davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
LUKE M'LUkE SAYS

It is cinch that the old timer who remarked that figures do not lie wasn't thinking of woman's.
 The difference between men and dogs lis the fact that dog does not pretend to like anyone he doesn't like.
 The reason friend wife can find so many uses for friend husbands razor is because she wants to keep her scis- sors sharp.
 Do not go to another man with your troubles. Maybe he has plenty of his own.
 Any driver can tell you that the req son woman runs across the street in front of an automobile is because she is going to turn around and run back as soon as she gets there.
 When fat man or small boy can't eat, better call in the doctor They are pretty sick.
 lot of women who voted for Hard ing will coyly admit that they are too young to remember the last time a re- publican President was inaugurated.
 The trouble with convincing your wife is that she'll forget that she was con. vinced and you'll have to convince her all over again.
 The beauty lotions used by women produce such wonderful growth, of hair on their faces that it is wonder baid-headed men don't use the stuff on their heads.
 boy can attract as much attention by keeping clean as girl can by keep ing dirty.
 Men talk of the loneliness of casta- way on a desert isle: of the Loneliness of the great desert wastes: of the lone | ,e th rst~ But there is no loneliness like that of the man who finds himself broke in a great city.
 After a man has tried to get along with ono wife for while he can't see where the hek Solomons great wis., dom came in.
 Two women applied for divorce--one because her husband was home so little and the other because her husband hung around the house all tn NNtimc.
 Copyright, 1s20.)
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE
Trouble Ahead

T see Birmingham law makers are trying to work out a traffic ordin- ance," said c. S. Stone of Chicago at the Tutwiler yesterday. MT. Stone is an operating official of the North western road.
 T also see much trouble ahead for those who have it in hand" he added.
 Regulation of traffic requires traffic squad to enforce it; otherwise it is worthless Now traffic squad costs money and money means taxes, which is where most of the ordinan7 ces hit the rocks.
 This city needs some restraining influence on it's traffic. Christmas eve auto to the body of another and on the rebound knocked over little negro girl by the curb. It was a splen did carom shot
 We all admit a pedestrian has no rights these days. Chicago is at pre- seHt looklng up suitaoie oFetnedu system so people may avoid grade crossings at busy intersections. Bir- ningham does not need that, but it does need some regulation which really regulates
 Tt might not be a bad idea to limit speed In the business district to seven ty miles an hour and compel pedes- trians to carry a horn and tail light"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26

donated to child relief will be credited at par. Philanthropists have agreed to buy them at 100 cents on the dollar. Despite reaction in the nations busi- ness and industrial life, caused by return to peace conditions, America is still the richest country in the world and should give of it's abundance to help the naked and hungry chil- dren of Europe who cannot survive the rigors of winter unless they are fed and clothed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
wEB-FOoTED MEN

From Some Experiences of New. Gui-
 nea Resident Magistrate. by Capt. c.
 A. w. Monkton.
 The most curious tribe, called Az mambu, are to some extent web-footed, and the skin of their feet is .as tender as wet plotting paper" They live in a marsh, and are so much at home in the water that they seem ito stand upright in that element without any percepti- ble effort" They caught ducks by div ing under them and catching the birds legs.
 Their diet consists chiefly of fish. water fowls sago, and the roots of water lilies. They keep pigs swung in cradles underneath their houses (which are in the water built on 1o-foot poles). lying on their bellies with their legs stuck through the bottom, and feed them on fish and sago. The dead are buried by being tied to a stake, the body secured well above flood level
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
Growth of Savings
 Habit in Birmingham

@ AVINGS banks deposits in Bir- G mingham are larger than they have ever been and they increased even during the holidays. That the state at large is thrifty is shown by the savings in state banks, which in 1917 amounted to $14,000, ,O00; in 1919 to $23,O0O,000, and in October of this year, when the latest report was made, to $29,O00,000.
 Among the remarkable features of the thrift campaign in Birmingham was the disbursement of $22O,OOO de- posted in the Christmas savings clubs of two local banks during the 50 weeks preceding Christmas Day. The most popular form of these deposits was the $1 per week plan.
 Each Christmas club is dissolved with the disbursement at the end of the 50 weeks, and another immedi- ately formed for the ensuing year. It by no means follows that the money thus saved is spent at Christmas. Much of it is reinvested.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
EURIPIDES THE DRAMATIST-- By Frank Willis Barnett
AAJ1oaxl

continuing to please large audiences"
 I can't go into the changes fully, but merely call attention to the fact that Sophocles reflects in his noble creations the cultured spirit of the age of Pcricles; just as Aeschyius, the veteran of Marathon, is the veteran dramatist of the Athenian heroic age; while Euripides is the dramatist of the Peloponnesian war the former being waged against the Persians, the latter being waged by Greek against Greek. The pure democracy of Pericles had de- generated into license, and culture spreading among wider circle had become superficial. H
 As we associate Aeschylus first Of all with the suffering Titan Pro- stately figure of an Antigone, proud ly facing the blows of fate with hu- man courage, so the pathetic, even, elegaic tale of 'Hippolytus' is the most characteristic Euripidean study. Ha Knew the nature of the passions, and yet, in his tragedies the passions are breathed forth in soft complaints, rather than raised to a lofty height. The times of boldness when Aeschyius wrote, were past, and the pathetic manner of Euripides became popular.
 Various faults may be found with his loose plan, his often unintellgt- ble changes Of character, his super fluous choruses, his tedious pro- 1ogues, and sometimes, too his sub ject; but he stands pre- eminent in true, natural expression of the passions, in interesting situations, original group ings of character and varied knowledge of human nature. There is, too, a cer- tain tenderness and softness diffused over his writings, which cannot fail to please the mind. He was the perfect master of the art of appealing to the emotions of his audience, and he knew how to make their hearts bleed and how to draw their tears.
 He may not have struck the heroic notes of Aeschylus or given forth the melody of Sophocles, but certainly, for us, he is by far the most important of the Attic dramatists; for he inf1u, enced far more than any other the later course of his art; hastened the fusion melodrama of Menander and Philemon: dominated the Roman stage, and through it, modern dramatic art
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
BETHLEHEM TOWN

 By Eugene Field. As l was going to Bethlehem Town, Upon the earth I cast me down All underneath little tree That whispered in this wise to mo: "Oh, I shall stand on Calvary And bear what burthen saveth thee!s As up fared to Bethlehem Town, met shepherd coming down. ! And thus he quoth: "A wondrous sight Hath spread before mine eyes this An angel host most fair to see That sung full sweetly of a tree That shall uplift on Calvary What burthen saveth you and msr' And as l gat to Bethlehem Town. Lo! wise men came that bore a crown Is there, cried I, "in Bethlehem King shall wear this diadem?' -Good sooth, they Quoth. and it is Hs That shall be lifted on the tree And freely shed on Calvary What blood Iedeemeth us and theer unto Child in Bethlehem Town ihe wise men came and brought the And while the Infant smiling slept, upon their knees they fell and wept; buI With her Babe upon her knee Nausnt -recked that mother of the tree mat should uplift on Calvary what burthen saveth all and me. Asain l walk in Bethlehem Town And think on Him that wears tAe
 crown. may not kis His feet again, Nor worship H.n as l did then. My King hath died upon the tree And hath outpoured on Calvary " hai S,ocd scdeemcth you and nc
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
THE MASTERFUL PURITAN

Agnes Repplier, in the Yale Review
 1ClvEN if we make haste to admit lHn that two great humanizers of so-
 cety. art and letters, played but a sorry part in the Puritan colonies, we know they were less missed than if these colonies had been worldly ventures, estab- lished solely in the interest of agriculture or of trade. Sir Andrew Macphail terseley reminds us that the colonists possessed ideals of their own, which so far trans cended the things of this world that art and literature were not worth bothering about in comparison with them" Men who believe that through some excep- t:onal grace or good fortune, they have found God, feel little need of culture.
 If the Puritans never succeeded in weld ing together church and state, which was the desire of their hearts, they had hu- man nature to thAnk for their failure. There is nothing so abhorrent-or SO perilous-to the soul of man as to be ruled in temporal things by clerical au- thority. Yet inasmuch as the colony of Massachusetts bay had for its purpose the establishment of state in which all citi- zens should be of the same faith, and church membership should be essential to freeman, it was inevitable that the preach CT and the elder should for a time domi- nate public counsels. Are you, sir. the person who serves here?" asked a stranger of a minister whom he met in the streets of Rowley. T am, sir, the person who rules here.'' was the swift and apt response. Men whose position was thus firmly established resented the unauthorized intrusion of malconten,s Being reformers themselves they natural- fly did not want to be reformed
 That there were souls unfit to bear the weight of Puritanisrn. and unable to es- cape from it. is tragic truth. When Judge Sewall read to his household a sermon on the text 'Ye shall seek me and> shall not find me-" the household doubtless protected itself by inattention, that refuge from our neighbours opinions which is natures kindliest gift Su. there was one listener, a terrified child of 10. who had no such bulwark, and who brcoded over her unforgiven sins until here heart was bursting. When suddenly, when the rest of the family had forgot ten all about the sermon, she broke into "an amazing cry" sobbing out her agon- ized dread of hell. And the pitiful part Of the tale is that neither father nor mother could comfort her. having them selves no assurance of her safety The incident was not altogether uncommon. X woman of Boston. driven to despera- tion by the uncertainty of salvation, set tied the point for herself by drowning her baby in well. thus insuring dam nation. and freeing her mind of doubts.
 It took strong men to live and thrive under such ministration wrestling with sullen earth for subsistence and with an angry heaven for salvation. That
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
Thought It Baked

They are telling good one on my friend, exSheriff Batson," says Walter McAdory, who himself once filled the sheriffs office in Jefferson county.
 "Batson when his term came to an end decided he would renew his old vo- cation AS a farmer. But he wanted to be up to date and bought well known make tractor and set to work to break up his farm at Hueytown with it.
 He was meeting with fine success until all of sudden it slowed up for a stump and refused to budge. Having had much experience with stubborn mules, he thought the thing to do was just to make it go, and so ne stepped on the juice with fatal results to his machine"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
MIR. WILSON AT THE INAUGURATION

From the New York World.
 A President of the United States is under neither legal nor moral obliga- tions to attend the inauguration of his successor. It is commonly regarded. however. as a. debt of courtesy, and it is debt that has seldom been repudiated in spite of the precedent set by John Adams when he refused to have any Thomas Jefferson.
 No President could have better ex ] cuse than Mir. Wilson, for declining to play any part in the inaugural cere- monies of his successor, but it is an- nounced from the White House that he intends not only to ride with MT Hard- ing to and from the capitol, but that he will also entertain MT. Harding at luncheon.
 When MT. Taft was inaugurated, MT. Roosevelt accompanied him to the cap ital, but went to the station immedi- ately after the ceremonies and did not ride back to the White House with the new President Mir. Wilson, in spite of his illness, is going to carry out the tra- ditional programme, a decision which will receive general public approval. The country likes to see the ordinary courtesies between an outgoing and an incoming President observed, regardless of partisan or personal differences, and MT Wilson's decision ought not to be bitter animosities that have developed in American politics during the last two years.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
A Real Treat

Those who fail to attend the or gan recitals of Professor Dunkley ct the Church of the Advent Sunday aft ernoons will miss treat of the first water said George Ward
 T am not speaking of musical critics, but of those who just love music as I do. The Advent organ is one of the finest in the United States. and Pro- lessor Dunkley is superb player. The recitals last an hour beginning at 5 o'clock, and are an unalioyed pleasure to the increasing crowds. The public is cordially invited to attend. Those completeness of their sa abbath day"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26

An inaugural ball in Washington will malcy.
 + # # Pearl necklaces and lmousines were popular gifts in profiteering circles.
 * x # Unemployment in industrial lines may eventually solve the servant problem.
 x # # The holiday season puts premium on the gentle art of mendicancy
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
No Accommodation

T can readily see why women do not ratronize shoe shine parlors as men do. for it is very expensive for thenl." said \. R. Beale
 T was in shop the other day and a young girl attempting b step down from the stand caught her skirt tear ing big piece out of it Of course. the man operating the place agreed to have the skirt mended, but it had prac- ticaliy ruined the suit, as the snas was a very ugly one.
 Tt seems there should be some means of remedying this that would allow women to have their shoes snined just as men do without undergoing any such inconvenience and loss. In the case mentioned the girl had on very handsome suit and.I know she will in future shy when she passes shoe shtne parlor."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
Two New schools

"The new year will give Birming- ham two new, perfectly equipped high schools. the woodlawn and the Cen tra1," says Commissioner John R. Ior- nady.
 Work on the woodlawn school has already begun, contracts for the foun- dation of the Central school willsbe let about January 15. and actual work will beglr February 1.
 Both schools are expected to be ready to accommodate the pupils by ,he opening of the fall term. though they will not be completed by then. Only one section of the Central school will be erected in the next few months.
 The site for the Central school was bought at cost of $1P0,ooo. and the building will cost sSoo,o The Wood lawn schoo. will cost $250 900.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26

I wrote briefly some time ago about Euripides, the man; now, l will try and give a short appreciation of Euri- pides, the poet-dramatist in a super- ficial way, for I have neither the learning or the disposition to attempt a serious study of a subject which has so divided the scholarship of the world.
 In writing of the man I said there was doubt about the date of his birth and a dispute even in regard to how old he was at his ceath; and now 1 have to state that there is as great a controversy as to the number of plays which. can be properly credited to him. just as there is question mark put before some bearing his name.
 Of one thing we may be sure, and that is Euripides was a voluminous writer. According to some, he wrote T5 plays; others credit him with 93, while one we'll known authority says with calm assurance "Of the 12o dramas which Euripides is said to have composed, we have remaining in their complete form only IS tragedies and one satyric peace'' G9 if the "Rhesus'' be included, as it is by some as to the number of trustworthy Fragments"
 I admit r take a peculiar delight in showing up the discrepancies which exist among the scholars, for it gets on my nerves to hear so many pseudo scholars speak with cocksureness about things which are unknown or at least debatable. The older I get the less faith I put in dogmatists, whether their line is politics, econom- ics, literature science art or theology. At one time they bulldozed me, but now I know that they are bluffing.
 Euripides did not, like the youthful Sophocles win at once the popular heart. During the first 10 years of his career he found little recognition; but it did not seem to disturb him greatly. At 25 he first obtained the honor of competing as one of the threo tragic poets at the Dionysia, the an- cient Greek festivals in honor of Dionysius. At his first venture he was placed last and it was 14 years later
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26

, that he secured highest honor, and only five times altogether.
 Yet toward the end of his life, and after his death, his inf1uence, not merely in Athens, but throughout Greek lands was unrivsiled. The Mace donians built him a tomb in pleas ant spot to commemorate his imperish : able fame, and the Athenians who de- manded his bones in vain, built mag nificent cenotaph to his memory. Pau sanias makes mention of a statue to Athens.
 Plutarch records in his 'Nicias" that on the occasion of the destruction of the Athenian army in Sicily under Demosthenes and Nicias by the Syra- cusans (415 B. CD many of those who survived and were made prisoners ob- tained their liberty by reciting to their masters some of the verses of Euri- pides, and he adds that numbers of them on their return home visited the poet to express their thanks Plutarch does not always stick to the truth, but
 he is usually mighty interesting. It is by no means easy to property
 evaluate Euripides as a poet, for in his
 works good and bad follow each other
 in quick succession, and this gave the
 comic poets their chance to shoot their
 darts at his dramas. It is clear that
 the dramatic art of the Euripidean
 tragedies was at variance with that
 of the Aeschylean and Sophoclean stan dards, and indeed with the princi-
 will have to just accept this statement
 as the consensus of opinion of the
 critics without my essaying to prove
 it by trying to show my erudition,
 which does not exist.
 The hostile criticism of Aristophanes
 was witty; and, moreover, it was true.
 granting the premises from which
 of Aeschylus and Sophocles was the
 right model Its unfairness, as point
 cd out by a student of repute being, Its unfairness, often extreme, con-
 sists in ignoring the changing condi-
 tions of public feeling and taste, and
 the possibilities, changed accordingly,
 of an art which could exist only by
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
< # x
American Control to Be
 Lifted From San Domingo

N T President Wilson's direction A steps have been taken for the withdrawal of American control in the Dominican republic. It is an- nounced that the purposes of Ameri- can military intervention have been Substantially achieved"
 For the first time in many years the people are able to devote them selves to peaceful pursuits, finances have been stabilized, programme of education and sanitation has been started and the foundation laid for government that will give Domini- cans an opportunity to regulate their own affairs.
 Thus another chapter is added to the history of Americas s relations with turbulent states in the western hemi- sphere. The difficulties of military in tervention are always great, but the record made by our forces in San Do- mingo, Haiti and Cuba is one of which the American people may well be proud. They have established order where chaos reigned before and have enabled backward races to enjoy a large measure of independence they would never have attained without the aid of the American government.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
+ 1, 1 American People Must Feed Europe's Hungry Children

RAT ANY appeals have been made NVU for contributions to worthy causes, but the 3,5OO,OO0 children of central Europe who depend on Amer ican generosity to save them from starvation this winter cannot be ig- nored by nation which has never yet turned deaf ear to a cry for succor.
 Everyone who contributes to this fund has the assurance that not a penny will be wasted. Herbert Hoover has paid out millions of dol lars for the American people in feed ing the war victims of Europe and no one has ever charged that the money was wasted. The kitchens maintained in central Europe have been instrumental in saving thousands of lives. The war is over, but its de- vastating effects are still being felt. There is no other country better able to extend aid to the innocent vic tims of war, and unless America comes to the rescue, cold, starvation and disease will take heavy toll of human life.
 Liberty Bonds are quoted below par m the stock market, but every bond
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26
Pull Texether

''Wholehearted cooperation by every man. woman and child in the city would solve most of Birmingham's problems," said Fred c. Moore. The other cay when friend of mine asked me what in my opinion would be most beneficial to Birmingham I told him that if every fe4lew would make it his business to like the town and work for it, there would he very little for this town to worry ahcut. In fact the town could get enything that was necessary"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26

they had compensations, other than re- ligious, is apparent to all but the most superficial observer. The languid indif- ference to our neighbors' moral and spiritual welfare, which we dignity by the name of tolerance, has curtailed our interest in life. There must have been something invigorating in the iron de- termination that neighbors should walk straight path, that they should be watched at every step and punished for every fall. The Puritan who said, 'i will not. Thou shalt not" enjoyed his authority to the uttermost. The prohi- bitionist who repeats his words today is probably the only man who ie having a thoroughly good time in our fretful land and century.
 These are heavy indictments to bring against the stern forbears whom we are
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-26

wont to praise and patronize But Pill grim and Puritan can bear the weight of their misdeeds as well as the glory of their achievements. No price was too high for them to pay for the dignity of their manhood, or fo the supreme privilege of dwelling on their own soil They scorned the line of least resistance Their religion was never cloak of av- arice, and labor was not with them an- other name for idleness and greed. The Pilgrim, like the Roman. was expected to serve the state. not batten on it. What wonder that few drops of his blood car- ries with it even now some measure of devotion and restraint These were mon who understood that life is neither pleasure nor a calamity. Tt is a grave affair with which we are charged. ana which we must conduct and terminate with honor"