davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17

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 It is only few years since a traveller sought shelter in a monastery on Mount Sinai and recovered from the fuel pile just as monk was about to ply the fire with 1t, one of the most precious Biblical manuscripts in existence.
 What became of all the Egyptian books carried away in the Persian invasion? What became of the library of Aristotle which was concealed underground to avoid being stolen by the King of Perga- mum, which according to Strabo. was sold to Appelicon. who carried it to Ath- ems and finally sent it to Rome? What became of the vast number of books taken by the Romans from the libraries Of Carthage and bestowed by them on the Knights of Africa? Those were books of papyri and parchment, which would last Tn the fourth century there were 2S pub- nc libraries in Rome Where are all these books? Destroyed? Perhaps not
 Layard, in excavating Nineveh, uncov- cred a great Assyrian library of clay tablets, ranging in size from one inch square to 12 inches square, all covered with cuneiform writing. Ten thousand distinct works were taken to the British museum and read; but 10000 yet remain. Away in the interior of Asia Minor have been found the remains of a library of tablets of baked clay lying SO thickly dpon the ground and protrudng from it. that it is almost covered Those clay books were written by white men 4O0O or 5000 years ago. No one has yet collected or read them. What strange stories of the ancient world and ancient man may they unfold?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
Average Freight
 Rates Last Year

A CCORDING to the Railway Age N Gazette the average freight rate ton per mile on the railroads of the United States was lower in 1916 than ever before and the aver age wage paid employees for that year was greater than ever before. The preliminary summary of returns for the lines earning over $1 ,000, 900 g year shows that the average re- ceipts per ton mile for 1916 were TOT mills as compared with 7.22 mills for 1915, and that the average compensation per employe, excluding officials, was $S40.62 as against $s13.17 in 1915.
 These figures, which are compiled for the annual reports made by the roads to the interstate commerce com mission, represent companies having S9 per cent of the entire railway mile age of the country and 97 per cent of the operating revenues.
 In 1915 the average for all roads per ton mile was 7.32 mills, which was lower than that of any other re- cent year, except 1913, when the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
Music Bien1mial's
 0utline ProgYarnrme

MM UGH has been written about the XVII tenth biennial music conven- tion which will be held in Birming- ham next month-15 to 21, inclusive but an outline of the official pro- gramme is published in The Age Herald of today for the first time. It is full of variety and rich in color. There will be great galaxy of ar lists and many recitors and in- strumental. A celebrated symphony orchestra will be the feature of two of the concerts, and, on the whole, the biennial will be the most interesting musical affair ever held in the south.
 Club delegates to the convention will come from every section of the country and it is believed that every one of the clubs belonging to the fed eration-between 500 and 600-will be represented. The combined mem bership of the clubs is estimated at more than 100000 musical and mu- sically inclined people.
 The entire week will be given up to a gala musical celebration. The art ists coming from far and wide will make Birmingham Mecca for music lovers and thus further establish the fact that the biennial conventions of the national federation constitute the most notable festivals ever inaugu- rated by any musical organization in the world.
 The crowd of visitors coming will tax the capacity of the hotels and more than tax the theatres and the churches wherein entertainments will be held. But the delegates and their friends will be enthusiastically re- ceived and be made as comfortable as possible.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
FAMOUS MERCHANTS START

B. c. Forbes'i in Leslie's.
 II which he told me for the first time = for publication, MT. Frank w. Wool worth described as follows his discourag- ing start in the mercantile business:
 After struggling to get a heavy load of potatoes through snowbanks, we ar I left my little bag of clothes at my boarding place-there were no such things as dress suit cases in those days-and re- ported for duty. MT. Augsbury was the first one encountered
 'Bub, don't they wear any collars in your neighborhood?' was how he greeted me. I replied, .No' No neckties either?' I again replied 'No.' Is this old flannel shirt the best you have to wear? he next asked. Yes, sir replied. Well, you'd better go out and get white shirt and collar and 8 tie before you begin work
 T went and got properly rigged up, and shortly after I got back to the store MT, Augsbury went to lunch. Nobody told me what to do. I hung around, feeling foolish Most of the clerks went to dinner-lunch, as we call 1t nowadays- and in came an old farmer and said to me, Young man, I want a spool of thread I didn't know where they kept the thread. so I went over to MT. Moore. who was busy at his desk, and asked him. Right in front of your nose, young man. he snapped, without looking up from his writing. I pulled out a dravAer direct ly in front of me and sure enough found it full of spools of thread: I want No. 40, said the farmer. I never knew till that moment that thread had a. number fumbled an around the drawer looking for No. 40, but could not find it. I ap- pealed to MT. Moore to know if we kept number 40. Certainly; right in the draw CT in front of you. he said quite sharply. had to tell him, can't find any
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17

| Just as I expected he snapped as he got down from his desk and showed me the right kind of thread. He immediately returned to his desk.
 '"How much is it. young man.? asked the farmer. I had to turn once more to Mr. Moore. It was cents. The farmer pulled out 1o-cent shinplaster. MT. Moore, where do I get change? I had to ask. Come right up to the desk and make out ticket. he ordered me. I picked up one of the blanks and studied it all over to see what could do with it. But I was stumped. MT. Moore, I don't believe I know how to make this out had to confess. Hand 1t to me; will show you he replied. Next had to ask,
 Where do I get my change? There's the cashier right there. can't you see him?' he said impatiently.
 NO sooner had the farmer gone out than another came in for pair of nit tens. This time I knew how to make out a check and where to get change.
 But as time passed never once did I receive one word of sympathy or encour- agement from a single soul The other clerks made my life miserable by con stantly poking fun at my ignorance and by always keeping me in the back of the store. Only one treated me with any consideration. young fellow named Barrett, woh later became a wealthy merchant. We remained great friends right up to his death, little while ago.
 At the end of two and a half years I was getting only $s a week, and when I heard of vacancy in another store I went to apply But when saw how hig- gledy- -piggledy everything was, I decided to name high salary, thinking to be turned down. I asked $10 week, and was astonished when the proprietor MT. Bushnell, said. All right, when will you commence? took the job, and on this big salary felt Justified in getting mar ried"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
cAmIEzl1M11@aultH
RRIrAIN,S HANOYERIAN KING

. Julius Chambers, in the Brooklyn Eagle.
 Why do modern Britons feel such deep hatred for the Germans?" I asked an English friend recently, hardly hoping for an explanation of social condition that to me always has been incomprehensible flor it existed long before the war.
 Because they have endured for more than 100 years the hateful domination of a petty Hanoveran . family as their rulersr'
 Such frankness in dyed-in-the-wool Englishman was surprise to me. I was speeches. with astonishment, but he talked right on:
 German was the court language at Windsor, Buckingham and Balmoral when dear old Victoria was alive. Our beloved Edward VII spoke with de- cided Teutonic accent, as everybody will remember who ever heard him utter speech. We're in Dutch' The four Georges most useless and worthless ot kings. all insisted oh their subjects ad- dressing them in German. Why, George I. when one of his ministers was unable to understand him because he couldn't speak the Hanoverian language, snapped out;
 "You're unfit to be in the cabinet; I'll
 make every blasted Briton learn German before I'm through with them "Thackeray didn't tell half the mean thinks he knew about the four Georges Seriously, monarchist as I am, believe discontent over the importation of a royal family from wretched little Ger man kingdom Is general among the Brit sish peoplei''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
southern Cluh Acfiyitles

The special attractions offered dur1ng a limited period to prominent citizens selected as best qualified to become identified with the activities of the Southern club, have proven quite effec- tive" stated W. B. Cobbs, secretary and treasurer of the club yesterday.
 Tn accordance with the schedule pre- viously announced the time limit for the reduced initiation fee expired on March IS, and the $100 rate is of course auto- matically resumed. The number of appli- cations tendered was in excess of the 100 new memberships provided for by the board of governors
 "A number of the newly elected mem bers have already qualified and are now joining the old timers at the festal board of the splendid cafe, and are also being cordially welcomed among the circle which gathers each afternoon and evening in the lobby, reading rooms and billiard parlor Billiard and pool tourna- ments. by the way, are planned to take place in the near future, and greater zest and attraction Is being lent to club life"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
LIBRARIES OF THE PAST

From the Kansas City Star.
 MOMEONE who seems to know what nN he is writing about says that 1000 years hence not a single book, not a newspaper, not a magazine being is- sued today from the printing presses of the world will be in existence Every one of them, and every trace of them will have crumbled to dust. The reason Is that most books today are made of wood pulp paper, the fiber of the spruce tree. With the lapse of years this paper turns yellow and become brittle.
 How, then, have the books of other ages been so well preserved? Because of the material used The earliest paper was papyrus, made from the pith of a plant growing along the Nile in Egypt. There writing was discovered and first painted in colors on the rocks then sculptured into the rocks; then paper was discovered, about 6000 years ago, and writing was one upon it. The oldest pa per book in the world is 8 papyrus roll found in tomb in Egypt. It was writ ten 4500 years ago and consists of the sayings of wise king. There are other papyrus rolls, 4O00 years old. found in those tombs and now carefully preserved in museums Some of them are story books for children. One tells story like that of Sinbad the Sailor. Others are poems in praise of the King. but mostly those oldest of paper books are rec ords kept by the priests. Those papers were preserved for us because the cli- mate of Egypt is dry and they were sealed up in tombs beneath the drifting sands; and papyrus is tough and strong to resist decay
 Soon after the beginning of our era books made of parchment, of the skins of sheep and calves, began to be used, and many of those old books have come down to us. In the Tenth century paper made of linen rags began to come into use, and books of it will last for thousands of years if kept dry. This was suc- ceeded by paper made of cotton rags; and books of this material several cen- turies old are in our libraries and mu- seums
 What if the lost libraries of ancient times had been saved to us? The old feudal barons of Egypt, who lived 4CO0 years ago, had their great libraries, but only few fragments have reached us. Only q few fragments have been pre- served of the thousands of ancient San skrit hymns written without ink on palm leaves with an iron pen. A fire in Alex andria in the time of Julius Caesar de- stroyed the greatest library of the ancient world. It containeds5O0 0.0OO books. What missing links between the new and the old were there destroyed no one will ever know
 1 It may be that yet there will be found in old nnonasteries in Africa and Arabic some old papyri or parchments or cunei- form tablets that will unlock the past, Rare old manuscripts are being found.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
THE UNADvENruRous

O. Henry. in the Green Door,"
 At every corner handkerchiefs drop, fingers beckon. eyes besiege, and the last. the lonely. the rapturous, the mys- terious, the perilous. changing clews of adventure are slipped into our fingers. But few of us are willing to hold and fol- low them. We are grown stiff with the rainrod of convention down our backs. We pass on and some day we come, at the end of very dull life, to reflect that our romance has been a potted thing of a marriage or two, a satin rosette, kept In safe deposit drawer, and lifelong feud with a steam radiator.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
Lawyer Who Defended
 CaptaiFa DreyGus Is Dead


 THE celebrated Dreyfus case is re- U called by the death in Paris of Fernand Labori, who was attorney for the accused army officer. Labord, who was born in Rheims in 1860, won international fame through his con- nection with the Dreyfus affair and his defense of Emile Zola, accused of libeling the President of France and the French republic because of his outspoken sympathies for Dreyfus.
 Another case which brought M. Labori additional prominence was the malodorous Caillaux scandal. Mme. Caillaux was acquitted on murder charge. The last chapter in the stormy careers of Caillaux and his wife seems to have been written when the former cabinet member, an exile from his country, was arrested not long since on the charge of giving informa- ton to Germany.
 Time heals many wounds. Captain Dreyfus lived to see himself complete ly vindicated. His son has been fight ing gallantly in the French army and has been honored for conspicuous bravery at the front.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
THE wEAvERs

by 1elne. From darkened eyes no tears are falling; Crashing our teeth. we sit here calling; Germany, listen, ere we disperse, We weave your shroud with e triple
 curse
 We weave. ws are wssvinsi "A curse to the false god that ws prayed And worshiped in spite Of all, and obeyed, We waited and hoped and suffered in
 vain: He laughed at us, sneering, for all Of
 our pain
 We weave, we are weaving! "A curse to the King. and curse to his
 coffin, The rich mans king. whom our plight
 could not soften: Who took our last penny by taxes and
 cheats. And let us be shot like the doss in the
 We weave we are weaving. \ curse to the Fatherland, whose
 face is Covered with lies and foul disgrace; Where the bud is crushed as 1t leaves
 the seed, And the worm grows fat on corruption
 and greed--
 We weave. ws are weavinsi.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
MOTION PICTURES ON GLASS

VII tuo I oPuldT Scleuco MOHIuly.
 When cheap, durable, non-inflamma- ble substitute for the ordinary motion- picture cellnloid film is found, we may expect to see motion-plcture machines enter our homes and take place beside the phonograph. So long as the cost of finn is excessive, as it is at present, and so long as the film is infla as 1t always has been and may continue to be, 1t will be difficult to popularize home motion pictures.
 To overcome these difficulties. c. Bet til of New York has invented several cameras and projectors in which ordinary cheap glass plates take the place of the usual expensive film. For instance, he has evolved a motion picture camera that utilizes glass plates in place of the usual film; motion picture protector for the home which uses the same glass plates; second protector which utilizes circular non-inflammable disks; ma chine which prints pictures on disks from standard film subjects, and | mechanical printer which makes square ea>t tN positives from standard nlm.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
Vigorous Views
 Of Judge Abermeehy

FUDGE HOUSTON B. ABER- cy NETHY, better known both to the errant and the upright, as Judge Ab.," exploded bomb in the Ala hama Sociological congress the other day whose reverberations are still being heard and may even disturb the nacifical dreams of the editor of the New York Evening Post.
 Judge Abernethy has not yet seen fit to revise his opinion of the colored brother since he rose and said to the rasping sociologists: From the top If his bone head to the bottom of his f1at foot, there isn't chance to edu- cate a negro. God Almighty made them to hew wood and draw water md I'm opposed to educating them. Booker Washington has done more harm4in Alabama than tuberculosis" ]"
 Further along in his sizzling re- marks the judge said: And once the negro hears the tune of an automatic Diano he loses all taste for the mock Snx bird, and he'd rather smell sewer TT than new-mown hay"
 < Tor sixteen years Judge Ab." has had countless opportunities to study fhe negro. He presides over court Ih6re one dusky countenance rapidly S;scceds another, most of them wear
 x ! woe-begone expression which
 Scuently melts his heart. He wishes
 distfnctly understood that he is 2
 ostiesl man. and not an idealistic Souners Yet the impression still pre- nlls that the judge spoke in his haste, ysn as Solomon did, but to differ S 69t purpose.
 Regardless of that memorable
 ooch, those who know him best will
 6lieve that the judge is an enc t6 the negroes. His position is un-
 S6hI6. but hundreds of negro offend
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
HOTEL LoBBHEs
smyer Poor Fisherman

Well, l got a lot of sunburn and lot of rest, but I can't say that l got many fish," said Postmaster R. B. smyer who has just returned from Camp Walton. where he went in company with Maj. Charles Allison. Major Allison will return later.
 There weren't very many people at Camp walton," said MT. Smyer, and I had nice. quiet time. Maybe I would have caught more fish, but it seems that we didn't have the right kind of appar- atus. However, I'm not one of those fish ermen that you hear about that always says he caught hundred-pound fish. when maybe he didn't catch anything but a cold. I'm frank to admit that I didn't have much luck"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
LUKE M,LUKE SAYS

You can't always tell by appearances. Once in awhile you will meet a bachelor who looks as humble and discouraged as married man.
 When a man proposes to a girl she acts as surprised as if she hadn't done it herself.
 What has become of the cld-fashioned young lady who used to ride a bicycle?
 Every time penniless widow is left to hustle for large family, the life insur- ance business receives a good advertise ment.
 A man doesn't mind having to jump out of the way of a big, dignfied looking limousine But it makes him mad to have to dodge Henry or Motorcycle.
 After woman begins to get the mid dlc aged spread she begins fibbing about her husbands age as well as her own.
 After a man dies we hate to hear it said of him that he Is better off, We hear it said of other men. and we don't want 1t said of us when we croak. No man is better off dead
 One thing we like about big, home grown, corn fed girl is that you can put an apron on her and turn her lose in the kitchen and give her some soup greens and hunk of beef and she will soon have an appetitzing dinner ready.
 Boy babies under the age of two are the only males that understand women.
 This would be better world if every man tried to live up to the good opinion he has of himself.
 We would never do for 1uryman in breach of promise case We are in- clined to believe that wound in the heart that can be cured by money is not very serious.
 She can sit on his knees all night six months before he marries her. But six months after he marries her he is mighty careful of the creases in his trousers.
 A few of us get rich quick because all of us want to do likewise. The aged and infirm are not entitled to all of the sympathy. They are never bounded by life insurance agents, are theyf
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-17
average was 7,2s mills. In 1906 the

average was 7,29 mills. In 19O6 the average was 7.4S mills.
 Railway statisticians account for the decrease by greater proportion of low-rated commodities, because there was an increase in the tonnage of output of mines from 507, 100000 in 1915 to 646, 100000 in 1916, while the increase in other classes of ton mage was far less in proportion. The Railway Age-Gazette points out the fact that the average wage per en- ploye has been steadily increasing for several years,
 Some of the letters received by Bob" LaFollette from his angry constituents would have broken the spirit of a less pugnacious man. However "Bull-Headed Bob" still retains his health, and may even be pleased with himself
 *
 An automobilist was stopped in Tennes- see and because he had half pint of liquor in his possession was slapped into jail The time is coming when 1t won't even be safe to carry liquor on ones breath
 k
 Judging from Mrs. Pankhurst's recent remarks, the English suffra gettes would no more than heave & brick at the pre- mier in these trying times than they would sell military secrets to Germany The Rev. Bouck White was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined s1oO for desc crating the American flag. Deportation, if it could be applied, would just about suit the case of the Rev. Bouck White. Those Georgia and Mississippi troops who objected to leaving the border in chair cars and will wait for Pullmans are evidently in no great hurry to get home.
 An eastern contemporary says Secre- tary Daniels used to be & good judge of a mule. His opinion of "Gumshoe Bil' ought to be worth while
 k The spring tourist season has opened in Washington. It will be possible awhile longer for the thirsty tourist to quench his thirst in the capital
  A Chicago Greek who called himself Pat Callahan" was arrested in a Chinese costume. You can't fool those lynx-eyed police. Those 'sacrifices'' Count von Bernstorff says the Germans made in America are believed to have included few muni- ion plants.
  other these days Happy the Fijian who wouldn't know a crisis if he met 1t! Although the Czar has lost his job, he still has considerable income which will keep the wolf away from his door.
 
 The downfall of Czar Nicholas will make most of Europes monarchs wonder If their crowns are on straight When you come to think of 1t, President Wilson has more troubles than George ever dreamed of. The appearance of bill collector in the office has been knwn to cure an acute attack of spring fever.
 There is still lively demand for tat tooed men and fat girls but not in musical comedy circles.
 Germany had things her own way in Russia for long time, but as usual. she overplayed her hand.