davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
THE TAME CANyAsBACk

rrom the Charlotte Observer.
 The far-famed canvasback duck n,so. oe resistence of diplomatic dinners and delicate morsel of the gourmand ;s to ho a'seo in captivity This is the declora- 'ion made by T. Gilbert Pearson secre- tary Of the National Association of Audu- bon Societies. at 1874 Broadway.
 The fact has just been demonstra ted TOT the first time in history that canvas packs will breed in captivity" said Mr. Pearson.
 All previous efforts in this direction nave been failures and the officers of the Audubon association are entbusia s,;c over the possibility of making common .ne raising of canvasbacks and other edi- Die birds by the new methods.
 To encourage people to undertake the rearing of such birds. large edition of an illustrated bulletin by Herbert K .Job. on the propagation of wild ducks nd geese mas Just been issued and will be distrib- uted free by the association to all persons interested in these undertakings
 Through the efforts of MT. Job. in charge of our department of applied orni.
 breeding stock of these birds has been placed on the estate of William Rockefeller at Tar rytown, N. r., and, justifying our expec- tations. they have laid eggs and are to- day caring for young"
 These facts have been reported by A. NJ Barnes. in charge of game-bird rearing on the Rockefeller estate. Game breeders throughout the country are showinv rreat interest in thse unusual experiments and the association Is receiving a flood of in- quiries as to the methods which have proved successful in this york
 It Is the hope of the Audubon societies to induce thousands of farmers through out the United States to raise these inter- esting birds. Not only do they command a high price in the market for food, but there is great demand for ducks for breeding purposes. Some of the species bring as high price as $50 a pair for this purpose.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
Genius or Hypo?

"John Bunyan was a hypochon- driac," so says medical writer in dis cussing the author of Pilgrim s Progress" The physician makes a diagnosis of Bunyan's experiences and weighs his writings purely from a medical point of view, and attributes his authorship, not to deep emotional and spiritual experience, but to the disease of hypochondriasis.
 Maybe John Bunyan did have hypo- hondriasis-whatever that is-but the fact remains that he wrote one of the masterpieces of literature, and one that not only grips the mind of the youth, but stays as vivid memory throughout advancing years of the reader. ,
 To the ordinary, unscientific mind, 1t would seem that Bunyan's Chris tian" was literally weighed down by . burden of grief and dispair, and those who bear a similar burden know the physical hardship entailed, when every day is crucifixion.
 Bunyan's Christian" was not slow to rejoice and give thanks when the burden finally rolled off his shoulders and it is generally accepted that this character was an allegorical DOT trayal of Bunyan's own spiritual ex- perience! A hypochondriac would not be consistent if he turned to rejoicing 90 spontaneously.
 Perhaps the learned doctor might profitably ponder upon the homely, but none the less apt, proverb:
 "He jests at scars who never felt a wound"
 The surgeons scalpel is very we'll in its placeA but it is scarcely fitted to the dissection of spiritual anatomy.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
most of the banks and much of the
 bank stock was held by Germans"

most of the banks and much of the bank stock was held by Germans" Building up a trade with Russia presents some difficulties, but none that could not be overcome. Russian customs and Russian ways of doing business are different from ours Their language, their religion, their weights and measures are dissimilar and they have hobbies which must be respected. Doing business with the aid of interpreters is said to be unsat- isfactory, as the interpreters are not always working for the interests of their American employers. The langu- age, however, is not hard to learn and American salesmen who speak Russian would find it considerably to their ad- vantage.
 While there are rumors that Rus sia might make a separate peace with Germany and this would insure Ger man supremacy in her business af- fairs, these stories have been strongly denied, Another factor which might predispose the Russians toward trade with America is the possibility that commercial alliance may be desired by England and France after the war is over, for the purpose of controlling sales. An arrangement of this sort would be little more to Russia's liking than the trade domination of Ger many.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
UNCLE SAM 1NDoRsEs CORSET

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
 In defiance of oid-fashioned prejudices the United States health service says that the corset possesses merits that make for both health and utility. It keeps the fem mine figure upright. counteracting bad pastures and the effects of stopping. In his generous indorsement Uncle Sam doesn't even remark that there are cor sets and corsets. He merely says corset Perhaps the next thing in order will be a federal indorsement, of tight shoes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
BEING A FRIEND TO BIRDS

army to defend his crops; how the little feathered songsters may be kept alive
 through the coldest weather and pro- tected from storms and frosts. In some cases. he explains. man is tho
 unintentional destroyer of birds. Man
 built the Statue of Liberty in New York
 harbor. for example. In one night soon
 after the statue was erected 140O birds
 were killed by flying against 1t Their
 bodies were picked up at the base of ths
 statue next morning.
 Telegraph and telephone wires kill thou
 sands of birds. 50 do wire fences and
 arraignments in MT. Baynes' book, howl
 ever, is tho chapter where he attacks the hunters who have slain birds by the wholesale. either because they had al market value as food or for their plumes There is another class of enemies which,
 MT. Baynes describes as those for which,
 man is responsible" He puts the house.
 cat at the head of this list, and quotes a naturalist as saying:
 There are no fewer than s, 0o0o00 catn in the United States, and there may bel
 twice that number. A house cat has Ibeen known to kill 50 birds in one season
 and naturalist believes that 6Oo,ooo birds
 are annually killed by cats in New Eng- land alone.''
 He quotes another authority. Edward
 Howard Forbush. state ornithologist, od Massachusetts, as follows:
 If we assume that the average catl
 on tho farm kills but 10 birds. in a year,
 and that there is one cat on each farm in Massachusetts, we have in round num-I
 bers 7o0oo cats. killing 70o00 birds annu- ally"
 Like majority of ornithologists, Mr.l Baynes has no defense for the European|
 sparrow and the European starling. Ged
 rid of them. he says. but don't let ths| boys do 1t. Persistent use of the shot-|
 gun has driven them out of Meriden Every farmer says MT. Baynes|
 should make point of keeping ths| birds in his fields and woodland supplied with food during bad weather. for he is|
 among those most greatly benefited by| the presence of birds. Besides. he gen-| erally has on hand plenty of food in thd|
 shape of wheat, oats etc., which can be| offered whole to the large birds and ground to the small ones. MT. Baynes believes 'bird sanctuaries,
 or places where various inviting featured
 are combined to make homo for the1
 birds, should be encouraged. They cau|
 be easily established in towns or on pri-|
 vate estates. he says. He also approved
 the establishing of sanctuaries on land
 owned by the federal government or ou| state preserves. Federal sanctuaries." he says, "are of| the utmost importance. and no one appre-| cited this fact more strongly than Presi-|
 dent Roosevelt. who. during his adminis-|
 tration. turned from other important mat- lters long enough to create more than 5d| national refugees for wild birds"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
HOTEL IOBRIES
Prosperity Returning

Most of the southern cities I have visited recently show signs of return ing prosperity, while here in Birming- ham the big industrial pay rolls are al- ready making business hum," said J. J. sorg of Philadelphia.
 Birmingham has grown at more rapid rate than any city in the south, and I am predicting that in the 1920 census 1t will outstrip every city south of Louisville, except New Orleans. Young men here today will live to see Birmingham close to the million class"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
Pleased With New Section

T unhesitatingly say that the roto- gravure section introduced by The Age Herald last Sunday is the finest piece of newspaper work that I have ever seen in the south" said Fred Levert. T read the New York Times every week and have been greatly pleased with its rotogravure work, and 1 think The Age Herald is to be congratulated on having the same class of work that is carried by the biggest metropolitan papers"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

From the Kansas City Star. T RNEST HAROLD BAYNEs. a nat uralist and lecturer, at his home - at Meriden, N. H., one afternoon,
 was shooting at a mark. He had the rifle poised and was peering through the sights at the bullseye when a chickadee, one of a little flock which had been chattering near, flew down and alighted on the front sight of the gun. The astonished "marksman' held his rife steady. but he forgot all about the target and looked at the bird. Friend chickadee, perched on the end of the bar rel, actually stretched his neck downward and peered into the muzzle as calmly as if he were picking up crumbs. If this story were a solitary, isolated instance. it might not prove anything about the habits of the chickadee. It is only one tale in a hundred, however, told by Mr. Baynes himself in his new book, Wild Bird Guests" to shoF that the
 birds not <only can be made one's friends. but that they actually want to be friendly.
 Some of the stories in this book. from the press of E. P. Dutton & Co.,. are close to the uncanny. For example. MT. Baynes tells how the chickadees come to his bedroom window on winters morning and tap on the glass with their little bills until he raises the sash and lets them into the room.
 They fly into an open window of the family dining room and eat nuts from the breakfast table. MT. Baynes, by holding an English walnut meat between to fly down from its porch. alight on his finger and eat the nut from his lips. Another time. when Mrs. Baynes was feeding some birds on the lawn, five of them came and alighted on her head. shoulders and wherever they could find perch. Still another time she was playing with young chickadee, holding | it on her outstretched hand, whom one of the parent birds came, and. poising like a humming bird in the air beside it. passed insects into the hedgling' s mouth.
 The point of the book, however, isn't that the birds of Meriden. N. H., play
 around their human friends like kittens with . ball of twine. MT. Baynes .ells how the birds and the men. women and children came to be such friends. And. what's more he tells how the men. women and children of any other town can get the same results with wild bird guests"
 The Meriden Bird club. of which Mir. Baynes is general manager, got into the newspapers a year or two ago. when g. acres of farm land. given by Helen Wood ruff Smith. was dedicated as "sanctu- ary" for the birds of the neishhorhood.
 At the dedication of this farm Percy Mackaye's bird masque, Sanctuary '' was presented and Margaret Wilson, the Presidents daughter. took part in the drama.
 Since then MT. Baynes has organized bird clubs in many parts of the country. He has lectured on birds and the con- servation of bird life from coast to coast. He has told that diseased and natural enemies make annual ravases on the feathered kingdom. Hs has told how man. the worst enemy of all is killing them by millions.
 l On the other hand. he has taught thou- sands how they may attend the birds and make friends with them; how the
 farmsr may enlist them as ! standing
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
GERMANY's OPEN AND SHUT POLICY "a "oc Htv,n

Germany's Arabic note puts the case in a manner highly satisfactory, doubt less. to Berlin. If it is accepted as satis- factory here. all that German submarine commander has to do to justify the sink ing of any vessel, however horrible the consequences. is to assert that he thous Int she was going to ram him. No amount of denial or disproof by surviving officers of the victim ship can offset such plea It estops all prosecution. The submarine commander becomes judge, jury and ex- ecutioner, without appeal. Can such a principle be tolerated by the United States?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
Many Good Eestaurants

Birmingham has long been noted for its good restaurants" remarked W. s. Bedford of Cincinnati. 'grhe high price cafes are not as high in their charges as one might have reason to expect, and as for the less pretentious eating places 1t is surprising how they can serve such fine food for so little money.
 T believe there are s6 per cent more restaurants here than one finds in At lanta. and all of them so far as I can learn are excellent"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
FINE-FRIENDs-NoTs

TOIII III6 ItOCIIebteI ff6TdIU.
 The Friends of Peace greeted with cheers the announcement that Germany had sunk another liner in apparent violation of her agreement with the United States, and Henry Weismann, head of the German American alliance and prominent Friend" says he never believed In the agreement as represented by von Berns- torff. Valuable friends of peace and of America!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
ENGLAND's LABOR AND WAR

From the Pittsburg Dispatch. It has been suggested in interpretation of strike troubles in England, especially among coial miners, that these were due more to rapacity of the governing and commercial classes than to lack of patriot
 ism among the wage workers. Censored cables gave but one side. Miners were loaded with opprobrium because of their strike inclinations; also workers of other classes. because they were slow in enlist
 ing without guarantee for the future of
 their families in case they lost their lives
 There is now published in this country
 the labor side of the rather acrimonious dispute. an interview with. George Lans- bury, English labor leader, who answers
 the question: What is the matater with
 tho laboring men of Great BritainY' He
 says all the trouble is due to the greed of the employing classes. He cites the payment by consumers of SIPS more per
 ton Tor coal than before the war, and not
 penny advance in wages; also that the price of bread has increased 100 per cent but the farmer gets no more for his wheat and the baker no more for his labor.
 MT. Lansbury charges that patriotism is being exploited by the few for the
 benefit of the few, at tho expense of the
 many. and that the intelligent working
 man declines to stand for this. He holds.
 moreover. that England has already done
 more for the allies in this war than was
 ever expected of her, and that she is able
 and willing to do more, but her working
 men should not be harassed with baseless
 charges that they are insensible to the welfare of their country and the peril
 that threatens 1t. MT. Lansbury predicts
 that in future the manual workers will be
 more potential figure in shaping the
 course of empires-not mere pawns on the
 chess boards of international politics.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
BE POLITE r6 YOUR CHILDREN

Laura Spencer Porter in the Mothers l Magazine.
 The bad manners of American children
 are notorious Obviously, 1t is not the children who can be held to account for | this. Certainly the responsibility must rest with American parents.
 | Our children are bad hammered mainly
 because we in authority over them set
 them such striking examples of bad man. ners
 Yet, we are not as a people i'll man. nered. Strangers visiting our land have borne witness repeatedly to courtesy re- lcelved and kindness observed We are thought to be a rather genial, frank peo- ple the very vastness of our country lending us, 1t is supposed, certain gen- erosity and self-reliance and the dem- ocracy of its form of government giving every man that sense of sef-respect which is one of the foundations of good manners.
 It cannot then be said-speaking very generally, of course-that we are wont to behave ourselves with discourtesy to- ward others So it is not usually from his observation of our treatment of oth- CTS that the child has his lessons in bad
 manners; he has them, rather, from a
 source more likely to impress him; he
 has them from the bad manners we practice toward him.
 To others he sees us kind and very courteous, with a special courtesy. He notices that we are markedly polite to visitors, noticeaby considerate of guests or casual strangers. His mind, making its logical deductions reasons that man. ners and courtesies are things to be put on and off; to be assumed at need, or neglected at will, and since 1t Is others who reap the benefit of them, and not himself, he acquires, logically enough, a as affectation more or less, and insin- cerity. To discard scorn them him self is, then, kind of virtue in his eyes;
 and to have nothing to do with them Is warrant of his own downrightness. This, more often than not, is the real basis child were spoken to with the same gen. tleness and courtesy with which he finds us speaking to strangers and visitors. he would like good manners without doubt and would initiate them. If the home
 were as well ordered and as courteously
 conducted for It's inmates as it is on those
 occasions when guests are present, we would have no problem of Tommys or Jenny's bad manners to wrestle with.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
Auditorium and Grand Opera

Auditorium and Grand Opera A week of grand opera here as an annual event would be a brilliant suc- cess, just as it has been in Atlanta for the past five years.
 The only reason why Birmingham has not had a Metropolitan Opera season is because we have had no building adequate for so large an enterprise.
 The first thing needed is an audi torium with an eight or ten thousand seating capacity. The next thing nec- essary would be the raising of a large guarantee fund as the basis of a con- tract with the Metropolitan company. But that would be easy.
 The interviews with representative citizens printed in The Age-Herald of yesterday reflected plainly the urgent demand of this community for mu- nicipal auditorium and a week of opera. Every one of the expressions elicited rang with note of enthusiasm and insistence. Not one of the persons interviewed failed to appreciate the prestige that grand opera has given to Atlanta or that it would give to Birmingham. It would be for this city not only splendid musical and social event, but great civic asset as well.
 There was rumor to the effect that the Metropolitan Opera company would not appear in Atlanta next spring, but that rumor, it turns out, Twas without any foundation. In a press dispatch from Atlanta it is au- thoritatively stated that the Metro politan organization would be the at traction in Georgia's capital as usual the latter part of April, 1916.
 In starting the grand opera-audi- torium movement here The Age Her aid had no intention whatever of inter fering with Atlanta's hold on the Metropolitan management. The peo- pie of Birmingham applaud Atlanta's achievement and Birmingham society has always been largely represented at each of the opera festivals. But the time has come when Bir- mingham must have big auditorium or convention hall and then will fol- low grand opera. The Metropolitan company, by playing week in At lanta and a week in Birmingham, would reduce the cost of it's southern season. And in both cities each per- formance would draw a capacity house. Only a few years ago the Metropolitan company appeared in At lanta and in Louisville, and perhaps in one or two other southern cities on the same tour.
 If an auditorium bond issue propo- sition were to be submitted tomorrow to the voters of Birmingham an over whelming majority would be cast in its favor. But no matter how little delay there might be in getting started the time would probably be too short now for the completion of a permanent structure by next April, when the Metropolitan Opera company leaves New York for the south. When this city builds it must build right.
 In view of the strong desire on the part of the public that the city pro- vide an auditorium, no time should be lost in the preliminary steps. "Do it now" is the slogan, and by doing it now, or at least doing it soon, we Twill be assured of the auditorium and grand opera in the spring of 1917.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
HOW ABOUT COTroNi
From the El Paso Times.

From the EI FaSo IimeS.
 French and British hnanciers are en route to this country to negotiate loan of half billion dollars. While in our midst 1t wouldn't be bad idea if we did little negotiating on our own part in the interest of the cotton farmers of the sunny southland.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
TrUToNIc DEFINITION

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
 None of the dictionaries seem to be on to the fact that 'Ambassador' means a military agent who is ready to stick a knife under the fifth rib of his host while holding him by the beard and asking. Art thou in health, my brother?"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
BEGINNING THE DAY-O my

God, help me 10 begin my life this day. May I start on my eternity now. Shame my tempOrixing! Put nside my cry of tomorrow, tomorrow! Face me with the terrible, quick eyes of today, demanding the best, the ultimate of my effort. Give me grace from this hour to write per- mnncnt on everything I do. Amen. III. M. E.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

The Friends of Peace" seem to be rasing an unusually large crop of ene- mics.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

some of Dr. Dumbas fellow country men who are prospering in America cant understand why his government which iet them suffer at home, should be so- licitous of their welfare now.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

IT Private Mulvaney is fighting in
 france Rudyard Kipling should look him
 up without delay. He might have an- other story to tell.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
T. R.. DounrLrss

From the Portland Telegram. \
 There is woman in New York who is suing the ZOO for having fallen frorn an elephant. If she wins, her case migho serve as q profitable precedent for sou,6 eminent sentlman we know about.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

Al least there Is some consolation in
 the thought that more flies were swatted
 during the summer just closed than aver before.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
MORE ROUGH STUFF

From the Macon Telegraph
 We respectfully call the attention of the Chicago Tribune to the fact that a Tennessee man who shot a negro was let of with fine for carrying pistol. Go to It. ktdl
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

The fact that Venice has not yet been damaged beyond repair should console esthetes who wept for the cathedral of Rheims.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

It might be good idea for those bastv commanders of German submarines to LOOK twice at liner before deciding that its actions are hostile.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
THIS IS rERRrny.u

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
 It might be said that the sword of Russia is marked by just ono Nick after another.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

California is now so crowded with mov- ing picture actors that 1t Is called the "celluloid coast"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

Although it may be true that the Ger mans realize that they will ultimately be defeated, they continue to act like win ners.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14
NOr nIEEK

From the Pittsburg Gazette Times
 A critic says T R.'s ambition is to own the earth. But we are told that only the meek shall do that
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-14

While England's armies may be com
 paratively small, she continues to fur
 nish the "sinews of war, in unlimited quantities.