davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
The Meanest Man

The meanest man on record is now languishing in, the bastile of Kansas City. At least Police Judge Brady of that city is reported to have pro- nounced Lon Stewart the meancst specimen of masculinity that he had ever encountered.
 The floods along the Kaw river made it necessary for a poor widow to move her meager house furnishings from the flooded district. Stewart was hired to do the moving.
 The widow, Mustered by many crowding duties and the knowledge that she must hasten. to her regular employment in packing house, left her purse containing few dollars all she had in the world-lying upon piece of furniture. Stewart stole the purse, thus leaving the widow and her four small children absolutely desti- ute.
 Stewart was, however, captured and Judge Brady, incensed by such exhi- bition of flinty-hearted depravity, as- sessed against the thief double yer dict, after pronouncing him "the meanest man in the world"
 And the judge was not far wrong, as everyone will agree. For the man who has no compassion on the widow and the orphan has lost the last shreds of manhood.
 Feed my lambs," is a command which has an almost universal appeal, and the able bodied man who disre- gards it to the extent of stealing the bread from the mouths of orphaned babies, is mean indeed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
The Elusive Garden of Eden

Scientists and explorers have dem- onstrated to their own satisfaction that the scene of Adam and Eve's early adventures was located in near ly every part of the world. The old fashioned idea that the Garden of Eden must have been somewhere in Asia, is no longer accepted without question. The latest discovery of the garden is reported in South America, in wild and inaccessibl eregion where pr. William B. Farabee, cura- tor of the American section of the University of Pennsylvania, found not only the site of the Garden of Eden, but the petrified stump-o of the "Tree of Life"
 Dr. Farabee is still traversing hith- erto unexplored regions in South America, but his reported discovery has aroused interest in the United States among people who would like to have the Garden permanently located. Dr. Farabee and his compan-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
Public School Education

The United States bureau of edu- cation is doing valuable work, not only in a statistical way but in the publication of comprehensive reports and bulletins on the public school sys- tems of the different states.
 These publications are full of sug eestive material and the facts set forth furnish, in many cases, inspir- ation for those striving to improve rural school conditions.
 The latest bulletin issued by the bureau is entitled History of Public School Education in Alabama" by Stephen B. Weeks. It is pamphlet of 210 pages, completely indexed.
 Few publications of this class have been of more absorbing interest. The first chapter is of a general historic character-a brief memorial of those early and stirring days in the evolu- ton or tnlS StdLe.
 It was in Mobile as far back as 1926 that the public school system of Ala bama had its birth, and for many years that city alone had a system marked by any degree of efficiency.
 Private schools and academies flourished in various sections of the state, but it was not until 1898 that a genuine awakening in regard to the public school system began. A new era had set in and while the statistical tables still show an appalling percent age of illiteracy, among both whites and negroes, there has been in recent years an appreciable reduction in the number of those persons of school age who cannot read although the school census of 1914 was rather more discouraging than the census of 1910. And it was that fact which aroused the Alabama Educational association and the state department of educa- tion to renewed efforts to reduce il- literacy.
 As is well known the legislature at the 20-day session passed several edu- cation bills, including the school tax amendment. From these measures will come great good and in the mean time State Superintendent Feagin is having the enthusiastic cooperation of the county superintendents and the public school teachers, also the illit- eracy commission, ln promoting rural school activity.
 Chapter Xii of the bureau bulletin. the concluding chapter is captione!, Looking from the Past and Inc the Future" In i general survey of the situation, Mir. Weeks, the author of the bulletin, having made a tholo ougl. analysis of conditions, takes a de id vedly optimistic v.ew. Everyone in- terested in education should procure a copy of this valuable pamphlet
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
ON WALKING
By John Rurroughs.

By John Burroughs.
 When I see the discomforts that able bodied American men will put up with rather than go a mile or half mile on foot, the abuses they will tolerate and encourage, crowding the street car on a little fall in the temperature or the ap- pearance of an inch or two of snow, pack ing up to overflowing, dangling to the straps, treading on each others toes, breathing each others breaths, crushing the women and children, hanging by tooth and nail to a square inch of the platform, imperiling their limbs and killing the the street has good reason to felicitate himself on his rare privilege of going afoot. Indeed, a race that neglects or despises this primitive gift, that fears the touch of the soil, that has footpaths no community Of ownership in the land which they imply, that warns off the walker as a trespasser. that knows no way but the highway. the carriage way, that forgets the stile. the foot bridge, that even ignores the right of the ped estrian in the public road, providing no escape for him but in the ditch or up the bank. is in a fair way to far more serious degeneracy.
 Shakespeare makes the chief qualfica- ton of the walker a merry heart:
 Joy on, joy on the footpath way,
 And merrily hent the stile-a
 A merry heart goes all the day,
 Your sad tires in a mile-a.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
Mir. TurnbulI's Promotion

I was very glad to learn of the thlr6 promotion of D. F. Turnbull of the Bell Telephone company" said G. F, Clark T knew MT. Turnbull quite well In a business way, coming in contact with him frequently.
 MT. Turnbull is destined to go far in the service of the telephone com pany. for he is a man of unusual ab.li :. ty and talents. He is a genius in hand ling men and in making friends, bctt for himself and for his company l will venture the assertion that few of the big business men of the city had as many friends among the so-called com mon peepul' as did MT. Turnbull He knew all people when he saw them and was always cordial no matter what the occasion.
 Coupled with his tact and executive ability. MT. Turnbull has a keen busi- ness insight which will serve him in good stead wherever he goes He wa the negotiator of several shrewd deals Tor his company. while in Birmingham
 MT. Turnbull is still young man and with his ability and the almost limitless field before him should go far in the telephone world Luck to him."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Fine Weather for Cotton

People have suffered from the ex- eessivef heat during the past few days, but we should gladly endure it when We remember what it is doing for the growing crops said John D. Shelby
 This hot wave is just what is need ed for cotton and corn. There was some reduction in cotton acreage this year in Alabama as in most of the other cotton states, but notwithstanding that fact climatic conditions have been so favorable as to assure a crop of good size after all
 'The crop diversification movement is going to be great thing for Ala bama, and 1t Is safe to say that the money value of the 1915 crops will be greater in the total than that in any previous year"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
Favored By Politicians Only

When the people of Birmingham voted in favor of commission form of government it was for the twofold purpose of getting politics out of the conduct of the city's affairs and cen tralizing responsibility. While the bill was pending in the legislature some citizens expressed themselves in favor of five commissioners. The Age-Herald strongly opposed that number and insisted that commits sion of three members was ample. The three-commissioner plan prevailed and since it has been in operation those who have given the subject thought cannot fail to appreciate the wisdom of MT. Percy, who. was re- sponsible for the passage of the meas ure providing for three instead of five commissioners.
 It is difficult to, keep politics out of any sort of government. But the smaller the governing body the less is the probability of it's running into political groove. If the Birmingham commission were increased to five, it would be only question of time when politicians would endeavor to further increase it.
 Jobs for office seekers would be multiplied but the great object had in view when the commission form supplanted the aldermanic system-a business-like administration rather than politics s-would be virtually de- feated.
 The candidates for commissioner ships and some of their personal friends are in favor of Senator Judges measure, but the citizen whose only thought is of the city's good is on the other side. Popular sentiment is grow ing stronger every day against the five-commissioner proposition.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
LIFE IN THE POLISH CAPITAL
From the London Standard.

From the London Standard
 ln OMBS are not dropped on Warsaw |h every day-only occasionally. Nor - do they do great damage. The principal objective of the Germans has been the new bridge over the vistula, but so far they have not succeeded in hitting it, and their repeated want of success has induced them to abandon their efforts except occasionally. Now they prefer to send out six or eight aeroplanes together on raids against country towns and drop hundred or so bombs in rapid succession. By this means they must kill or wound some people, and in fact do; of course. al- most exclusively noncombatants On three nights during the week we have been here they are believed to have nibbled at Warsaw; the lights of the town were sdd- denly put out, and some shooting was afterwards reported, but if there was an attack 1t must have been easily scared away.
 Warsaw, except when an attack is ex- pected, has about third of its lamps lit. and now besides the desYre 70 be incon- spicuous to the Germans there is an add ed reason for economy-want of coal. The great coal mines on the Silesian frontier being in German hands, the whole of the coal for Russia has to come from one dis trct. and the output is not enough to sat isfy all the big cities which have there fore been running short Warsaw fac tories normally consume 100 trucks of coal day; they are lucky now if they get supply of 20. Worse still: Petrograd woke one morning to the fact that 1t was threat ened with a coal famine. and instantly took measures that the capital should have the first claim coal; the second should be Moscow and the third only to Warsaw. Warsaw therefore, expects in a few weeks to be without coal altogether. Fortunately the weather will be turning warmer. but especially in view of the high price of wood the lack of coal will be a serious factor.
 Gentlemen who write skittishly about the brilliant social life of Warsaw are, not to put too fine a point on it, talking through their hats. True, the theatres are open and we'll attended, but this is due to the presence in the city of a great number of officers waiting to be sent on duty. and meanwhile kicking their heels. The entire life of Warsaw has, in fact, been hitched to the chariot of war, and consists of the military or those supply ing their needs, and of others struggling not to be suffocated by the dust of the world war. On the north and south fronts together are IA armies; the fifteenth. they say, is quartered at the Hotel Bristol. Warsaw. There, and at the two other principal hotels, is a kaleidoscopic hustle and chatter of officers, Cossack colonels. generals, aide-de-camps all day long, and orderlies in the hall and passages. Large gray Red Cross motors stand al, the door. 1eo-mils journey And apisa. or 9 t is
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
LUKE M'LUkE SAYS
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.

From the Clnclnnat1 Enquirer.
 Anthony Comstock has resigned An thony was ringmaster of the Reform Cir GUS when Billy Sunday was cutting his teeth on sugar rag. Anthony was con- tent with one ring and two bits admission but later on the anti-saloon organizations added a menagerie to the circus and later on Billy Sunday added two more rings and the sawdust and the reserved seats and went after the big dough. Anthony wasn't bad fellow, but, oh, how he did hate curves and Sept a. ms. Anthony saved many married man a lot of trouble by beating friend wife to the picture in the altogether that friend hus- band was Carrying around in his inside vest pocket
 Good advice is advice that tallies with what we had intended to do, anyway.
 Some of the long-faced lads do lot of kicking because the women wear trans parent skirts. But you haven't noticed any of these men going around blindfolded on sunny days, have you?
 Every old maid believes that child should get good spanking about 1s times a day.
 Women are so anxious to worry over trifles that they go and marry them. Our idea of a battle royal would be to herd all the knockers into one ring and make them fight 1t out. It must be great relief to a corn-fed girl when the powers that make the styles decide that 1t is no crime for a woman to have hips if she happens to be built that way.
 A man will admit that he is liable to make mistakes until he happens to make one, and then he insists that he is sin- fallible.
 Before they are married all she hears him talk about is his poor heart. After she gets him all she hears him talk about is his poor liver.
 When your creditors are waiting for you to come across, you can always sit down and remind them that patience is a virtue.
 Any man who has attended an amateur performance given for charity realizes that charity uncovers multitude of sins.
 Before he gets her life is all thrills. After he gets her life Is all bills.
 Woman is known as the weaker sex be- cause she can't keep a secret unless she has the assistance of all her friends and acquaintances.
 The weaker g man is the easier it is for hisn to break q promise.
 You can always make sure thing doubtful by betting on it.
 Some men go out hunting for trouble and others let their wives take in board ora.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
From the Kansas City Star.

icii tHe hdnSdS Olly star. HE cartoonists are busy now making funny pictures of the young men graduates and their dreams of flu trre achievements. It was always SO Any boy with dream of doing something
 great in the world is likely to be laughed at, and many boy with a big idea has been squelched by ridicule But nearly every great man was once boy with dream and the reason the dream came true was because he stuck to it and was not disheartened or turned aside by ridicue
 When Benjamin Disraeli young Jew, arose to make his first speech in the Brit ish Parliament he was hooted at and laughed at and howed down. and none dismayed he shouted:
 The time will come when you -vill hear me!'
 What funny thing that was, this young upstart, defying the great men of Eng landl How they laughed. An ordinary youth would have slunk into the back ground and been forever buried from sight But Disraeli was a boy with a dream that nothing could quench. He stuck to it and he made it come true and he became prime minister of England and Earl of Beaconsfeld.
 Thomas Carlyle, the poor Scotch tutor; how his fellows laughed when he told them of his dream to be a great author. The idea of that dreamer with the thread bare coat and rundown shoes aspiring to be writer of books. And when, stung by their ridicule, he cried: T have better books in me than were ever written they roared with laugh ter, and then told each other that he was touched in the head.'
 He stuck to his dream. Ridicule could not swerve him; failure did not dampen his ardor. Lifelong dyspepsia and scold- ing wife could not hinder him. He spent 13 years writing the History of Frederick the Great |" of the greatest af aii historical works He worked years on his French Revolution" and when it was finished housemaid kindled the fire with it Undaunted, he wrote 1t over again, and if you have never read it read
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
Can the Flies
Canned flies bought here.o

Canned flies bought here"
 So might well read a sign at the office of the sanitary officer of To- peka, Kan. Annually, during the month of June, the sanitary officer of Topeka, whose name, by the way. Is Ramsey, offers 50 cents quart for all flies brought to his office during the month.
 In theory this is an excellent prac- tice, as every fly disposed of at the beginning of the summer means a les sening of thousands of the number of flies later on in the season.
 This month the fly trade has been unusually brisk, and Sanitary Ser geant Ramsey has seen visions of flyless town.
 But this is how it works
 After purchasing liberal supply of flies, Sergeant Ramsey discovered that they were canned flies-flies cap- tured last fall when the supply was plentiful, and placed in cold storage awaiting the opening of the fly mar ket this month.
 Now Sergeant Ramsey is casting about for fly expert who can tell the difference between canned flies and the strictly fresh article.
 The youthful fly merchants who had the foresight last fall to provide for the spring demand, unquestionably need some instructions in the line of common honesty-but they certainly show signs of budding genius with a keen insight into the methods of many cold storage merchants.
 "Like father, like son. seems to be as pertinent now as it did when the expression was coined, long before such thing as a fly market was dreamed of.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
CUBA,s NEW MONEY

From the Savannah News.
 Cuba is one Latin-American country that has now a coinage based on unit of the same grade and fineness as the American gold dollar. The unit is the peso, and for the first time Cuba is to have real Cuban money. Hitherto it has been using American, Spanish and French coins. Of interest Is the new Cuban S4 gold piece, or four peso piece, designed to take the place of the French 20-franc piece. It will be a good thing for Pan-America when there is a coin that can be spent in any country of the Americas without charge of exchange.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21

said, spies everywhere, so that when two armored cars came from England and were sent to the front not long since it was known at once where they were to break their journey, although not arr ranged beforehand, and half dozen bombs were dropped in sthe night, for- tunately without effet exc ept on the gar- den. The greater part of the furniture in the hall of the hotel has been removed to prevent eavesdfopping. Warsaw still remains the focus of military interest.
 The fear of the Germans has vanished. No one believes it now possible that they can ever take Warsaw. In October was the terrible time, and you can see a post put up in a wood not eight versts, less than six miles. from the city with the inscription scrawled on it: "Kaiserliche Deutsche Grenze." Three things saved Warsaw then. The prohibition of alcohol, the bad roads and the fact that the Ger mans thought the absence of defenses trap. While they were hesitating, and before they could get up the guns two Siberian regiments were rushed into the town. They tore straight from the train. deployed into line and charged with such ferocity that the Germans broke or fled. But almost every one of their officers fell The colonel of one, mortally wound- ed. cried: T die for my own country He was Pole. for in these two Siberian reg iments were 40 per cent of Poles, who had been sent into the army in that far-off land, full, as it is, of golden promise
 There is another governor general of Warsaw now. He who was here at the nf <I~t~ t~-lx sible to defend the city summoned some of the principal citizens and told them that perhaps the troops would be withdrawn. You need not be afraid, however, we are lighting with a civilized adversary, who will respect noncombatants.v Three days afterward came the news of Kalish, of which the Germans made second Lou- vain
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
THE WOMAN WONDER

By Brian Hooker. Her thoughts are like flock of butter
 fliesy- She has merry love of little things And a bright flutter of speech, whereto
 she brings
 eyes, Yet under all a subtle silence lies. As birds heart Is hidden by its wingu. And you shall search through. many
 wanderings The Fairyland of her realities. She hides herself behind busy brain A woman. with a child's laugh in her
 blood,
 A maid. wearing the shadow of mother.
 hood Wise with the quiet memory of old pain. As the sofs glamour of remembered rain Hallows the gladness of a sunlit wood.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
Talk'st thou to me of ifs.
BEGINNING THE DAY-O m.

BEGINNING THE DAY-O my God. make me brave. Make me brave enough to say no. Make me brave enough to suffer even the charge of being not brave. Make me brave enough even to sit still and walt Make me brave enough even to forget that l nm brave. For the sake of Him who was brave unto all things and unto the end. Amen. HI. M. 10.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
I'M rHE MouNrAINs
From the Montgomery Advertiser.

MT. Bryan says his next statement will be divided into three parts. Instinctively we recall the announcement of noun taineer preacher, who said to his flock: Brethren, I hev decided t divide my sermon in three parts. Tn fust part, I'll understand an you won't. Tn second part you'll understand an I won't. Tn third part. nobuddy'M understand.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
CHICAGO WALKED. HUT cor THERE

From the Chicago Herald.
 Chicago met the situation created by the traction troubles with a striking mani festation of the real Chicago spirit. Quick ly, cheerfully, instinctively her hundreds of thousands of citizens adapted them- selves to the changed conditions. Those who imagined that stopping the surface and elevated cars would stop Chicago saw their mistake yesterday. Chicago walked--a great part of it-but it got there. That is the point to emphasize: It got there.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21
DANGEROUS

From the Chicago Herald. Now. suppose, children one of youf schoolmates should strike you, and the next day you should bring him an apple, that would be one way of returning good for evil, said the Sunday school teacher.
 A little girl raised her hand.
 Well, Elizabeth said the teacher, what is it?''
 Them said Elizabeth, firmly, "he would strike you again to get another ap- ple."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21

If Uncle Sans marines tackle the Yaquis they will find those tough fighters considerably harder to handle tan the child-like Filipino.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21

The Russian bear is beginning to think that the allies are not doing their part. There is a limit to the punishment that even bear can stand
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-21

With a little over s12.OOO in cash and lia- bilities of ss6,57s,sS ,sS2. the Wabash is as badly in need of helping hand as. any railroad we know of