce noiuht have been spared even as "Old Iron sides"
 No nation is so strong that it can afford to neglect it's patriotic obliga- tions. No nation can afford to allow the patriotic reverence of its people toward just such things as this his- toric craft, to wane.
 An appeal to school children would quickly have brought the paltfy
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
 Estimates as to the military forces Bull garia can put in the field have little re- liability. Only two years ago, on Au- gust 10, she was compelled to sign a humilatng peace. exhausted in men and resources.
 Reports during the Balkan war were generally exaggerated. but the best au- thorities now agree that she did not mob- iize more than S50,OO0 men. They are also agreed that in attacking Turkey she lost more than twice as many men as the other Balkan armies put together. Bulgaria suffered frightfully in the sec ond campaign with her late allies, and her losses in men killed or totally inca pacitated during both wars were placed as high as 10000.
 Some thousands of young Bulgarians have arrived at military age in two years, and she now has little wider territory in which to enforce army service, but she is by no means as formidable an an- tagonst as when Turkey was attacked by the Balkan league.
 A result showing that Roumania, which Is the largest of the Balkan nations, and Greece, whose strength has increased in these two years, were lined up on the side of the allies and Bulgaria lined ur on the side of Germany, would only en- large the quantities entering into the mill. tary equation, with some slight advan- tage to the allies. but without introducing factors to be recognized at this date as determining
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
Great Explorers Troubles

Hard luck pursues the renowned Doc Cook wherever he betakes him. self. Wearying of vaudeville and the jibes of an ungrateful republic, which refused to believe that he discovered the north pole, chifly, Doc Cook thinks, because he didn't bring it back with him, the intrepid explorer decided to make great effort to re- store his shattered prestige by climb ing Mount Everest of the Himalayas. But the crafty British government had its eye on him, and after nearly two months of vain effort to get per- mission to make the climb. he is on his way back to the United States with another grievance to lay before the government at Washington.
 Doc Cook claims that he was a victim of "spyitis," that he was prac- tically interned at Calcutta and was forced to make three thousand-mi trip out of one that should have been paltry three hundred miles. The British even went so far, he declares, as to charge his party with partici- pating in revolutionary movement in India.
 Since Doc Cooks claims to have climbed Mount Washington are dis puted by no less an authority than Professor Parker, latterly of "baby'' submarine fame, his failure to get permission to climb Mount Everest is no doubt vexatious in the extreme. There is really nothing left for. him to do in the way of exploration, as the ground has been pretty well GOV cred. The towering peak of Mount Everest rose invitingly and offered . fine chance for the Doc to rehabili- tate himself-if he could prove that he got to the top-but the mcticulous British authorities spoiled his plans
 Still, there is hope, even for per- con in Doc Cooks unfortunate plight
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
CITIES AND PROHIBITION

From the savannah Press.
 The Birmingham Age-Herald believes 1t is practically impossible to prevent the sale of liquor in cities. It does not believe it is practical to enforce the prohibition law in towns of large size. In this con- neotion it concludes a long editorial against the present dry laws of it's state as follows:
 Charleston has been defying prohibition laws, just as Augusta and Savannah are said to do in Georgia. The moral is the same; it Is we'll nigh impossible to en- force prohibition laws in any large city. That was the experience of Birmingham, Mobile and Montgomery under Alabama s statewide law. All sorts of plans have been resorted to In the new laws to en- sure enforcement in the cities, and the officials selected to carry out those plans may be fairly successful for a while. But already there are signs that relaxation is developing in spots here and there It is safe to predict that 1t will not be many months before there. will be a marked failure of the laws enforcement in Mo- bile, Montgomery and Birmingham. His tory will repeat itself because human na- ture Is now just what it was a few years ago, just what 1t is in Georgia and South Carolina, in Maine and Kansas"
 The enforcement of a prohibition law depends entirely upon the sentiment of the community in which one lives. If there Is an overwhelming sentiment in a city against prohibition it is next to im- possible to adequately enforce the edict which declares that such community shall be dry. It would be the same way with any other law. The anti-narcotic law is probably violated in the cities, but not to the extent that the liquor law Is. The federal government has undertaken to straighten out this traffic and 1t Is be- cause Uncle Sam has this matter in charge that every one looks for the suc- cessful enforcement of the statutes.
 It is going to be the same way with the liquor traffic if some of us arc not careful. There will be no wet states to dray supplies from if it is decided to put prohibition into the federal constitution. This seems to be the goal of the drys and disregard of state laws may have much to do with their reaching it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
HOTEL LOBRIES
Travelling saIesmen

"A year ago nearly all manufactur- ing and jobbing concerns In the north laid off their travelling men, espe- oially those whose territory was in the south, but now salesmen are on the road again. and in larger num- ners than usual" said J. P. Marion of Chicago.
 The other day I chanced to be on a train with an old friend of mine who makes southern towns, and this gentleman told me that business con- ditions in such states as Alabama and Georgia were more satisfactory than said he believed Alabama was in bet ter shape at the present time than 1t had ever been."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30

tain One of the largest and most com plicated guitars. that the player caresses with his hand as if he feared it, says "hou, hou'' all the time on nearly the same notes, like the yelled cry of a screech owl; another instrument which is muted makes sound like that of the sea breaking on the shore; and there are hard ly audible drumming played by fingers on the edges of the tom-toms. Then sud- denly come unexpected violences, furies that last for a couple of seconds, when the strings vibrate with ruli force, and the tom-toms struck in another way give out dull and heavy sounds like elephants walking over hollow ground, or mimic the rumblings of subterranean water, or torrent that falls into an abyss. But this subsidies quickly and the nearly silent music continues.
 A young Brahmin with beautiful eyes is seated cross-legged on the ground hold Ing an instrument whose rude shape con- trasts with the delicate refinement of the others; it is made of common pottery. and has pebbles inside sort of jar with a large orening in one of Yrs smooth and swollen sides.
 The sound which he draws rom it varies according as he leaves the jar open, or stops the opening by pressing it's mouth close to his body. He plays on 1t with maryellously nimble fingers and some- times the sound is light, at others deep occasionally hard and dry like a cracking of hail; then the pebbles are heard nov ing at the bottom.
 When the voice of one of the guitars rises above the whispered silence it 10 always in a melody of training sounds, a pS ssionate and full voiced song that plunges into agony. and the tom-toms. without drowning the trembling and plain tive notes, beat an accompaniment of ,,,x.r rf ctf< iv,1vn nrf x1rhi ho exaltation of human suffering far more poignantly than our most supreme
 A gracious twilight fills the room as return to the music of beating wings and rEstllng insects /
 Each of the guitars chants its despair in turn by intervals of almost voiceless har- mony, the one that is struck by hand or bow. the one that is beaten with the pearl rod. and that strangest of all which weeps when the little egg-shaped ebony ball Is rolled over It's strings.
 Their songs have not the bewildering echoes of some far-removed sadness, as those of Mongolia or China have, for they ars almost comprehensible to our senses: they betray the sad breeding of a race flat Is not different from our own. though long centuries have parted us: they and our Aypsies use the same fevered phrases, though in a somewhat coai ser way.
 This orchestra and these singers belong to the Maharajah. and their music re- sounds daily in the silence of his guarded palace, where ever-bowing servants. whose hours are joined in perpetual sa- lute. walk with cat-like steps. How far away the thoughts of this prince must be from ours, and how different his con- captions of the sadness of fife and love and death! But this strange and rare music, xxrt fah c nop pf af 1 fa 1,alv1 1a tion of his soul to me that should never see in our short and formal interviews. 70 brrcened with ceremony and foreign woId ds.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
MUSIC IN TRAVANCORE
From India" by Pierre Loti.

From India" by Pierre Loti
 5 o'clock in the evening
 as the burning sun has commenced
 A to sink, quantities of musicians in Zebu chariots arrive, almost stealthily The Maharajah has lent me the orchestra from his palace for several hours.
 They come barefooted and noiselessly entering my room with the velvetry step of a cat; then these artists. who have fine and delicate profiles, make cere- monious bows and seat themselves on the ground. They wear little gilt turbans oi, their heads and diamonds in their ears, and are draped in the antique fash ion with a piece of silk barred with gold, which is thrown over one shoulder so as to leave part of the chest and a metal encircled arm free. Aromatic odors and scents of rose waters escape from their light clothing.
 They carry hug1 instruments with cop. per strings, like gigantic guitars or man dolins, whose curved handles end hn monsters heads. These guitars, which give out different tunes, vary much amongst themselves, but they all have large bodies. whilst here and there along the neck hollow balloons, looking like fruits clustered round stalk, are placed to increase their resonance; they are very old and precious so withered, that they have acquired great sorority; they are painted or gilt, or inlaid with ivory, and even their quaint appearance fills me with sense of mystery, the mystery of India. The musicians smilingly show them to me; some are made to be stroked by the fingers; others to be played with bow, others again are struck with a stick of pearl; and there is even one that is played by rolling little ebony thing looking like a black
 ~~wI1a tu unknown to our western musicians! There are tom-toms tuned to different pitches land boy singers whose robes are of es- pecial richness. A printed programme prepared for this sole purpose is placed before me, in which the strange but melodious names of the musicians are all in F syllables.
 of about 25, are seated in readiness on the carpet, the room Is aready filled with shadow, and punkhas keep the air in motion with their slow and wearied move- rnent. All the monster headed guitars are in readiness, and the musicians are about to commence. What agonizing sounds most instruments of such size produce and what clamor such tom toms I am all attention prepared for much noise.
 Can the concert have commenced? From their grave and attentive attitudes. and the way in which they watch one another, 1t would appear so. But there is nothing to be heard. But yes, hardly audible high note, like that of the prelude to ''Lohengrin," which Is then doubled. com plicated and transformed into murmured rhythm without growing any louder. What a total surprise, this almOsttone- less music coming from such powerful instruments! One might have said the buzzing of a fly held within the hollow of ones hand or the brushing of the wings of a night moth against the glass. or the death agony of a dragon fly. Then . musician places little steel thing in hi, mouth and rubs his cheek over 1t. % as to produce the murmurings of foun-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30

Reports from United States consular and commercial agents in South America indi- cate that business is recovering from the paralysis caused by the war In Europe For while all the South American coun- tries as well Central America and Mex leo, which were dependent on foreign trade for their prosperity. suffered com plete prostration Immigration, invest ments, foreign exchange, exports and im- ports were at a standstill. In this crisis the Latin-American countries naturally
 looked toward the United States for aid. In the past they had known little of North America, European connections having pra ctically a monopoly of their foreign business. The process of getting acquaint- ed IS now going forward in most encour- aging manner and an unusually rich field Is being opened to the business men of the United States However the bureau Of foreign and domestic commerce con siders 1t essential to give a very careful study to this market before trying to make 1t profitable. Mutual understanding and acquaintance will be necessary before the United States can hope to occupy the place formerly filled by Europe The es- tabushment of branches of such banking institutions as the National City bank in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay is expected to be an important factor In promoting more intimate relations between the United States and Latin America.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
MARK TWAIN'S CAVE m the Kansas City Star

From the kaneas City Star.
 Mark Twain's" Cave Is in the Missouri mile southeast of Hannibal. Since Sam Clemens crawled into the crevice high up the bluff and had the adventure to be utilized later in his books, the cave has been Inodernized. A beautiful river road passes the park which sur rounds the entrance now used. The hole through which Mark Twain crawled is boarded up It was above the present entrance The visitor now walks into a broad level corridor. There are pass ages leading downward to levels below the Mississippi.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
Buoyancy In the South

Within the past two weeks I have trav- eled through North Carolina, South Caro- lima and Georgia and have found condi- tions so improved as to recall periods of highest prosperity" said Frank Jones of Roanoke, Va, and Birmingham, prom inent In the lumber trade "A few months ago visited the states mentioned and everybody I met was In doleful mood. The farmers did not expect to get more than cents for their cotton and the merchants were consequently taking a gloomy view Of the future of business But the situation began to change in August. The outlook became bright. By the end of August there was talk of Scent cotton and when was in Georgia last week the staple was already bringing above Il cents
 'The best of it is, the price of cotton will rule high right along through the winter. There may be, and doubtless will be, some sharp declines in the spec ulative market. but they will be only tenn porary. I believe every man in the cot ton world is now convinced that the pres- ent statistical position of cotton will justify b cents. At any rate, the prices prevailing now yield big profit to the farmer There would have been good money for the producer In Scent cot ton. Think of Il or 12 cents. The re- cent advance means gain of s25o, ,ooo, 900 in the wealth of the south.
 ''The general business recovery has very naturally been reflected in the lumber market and especially as the rise in cot ton values stimulates the lumber price schedule. There was healthy advance sometime ago. but the very recent ad- vance of s1 thousand may be attributed directly to the bullishness of cotton.
 ''I find business in Birmingham highly prosperous. This district is on the eve of record-breaking boom.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-30
LINES ON THE MERMAID TAyERN

By John Keats.
 Souls of poets dead and gone, What Elysium have ye known, Happy field or messy cavern, Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern? Have ye tippled drink more fine Than mine hosts Canary wine? Or are fruits of Paradise Sweeter than those dainty pies Of venison? o generous food! Dressed as though bold Robin Hood Would, with his Maid Marian, Sup and bowse from horn and can,
 have heard that on a day Mine hosts sign board flew away. Nobody knew whither. till An astrologer's old quill To a sheepskin gave the story, Said he saw you in your glory, Underneath new old sign Slipping beverage divine, And pledging with contented smack The Mermaid in the Zodiac.
 Souls of poets dead and gone, What Elysium have ye known, Happy field or messy cavern, Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?