davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
ITS so.
A SCIENTIST GONE ASTRAY

ing of cigars on "the other side''--the en- barrassments felt by young soldier on donning the white robes of the conven- tional angel! It is all such poor, dull stuff, so silly and childish, that one suf- fers from a sort of shame in reading 1t, and only by remembering that in these absurdities a bereaved father has found consolation for the loss of q heroic son can one treat the strange illusion with the gravity 1t deserves.
 Spiritists of the moro intelligent kind will admit the obvious absurdity of these communications" but they will ascribe it to the imperfections of the means of transmission, and in the trivial nature of the messages find confirmation of their evidential value. That is an ingenious method, but 1t Is used for no other pur- pose and 1t never convinces others than the already convinced. That Sir Oliver should lay so much emphasis on the fact that a medium" first brought to his knowledge and attention group of pic lures containing his son shows how pitt fully ready he Is to accept theory with no support whatever simply because he prefers its implication to those of a dozen other possible explanations of the little mystery.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11

woman, the clue of the scented shirt and the guilty relationship to the victim of many prominent persons. that 1t will long have an outstanding prominence in crim- inal history. The police pursuit of the suspected murderer to the very door of the Atlantic City bathroom where he took his own life is of itself fascinating detective story.
 But the overmastering interest is in tRe personality of the actors, in the Illicit loves of the young woman of easy morals and the rich young profligate and their tragic outcome No doubt the absolute conditions of life revealed are not essentially new nor is the penalty ex- ceptional. The primrose path of dalh- ance still leads to the same end and the wages of sin are unchanged. But not often does fate deal with human beings in such manner as to make the news paper report of a murder so impressive a lesson of life that neither the romancer nor the moralist can add to it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
A sOUPCON OF A PAD

From the Philedlphia Public Ledger.
 If took off my coat, you could count my ribs-one, two, four" Thus spoke Miss Mary Garden to Chicago interviewer, as the Public Ledger recorded yesterday. The information is startling. Is that figure of beauty beginning to dwindlc, peak and pine? One must hope that the ladys self-depreciation is exagger- ated, as self-depreciation is apt to be. "Oh. what is the use." she went on, trying to grow beautiful as long as those flashlights are in the world?' The answer is easy. Our Mary does not have to try. The powder she confesses to using is but a gliding of refined gold, painting of the lily. T look like Janu- ary second,' she declares. Perhaps; that is the season of the New Year, and her years. however many, will never be old. The slirnness to which she confesses can hardly be aught but becoming. Once she tipped the scales at 155 pounds; now the sad number Is 119 with my clothes on." In some of her favorite roles it would be less than that.
 Is Miss Garden serious in her confess sion that in "Sapho'' or La Jongleur, she has hero and there a little pad, q soupcon of pad?' Into the mysteries of a prima donna's toilette who would dare to penetrate? None but Pope ever told Us precisely how beauty arrays itself
 This casket India's glowing gems un-
 locks,
 And all Arabia breathes from wonder
 box
 Here files of pins extend their shining
 rows,
 Puffs, powders. patches''-
 But why extend the quotation2 Even Pope does not suggest that Belinda used soupcon of 8 pad. Surely Miss Garden must be doing herself grave injustice! It would be safe bet that when she delights the Chicagoans with ''Thais" the keenest and most skeptical will be hard put to it to find in the familiar figure more than nature has bountifuIy be- slowed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
Alliance of Nations
 To Maintain Peace

N57TRITING in the New Republic,
 WV George Bernard Shaw ad- vances the interesting theory that a lasting world peace may be brought about through an alliance of France, Germany, Britain and North America. A union of this sort would be, he thinks. san irresistible magnetic nucleus for western civilization"
 MT. Shaw believes that England will want an alliance with the United States. an idea that obtains almost everywhere now. Germany will have to choose between the east and the west. An understanding between Japan and Germany has been rumored for some- time, but it is easy to see that the four nations mentioned by MT. Shaw will have to conserve western civih- zation. The east is waking up, but 1t is merely learning It's lesson rom tne west and must continue to do so for centuries.
 What part Russia will play is in doubt. Russia is still more barbaric than civilized. Whatever scheme is settled upon, MT. Wilson has shown by his public utterances that he thinks the time for this country to depart from it's policy of isolation is about due.
 If an alliance can be formed that will forever put the war god out of business, it will be good thing, but if it eventually draws us into titanic conflict such as the one now going on, it will be very bad thing.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
REVISE THE LAND LAWS

From Orange Judd Southern Farming.
 We again urge southern state .lesisla- tures' Wherever in session. to revise their land laws. Adopt the Torrens system. Any state whose laws do not snah,s |. farm owner to give a valid first yoor+. gage as security for his long time loan. may not be able to avail itself of the new federal farm. loan system until it's laws are amended suitably. Texas will prob- ably have to amend the homestead clause m It's state constitution before 1t can de. rive much benefit from the federal farm loan system. That clause had worthy opJect originally but for many years mas operated to make Texas farmers pay abnormally high rates for monav
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
LUKE M'LUIxE SAYS

The reason why the wolf never banrs
 around the rich mans door is becaus~ h .
 Knows that the rich mans butler foot
 man, nouseman, gardener and chauffeur
 would mop on him and kick the lining out of him. o''
 Ella Wheeler Wilcox announces that
 rn,u,n ,nlc,Hernooo mas been complete failure. Well, 1t was in the case of Ella. Every now and then a man whines be. cause the world does not give him his due, when, if it did, he would be wearing zeDra suit and making little ones out of big ones. - A red-headed girl is a red-headed girl who is homely. An auburn.haired girl is a red-headed girl who is pretty. Al ri tian-haired girl is red-headed girl whose father is wealthy
 Ours Is queer language When man imbibes everything that Is stronger than water we say that he drinks like fish. The reason why q girl doesn't scream Tor help when a nice young man kisses
 her is because she knows that he doest1' f need any help.
 This would be g better country if we would quit enacting new laws and en- force old ones for about 10 years Once upon time a woman got so mad at her husband that she refused to talk pack 10 him. All fairy tales begin with once-upon-a-time
 Be good to your mother. son. Your
 daddy may have had his doubts as to your personal appearance and ability, but your mother has always known that you
 are the handsomest and smartest person | in the whole world
 What has become of tho old fashioned
 man who used to wear diamond in his collar button?
 This is a fool country. Tho vets and
 the drys are always fighting. and yet the
 slogan of each Is Down with booze" Mother imagines that the family Is dis
 graced if father loafs aro1nd the house
 in an old pair of pants and an undershirt.
 But it is perfectly proper for mother to
 go around in greasy kimono that Is slit
 fore and aft and won't keep fastened across the chest.
 | There may not be helx of a lot of fun ! fin being farmer. But one thing in a
 farmers favor is that nc never suffers
 from insomnia after supper.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11

From the Kansas City Star.
 R1HERE is no telling what is going
 to happen to people-especiany
 0 women. Twenty years ago Oracle Finds was a schoolgirl in Decatur. Ala.' with her hair down her back in braid. Tn the matter of personality-at that time she was almost negligible. Summed up,
 Decatur remembers her as dark-eyed, dark-haired. with q complexion or oliVe cream and lanky. Like many girls or 15 there were more angles than curves to her figure; but an expert eye. had
 tbara been one, might have detected about her many points to indicate un- usual beauty to come. However. sne wasn't the village belle. by any means.
 Last week was an important one for Oracle. Her marriage to Lord Curzon' high member of the new British capi-
 net former viceroy to India and inter- nationally celebrated as one of the brain- lest of English peers, occurred In the private chapel of Lambeth palace, with the most Rev. Cosmo Gordon Lang. arch-
 bishop of York. performing the usual rites.
 Tho new Lady Curzon achieved the spectacular match with. comparatively, a minimum of the assets that are or
 dinarily required for a brilliant coup. She was a beauty of course, but sne had never been on the stage. Her family held no distinguished social position, as social positions are reckoned, and sht had no childhood days at Newport. She is the second wife for Lord Cur zon, and he is her second husband. Both lost their original partners by death. Her father. J. Monroe Hinds, began
 as a cattle herder. At 13 fe began to study law. When the civil war broke out he enlisted as a private in the Eighth Illinois infantry and was later transferred to the First Alabama (federaD cavalry. When Sherman marched from Atlanta to the sea Private Kinds was with him. After the war he and two brothers settled in Decatur, where he bought "a large colonial dwelling, which Is standing to- day, worn and battered by wind and rain Tn that house the present Lady Curzon was born.
 In 1872 Hinds was appointed United States consul to Brazil, and while there met and married Lucia Anita Trillia Of Buenor Aires, famous beauty whose blood was . mixture of Spanish and English. She had purity of feature that suggested painting by Murillo. and it is said that her daughter is a replica of her mother.
 Hinds and his South American wife returned to this country in 1872, adn he WIS appointed United States parshal for the northern district of Alabama. Fol- lowing Presidsnt McKinley's election he was named superintendent of malls in the Philippines, where he died.
 There was nothing in her upbrinsing returned to this country in s72. and he
 so we'll matrimonially. But. looking back. | her old acquaintances-those who re- member her-say they can see now that | she was marked for something more than l the commonplaces of existence. Some of them seem to fancy that she possessed
 an elusive charm that they cannot now
 dsscribe, but they all agres she was nos
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
ourrx NAV Play on Army

Rabbit Curry, the noted Vanderbilt quarterback, who was the selection of all critics on the mythical all-southern eleven and placed by some on the mythical all- American team, will fight under the col ors of Army next year. according to Frank Mccormack, close friend.
 "I had letter from Curry recently. and he stated he would enter West Point next year provided he passed the physical examination said Mr. Mccormack. Rabbits forefinger on his right hand is cut off about the first joint and this handicap may prevent him from enter- ing.
 Curry, in my opinion, is the greatest quarterback ever performing on a south ern gridiron. Although he weighs but 135 pounds, he was the most dangerous man on the vandy team last season. 1 would like to see Curry performing against some of the big eastern teams, for then the real calSee of southern foot ball could be known"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
HOTEL LOBBIES
Professor strode Here

Just moment in Birmingham today to hear pr. s. H. Clark read Justice, said Prof. p. H. Strode of the University of Alabama, 'Is the prime object of my visit here. I regard Dr. Clark as one of the most noted schol- mrs of the day. I had never had the pleasure of hearing any of his interpre- tlcipate my visit here two weeks hence, when I am to read before the Drama league. the date being January 2s, the afternoon of the evening when Madame Bernhardt will appear at the Jefferson theatre, and this will make my visit doubly pleasant, having the opportunity to see the greatest actress of the day"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
A PAGE FROM xoLA
From tho New York World.

From tho New York World.
 The annals of American crime are re- plete with murder cases Of sensational aspect. but does the record contain one paralleling the killing of the girl model in Philadelphia?
 Here was crime more logically to be looked for from Paris or Vienna. crime of passion resulting from conditionA o1 sex intimacy less characteristic of Ahia country. Here was Mana in eonven- tional American environment slain bru- tally under the spur of Jealousy or re- venge by one of throng of rich admir- CTS. Here indeed was q typical page from Zola based not on the novelist's fancy but written Into the police records of an American city
 The crime exhibits 70 many angles ol interest 1t Is 90 full of sensational fea lures as respects the motive, the meanl employed to -ki}F tho unfortunate younG
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
HERE'S TO CALIFORNIA

Kathleen Norris, the well known nov elist, has written about California for the January American Magazine. In her article she says:
 ''Yet it is possible today. on 40 acres of land, to have livelihood, and bank account, and home, in any one of . hundred fertile canyons. There are little families there raising few peaches, and a few calves, and few pigs. sowing q few acres to alfalfa (three or four crops a yearD, renting out the team to neigh boring farmers at B a day. sending a few pounds of butter to market every week, and perhaps drying few hum dred pounds of apricots every spring who spend during the year perhaps or1e- tenth of the money they make. There are splendid schools all throughout the state, and although a too kindly climate encourages the building of rather unsub- stantial wooden houses, and one laments the contrast to the beauty of tho New England villages, yet the gardens atone for everything. and the widespread con- tent and thrift moro than make up for the lost beauty"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
"Busfalo Bill" Was
 Piceuresque Figure

N OL. WILLIAM FREDERICK S CODY, who died yesterday in Colorado, was a picturesque figure in American life, a connecting link be- tween the pioneer days of the real wild west" and the present, with it's highly complex civilization.
 As soldier, scout and snowman Buffalo Bill" as Colonel Cody was better known, won distinction. He was an intrepid Indian fighter, scout whose skill and daring have made . permanent place for him in Ameri- can history and for number of years he had one of the largest amusement enterprises in existence. When the west began to lose much of it's glamor and the Indian became a peaceful subject of the government, Colonel Cody conceived the idea of his "Wild West" show, which would en- able thousands of Americans who were unfamiliar with such scenes to get a glimpse of life on the plains.
 The undertaking was great suc- cess. The "Wild West" show of Col onel Cody toured the United States and even went abroad. The striking figure of the old scout, with his flow
 lg white hair, pointed goatee and sombrero, became familiar to millions of people. He was ever the idol of the small boy, who saw in that gal lant horseman and unerring rifle shot the personification of all his heroic dreams.
 A few years ago Colonel Cody had financial reverses from which he never recovered. He lost his show and his last public appesrances were made
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
Dulluth Now Has
 A SerwanGs' Union

lMULUTH, of "unsalted seas'' 1~ fame, leaps once more into the glare of publicity with the first Do- nestle Servants union reported or ganized east of the Missouri river. It has membership of one hundred.
 Demands will be presented to housewives January 15, it is an- nounced. Families of two will be or dered to pay their servants from $20 to $25 a month; families of three or more, from $25 to $3O month. The working day must consist of nine hours, with time and half for over- time. One full day must be given each week "for recreation" The rla- ture of the recreation is not men, tioned, and no doubt may be any form of diversion, ranging from jag to joy ride in the family motor car, or both.
 Substantial food must be provided, so that the servants may keep their health and incidentally be in a posi- tion to offer the hospitality of the kitchen to friendly bluecoat. Sleep ng chambers must be sanitary, well lighted and ventilated properly.
 The servants have stated what they expect from their employers, but make no promises of what the en- ployers may expect from them. If the employers continue, as in the past, to expect little, they will probably not be disappointed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
AFRICA

From the World Outlook for January.
 Nearly one-fourth, of the earth's land surface is comprised within the continent of Africa.
 It is as far around the coast of Africa as it is around the world
 Every eighth person of the worlds population lives in the dark continent. The blacks double their numbers every 40 years and the whites every 80 years.
 There are s43 languages and dialects in use among the blacks of Africa Only a few of the languages have been reduced to writing.
 Thirty-five years ago the export of CO., coa from the gold coast amounted to s2O. Today it is over sS,OOO,o0
 The coal fields of Africa aggregate 800, 900 square miles; its copper fields equal those of North America and Europe con- bined, and it has undeveloped iron ore amounting to five times that of North America.
 Africa has 10000 miles of river and lake navigation, and water powers aggregating 90 times those of Niagara Falls.
 If Africa had the same proportion of railroad mileage as the United States ac- cording to its size, 1t would have million miles of track instead of the 25,ooO miles now in operation.
 One area in Africa unoccupied by mis- sionaries is three times the size of New England, a second would make four states 1ika New york a third would cover eight Iowas, and fourth IS times tho size oi Ohio Throughout Africa there is one missionary for every 133,000 souls.
 Almost the entire continent is now under European flags. France has g colony in Africa 20 times the size of France itself. The British flag flies over territory as large as the United States, and extends, almost without Interruption, from the Cape to Cairo. distance of 5000 miles.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11

WiJn CiTCub. F1e was porn m SCOtI county, Iowa, February 26, 1S46. Hav- ing made contract with the Kansas Pacific railway to furnish it's labor CTS with all the buffalo meat they would require, he killed 4280 buffaloes in eighteen months, and that's how he earned his name. Colonel Cody took part in more Indian fights than any other man who ever lived. In a des- perate hand-to-hand fight he killed the Cheyenne chief, Yellow Hand. Colonel Cody was unspoiled by fame. Everywhere he went in his travels as snowman he made friends until they became innumerable. He was great American who died as he had lived and amply deserved the honors which came to him.
 Add another item to the high cost of living. Chicago women who used to scurry into the big downtown hotels and renew their compilations at the expense of the management, now have to pay & dime for tho privilege.
 * k *
 The absence of saloons in Washington will not bother the schoolmarms who come from all parts of the country to have look at the Washington monument and take in the other sights of the city. both animate and inanimate.
 * *
 The state department wants to know exactly what Ambassador Gerard did say when he got back to Berlin. which may or may not mean that the state department thinks he said too much.
 
 A Kansas City man who objected to the brevity of his wife's skirt has been granted divorce and the custody of his children. Always though the short skirt was great little home wrecker.
 *
 Umatilla, Ore, is now being governed exclusively by women. As a result it probably isn't the sort of town in which checker champion would care to spend his declining days.
 
 they arc going. any more than the serv- fans did, but they are certainly stepping out ahead of General Won Mackensen Sensible suffragists ought to take their misguided sisters in hand. Attempts to harass the President are doing their cause far more harm than good. The report that the Deutschland was again expected at New London was prob ably originated by some citizen who likes to sec strangers in town.
  It is rumored that the allies will with. draw from Salonikf soon. Can any mem- Der of the class tell what the allies have accomplished at Saloniki?
  The man who was said to have been the father of the world series baseball games is dead in Florida. Another mi. lanthropist gone.
 If "A. Curtis is the sort of person who likes to get his picture in the newspapers, he is missing 8 splendid op. portunity.
 The camel has been found a serviceable animal in war, but in this country he Is merely symbol of prohibition. The devil snickers audibly every time a band of vice crusaders announce that they have cleaned up' a city.
 <
 Thaw's latest escapade offers good excuse for certain alienists to say. ..I told you so."
 In the meantime business with the U-boats continues about as usual.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-11
Diversisicaeiom and
 Marketing of Crops

M LABAMA's crop diversification 4 \ movement, which got a start two years ago, should never be al- lowed to flag. And since the banks have shown the true cooperative spirit in assisting the farmer to ad- vance along progressive lines there is reason to hope for better results from now on.
 Alabama has exceptional agricul- tural resources. Few states in the union have such wonderful soil condi- tions. A greates variety of crops can be produced in this section than in any other, but in order for the farmer to avail himself of the manifold nat ural advantages that present them selves, the marketing situation must De improved. This in turn calls for practical cooperation on the part of the country merchant, local capital found in the small town and the rail- roads. The railroads have done an important work in devising means for promoting agricultural interests and ' seh-interest will impel them to do moro in the future.
 
 But where the south is still back ward Is in the matter of creating near by markets for the farmer who pro- duces surplus crops other than cotton. More packing houses are needed. Grain elevators are needed, and some provision is needed for the farmer to market his peanuts, his velvet beans and his soy beans, These products nre of great value when converted into feedstuff for live stock; but there q poor encouragement for the farmer Nvlio has put in seasons toll in mak- ing these diversified crops if he can not find purchaser in his neighbor- hood merchant.
 As spring approaches the agricul- 1nzol outlook is bright and the farm
 o ore gstting ready for planting