davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-28
GERARD STARTS FOR U. s. FROM
 PORT OF SP AIN 
Washington, Feb. 28-It has been officially established that the Aneri- can sailing schooner Lyman M. Law was not sunk by an Austro- -Hungar ian submarine. N

London, Feb. 28-At the Dutch le- gation it was said today that there was no confirmation of the report published earlier in the week that the Dutch steamships Bandoeing, Eem7 land and Zaandijk were still afioat On the contrary the latest inforlna- ton received by the Dutch officials led to the belief that the vessels had been lost. A search for the steam ships proved unavailing.
The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-28
AMERICAN CONSULS HELD
 ASHOSTAGES IN GERMANY

Washington Learns That Four United States Off, tlcials Have Been Detained Until Germany is Certain That Her Consuls Have Left This Country Claims That Atlanta Official Was < Detained When Ordered to Another Post By Berlin-Capital Receives Two Notes From Berlin on Subject
The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-28
THE WEATHER

Snow or rain tonight and Thursday: fresh northwest winds, probably strong on the south coast.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14

From the Louisville Courier-Journal
 lN MUCH is being made of a marriage
 ll\WlI in New York between young S S woman who retains her maiden name, and her individual rights as she expresses it, and war correspondent, Bohemian and radical 1T years her senior. The door plate on~-the newly es- tablished home is engraved with the nemes Benjamin Marsh and Eleanor Taylor It>is explained that the differ ence between this marriage and others is that each party to the contract IS to make a living and each will pay in dividual expenses and half of what are agreed to be expenses of the establish ment, to be borne jointly.
 Many married women, when circum- stances permit, pay their individual bills. Some of them contribute to general house. hold expenses Some who are wealthy go farther than that. Such exercise of 1ndi- vidual rights is looked upon complacent- ly by many husbands who are not Bohe- mians or radicals. There is, in fact, no general disposition among young men to resist the allurements of the heiress be- cause of fear that she might wish so to assert her individuality.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
TWILIGHT OF A BASEBALL GOD
Cincinnati Times-star.

Y TOlIl tle SllCiilHtll llIIco-Otdl
 Babe" Adams is to pitch for team in some remote and inconsequential league. There seems something of sacrilege in the announcement, a murky twilight for an athletic god. Babe Adams, who won a worlds championship almost sim gle handed so late as 1910! Babe" Adams who merely had to throw his glove onto the diamond for the official scorer to chalk up a defeat for the Gin cirnati Reds! Thus has mighty hurler fallen.
 Hans Wagner playing on the Podunk nine or Ty Cobb roaming pastures in the Idaho State league would not seem more out of place than Babe" Adams being knocked out of the box among the minors. The slipping of the old Pittsburg pitcher raises the question as i9 what we should do with our ex-star ballplay- CTS. For the sake of vengeance, Cincin- nati fans would have preferred that Babe" Adams should have been. per mitted to remain in the National league long enough for the Reds to have secured some of the hits which were painfully lacking through so many years of per- soral contact with the hero of 1910.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
THE LADY IN THE MOON

Samuel Minturn Peck, in New Tor Evening Sun. Say, can you see her Ladyship,
 This beauty in the sky? 'Tis very easy, brow and lip,
 If fancy aids the eye. She's older, though in charm arrayed, Than Homer's ancient rune. Aeons older than the Spartan jade
 The Lady in the Moon. The more I look, the more she's fair,
 Her head is poised with grace; like the way she does her hair
 She shows but half her face; And that-enough to make one weep'-- Is not nightly boon She knows the way beau to keep
 The Lady in the Moon. Ah wondrous wise the dame must be,
 What secrets she must hide! Scenes of sorrow, scenes of glee-
 Just pictureswhat she's spied! How can slit sport that look serene?
 A bloody field corpse-strewn Perhaps tonight her eyes have seen a The Lady in the Moon. But look again. Some smiles there are Der aching hearts and drear: Perchance the one she wears afar
 Is sadder than tear; And if she smiles let's not think, no,
 To pity she's immune, But 'tis to cheer the wounded woe
 The Lady In the Moon. like to think one woman's brow
 Old Time can never blight; That it will be as fair as now
 Ten millions years tonight; Until the sun shall cease to shine
 And into darkness swoon Her beauty will remain divine
 The Lady In the Moon.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
WOULDN'T SIT ON A BOX

New York correspondence Pittsburg Dis
 patch.
 The man in the box office of a Broad way theatre is responsible for this. He asserts that a Brooklyn youth and his best girl stepped up to the box office window the other night and asked for two tickets for the show, which is a musical comedy. Only box seats were available. Returning to the girl the youth said: They have nothing left but box seats" Let's go home then" she replied with a frown. T won't sit on . box"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
J. M. BARRIE AND HEAVEN

F. H.. in the New Republic.
 If you believe in heaven you find it easy to lend youself to J. M Barrie. The tenderness that suffuses him is the ten derness of a special romance to which Ango-Saxons as rule are early inured Few grown persons of my own acquarnt- ance take any great stock in heaven. but when they were little all of them believed in it, not because they were told to so much as because they were able. In con- valescence in later life there can be a similar experience. At such a time, par ticularly if one have an attractive nurse,
 the universe comes into tune. Lying in
 bed, flowers to the right of us, flowers to
 the left of us, all the creases seem grad
 ually to smooth out. Serene in emancipa-
 ton, one falls into sweet, mild radiant
 moods, with little rills of estasy, as of
 lake water crisping on sunny, silent ones own absolution, thinks well of ones former employers, regrets every un- answered letter, makes mellifiuous speeches to absent camerados and cam eradas, and generally carries on. The clash of life seems nonsense. The game becomes as amicable as solitaire. And,
 of one is able to stand the gaff, one thinks back to paradise. flowers to the right and to the left rather more than
 in the sickroom, and an infinitely more
 sactiied Responsibility, more divine
 suspension of hapless cause and gritty effect.
 | T The belief in this sort of heayenliness 1 is perhaps the richest daydream in the American and Anglo-Saxon would. It is the escape from life which people seek I ir fiction, which J. M Barrie spontane- ously supplies If his middle age has sapped a little of his inventiveness, he is
 no less a romanticist. He still believes ir l fairy godmothers and would like to wave
 his own wand over an errant world.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
LET BIRMINGHAM GROW

From the Montgomery Advertiser.
 We are learning to love Birmingham as we never loved her before. Her of- ficials have wisely discovered the folly of permitting blind tigers to operate there, and it is said the officers of that city are more active against them than those of any other city in the state. Pious Montgomery is said to be wide open" Birmingham may not get the armor plate plant or put itself on the Warrior, but if she can establish 9 good reputation as Law -and-Order Town we predict for her the greatest career of growth and prosperity of any city in these United States. A good reputation is better than riches, and lower freight rates follow in the wake of order and municipal greatness, we believe.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
A MARRIAGE TN IBOHEMIA

The only point of essential difference between the Bohemian marriage and many others contracted conventionally and without ado is that the bride con tinues to call herself Miss Taylor"
 Dictionaries agree that the word Miss is a title of courtesy prefixed to the name of 8 girl or woman who has not been married. A woman may choose between being a Miss and Mis- but nobody can be one and at the same time ths other That, however, is a matter of minor importance compared with the diff ficulties that beset the Marsh Taylor household in the event of the advent of a brood. It might be easy enough to call the children Marsh Taylors, but what lot of trouble they would have, all of their lives, explaining how mamas Individuality prevented their having papas name, and why mamma still calls herself Miss when "there aint no sich animile'' as married Miss
 Individual rights as a majority of par ents will agree, are in a measure oblit erated automatically in conventional households, in the interest of the rising generation. But are there children in really truly honest goodness Bohemia?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
First Blast Furnace

"The little booklet that the Birming- ham members of the Lake Superior Min ing Institute issued is very attractive and has some very valuable information in it,' said James L. Davidson The first blast furnace in Alabama was built at Russellville in 1S1S The first rolling mill was built in Birmingham in 1879, while the first steel was poured on March 8 at the plant of the Henderson Steel Manu- featuring company at North Birning- ham.
 The first steel that was made by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company was poured on Thanksgiving Day. November 30. 1S99 This plant con- sisted of 10 50-ton tilting furnaces of the Wellman type. These old furnaces were abandoned in 1908 and replaced by the present 11O-ton furnaces"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
THE PATCHWORK QUILT

From the Indianapolis News.
 It is d red and yellow calico quilt of
 old fashioned design, patched together at home by hand. It is, to be sure, not just the sort of quilt they are making nowadays. The up-to-date quilt Is sewed on affair of marvellous designs in delicate colors, and is usually quilted on a machine ruF by electricity. Somehow the red and yellow quilt seems more inn portant and worth while.
 As for this particular red and yellow quilt, there never was a prettier one It is not just red and yellow quilt It is a quilt of crimson and gold that shines as softly and warmly under the electric lights as 1t might have shone long ago under the light of a bedroom candle. There were, as 8 matter of fact, some doubts as to its welcome. Even the old fashioned mother who admired and loved 1t as she worked on it wondered how it would be received in new fashioned home and how 1t would look among the cretonne draperies The red and yellow quilt maQo lISelI at IOlue. u IS ilhc d charming cousni that brings tales of charming cousin that brings tales of 1 friendly old days, tales about fires in | farmhouses and dreamed over again under the same sort of quilt in frosty bedrooms under sloping caves.
 | It may be only beauty of the red and yellow quilt that makes it seem the cheer
 fullest thing in worried world, but it is likely enough that there was something ! in the making of it that shares in it's old I fashioned charm. There is in that charm,
 perhaps, something of the peace and pa tience that made it's stitches, something
 of the pleasure that matched it's seams,
 something of the happiness of the mem-
 ories that were busy through the long
 hours of patching and stitching. some
 thing of the sunshine that shone through
 the bay window of the cottage and
 touched the red ana yellow pieces as they
 lay in the old-rashion,d woman's laps
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

1 A pickanniny said to his black nanny:
 Gimme tater." Look here, John Ras-
 tus, what fur I dun sont yer ter school
 if you gwine say tater? Why don't yer say pertater?" Case it's mo tater I want, not potato" replied her offspring. 1 The Spanish for white potato, is patata, while Haytian for sweet potato is batata.
 The names of 8 number of flowers and
 vegetables came to us from other coun-
 tries.
 1 I'm going to talk little today about
 he "batata," our own familiar and well
 beloved sweet potato that's good boiled, baked, roasted, candied, in custard, pies, or lying beside a fat 'possum. Where's the southern boy who hasn't at some time, when hungry, eaten them raw?
 Someone has said corn and potatoes are the two greatest gifts which America has given to the rest of the world. The potato was cultivated in America, and its tubers used for food, long anterior to the discovery of America by Europeans. The potato first found it's way into Spain, into the Netherlands, and into Italy, but only to be cultivated in 8 few gardens as curiosity, and not for general use as food.
 The potato spoken of above was the sweet potato, the variety meant by Eng fish writers down to the middle of the seventeenth century. It appears to have been taken to Ireland from Virginia by England by Sir Francis Drake, 15S5, with out attracting much notice, till it was a third time imported from America by Sir Walter Raleigh.
 All this to lead us to an incident which happened to me quarter of century ago when making a trip from Stockholm, Sweden, to Christiania, Norway In the same compartment was a German-speak- ing Swede, a farmer. In conversation l spoke of coming from the southern states and mentioned the sweet potato My new acquaintance expressed great surprise that there was such a thing as sweet potato and wanted me to get the agri-' cultural department at Washington to com,,.unicate with the department in his country.
 The sweet potato has truly been God send in Alabama this year. The ease with which a crop is grown makes 1t possible for even the thriftless negro tenantry to have something to ear
 Shakespeare knew about potatoes just as he seemed to know about everything. You may recall that in Merry Wives Of Windsor he says:
 Let the sky rain potatoes. I will shelter me here."
 Take Mrs Mathis advice and plant more sweet potatoes.
 Don't forget that!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14

never done anything that any citizen who believes in law and order could object to.
 The time will come when every state will have its mounted police. In few sections of the south there is need for such an institution now. And in some of the thickly populated northern states an efficient body of policemen would not only keep down crime but would pay for itself many times over.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
Paved Highvay

There is probably not a road within the confines of the greater city that is traversed more than that from Birming- ham to Ensley,' said c. C. Burke. There has been a vast amount of work done on this highway and much money has been expended, but think it is proven without a doubt that the road construc- ton in the past will not stand up to the increasing and heavy travel. With the advent of the motor truck heavy loads such as were never dreamed of under the wagon and mule regime, are daily seen on the highway and despite the best of dirt road or macadam con- struction it is not sufficient to stand the heavy wear and tear hope the city and board of revenue will get together on this proposition and put paved highway through as soon as practicable"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
HOTEL LoBBIEs
Mischa Elman,s Popularity


 That Mischa Elman. who will appear here at the Jefferson theatre Thursday evening under the auspices of the Music study club" said Mrs. Houston Davis, president of that organization, will be greeted by capacity house, shows the great popularity of this famous artist. everywhere he plays it is the same way. He is one of the really big violinists of the day and his art is appreciated the world over. Two hundred and fifty seats will be placed on the stage to ac- commodate the crowd and even then there will be many who cant be accommodated This proves that when real talent is brought to Birmingham this community is as responsive as any other in the country"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
Likes the Sunshine

Its certainly great to get away from a place where snow covers the ground and come south where spring weather is in full swing" Red Smith, Baron catcher, said yesterday after his arrival from Logansport, Ind. "When I left Logansport, the weather was very cold and it was showing. l reached Birmingham and I find the sun shining almost as hot as in July.
 "The south Is the place for me here after. I like the north. but I can't see the cold weather However, after one gets used to the cold climate, it is not so cutting, but after spndin g eight months in the sunny south and then jump into the midst of the'winter in the north, you certainly feel 1t.
 "The cold weather keeps you in ex- cel1ent condition, however, and I am ready to play ball"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
Louise Closer Hale in Harper's Magazine
 

Louise Closer Hale in Harper's Magazina
 for March.
 1T TURNED into the shop of Madame
 . You see here comes blank S not that it will make any difference to the army or that my writings Will ever penetrate to this brave and battered village, but Madame - was the only one of her sex met in France who broke down and cried as I talked to her. Ana she was so ashamed of having cried and so fearful of it "getting out that will shroud her name in mystery so, when my fellow-trippers pass this shop, those of them who may have stumbled across this cratic guide will not say, Here is the woman who cried
 T should like to tell it to the world. so that all might go to her shop and get her on her feet again. Yet she would not care for it. Like the bell inert upon the floor in the Barcy church, hef shop , would not be serving the purpose or a shop, which is no place for charity even though It's mistress put her head down upon a crate of unsold stock and Wept- WeDt because SHo WAS Coio etiio oiiNSiAS- and alone, her man at the front. I should have given her great deal of money in recognition of her services to me- for she drew back for an instant the curtains of the petite bourgeosie be- hind which lurkzs anxiety and neces- sary economy unthought of among our wasteful people We travellers rarely see hind which turks anxiety and neces-
 shop window presents itself between the public gaze and that clean, darned white Nottingham. The boxes of clothing come over from America, but the little shop keepers do not apply. The ouvroirs offer work, but they will not admit the slack ness of their trade. The munitions give | to the poorer class more money than they believed existed, but the petite bourgeoisie remains behind the darned Nottingham. It was risking the busi- ness quite enough. she told me, to apply
 for the franc.
 l This remark of hers struck me, for had thought that any. soldiers wife was entitled to the IS cents a day without
 shame. I had vaguely supposed that the amount came by letter each week, and that all along the street the housewives would be proudly opening the envelopes
 and shaking the sum out of them. But lit is not asked for by the lower middle class until it is gravely needed, until the husband comes home, perhaps, on his short permission" and says: 1t is
 your right; I must help France-I cannot help you. It is your right" Then she goes to a great building and asks for the franc and the official. since he has
 become an automaton in the asking of questions. jerks out Do you need it?'' And my poor lady confessed to me that she was obliged to confess to him that she did need it-although there were !neighbors about. Then he asked what her husband earned before he had been called to his colors and it seemed-a flood of ltears here--they had never made az much out of the shop as was generally sup
 posed And now all the world pointed the
 hnsar.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
LUKE M'LUKE SAYS

The old-fashioned girl who went to a fortune teller to find out if her future husband would be a rich man, nov has a daughter who goes to Dun's or Brad streets for the same purpose.
 If mother and father do not want daughter to marry no-count mutt she is
 travelling with, they should start in and
 boost him and praise him every 10 sec ends. Then daughter would get sick of
 him. But if mother and father start in to
 knock the lad. it is cinch that daughter will marry him. Figuring it all around, there are prob ably as many bathrooms in houses where nobody takes a. bath as there are billiard rooms in houses where nobody plays bil- liards
 When a girl who knows that she has shapely legs is sitting with her knees crossed, she is always pretending to pull her skirt down so your attention will be attracted
 The reason why girl knows that she loves a man is because she has found out that some other girl is trying to land him.
 | As a rule a woman Is terribly disap- pointed if the unexpected doesn't hap pen.
 | Why is it that the average tailor doesn't seeh to care nans now Ills o"h eioehes fit? | After you have roamed around the
 world for while you discover that the
 dues are raised more frequently than they are reduced.
 l Only one person enjoys being flattered
 more than a woman-and that is man.
 Men juGge others by themselves. That l is why every married man believes that | all other married men are bossed by their wives.
 | Some women may regard huspand as
 meal ticket. But it is different with a 1 farmers wife. ! The loneliness of great city when you
 are a stranger and broke, is greater than
 the loneliness of Death valley.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
THE MODERN WAY.

In other days when fairies danced Upon the moonlit sward, And knights upon their chargers pranced Nobody found it hard To put his faith in portents fair
 And lightly trust to luck, But now cold reason strips us bare And 'fsms" run amuck. The dreamers, those who still survive, May sleep in squalid beds, And though against the fates they strive, Their poor deluded heads Are quite unable to oppose The trend of modern thought, Which would in labeled packets close The gleams from heaven caught. CAUGHT. Your honor, my client is a Chinaman who cannot speak English. We must have an interpreter
 "Your client asked you to take his Icase?''
 "Yes, sir"
 And presume he came to your office alone?"
 "Oh. yes''
 Do you speak Chinese?"
 T don't know single word of Chi- nese."
 Then, how did you know what this Chinaman wanted when he came to your office
 "Er-your honor, we'll try to get along without an interpreter"
 CAUSE FOR CONGRATULATIONS.
 There are all kinds of optimists in this world but did you ever see man who was optimistic when he had the 'grip'?"
 "Only one.''
 "And what led him to take cheerful view of life?
 "He was the husband of 8 suffragist orator and his illness prevented him from accompanying her on a speaking tour.