davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
WAR ECHOES

Atlanta Constitutions An official eye witness sends to the world a graphic description of the capture of Sabot woods between Souain and Perthes, on the battle front in France One of the collection of phrases runs:
 At 5.3O we were inside. Bayonets were dripping blood several of them were bent out of shape by excessive use, after winch the fighting went on with the butts of rifles. At dawn the Germans counter attacked twice, but were stopped by our bombsland we were masters of Sabot woodsl"
 ''If you feel warlike.'' says Life. "dig a trench in your backyard. fill it half full of ice water, occupy it. go two days without food and allow somebody against whom you haven't a thing on earth to shoot at you all the time with couple of reyolvers and machine gum
 If the kaisers. the emperors. the kings, and the jingoes and war magnates' of the world were submitted to that heroic treatment, how long would it be before universal peace came out of the mists of speculation and became blessed reality ?
 
 Pittsburg Dispatch: The congress of the representatives of the nobility of Russia have unanimously adopted a reso- lution declaring that "the vital interests of Russia require full possession of Con stantinople, and both shores of the Bos- phorus and the Dardanelles and the ad- jacent islands"
 But suppose that the British Parliament which, after all, is a more authorita- tive body-should pass a resolution de- claring that the vital interests of Great Britain require full possession of Constan- tinople, her waterways and islands? It is true that Sir Edward Grey's declara- ton that England will not object to Rus sia's obtaining a way to the sea, makes that quite improbable. But if England and France fight their way from the en- trance of the Dardanelles to Constanti- nople, they will be apt to think that the cost of the conquest gives them some voice to the disposition of the plumber.
 The vital interests of every nation with any interests at all in that region call when the permanent ownership of that city is to be settled, any nation can put up an opposition to Russias claim, it can plead vital interests with just as much force as Russia. If there is any serious dispute on that point. 1t probably can be settled most pacifcally by giving the custody of Constantinople to some lesser nation like Greece, and making the Dar- danelles, the Sea of Marmosa and the Bosphorus an open waterway for the war vessels and merchant ships of all nations.
 But this is anticipating a trouble that is some distance in the future, at the best and may never arrive. The allies have to fight their way over 200 or 800 miles, much of it heavily fortified, be- fore they get to Constantinople. Peace may be declared and the unspeakable Turk left in possession. Or Constantino- pie may be won and handed over to Rus sia without a word of dissent from its conquerors.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
GOSSIP IN LONDON

The food problem in Berlin is the sub Ject of many newspaper articles. How about the food problem in Paris?' writes an American in Paris to the Evening Tel egraph. An article in the Paris Temps may be considered as official and conse- quently important. The normal conditions of the Paris food supply cannot be estab- nshed until the war Is over The mob- ilization took away more than one-quar- ter Of the laborers necessary to guaran- tee full supplies Communication with certain centers of supply is diminished and falling off in supply has resulted On the other hand certain other sources of supply remain firm. Another factor must be mentioned-last September and October the population of Paris shrank 36 per cent. and the deliveries from the slaughter houses and central Paris markets shrank S per cent for the same period Making alowince for this the supply of butter, for instance, is about the same as in 1913. Bearing in mind the same shrinkage in population, Paris consumed more cheese in 1914 than in 1913. Articles of food known as luxuries shrank in 1914 about 50 per cent. Vegetables and fruit have been abundant and there has been no hardship at all in that direction. Meat has como in from suburban slaughter houses. At the cattle markets and slaugh- ter houses the prices of meat has ad- vanced about 12 per cent over that of the same periods of 1913 (for beef) and 6 per cent for veal and mutton and per cent for pork. Alcohol for lamps, which cost in July, 1914. francs 90 centimes 0S cents) for iitres, went up to 8 francs 5o centimes C70 cents) in August, and is now francs 50 centimes 60 cents). This is, of course. a heavy rise. Coal, which cost francs 60 centimes (72 cents) the sack in July. now costs francs 5O cen times 80 cents). Mineral essence costing
 in July 70 centimes GA cents) a litre was D centimes Q5 cents) at the end of Jan uary. Carbonate of soda before the war was 15 centimes (3 cents) the lsilo, ia now 20 centimes 0 cents) Petroleum for burning in lamps was francs 15 centimes
 (67 cents) for 6 ltres, is francs 36 cen times 67 cents) now. So that the princi- pal articles of food which have risen
 since the war are beef, veal. fresh eggs 2b centimes apiece 6 cents), coal and alcohol for burning. The ration of 165
 grammes of meat per person in Paris instead of lss grammes in 1913, the figures
 show that the daily cost of living in Paris now is about the same as in 1913. Hence the Temps concludes that the cost of living in Paris is immensely better than that in Berlin.''
 The war is making no appreciable
 difference to London 8 supply of spring flowers. and Covenr Garden dealers
 state that transport is wonderfully good, considering the difficulties
 | Flowers to the normal quantity are
 arriving from Sciily. the Channel
 Islands. and even from the south of France. The supp1y of danodils from Scilly and the Channel Islands Is good. | and the only noticeable deficiency is
 in white flowers like the narcissus | coming from the south of France, whence, however. there are adequate consignments of mimosa and vie-
 lets.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
Membership Campaign

"The Birmingham Young Mems Chris tian association membership campaign, which has been in progress for the past three days, is now being pushed for ward vigorously" remarked Secretary Stallings, and a great number of public spirited citizens are coming forward in support of this city's institution.
 At the close of Tuesdays luncheon at the central association building when captains of the various teams and divisions had announced their reports it was seen that the total new mem bership secured up to that time was 427, or 152 for the preceding days work. But the division chairmen and team captains declare that their respective organizations are only beginning to will prove surprising.
 "A telegram from Mobile stated that the campaigners for the r. M. c. A. or ganization of that city had secured to date BIT members.>and that 151 mem bers had been the result of that days work-or only one less than the num- Der secured in Birmingham. The Bir- mingham association has been chal- 1enged by the Mobile men to a contest and the people of this city will find 1t necessary to work at a lively pace if we are to win by the lead which the population and civic spirit of this city naturally entities it to-"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
ALABAMA GOING FORWARD

because we were out of touch with the progressive outside world
 We have lived in trenches without a periscope, unconscious of the fact that the enemy of ignorance was surrounding us to encompass our destruction or enslave us.
 Now we have looked ahead. We have caught new vision. and we are going to charge the enemy. We have declared that we will carry the unsheathed sword of public school education to every boy and girl in Alabama. and that with this weapon we will cut our way to a new freedom--to better health, to wealth and to larger happiness.
 Education and crop diverslfcation must needs go hand in hand if we would make good this new declaration of indepen- dence.
 It is not necessary that we resort to revolution, but let every man and woman in the state today get in line with this new step of evolution.
 Rich beyond any other state in the union in natural resources--in mineral, farm and timber lands, in water power and in climate-Alabama should stand first in available capital. in education, in art, in literature and the other things that make for the happiness and content ment of mankjpd.
 This end can be attained if we will catch the vision of our possibilities and live up to our knowledge in creative ac- tion.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31

on his mettle and made him all the sturdier and all the more patriotic.
 Frightful were the Indian massacres in the early days of the republic, and those were great wars between Uni ted States troops and certain power full Indian tribes. After the Civil war about the only opportunity for regu- lar army officers to distinguish themselves was in fighting the h. dians. But we have probably seen the last of the massacres; certainly the last of them if men like General Scott are. in command of the army.
 The Indian population of the Uni ted States is now close to 100000. The great majority of the Indians are civilized and a considerable percentage of them are educated. There is some thing pathetic in the fact that the red man, who had for ages possessed tiio vast douldii anu i1tu 4Dte4 Su- preme here, had to lose to an invading force. According to the bureau of American ethnology, the aboriginal population, at the time of the coming of the white man, was nothing like so great as some writers had esti- mated. The bureau, after a system atic study of the question on scien- tific lines, says it is now believed that the total population of the Indians in America, north of Mexico, was 1,150,- 900. Of this total 846,000 were cred tied to what is now the United States. If there were only that many several centuries ago and there are between $50, 1000 and 400, 1000 here today, despite the ravages of war, and the ravages of disease, it speaks well for the en- during quality of the race, whose glory has vanished but whose courage is as ever undaunted.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31

men in the wagons, Honor to the brave in misfortune
 An incident that is now related of the Kaiser upon the occasion of a re- cent visit to Nancy, on the western line of battle, shows a similar spirit. The Kaiser. with his staff. arrived at Nancy Just as a captured regiment of French infantry was brought in during the dusk of the evening. Inquiring as to the circumstances of the capture, the Kaiser was told that the captured rrench regiment had held an impor- laht road for more than an hour against e"o 1erman brigades and had thus en- dpied large French ammunition train 10 escape capture, although the cap tured regiment had been compelled to sacrifice itself. The Kaiser at once sent Tor the French colonel commanding the regiment. loaded him with comnl,mants for his professional skill and devotion anu invited him to take supper with himself and the Crown Prince of Ba- varia.
 The sequel of the story is equally creditable to the French officer. So- far from having his head turned by the in- yitation to take supper with the Elm peror, the French colonel replied that ms regiment was encumbered with many of its own wounded; that these men needed all the attention their Of. ncers could give, and he asked to ha excused from attending the Emperor,s dinner and given permission to spend the night looking after the comfort of the wounded men of his command. Not to be outdone in gallantry, the Kaiser [again complimented his prisoner and directed that the medical officers of his personal staff go with him and assist m caring for the French wounded. and later Tn the evening the Kaiser and the navarian Prince visited the prisoners and were unceasing in their efforts to look after their comfort.
 such incidents happen in all great wars and rarely fail to have the effect or ameliorating life passions that war calls forth
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31

from the clouds is not worthy to be en- tertained by rational. intelligent men.
 ''rhe experts of the national weather bureau sum up the conesusions thus; It Is apparent that the precipitation that causes floods in the eastern half of the United States is deriveG from the aqueous vapor raised up from the vast waters to the south and southeast of our con- tinent, and that the supply is inexhaust- ible. Our rainfall. then, is the result of such fundamentally great causes as not to be appreciably affected by planting or cutting away Of forests. or by any of the operations of man in changing the character of the surface covering of the continent "
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
PSYCHOLOGY

X ohh A<iACs
 Psychology is word often used to ex- plain the meaning of something which we don't understand after it has been ex- plained, and which, if we did understand 1t, would not do us any good. The psych- ology of advertising means that some one who hasn't the ability to succeed at 1t tries
 to reduce to a mental formula the method of those who do succeed at it. Psychoi- ogy. in short. like the policeman after the fight, comes around after the thing is done, swings Its club and looks wise.
 The psychology of Shakespeare IS the guess of some one with college degree, as to what Shakespeare was thinking
 about when he wrote his plays, always completely ignoring the fact that the only things Shakespeare was thinking about
 were the box receipts and how to keep his audience interested. The principal differ- ence between psychology and astrology is that astrology tells you what is not so beforehand and psychology does it after ward.
 A psychologist by any other name would know as little.
 Psychology is, we are told by the ex- ports, the science of the mind. But the great beauty about the mind is that no matter how much machinery there is, no matter how many new the ories there are. no matter how many new systems of thought Arise and have their brief day, it still remains unscientiflc and breaks into new neids without rhyme or |. reason.
 ] Psychology, however. need not be ut-
 tarly Accredited. It has one. great ussful
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
HOW LEISURE KILLS

N the April American Magazine George
 Fitch writes another Homeburg sketch of life in a small town entitled
 Homeburg Leisure Glass;" Of the dan gers of loafing in small towns MT. Fitch writes in part as follows:
 Leisure has killed more people in Homeburg than work ever did. For years our biggest problem was the job of keep ing our rstired farmers alive. When a farmer has worked 40 years or so and has accumulated a quarter section of land and few children who need high school educations, he rents his farm and moves into town where he lives comfortably on So0 month and fills tasty tomb in very few years. It isn't so hard on the farmerrs wife, because she takes her housework into town with her and keeps busy. But when the farmer has settled down in town, far from chance to work, he discovers that he has about IA hours of leisure each day on his hands with nothing to do with them but to eat. Out of regard for his digestion he can't eat more than three hours a day. That leaves him II hours in which to go downtown for the mall and do the chores around the house.
 He stands it pretty well the first year. The second year is so long that he begins to lay plans for his centennial, and about the third year he takes to his bed and dies, with a sigh of relief. That's what leisure does to Homeburg man who isn't used to 1t. And that is one of the reasons why when I see a man in New York with nothing to do from choice, I think of the sad army of the unemployed in Homeburg draping themselves abound the grain office every day in fine weather, and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31

wearing away the weary years in idle ness because they are too old to work and don't have to, anywaS.
 "Of late years we have been working earnestly to conserve our retired farm ers' They are fine men. and we hate to see them wasted. We have been trying to reduce their leisure-jlst as a city man tries to reduce his flesh. We elect them to everything possible. We have taught number of them how to play pool in the commercial club. We have started A farmers elevator farmers bank and A planter factory, and have got them to invest money. That has been a godsend. because it has kept large number of them busy and happy trying to save tbe said money. But where We have saved one retired farmer, the automobile has saved l0 Whenever one of our unem- ployed comes out with machine. we sigh with relief and stop worrying about him. It's just the same as if he had been given wings and world to explore In sum mer our retired farmers who have autos loaf around the country from Indiana to Idaho and talk crops in the garages of thousand towns. And in winter they rebuild their cars, and talk good roads. Twenty years ago you could talk good roads to farmer or bang him with a club, with the same result. But last year our retired farmers organized a good roads association, and to amuse them- selves they have dragged the roads for miles around and have built a mile of rock road leading south to the cemetery where in the old April days, as Henry Snyder says the deceased was buried once, but the mourners got buried twice going out and coming back"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31

From the Anniston Evening Star.
 n OSSIBLY not in the history of all S Alabama has there been a year \ that held out such prospects of positive evolution az this good year of grace 1915,
 Alabama has learned valuable lessons from the European war crisis. It has taught us that no man liveth unto him self. but that the law of solidarity the interdependence of mankind, is universal in its operation It has impressed us with the fact that each one of us is his brothers keeper, and that by helping to make better the condition of our brother we will help ourselves.
 Tho legislature of Alabama seems to have caught this vision. Hence, in the provisions made by the legislature for the eradication of the cattle tick and hog cholera, and the encoura cement given to local taxation for educational purposes the legislature laid the foundation for genuine development.
 Gov Charles Henderson's appointment of an illiteracy commission, step calcu- lated to remove another great stigma from the states escutcheon, was an act in harmony with the forward movement.
 Education means receptivity. and re- captivity makes for progress. The reason the Chinese nation stood still so long was because it closed it's doors to foreign enlightenment. and the reason the people of the south have stood still so long was
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31

the red man thorougnly a..
 Indian warrior gradually came to re- gard him as their good friend and not their foe.
 There are many officers of the army whose long experience in the far west make them familiar with the habits and belligerent nature of the Indians. but not one of them is in the class with General Scott when it comes to quieting troublesome warriors and do- ing it in such a way as to allay all suspicions and assure peace.
 When the white man landed in America the destiny of the aborigine was sealed. In the logic of events 1t was to be only matter of time when he would have to retreat and yield to modern civilization. But the Indian in his half savage state was ready to fight to the death the white invaders. Nor was he to be dis heertened by defeats on the battle field. The Indian wars have made stirring history. Thel Have added not only to the romantic Side of this country's development, but the h. dian's constant preparedness for at tack kept the white man, who had te< defend his home and his country,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
WARS GENTLER SIDE
From the Louisville Evening Post.

From the Louisville Evening Post.
 HHE Kaiser Of Germany has fre-
 quently been compared to Napoi-
 con Bonaparte during the course of the present war. and, while there is. as yet, little to show that the German Emperor has the overshadowing mili- tary talents of his predecessor. it is in disputable that there are points of re- semblance between the two men.
 All impartial students of the life and character of Napoleon have noted the generosity he displayed at times to- ward defeated enemies. The most noted case is that of the English sailor who. escaping from the detention camp near Havre, tried to make his way across the English channel on a hastily con structed raft. When captured and brought before the French Emperor the sailor said that he had braved the terrible risks of his undertaking in or der to see his mother, who was very old and infirm.
 You shall see her." said Napoleon; she must be remarkable woman to inspire such devotion in her son. A french warship was directed to put out to sea, flying a white flag and car rying, in addition to her crew, one pas senger, common English sailor, who was thus conveyed. with the honors that would have seemed large for an ad- miral, to the English shores, and there deiived over to an English frigate.
 Another incident is related by Alison. Napoleon was riding with Marshal Lan- nes toward Vienna after certain great victories in the campaign of 1909, and. upon reaching a crossroads, found his way blocked by a number of wagons carrying Austrian wounded. A French stan officer rode ahead to direct the wagons to hold back for the Emperor, but the latter at once interfered. Get tlng off his horse and removing his nat he stood at the crossroads until the wagons had passed by, exclaimine Tn a voice which reached the wounded
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
ign were well

grounded in the science of agriculture, but >they discussed their subject in plain, untechnical language so that every husbandman, whether versed in chemistry or not, could comprehend all the essential points relating to the last word in crop diversification.
 The "follow-up" campaign will be full of energy and full of practical suggestions. In this way the interest in the cause will be maintained and kept up to high mark. The result of the diversification movement will be seen to considerable extent this year, but the benefits will come in a larger degree next year and the years following, after the experimental stage shall have been passed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-31
LUKE Sl'LUKE SAYS

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
 When they embark on the sea of mat rimony the husband is supposed to row the boat while the wife does the steer ing.
 You can climb pretty high in the world. But you never get 50 high that you are above suspicion.
 A man Is usually willing to give the devil his due. But he isn't so considerate of his wife.
 More women would have a sense of humor If they were not afraid that laugh ing would make them fat.
 If there is check in the letter man never criticizes the quality of the station cry you use.
 You may think that you have q kick coming. But how would you like to be a weather forecaster and have your mis- takes advertised every day.
 Do not get fat-headed. Many q man has lost good job because he got the idea into his head that no other man could nll hte place