davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

York you see about you. During the rush hours I want to go into my home and hide away. I am annoyed by futile efforts to go where I want to go with out continual traffic Interruptions; can- not stand the delays incident to travel on the surface, subway and T. trains, and the rush of people almost suffo- cates me-
 And this old gentleman led me to one of the od-tirniest houses in the section in which we were walking, and remarked quietly, as he pointed at it, That has been my home always-that is almost all that Is left of the New York love-
 However. 'old-timey" tales and what the moderns call "sob stuff, are so close ly related that one must play a Rip Van Wrinkle role and check the tears with lsughter-if one can. And there ara enough "old-timey" customers here of a Imaginable character to do this success fully. For instance. you will find on Broadway plenty of men who are still ''old-t -timey' enough to retain that bash fitness of long gone day, which pre- vented men from caressing women in POpiiC. | II ddIHlt lICcly lildt IL Us rare, but here and there one notices couples who do not take advantage of merely being together in restaurant. or on a boat, to caress each other
 It is also possible to find young women in New York who are willing to go out with an escort and permit that escort to do a little of the suggesting as to where they shall spend the evening, what they shall do, etc, etc. They, too, are rare, and treasured believe. But they exist.
 On the other hand, there are a few young men who still assist their girl or women companions across the streets by offering an arm, after the old-fash7 ion. They often seem self-conscious in doing this, and as often have the arm rejected. but they do it. just the same
 And there are those who wear the old style cuffs-not the link cuffs you know and seem to feel that they are dressed correctly. And one even sees pockets in mems trousers, which open straight across at the top, instead of at the sides. These are very rare, however, and rarer still is the specie which arises when a woman enters the street car, or subway train and offers it's seat-unless the woman be of surpassing Ioveliness or exceeding great age.
 A few can be found along Broadway who say ma 'am'' and sir" but they are mostly in some uniform of service. since the servility idea became associated with those expressions a long time ago. And I have even heard. though I cannot give you this information with any guarantee of it's correctness, that there are families living in Manhattan who have a repre- sentative, or head. who says grace be fore dining. But the statement that such families still inhabit the island brings me to the climax of things and customs ''old-timey."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

= 7 ISTUR EDDITUR; We have always been told lNAWI that it costs verry little to be polite and JlTJl corteous to those peepul we cum in con-
 tact with while strolling down the vista of yeers spend on this mundane spheer. Neerly everyone will agree that this old saying is trew and that in the long treetng folks svvily usuey pays dividend. But in this moddern time, while peepul air durned bizzy doing sumthing else that guess .theere is moor mummy in, few indeed trubble them selves about showing the test cortesy to theere nay bors When the Americon publick get to the point that longer be sivvil to the rest of the Amer icon pubck it is time for reform Surely if we can't shed a little sunshine wherever we may be and with whomevver we cum in contact, air becumming lost and undun It is subject neer to my hart and had not alreddy moor reforms hand than successfully opperate, I would gladly use my strong sosial possion and trenshent pen in that d rectson.
 It irrtates me exceedingly to man be i'm polite and rude to lady. always have strong de- sire to rise up smite him first class smote the region of his carburatur that would recall him vividy the days of his youth when his fathur used operate on the sect of his pantalloons with three quarturnch board. Still neerly always refrain rum
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

doing While resentment arises to almost un- controlabull degree in my boosum at such things, most always succeed in suppressing it-I by na- ture meek man unless I aroused. To avoid a difficulty that mite Iced to violense is with characteristick It is almost passion, mite say. It is the result of experience I have had in former yeers when drawn into controversies with parties who exceeded me in brute force.
 Take for example, the rude and peevish way the average travelling man is treeted in hotel It should not be thus. He goes to the hotel to affew ently spend the mummy gennerusly handed out to him by the furm he represents and is entitled to con siderasion nsted of that in this part of the effect east he is usuelly looked upon suspissious char actur Evven the walters regard him hardly theere sosial equal and do not mind resting themselves on his left shoulder while he tries to refresh his mery forgotten Frinch while studying the hand painted bill of fare. When enturs in a foolish moment and passing feeling of prosperity into of New Yorks justly celebrated cabberayes, wheere butifu watur nymphs danse merriy under the sprays of fountain, surrounded by large plate glass mir and clad in glitturing dewdrops displaying to the admiring multitude IS to 20 inches of snow white vertibre and is approached by forrain nobeman
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

dogs. Looking down one of the side streets you may see the pup-mobile. This is a car fitted to run on the rail- road or on the board streets The rail- road of Nome was built for steam cars It did not pay, so the travel over it is now on handcars, each drawn by from seven to fourteen dogs. Nome has also its carriages and buckboards, and you may often see woman on horseback
 The residences of the city are as odd as the business establishments No one has built his home as a perma- nency. When Nome was first started there was no lumber to be had and the first homes were built over the tents, or as an annex to them. Many small shacks went up and then came ramb- ling buildings of two or three stores. Even today there are but few large houses and many home has only three or four rooms. One reason for this is the cost of fuel and the diff culty of keeping the houses warm dur ing the cold winter months.
 The sky line of the Nome streets is as ragged as the jaws of boy whose second teeth are just coming. The buildings are of an uneven height the roofs of some rising high above those of the others. This makes it necessary for the little buildings to have high stovepipes. in order that their draught may not be cut off by the taller struc- lures about them The result is lit- tie cottage will often have galvan- ized stovepipe as high as itself, ris- ing above it. Looking down on the town, one sees a thicket of these smokestacks springing out of the roofs. They look like handles to the houses below, and make one think of so many Irish shillalahs, the pipes being the handles and the houses the knobs on the ends of the clubs.
 Many of these houses have gardens. Nome has short summer. but 1t is so far north that the sun works from IS to "A hours during the summer, and hence they are able to grow lettuce. turnips and other green stuff. Nearly every woman has some flowers in her front windows and some have flow CTS growing outside Entering, you find these homes very we'll furnished They have their pianos and other mu- equipped with books and magazines. and, in fact with all the furnish ings of the cultured homes of the Uni- ted States proper.
 There are but few big buildings in Nome. The largest IS the Golden Gate hotel, a four-story shack with numer- ous bay windows running across it's front. The building Is of light wood, which carries sound like a fiddle box. The moving of a bed on the ground floor sends noise to the rooms in the attic The place is as dreary as can be imagined. but it is the only large hotel in the town.
 Among the other buildings of note are the courthouse, the postQffice and Eagle hall. There is also large pub-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

dressed in immediate pantaloons and an air of re- fnement he feels at that it is privilege that he is permitted to splash around in all this luxury at much per splash. He newer fully recovvers rum this feeling. He gives his modest order to the waitur who goes away and stays until the meridian of the custumers life has passed to the and vel low leef. But he knows him when he gets back--he has not forgotten him during all theese yeers but he still maintains his air of cold and superior formaty he will not extend the glad hand of comradship- so as you would notise it. He keeps that visitur suppressed and humbulled and when he finely hands him his bill he does it with such grand air and ney that the poor customer forgets to faint when he obsurves the sum- He accepts his tip like tax col lecur rakng in his tithes frum crooked maefactor of grate wealth. much to say, You air holding out sumthing and you know that know 1t.
 This feeling of gennerel hostility to pervade the verry air breath theese days. One goes into Q store to purchase triffle and tmidly asks the tall peroxide blond, with wad of gum stuck in her fase about the size of door knob wheere he pur chase sum seedess dill pickles. She elevates her nose to an angul of 45 degrees, east by west, and shorts, "Thurd-flonth cntr to Unfit" This nforma-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

fic of more modern day, but it still plies it's deliberate and often weary way back and forth along the avenue, nor is 1t always empty by any means.
 Go down into the skyscraper sec ton of Manhattan-down where the Woolworth rears it's tower up almost into the clouds; where the giant Equitable building houses whole city of people within its own walls; where the worlds most magnificent munich pal building rises high in air-what could there be "old timey' there? To answer the question for yourself you have only to enter the magnificent arch of the municipal building itself, and If you attempt to cross you may be run into--though hardly run over by a street car drawn by two weary old white horses which jog along at rate that the average Manhattan dweller cannot tolerate and which would break the heart of commuter only to look at them.
 But there it goes, the old street car, rolling along through the arch of the big modern building, with the skipper proudly standing on it's front platform and laboriously tugging at the old-fash- toned brakes. But there is more than that-in the colder days of New York winter. there is stove in the old car, and it's smoke curls up through the roof or the top of the street car. The passengers are warmed by this stove, and at the rate of speed the car travels, would have time to enjoy a game of poker, or checkers between their starting point and their destination. Nothing modern about that Is there? And yet it is a part of Manhattan life, down. town, and is to be seen daily by any visitor.
 Not very far north of the Island of Manhattan, but still within the limits of New York city, I can show you an old cabin of the "'fo' de wah'' variety. The kind that has room of the crudest sort on either end, and the cabin is connected in the center only by a roof and platform of boards. It still stands, nor does it stand idle, by any means. It is not being preserved for it's his toric value but merely becausesa certain family finds it serviceable.
 Then, too, there are several "old timey'' wells, of the "old oaken bucket" pursua- sion, still doing duty. There are also several wells covered after a slightly more modern fashion, but belonging dis tinctly to q uay thdl IS no more. lHe houses whose yards these wells are in, are in several instances as ancient as the wells themselves, and have picket fences around them, old-fashioned blinds and lawns that take one back to the days when New York city was in its infancy.
 Another "old timey' custom that is at the same time in keeping with modern style. is the side-saddle riders In Cen tral park and along the drive one ire quently sees women riding these sad
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

lie school building and commodious hospital. The United States custom house and the United States road com mission have quarters of galvanized iron, or rather tin shacks. The town ment and live saving station. These are in little frame building on Front street. one side of which faces the street. the other the ocean.
 I like Nome. Its people are up and doing. There are but few drones among them and the most of them, to use a western expression, are good boosters. They have a hope for the future of their city. They do not ex- pect 1t to hold the population that it once had, but they say that owing to the large area of lowgrade gold earth about it Nome Is bound to be an i'm dustrial mining center for generations to come. They say also that its posi- tion is such that it will always be the chief port of the Seward peninsula, a territory which has vast mineral re- sources yet to be developed. This may be so. but the harbor leaves much to be desired. The port is almost an open roadstead and goods have to be landed in lighters. while passengers are slung high into the air on an aerial cable car, and thus brought to the shore.
 I shall not forget my landing at Nome. It was early in the morning when our steamer cast anchor, far out from the shore. We were taken from the ship by a steam launch to a landing, above which rose a great tower in the ocean far out from the shore This tower is connected by cable with another tower of an equal height on the mainland, and pas sengers are taken from the ocean tower to the land in platform cage, which is raised by machinery to the cable and carried upon it to the shore, The cage will hold 40 or 50 passengers, and 1t skates, as 1t were, through the air, high above the pillows beneath. The baggage is brought the same way.
 It is also difficult to go from the land ing place to the steamer. The boats rise and fall with the waves, and em- barking and disembarking are quite as dangerous as at Beira. South Africa, where one is let down in basket. or at Jaffa. where he climbs down rope ladder into small boats. In landing from the Victoria to the launch we used a ladder which was slung to the side of the ship. The motion was so great that the women of the party had to be held by the sailors as they descended.
 Such are the conditions when the sea Ia comparatively quiet. During a storm the passengers must wait outside, and in spring and fall the steamers have to make their way through the ice. As winter comes on, the ocean near the shore freezes over, and along about the first of November the harbor is ice bound, and one can look for miles over 2
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

here at Nome. Just west of the town two men cleaned up $3S00 in three days. The stories of the miners are interesting. I shall write some of them later.
 As I walked up the beach this aft ernoon I saw men still washing gold out of the sand In one place they had put up an engine and stretched rude tent above it. Connected with the en- zine was a pipe of about six inches in diameter which carried the water to the top of a sluice box 20 or 30 feet high. The men were throwing the sand into the box and the stream was washing 1t away, the gold being caught in rifles or iron gratings in the bottom of the box.
 Further north some men were rock ing out the gold in cradles and there was patchy mining going on all along the beach. I saw a woman lay ing out a claim and fencing it with poles. She seemed to resent my in spection. She was a positive woman and did not want visitors.
 am told there is still gold in these sands in front of Nome and that more comes in at every high tide. One can get color almost anywhere by wash ing the sand. A low-grade deposit amounting to something like 50 cents a cubic yard is said to run for miles along the seashore, and machinery may vet be employed to get this gold out.
 When you walk along the streets of Nome you may know you are walk Ing on gold. doubt not that there is fortune under the blanks of Front street, and that if the buildings could oe cleared away from the tundra on whicn they stand it could be mined at proIit. Some of the houses have eel lars which yielded enough pay dirt to cover the cost of the digging. The goid IS scattered through the earth in patches or pockets and there are prob aply many pockets yet undiscovered. sack or Nome one can see the tail- ings rom which the gold has been taken. There is 9 plain running from the shore to low range of noun tains. This plain is about four miles in width. It is composed of three ancient beaches which have grown up through out the ages. From these beaches mil lions or dollars worth of gold have ai- ready been mined and upon all of them the miners are working today.
 The street scenes of Nome are inter- esting. The characters are those ol the frontier gold mining region of the icy north, mixed with the Eskimo life of Siberia and Alaska. There are many we en and men as we'll dressed as the of our cities and there are others clao in the rough clothing necessary to hard labor in the far north. There are miners wearing shoes laced to their knees. or white or black rubber boots that reach to the waist. There are Es-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10

From all of this you will probably be enabled to feel surer of yourself when you come among us. No matter what you may imagine you lack in up-to- dateness, New York city need not neces-. sarily embarrass you. You will find hero others who do as you dc and behave as you behave. In fact, if you have any trait, any habit, anything that New York hasn't, this is unquestionably the place for you, because whatever it is you may possess that is absolutely all your own, and unique, you can market 1t in this great metropolis.
 To me, Madame Sarah Bernhardt is the miracle-woman. You know, of course, that she recently opened here In a. reper- toire of plays at the Empire, and the most wonderful bit of acting she does is in little French playlet in which she takes the part of a soldier. and has to rush, wounded, across the stage-I mean the field--in search of the lost colors of her country. She finds the colors and dies.
 This marvellous actress, whom age and the loss of limb have failed to deter, rises. in this scene, to heights that are truly inspirational. Of course, entre nous, didn't know what the Divine Sarah was talking about, for the reason, pardonnez moi, that I can't speak word of French donnez moi du fromage, which Is awful, parbleu! Sacre! Diable!
 However, I knew that Madame was exercising most effectively a wonderful art, and when she reached the dying scene and cried out, "Vive la F'rancel' I got her. and took prominent part in the subsequent outburst of sincere ap- preciation.
 George c. Boldt of the Waldorf-Astoria. who died here suddenly this week, started his career as a waiter and an oyster opener. There may not be anything very glorious in the life of a rich man who inherited his millions, but there is les- son for everybody in the uphill climb of MT. Boldt. It Is an illustration of tho fact that these things can be accom- plshed, and it should be an inspiration to many an aspiring climber It has not been discovered that MT. Boldt owed any of his success to pull" but it Is generally admitted that he had all sorts of push" and his record, after success crowned him, is free from any stains or blots. The whole world knows the Waldorf Astoria, and George c. Boldt was the Waldorf Astoria. The famous old hotel fs now Tn the hands or ms son, George C. Boldt, Jr, who seems to have inherited much of his fathers executive ability along the same lines.
 Oliver Osborne" arrested this week in Chicago and brought here to face an ar ray of charges concerning girls he has duped, was registered in the Tombs as an aviator If he is the "Ollie" the whole country has so long been searching for, and what is said of him is true by half. the title is most appropriate.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-10
UP AND DOWN BROADWAY--By Allen Griffin Johnson
Washington, D. c.

The outsider has little idea of the dif- ficulty the average man experiences here in reaching the "big men, of this city In smaller cities a man can hardly get So "big' that fellow creature can't get an interview after successfully break ing through such defenses as about two clerks, office boys, etc. But here-if he's "big" enough, the average human being can't reach him at all, and if he's not quite as big as all that, one must pass through the equivalent of the third de- gree at least, before getting in sight of him, but once let that happen, and in nine case out of ten the "big'' man will prove himself to be every inch human being But what I can't understand Is how does he know whether one wants to dun him for money or offer him ticket to the theatre or something.
 Of course, in "dry' town. where cold weather doesn't create any ice skating furore. it may be very different, but if you should see an advertisement like this in the morning paper, and knew it was advertising a place in your city. would you Ego to it?"
 Golden Gladds-Midnight parade and extravaganza ice ballet. The most won derful room in the world. Dine in 2 warm ice palace and dance around the glades. Skating carnival parade and ball. let in full view. More than 1900 feet of ice. Elsie, Queen of the Ice" a new creation, with an ice chorus eId ballet of 50."
 Maybe you would turn it down. but honest, would you?
 Forgot to tell you that the foregoing is really an ad for a place here. It is Heay's at Sxty-sixth street, just off Broadway, and a lot, or several of the fellows down there can tell you about it, and how 1t looks between midnight and dawn, and there are a few who can also tell you the way to get from there to Jacks for the famous o'clock breakfast of ham and eggs.
 "Mile-a- Minute Kendall" is one of the theatrical hits running here at this time, though I say it I shouldn't because the free pass situation is still very tight here and I am under no obligations whatso- ever. And one might incidentally men ton "So Long Lefty" 'The Man Who Came Back" and Come Out of the Kitchen" in the same breath.
 There has been some agitation at AL bany about cutting out the Sunday movies in New York city. If they mean it really, it's all foolishness. because the crowds that attend couldn't get through the side doors like they can in the gin mills, and. of course, it would be impossible really to stop either the movies or the mills on Sunday.
 Woman created little comment the other day by smoking a cigarette at a