davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
OUR ANCESTORS DRINKS
'om the New York Telegram.

From the New York Telegram.
 We are apt to think that our Puritan
 forebears possessed all the virtues, and
 especially that they were highly abstem-
 icus in the matter of drinking. But that
 is not the testimony that comes down to
 us from their dining room appointments,
 according to Walter A. Dyer's Early American Craftsmen. Drinking vessels of various sorts, with and without handles, were very numer- ous,' says Mir. Dyer. Drinking as a so- cial and ceremonial custom was more common in the eighteenth century than it is today, and it's equipment was some what elaborate.
 Tn New England. especially, the quan- titles of cider consumed were astounding, the good fathers apparently living ac- oording to the letter of the text, Stay me with f1agons, comfort me with ap- ples.'
 There were tankards, six or seven inches high, with S-shaped handles, straight, tapeling sides and hinged cov- CTS; cans or mugs, somewhat smaller, usually with curved sides and without covers; fiagons. like larger tankards, com monly used with communion services; tumbler shaped beakers, chalices and caudle cups''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
Hardly Recognized City

T spent several weeks in Birmingham in 1892, but had not been here since until came for day or two this week." said Caleb S. Furness of Boston.
 Tt was an ordinary looking town at the time of which I speak. The business dis trict was quite circumscribed and while there were many pretty homes in the Highlands there had been little improve ment in the way of street paving or side walks, or landscape engineering. Today I find Birmingham a place of enchanting beauty. This is one of the most beautiful cities have ever visited and I have trav- eled much. Birmingham's business dis trict has expanded and is handsomely built up. I scarcely recognize this as the same Birmingham of 1S92.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
ROMANCE ON THE SEA

From Golfers.
 When his fathers death makes a boy of 12 head of the family he can usually sell newspapers or run errands for an office or work in factory. Life closes in on him rather grimly. He may break through and grow up to strength and use- fulness but you cannot grind seed corn to much advantage in the industrial mills of our cities. Herbert Johnson of Bridge port, Conn.,, took his half a lay and shipped for the cod fishing on Captain Peter Randall's 5S-ton schooner Oriental out of Trinity bay Newfoundland. He hauled traps, cut cod throats, and, in a pinch. saved the ship. As he told the story to a New York World reporter, the ! men were all off in the dories after cod when ice foes closed in on them and | ripped away the anchor chain. He called up the cook, 19-year-old girl, and them: When Marie tumbled out told her to
 take the wheel and put it hard aport. Then I raised the jumbo, the big jib, and we got under way. In the meantime some | ice piled on deck and carried away some I firewood and some cod, but we squeezed out of the ice pack and worked into Lark Tickle cove, where we got another an- chor from a schooner there and then put I out to sea again after the men in the
 dories. They had been scattered by the {! ice, but we found them all.''
 So Captains Courageous Is still true story, and there is more doing on the sea l than debating the details of Senator La Follette's seamens bill. New York office boys may be cashing in on their Wall street tips, but Herbert Johnson has the better fob.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
Cotton and Food Crops

There will be an increased cotton acre age in northern Alabama next spring as compared with the acreage last spring" said T. T. Ashford, well known Birmingham citizen who owns and operates two big farms-one in Lime stone county and the other in Madi- son.
 T raised this year a very large cror or cotton and very large food crops but many farmers reduced their cot ton acreage because of low prices pre- vailing when planting time came. But the high prices now-and they will be higher-will tempt every man in north ern Alabama to plant a normal crop in 1916.
 "The boil weevil is making its ap- pearance in the northern tier of coun- ties, but l do not expect much dam age from the pest next year. We will probably have the boil weevil bad in 1917. In the meantime we will raise all the cotton we can
 Increased cotton acreage will not lessen the interest in crop diversified tion. The farmers will plant more corn, and raise more hogs and cattle next year than ever"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
Speaking From the Heart

Gov. l.. ". Pinkham of Hawaii has declined Henry Ford's invitation to join the peace crusade. His cablegram follows:
 It would be quite unlawful for me
 to absent myself from this mid-
 Pacific outpost of the United States
 We in Hawaii are isolated and we
 are first for a complete prepared
 ness which would enable us to place
 our trust in the strength of our
 own nation and not force us to re-
 1v upon the good will of others.
 Most of the prominent men who de- clined to become members of MT. Ford's peace party pleaded other business, but Governor Pinkham was not content to veil his true feelings in the matter by any sort of excuse Though isolated, Hawaii does not en- ,joy that "spledid isolation," which some pacifists still think gives ample protection to the United States. "Pre- paredness" means considerably more to her than it does to Michigan or Ne braska. Honolulu is long way from San Francisco, and just that much more exposed to danger, if proud and efficient foe should decide to take over some rich and undefended terri tory which could be easily acquired.
 What Governor Pinkham calls "the good will of others" would afford lit tie comfort to Hawaii in case of war, for that "good will," even if it ex- isted, would not protect Hawaii, the Philippines or Porto Rico from hos tile power, to say nothing of the Pan- anna canal. These possessions of Uncle Sam would be bounced on without de- lay. With our present army and navy we would hardly be able to strike a single blow in his defense, and the strategic advantages they would give an enemy planning to attack the United States would be incalculable.
 Governor Pinkham is in a position to~appreciate the true value of pre- paredness. He is, so to speak, in an outpost, an exposed one at that, where the doctrines of the ultra-pacifists have a hollow sound and appear even more visionary than they do in the United States.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
"HALLO! HALLO, MY POPw

T. A. Daily in the Philadelphia Evening Ledger. Hey! boss. you gotta job for me?
 Eh? Sure, I beeg an strong; So eef I'm outa work you see,
 Eet nevva ees for long. no can be da lazy man
 No matter eef I try, But musta be good 'Merican
 An worka teell I die. gotta have da job, you see
 An nevva Sweesh for stop, Baycause so many say to me:
 ''Hallo! Halo, my Pop!" Me marry? Ho! you mak' me laugh
 Escusa me, Signor.- bat not many here you have
 Dat eesa marry more An soocha playnta keeds! Eh, wat
 Sure. all da sama breed. Already twalve O. dem got
 You oughta see dem feed So dat'sa why for evra day
 I am so beezy wop- Baycause at night so nanny say:
 ''Hallo! halo, my Pop"' Eh? wat ees dat you aska me?
 Could I no do weeth less? An! com my house, signor, an see
 Why I no tai you 'yes." You raise wan. two, three keeds, signor
 Dey grow an go away, But me dat have so nanny more
 Dere's always som dat stay; So, teell am so old bimeby Dat must justa stop. Dere weell be some at home to cry:
 "Hallo! hallo, my Pop!' An! gratias. signor! Today You nak' wan gladda wop An all desc othra vans dat say:
 Halo. hallo, my Popy'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

1 Lord Kitchener, Great Britains fore
 in 1882 He volunteered for an army then being organized by Sir Evelyn Wood. As chief of the intelligence department
 Kitchener soon became noted, his insight
 into native character being great help
 to him in this work. It was during this
 time that he took part in the expedition
 for the relief of General Gordon, which | failed for lack of proper transportation. He was appointed governor of the Red sea territories in 1886 and began a series l of raids on Osman Digna, the Dervish leader. During one of these expeditions his jaw was broken by bullet. When Kitchener returned to England to recu- perate from his wound he had become famous and was received with honors. He was made aide de camp to Queen Vic toria. When his health was restored
 Kitchener went back to Egypt where he
 was made commander of the Egyptian army, succeeding Sir Francis GrenfeIl, who resigned Kitchener was a strict dis ciplinarian and in a short while he had converted a fellaheen rabble into an eff ficient fighting force with which he crushed Osman Digna at Omdurman in 1898. Following the capture of Khar- tum Kitchener returned to England a hero. He was made Baron Kitchener of Khartum and received the thanks of Par liament and s150O0O. As chief of staff to Lord Roberts in the Boer war he won more fame. On his return to England he was made viscount for these services, promoted to the rank of general, and given the thanks of Parliament and $25O,- 000 During his incumbency as com mander-in-chief of the British army In In- dia he made far reaching administrative reforms, in addition to reorganizlng the British and native troops. His next post was that of British agent and consul gen. eral in Egypt, where he was virtually governor general.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
Census Taking

The population of the city of New York has been counted twice this year; in the summer by enumerators acting under a state law which re- quires census to be taken in the middle of each decade, and recently by the police department. The figures vary considerably.
 The state census credited Greater New York with 5,OO9,112 inhabitants and the police department counted 5,253,S88. The health department had been estimating population of about 5,800,000. Estimates are usually ex- aggerated, but the wide discrepancy between the two actual counts is not easily accounted for. Until the next federal census New York's birth and death rate will be based upon the po- lice figures.
 Greater London, known as the Metropolitan district, is still the larg- est town in the world, but New York, ever since Brooklyn and other suburbs were merged, has been the largest under one municipal government. Chicago's population is estimated at about 2,500,000. That city continues to grow rapidly, but it will not catch up with New York in this generation, If ever. New York has always had the growth habit and it will not give | it up.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

From the Philadelphia Inquirer HEY had regular commencement
 day at police headquarters in
 A New York when 7S graduates of the College of Recruits were made full fiedged patrolmen, while the rest of the student body automatically moved up from freshmen to seniors. The event was considered so important that Major General Wood favored it with his pres- ence, and not only witnessed a drill, but made little address to the men. It has taken some persons a long while to realize fully that there was such thing as school where prospec- tive police officers were taught the duties of their responsible positions. But it is a fact and there is no way of getting away from it. Indeed. it is so much like the real thing in the way of schools and colleges that one New Yorker, filled with the inspiration of the moment, went to the trouble of in venting yell for the College of Cops. In order that it may be preserved for the historians of the future we present it's screech- provoking words:
 Some go to Harvard, some go to Yale, Others violate the law and go to Jail. Rah, rah, rah,
 Who are we?
 We are the bluecoats of N. Y. c.
 Police, police, police.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
Hughes and the Presidency

"If the outlook for a republican vic tory in 1916 was exceptionally bright I would be in favor of stampeding the convention for Justice Charles F Hughes of the United States supreme bench, but as the outlook seems the other way, not flattering at least, il would not be right to nominate the great jurist against his will" said N P Sayre of Chicago.
 'I have voted the republican ticket since 1896, when I became of age, but have never taken any active part in politics. Justice Hughes is the only man in public life who appeals to me as strong presidential timber In my opinion he is one of the best and strongest men this country has pro- duced"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
ADRIF'T WITH THE TIMES
UNDER CONTROL.
ssssssss.ssssssssssss

Observed mild-mannered MT. Ream: Profanity is bosh!' He bumped his head against a beam And all he said was "Gosh!'' Youngstown Telegram Observed mild-mannered Mr. Dan. With swearing am through" The top fell from the garbage can And all he said was ''Whew!" Geneva Free Press Times Said Mollycoddle Mr. Mack: ITO cuss is awful raw!' He happened to step on a tack And all he said was ''Pshawl'' Sharon Herald. Said fat and jolly MT. Rand: ITO cursing I ne'er fell" He listened to the blaring band And said, They're playing wells | Houston Post. 1 Profanity" said Oswald Clay, ''Is always vile and rude" His wife eloped the other day, And all he said was "Good!" The Springfield Union. T never swear,' said William Slack. "Oh, no. I never do."
 An auto bumped him in the back And soon the air was blue.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

GAN INFERIOR NOvELIsTv
 From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
 Harry Leon Wilson. who writes first
 rate humorist stories, Is quoted in the New York Times as saying that Dick ems is a great humorist, but an in- ferior novelist. He declares that Dick ems method of drawing character is a
 mere trick of giving them exaggerated
 mannerisms. He asserts that the fa- nous novelist "has been a blight to writers susceptible to his vices" MT. Wilson says:
 Dickens created vaudeville" charac- ters-unsurpassed for twenty minute sketches. deadly beyond that to the mentally mature. His stock in trade was the grotesque makeup. In stage talk, he couldn't create a straight" part. Strip his people of their make ups. verbal, hirsute, sartorical surgical, pathological. what not-and dummies remain.
 It would be difficult to imagine a criticism further from the truth. The eccentricities of Captain Cuttle and Sol Gills are soon forgotten but their im- pie goodness of heart makes an ihosl- ible impression on the thoughtful reader David Copperfields nurse
 Peggotty. and MT. Peggotty-their un-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
THE CORNERS CHECKER CLUB

From the Boston Advertiser.
 9Th Greeks national motto," observed Deacon Stebbins, 'fs Safety Fust.' They'll do anything in reason for one thet won't git 'em into war with tn other side. They ain't got no particular prefer ences. excep' in one thing. They've got a double barrelled, breech-loadin,' gold plated preference for peace nd tn quiet life!
 "Lord Kitchener has been talkin' things over with tn Greek King
 We've got 'em on tn run,' says he.
 "'So I see,' says Constantine; but tn trouble is, they're runnin right this way!'
 You jest wait six months,' says Kitch- ener, real mysterious, md you'll see things thetll surprise you!
 "'Gosh! I'm willin' t wait tn six months,' says Constantine. But wi'd tn Germans? You go git them t wait six months, nd you won't have no trouble with mel
 "Lish Dyer has been talkin' putty brave about whut was goin' t happen t Big Sandy Ferguson tn next time them two met He's been a sending in some putty brash messagesNt' Big Sandy. tew. Yestiddy Ferguson come over here on a errand, md who should he bump up against, but Lish Dyer!
 Big Sandy let out one roar, nd started for Lis. but tn little fellers speed was surprisin'. He'd broke across tn school yard md over tn fence at tn back, before Big Sandy was fairly started. When Lish come sailing up tn Long Hill he stopped by the postoffice t catch his breath a second.
 "Hey, Lish,' says that light complected Washington boy, Sam, what yeh runnin away fer?'
 "I wouldn't run none-ef that-red- headed Scotchman-didn't! pants Lish TT thought you said you was gwine t knock de stuffin' out of mp says Sam. So I-be!' says Lish. I'm jest trim him out-fustr"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
SALONIKI

John Reed in the Metropolitan Magazine.
 Saloniki rises grayly from the muddy jade waters of the gulf, spiked with a hundred minarets and crowned with the yellow walls of Byzantium and of the | I atin Kingdom. In her narrow, twisting streets under the shahnichars of wooden | Turkish houses, the quiet Turkish life 1 flows on, weakening year by year before l the mounting flood of busy inquisitive Greeks. Mosque after mosque falls to
 ruin, and every month sees some minaret silent and voiee'ess, where the muezzin called to prayers each sunset for cen- l turies.
 | Yet in the gloom of the roaring bazaar
 where cross-legged Turks sell old amber 1 and fiawed emeralds and stuffs from Bok-
 hara and Samarcand, in little Turkish cafes opening on lost squares high up in
 the silent Turkish town, where incredibly aged plane trees make a green gloom,
 you can find the glamor and mystery of
 oriental life Along the sea front, too, fishing boats with great red sails aslant, built like Greek galleys and painted with | Phoenician symbols shoulder each other picturesquely at the quai. In the streets pass the strangest mixture of peoples that | ever was brought together in the world; l dancing dervishes in dull gray conical hats-Greek peasants wearing white bal | let skirts, embroidered jackets, and shoes 1 turned up with pompons at the toes-Arab porters turbanned and bare-legged, straight from the Arabian Nights-veiled l ladies of the harem, followed by attendant eunuchs in fezzes and frock coats-Al- banians, Servians, Bulgarians, Rouma nians and all the nodescript and pie l turesque riffraff of the Levant.
 | The town is full of Greek soldiers, of course and they all seem to have been in
 America. Again and again as you walk along the streets, men stop you with a Hello, Bill You American? What part | you from? Sure, I been all over the 1 damned States. I work on farm in Ohio, 1 in the coal mines in Colorado. I got a | brother there; he runs a candy store in | Des Moines, Iowa. Go back? Sure, I go 1 back when the war is over. No money nere! A guy can't live in Greecei"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

BEGINNING THE DAY--My Lord, I would give to Thee this day; would have 1t wholly Thine. Other days I have given, but l have re- served Il part, or later have With drawn a part or have forgotten nI- together. Take this day now, while If is fresh. Put Thy seal upon 1t; inform it with Thy presence; beauti- fy if with Thy grace. Amen.-H. M. E.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

Under the circumstances, when Yuan Shi-Kai becomes Emperor of China he will doubtless be willing to dispense with elaborate coronation ceremonies.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
SPEAKING OF OLD BIRDS

From the New YOrk Telegram. Dislike the remark touching the dame of S5 who danced the fox trot that she was as spry as a chicken Should have said cricket rather. The durable chicken
 is no pleasant memory.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

The Mohammedans in India may be ready for war; as reported from Der lin, but Great Britain has seen to it that their programme of preparedness is in-
 adequate.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

couth ways fade from the memory, but not their loyalty and unselfishness. Is not MT. Jarndyce an acceptable straight part" and is there a lack of reality in the cheerfulnes with which he gives up Esther?
 It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Dickens in his writings was great morilist and sentimentalist It seems as if he clothed many of his characters with grotesqueness to pre- vent them from becoming maudlin- their feelings are so often deep and none too easily controlled. Was it not love for the moral sentiment which moved Dickens to interpolate in Bleak House" that inc dent of the country girl who, at her wedding. signed the church register with an x because she did not wish to embarrass her, young husband, whom she was going to teach to write? As for Dick ems Murdstones. Skimpo1es. Pecksniffs and other hateful characters. they all magnify some common foible--a fault" which mars the works of Moliere. Shakespeare and other humble purvey- ors of humor.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

If the feelings of Captain Boy-Ed are so
 the thought that when he goes home the Kaiser will probably pat him on the shoul- der
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
ENFORCED VIRTUE.

Its getting to be so now" said the man with sporting tendencies, that has to take precious good care not to be arrested
 True" replied the militant moralist. make 1t so hard for people to do wrong that when they succeed in finding an evil opportunity they will be too tired to take advantage of it."
 KEPT COOL. ''rhis cold and stately beauty seems to have great many admirers" "Yes. She's a sort of cold storage prop osition."
 ',How's that?"
 When man intrusts his heart to her she puts it on ice'
 THE IDEA Why do women wear fur around the tops of their shoes?"
 Well, for asking foolish questions you take the cake!'
 Why sop
 If there were any particular reason for wearing fur around the tops of their boots. do you suppose they would do it?"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

Speaking of 'strongholds of sin,'' how about Jefferson parish. Louisiana. which is so bad that the governor has called out state troops to enforce the laws?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

A German chemist who has invented a substitute for whipped cream should turn his attention next to perfecting an egg no hen could lay.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

When the Kaiser and the Emperor of Austria-Hungary met they could hardly control their emotions They probably realize what they are up against.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
INCONSISTENT.

'Dubson says nothing is too good for
 his wife,
 Then, why in the dickens did he ever marry her?''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

Christmas in the trenches will mean lit- tie or nothing to the Turks who wouldn t know how to appreciate plum pudding if they had it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

Inez Milholland Boissevain will go with Henry Ford on his peace junket. What a dull trip it would be without the fair
 IueZt
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

Henry Ford has engaged quarters on another ship for the additional members of his peace party. Some of them may be just going for the trip"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01
POLICE SCHOOL GRADUATES

of the business it must be confessed that this spectacle of a graduating class for the police force is one of the good signs of the times. It proves that we
 are honestly advancing in the matter of efficient city government. There was
 time, and 1t was not so many years ago. when the only qualification for a
 policeman was pull That requisite
 may not be absolutely dispensed with in
 these days, but we do know that in
 most of the large cities a man must prove his fitness for tho job. He must be physically fit. That, of course, is in- dispensable. But in addition to this he
 must have intelligence. He is taught his responsibilities as we'll as his rights
 and privileges. He must know and un- derstand the laws and regulations which govern community anl he must be able
 to do score of things which were un-
 known to the police officer of 20 and 30 years ago.
 The result of all this is that in New York, Philadelphia and most of the large cities we have a well-drilled and well-disciplined body of men, who are in truth the guardians of life and prop erty The struggle has been a long and
 a hard one, but the time Is near at hand when the force will be entirely free from political influences and when 1t will be regarded as scandal for a policeman to interfere in any manner with elections.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

If Sinbad the sailor were alive today he would find plenty of excitement in the vicinity of Bagdad.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-01

The plum" offered by the politico-ad- vertlsing convention of The Age-Herald
 will last considerably longer than the average political plum"