davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
RIP VAN TWINKLE GUARD
1 the Stars and Stripes

From the Stars and Stripes
 Veteran heroes of the guard roster who know the satisfaction 6f challenging off will appreciate the feelings of Private William Johnson and Herbert Spoerke, who walked their post for just two months, waiting for relief that never came and were finally salvaged by a de- tachment of pioneers.
 Both men were casuals who had been shot into the Twenty-third infantry and suffered it's troubles and triumphs from St. Mihlel to the Argonne, where they were finally put on guard over excess baggage left behind when the doughboys started on their victorious drive through the woods. The pair were posted In a building near the town of Exermont and ordered to wait for the return of their outfit.
 But the outfit never returned-it kept to their post while days turned into weeks and weeks to months. They saw troops going in and coming out along the road across the hill, but they saw no relief. And then, when the arm1stice was signed, they saw no one at all.
 For awhile they took turns holding up passing trucks for a spare ration, but 1t was a long way to the high road, and soon that ceased to be a source of supply. With one man on guard the other foraged, brought back his trophies and divided them with his pal.
 Finally, on December IA, a detachment of the SO5th pioneers, detailed as scaven- gers, found, among the discharged packs, bedding rolls and equipment, two lonely and hairy doughboys quite ready to be salvaged and turned over to the cook and barber for external and internal re- pairs
 They are now recuperating and rubbing smooth chinS
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
Progress Being Made
 In Relief Campaign.

THE joint drive for the relief of
 0 the starving people of the near east and in aid of local charities, in- .cluding the anti-tuberculosis sanato- rum, Is making good progress, ard the goal should be reached within the next few days. The large corporations are yet to be heard from. It goes without saying that they will make generous contributions.
 It has been remarked that indi- viduals who should feel a particular interest in our appealing institutions are not bestirring themselves as they might be expected to do.
 Jefferson county's quota is seventy five thousand dollars, and of this amount thirty-five thousand is allotted to the Christians of Bible lands Armenians and Syrians-and forty thousand to home charities. While the rich are counted upon to give liberal ly, people of moderate means should do their part. Many of the latter class have responded gladly, even when their contributions meant self-denial. Let's have donations from all of them.
 If everybody will give something, no matter how small the gift, the cam paign will easily go over the top. And as Jefferson county has a record of splendid achievement in raising money for all worthy causes, there must be no waning now. No call for relief was ever more urgent than that coming from the Syrians and Arme- nians.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
A soldier who lost his voice by shell

A soldier who lost his voice by shell shock recovered 1t in a poker game. One look at his hand was enough.
 < Si # The bolsheviki want all males in Russia to fight under the rcd flag. but wanting Is not always having.
 < x * Speaking of quick transformations, the erstwhile sunny south is again staging a one-lung blizzard.
 # # + From the German point of view the situation might be worse. There's plenty to drink in Berlin.
 < 4 # Belgium is not the only country that wishes the peace conference would show a little more speed.
 < J # After applying himself to the kitch- en still. father at least won't have to find his way home.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
Copyright, 1919, by the Bell Syndicate Co.,,


that the numerous bandits have now lit
 tlI real influence and President Carranza
 shows steadily increasing control.
 h Or the matter of oil and other foreign | concessions, which, 1t Is hinted, are at the bottom of the stories of anarchy in
 Mexico circulated abroad, Ambassador Fletcher reports that while it is true the Carranzn government asserts nation al sovereignty over subsurface rights. American rights will be amply safeguard | ed. He instances Carranza's readiness
 to listen to the oil representatives and i hi; reference of the whole matter to the
 Mexican Congress. whichSAdjourned be- fore action was reached, but adds that
 a special session will be called in April. at which the foreign investors will be heard. He believes an arrangement can be reached by which the recognized rights of foreign investors will be main- ts il ed in harmony with the Mexican de- term ination to uphold national sover- eighty. @
 | Tkis is so flatly contradictory of the
 rrn.ors that Carranza was about to en- gage on career of confiscation which l had alarmed all foreign investors that
 It will be reassuring to those who have
 hoped that Mexico, under Carranza's guidance, was emerging from its long record of revolution and civil war. Com I ing from the American ambassador. in position to know the facts, and presum
 ably capable of weighing the evidence, II. will discount trouble-making between 1 the republics and secure a suspension of judgment on inflammatory reports 1 from the southern border.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
BoLsHEv1K INN

Elias Lieberman in tho New York Times.
 Narrow and damp is Bolshev:k inn. The host is spectrally pale and thin; AS he beckons his guests, 8 proving
 rout,
 Who clamor and shout in the cold>
 without To come within: Come in! Come in! Your hearts {,
 desire To sit in the seats of the great and
 strong N Must not wait long! Just pile in here from the murk and
 miro. Your souls aspire for Olympian fire Do you not see it. leaping higher A Than ever it flared in your lifetime
 span? The redemption of man , From unweaned babe to tottering siI( Is blazing within it; your poverty. dire. Your pitiful dearth, } Is here transmitted to riches of earthl Come in! Come in!' >And in they herd, a riotous ruck, From the mire and muck. When their bodies sag and their foot
 steps lag. The host flaunts high a blaoiIredy
 
 'Humanity's flag" He croaks, will win! Come in Come in! To Bolshevik inn, like the hosts of sin. Withered and worn, with hungry eyes, With fists uplifted to curse the skies. They come, the rabble, with murmur
 and babble,
 "We want to dine On meats and wine. I
 On wine. red wine
 And wheaten bread"
 But the host, instead.
 Doles molten lead! Come taste" he mocks. what dis
 till;
 Come drink your fill" His voice pipes shrill above the din And his lips twist wide to a ghastly grin. Narrow and damp Is Bolshevik inn, Across it the storms of the world sweep by And they whom the winds whirl wan within. With gasping breath
 And startled eye.
 Behold but Death
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
Can Order Nitrate Now

The government has extended the time limit to February 15 in which ni- trate of soda can be ordered at cost through county agents" said H. l.. Brown, Jefferson countys agent.
 This time extension is due to the fact that many farmers were unable to reach their agents in time to get cheap fertili- ger. Every tiller of the soil should get busy, as nitrate of soda is going to be high this year, and getting it at cost from Uncle Sam will help a whole lot Any farmer in the state can take advan- tage of this offer by filing applications with the agent for his county"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

Not long ago I had tc spend a lone- some day in a small village in which there was no hotel, and therefore was compelled to loaf with some of the merchants and a banker friend.
 A railroad station on a road which operates only one train a day is the bete noir of the traveller who gets stranded in 1t, for before sunset he will be a much ennuied man. unless he has a good book or a bunch. of papers or magazine or two.
 Now, I profess to have the art of extracting joy out of any situation In which I find myself, for can usually me-but after diner I was getting bored, for I had about used up the conversational material at hand
 And then, without being fully aware of 1t. the flu" was gripping me, so I hunted barrel which was sitting in the sun and climbed upon 1t and took a real, sure enough sun bath. was surprised to find how warm Its rays were in spite of It's being January for soon drops of precipitation were clinging about my. forehead
 The day was partly saved for me by the fact that I ran across an old friend, & banker, and the cashier also put himself out to make the time pass agreeably. They saw me wandering aimlessly around and invited me to come in and make myself at home I did so with alacrity, for chair by the fire proved pleasant towards night while waiting for the train.
 The preacher. the doctor, the mer- chant and the banker, along with the school teacher. play big part in di- recting the life of a village. and on the outskirts Is always the farmer as where a finer lot of self-respecttng citizens can be found than in the small towns of Alabama. It's in the villages that you must look for the best type of what we are pleased to call democ- |
 racy.
 I found myself only five miles from the spot where I was born and yet such was the condition of the roads that the only possible way for me to have visited the scene of my birth would have been on horseback as 1t was out of the question to attemot 1t either in a buggy or In an auto mobile. I was greatly disappointed for it had been more than 30 years nativity.
 I was born at Glennville, but moved to Eufaula at the age of six months. Glennville before the war was one of the famous seats of culture. It was noted for its families of wealth and distinction and it's schools were sec- ond to none in the state-but now it is a memory, and I was told that there wasn't a vestige left of the house in which was born and that only a few of the ante-bellum people were still living in the village.
 I think one of the saddest things in the world is to see a neglected family burying ground out in the country and | 1t is also sad to pass through q town from which it's former glory has de- | parted. I have visited several such in Alabama where it seemed to me that places once famous were on the down. grade. It was most disturbing. It showed in the dilapidated homes. the ill-kept stores and the hopeless look on the faces of the inhabitants. |
 A human derelict always appeals to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10

me and particularly so if there is
 frost in his beard and g. stoop in his shoulders I used to be bit of a
 prig when I first took up the study
 of charity, for one of the first things
 I was taught was neevr to give to
 anyone who asked for aims on tho
 street. but now I no longer shun the
 old men who are forced to beg, but
 will go out of my way to give them a bit of silver.
 I happened to be talking to 8 friend on Sunday and he told me of white-
 haired old man who had come to the
 door and asked for something to eat.
 Now, he is the last man in the world
 to help the average panhandler,
 but the broken old vagrant appealed
 to him and it was with a sense of
 joy that he remarked, we happened
 to have an unusually good dinner and
 invited him in, and my, how he did
 enjoy it."
 But I am wandering from the town in which I was stranded between trains. If you possess your soul in patience and do not fret the gods will
 come to your relief. It was suggested and his wife and, eager to learn something from the lips of those who knew my father and my mother and their families. I availed myself of ths opportunity, and I was glad I did so. for I passed few pleasant hours. was met by an old-time darkey who took immediate interest in me. and soon the head of the house said: q am going to take you right into
 our living room." and from the hearth
 blazing logs greeted me and a blg
 crock of milk was sitting in front of 1t waiting to be ripened for the churn and you get the idea that if you had a chance to stay for supper that there would be fried chicken, sure enough old-fashioned biscuits, not the thin little cracker imitation,
 and golden butter and sweet milk and
 butter milk and clabber.
 The invitation would have come as naturally as the law of nature, for l was in a home given to hospitality, but my train was scheduled to run before tho hour for the evening meal. It was pleasant to sit and talk about those loved and hear them spok en .of by old friends. I forgot all about tho weary hours I had put in during the
 morning and thanked God that I had opened vista of my parents in tho 1 days of their youth when their cup of 1 life was full. fss once knew a beautiful girl who after graduation. visited around | among the simple farm people in tke | community where her mother had been | reared but who( had died when the daughter was little girl. just to I hear them talk about her. Wealth had
 come to her father and he had moved
 to another state, but the heart of her
 rang true and she did the womaniy 1 thing. My mother died when I was little boy and I was learning how sweet it was to hear her called by
 her maiden name, Celeste, If your father and mother are living you had ! better make much of them while you
 have the opportunity against the day
 when they will be called home
 I
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
LUKE M'LUKE SAYS

A pure shoe law was enacted by some of the states several years ago. But it
 was never enforced, because what was really needed was pure sock law
 A man wants everything he thinks he
 can get. But his wife merely wants everything she knows she can't get.
 If hat costs s25 woman doesn't have
 to try 1t on to know that it will be very
 becoming to her.
 Your enemies will stick to you after your money is all gone. But it is diff
 ferent with your friends. The easiest man to flatter is the fellow
 who thinks that he is too smart to fall for flattery.
 When a man is too lazy<to work for a thing he will pray for 1t and then get peeved because the Lord doesn't come across with it.
 The man who doesn't try to save a
 dollar a week out of his own salary is , always blaming his ancestors for not being frugal enough to leave him & flock O: real estate.
 When well-built girl discovers that she can fill a sweater witho64 leaving
 any wrinkles she wants to wear a sweat CT all year around. If man has to go to doctor he likes to hear the doctor say that he has noth- ing the matter with him. But if a wom.
 an has to go to doctor she likes to hear the doctof say that she is suffer l ing from eight or nine complications with unpronounceable names. Men would stay home /oftener than they do when they feel ill if it wasn't fo, the fact that their wives are sure tc begin housekeeping the day they stay hcme.
 Telling your fiancee what an ornery pur ! you are won't keep her from marrying you She'll go right ahead and discover
 for herself that you are telling the truth The reason why woman has no pock cts in her clothes is, because having nc
 place to keep her coin she is compelled 'to spend it. VI
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
A GREAT MANS MoDEsTY
le Kansas City Star.

From the Kansas City Star.
 Charles Darwin, of course, was one of the greatest intellectsvthe. human race has ever produced. His work on the "Origin of Species" was revolutions ary. Yet he was one of the most modest of men. Early in the '70s. John Fiske sent him a copy of his work on Herbert Spencer's philosophy. The nat uralists reply is printed in the recent Life and Letters of John Fiske." Dar- win writes:
 T have long wished to know some, thing about the views of the many great men whose doctrines you give With the exception of special points did not even understand H. Spenceri general doctrine. for his style is toe hard work for me-"
 Would you find any college sopho- more willing to admit that he didn'i understand Herbert Spencer?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
Have Never Failed

qUota in the Armenian relief campaign" said Mrs Gardner F. Goodwin, chair man of the residential section on the Ncrthside. "as we have never failed be fore and feel sure will reach the $10,0O0 mark easily. While the war is over and the people are not so generous in their subscriptions we are confident that the people of Bessemer will not fall down on this drive. The quota Is the small est we have ever had and with such splendid corps of workers as we now have we are sure to go over the top by Monday"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE
pr. D. F. Tyler Here

mont. who left here after six years pastorate. left yesterday for home" said w. F. Tyler president of the. Ty- Ter Grocery company. He came down to see his wife's sister, who had been critically III. He frequently runs down to sea us. He made the trip through the country in his car last summer. He loft here in 1894 and of course marvels at the wonderful changes which have taken place in Birming ' ham. It Is more marked to those wh5 have moved away and return on visits than 1t is to us who remain here.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10

the bronze Goethe-Schiller monument unveiled in 1857. In a cemetery on the southern border of the town are the graves of the two poets, and near by the old Goethe home is preserved as the Goethe national museum. The poets belongings are still to be seen there, just as he left them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
Freshening Up For sprinx

T am glad to see that some of the enterprising merchants are beginning to freshen up for spring" said Charles A. Calhoun. Take, for instance, the corner at Second avenue and Twenty Lyons building, but now occupied by one of our merchants. For a quarter ofa century or more 1t has been bold ly Haunting its red front and side in the face of the public, but now it's color is white landmark and very much improved"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
AoalMM MM4AanelH
HAS FAITH IN CARRANx

Prem the Pittsburg Dispatch.
 Ambassador Fletcher returns from Mex leo with opinions directly at variance with the alarmist rimors recently circu. lated in this country. He credits the Carranza government with material progress in development and reconstruc- tior work and the reorganization of the gov ernmental service to such an extent
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
GCLASSD


 From the Chicago Herald and Examiner
 A wife seeking divorce asserts that the contented husband oa humber days finds her, in the present high prosper ity, mot classy enough" Nothing else Is the matter. She just somehow doesn't cratic atmosphere of the boulevard
 "Classy' is an indefinite bit of slang borrowed from the race track. But, like most enduring slang, 1t is expressive and l,compassing. After the horsemen fin ished rapturous enumerations of such technical points as are covered by "a good barrel' and Tots of substance" they filled in the rhetorical chinks with "class to burn
 The word, however, is not in a gentle an, especially his wife. Were 1t adopted for polite usage in the sense that the ole time horsemen used it, Classy would not have the meaning when applied to a woman that the unfortunate litigant's husband gave to 1t.
 It would mean instead woman who, in spite of $200O0 income, was not a stranger to her own kitchen; who could not be transformed by prosperity from a homemaker Into spendthrift butter fly; one immune from the sting of the society bee and whose memory of the altar lights would not be blurred by the incandescents of the lounge lizards lair.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
Result of Work Done
 by Extension Service

1T T is seen from the annual report of 0 Dr. J. F. Duggar, director of the extension service of the Alabama Polytechnic institute at Auburn, that demonstration work has proved of in- calculable benefit to the farmers of the state. It discloses interesting facts as to the activities of the organized force of county agents engaged in the extension service. These agents have promoted in a very practical way the agricultural development of Alabama and in stimulating food production in the fields, as well as food conservation in the homes."
 Dr. Duggar says there was splen- did response by the farmers to the appeal for increased food production in 1918. Official statistics for the year show that Alabama led every state of the union in three important food crops-velvet beans, sweet po- tatoes and peanuts.
 A total increase of the value of the 1918 crops produced in Alabama as compared with those in 1916 was s252, ,OO0, ,o00 or 151 per cent. This is a wonderful gain indeed, but there is promise of a still greater gain in 1919.
 Alabama is attracting attention among home seekers in the north now as never before. Crop diversification and the efficient work of the exten- sion service, together with the pro- gressive spirit of the farmers them- selves, readily account for the great forward movement.
 Farm lands are in brisk demand by prospective settlers. This year will see new tide of newcomers to Ala bama.
 Outside of the fact that Alabama has thousands of illiterate men and women who go bare-footed most of the time, and employs children in factories, and Is bone-dry. it's grand old state in which to live.
 sk t sk
 It must make waiter somewhat peevish to go on strike and not be able to get his Job back because a cA- pablo young woman is filling 1t.
 < < <
 sembly Is meeting in a theatre. there are no strutting Prussian officers pres- ent to inject little comedy.
 < < *
 The esteemed tanks have been do- ing good work in Berlin against the Spartacans. A tank is the one best bet in quelling street riot * # < Confidence men are enjoying pros- porous season in Florida. They mod estly refuse to state the total sum of their winnings. * # < A Chicago woman says her wealthy husband doesn't think her ''classy'' enough. 'Tis a word much in favor | with the parvenu. J * sk 1 It is announced that there will be no reduction in the price of farm inn plements. The flat dweller should | worry about that E * $ l The next Liberty Loan will be a i thanksgiving" affair In which a Lib erty Bond will take the place of a tur- key
 l ThfSarlor bolshevikf might not be asmensce to law and order if the -ea- Ibolsheviki didn't take him seriously.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-10
LOCATED AT LAST

From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
 A Pennsylvania soldier in France who got 100 letters. 300 newspapers and 400 packages of cigarettes In one day. after months of nothing, Is shout ing himself to death with enthusiasm over army postal efficiency.