davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
STANDARD ENGLISH

From the Washington Post
 1T T is amusing to find London writer
 of some little eminence proclaimins = to the world the superiority of the brand of English used in Britain to that which prevails in the United States. This solemn announcement is made at the very moment when London school teach CTS have begun a campaign to eradicate the Cockney dialect, which they charac- terize as a disease of language" caused by incorrect breathing and improper voice instruction. But To! there is a serious barrier in the way of the desired reform for the teachers themselves are so inn pregnated with the virus that they are unable to diagnose a cockneyism when they hear it. They pronounce lady" as if it were "lidy" and incontinently trans mute an owl into howl" Nor are per- sons Of higher station free from the taint. Nothing is commoner than to hear even an educated man say, as he rises at some public meeting, that he wishes to 'propouse" a resolution, and any one who has listened to a debate in either house of parliament can testify to the frequency with which such pronunciations as hunt in and jumpin' occur.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
THE BRIDGE OF DEATH

Translated from the French by Andrew Lang. The dance is on the Bridge of Death And who will dance with me-" There's never a man of living men Will dare to dance with thee" Now Margaret's gone within her bower Put ashes in her hair, And sackcloth on her bonny breast, And on her shoulders bare. There came a knock to her bower door. And blithe she let him ni It was her brother from the wars. The dearest of her kin. "set gold within your hair, Margaret. Set gold within your hair. And gold upon your girdle band, And on your breast so far. For we are bidden to dance tonight. We may not bide away: This one good night. this one fair
 night.
 Before the red new day" Nay, no gold for my head. brother. Nay. no gold for my hair; It is the ashes and dust of earth That you and I must wear. No gold for my girdie band, No gold work on my feet; But ashes of the fire. my love. But dust that the serpents eat" They danced across the Bridge of
 Death,
 Above the black water, And the marriage-bell was tolled in
 hell
 Far the souls of him and her.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
T7 T F Fall and Winter Business Outlook an Excellent One

TT HERE is every reason to expect 0 phenomenal volume of busi- ness this fall and winter.
 The last element of uncertainty was removed when the railroad wage increases and freight and passenger rates were agreed upon and an ncunced.
 Everything points forward. The tlnid man is being brushed aside by the manful American, who scorns petty difficulties and rides them down.
 Theodore H. Price, New York com mercial and financial expert, says:
 Dry goods sales this fall will
 turn over more American dollars
 than ever before in the history of
 the United States. But business
 went be good with the merchant
 who is frightened to death that
 some unheard of thing is going to
 happen and prepares for poor
 business, for he will get what is
 coming to him. Anyone who looks
 for trouble will always find it.
 The higher wages of the railr pad men are to be distributed. The bet ter financial status of the railroads means the moving of products and tHc regularity of trade Building op- erations should recover from the re- cent period of der-construction by reason of the more prompt assem- blaze of building materials.
 The entire country breathes }nore freely and is inhaling more ozone out of the financial, industrial and com mercial atmosphere since the stabili- zation of the railroads.
 The outstanding element of hope and confidence is the succession of reports from industrial and manufac- turing, centers of the greater eff c;ency of workers This means great CT production and stands for increase in the volume of business.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
AS TO THE ROYAL GEORGE

From the Kansas City Star
 N YOUNG woman student assigned A\ to the light task of selecting the
 f9best snort poem in a course of sum- mer reading writes to take the opinion of this newspaper as to the rank of Cow per's Loss of tne Royal George" The Star has no hesltancy in saying that the Royal George is the worst poem eNer written. It's heroic subject is the tipping over of a ship of war and the drowning of 500 men. Or as the poet says
 Eight hundred of the brave
 Whose courage well was tried,
 Had made the vessel heel
 And laid her on her side.
 IL was a regrettable accident Whether any inquiry was made as to the couse of it we do not know. Cowper does not give the details. except to recordL
 A land breeze shook the shrouds
 And she was overset:
 Down went the Royal George,
 With all her crew complete.
 It was not in the battle;
 No tempest gave the shock,
 She sprang no fatal leak,
 She ran upon no dock.
 Gray's lines "On a Favorite Cat,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04

The critic in question is. however. more concerned with written than spoken --...- guage. Using what he himself calls 'brGtal frankness," he declares that the American plays which get put on in Lon don bore him stiff, He boasts that Amer ica has no Maseheld no Robert Nichols, no Walter de la Mare, no Conrad, no Compton Mackenzie. not even a Gals worthy And, to add to his amenities, he indulges in this final tasteful express sor of the superior note:
 We can get along quite we'll in liter ature without understanding the Amer icans-just as the Athenians could dis pense with a knowledge of the thoughts, if ary, of the people of wealthy Sybaris or populous Croton. But they cannot get along without understanding us.'
 The counter proposal. made by an American novelist, to set up linguistic shop of our own and establish United Stateish" brilliant, growing. glowing, vivacious, elastic"-is merely a dream which may materialize in some distant aeon. At present there is only one standard English, and it flourshes as viz orously on one side of the Atlantic asson tho other.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
Harry New Afraid of the Solid South

| e ENATOR HARRY NEW, chair g man of the speakers cam paign of the republican party, after a conference with Candidate Harding, makes it plain that the front porch plan will be abandoned. Railroad fares are too high for excursions.
 But what troubles Senator New most is that if the democrats win the solid south would be in the saddle. We'll, it gets in the saddle now and then, and the country thrives.
 The south, MT. New says, with the northern states playing a dominating part in conjunction with the solid south, would be reactionary and would control labor. The repub- lican party is endeavoring to control labor, and is jealous of any move ment that would allow the south to gain the upper hand. The fact is, southern leaders are the true friends of labor.
 The south is extremely conserva- tive. We have our labor troubles, but few strikes occur. This is the sec ton where labor is best satisfied. The solid south following the Civil war used to mean something, but there is no political significance to the phrase now.
 MT. New is simply trying to revive the bloody shirt" meaning of MT. Blaine's day.
 The solid south spells construction, and the business interests should be glad to see it triumph.
 The democratic party has conduct ed a business-like administration. It gave the country the federal reserve board, and this important legisla- ton the republicans dare not dis turb.
 A victory of the democratic party will mean continued business pros- perity.
 F # +
 The Cox band from Piqua should have place of honor in the Inaugural parade next March.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
Prison Sentence for
 Millionaire Seditionist

1E1 1NDING them guilty of a con O spiracy to overthrow the gov ernment of the United States, jury in an Illinois state court has sentenced nineteen members of the communist labor party to from one to five years in the penitentiary. Among them is William Bross Lloyd. the misguided son of a Boston millionaire philan- thropist.
 Lloyd declared he had only exer- cised the right of free speech. A sample of his conception of that right is this extract from one of his speeches. Banks should be blown open to get money to finance the rev olution and armories should be rifled for ammunition"
 Perhaps this man did not realize just what he was saying, but that is his fault His declaration was an overt act tending to overthrow the feceral government.
 American juries have not failed to vindicate the sacredness of Ameri- can institutions. They not only sent Debs to prison and placed a jail sentence on Victor Berger, congress- man, because these men openly and wilfully obstructed the carrying on of war by this country after it had de- clared war but they have convicted United States senator of corruptly obtaining the nomination for that high office.
 All attacks on the integrity of the nation, irrespective of the form they take, should be punished with like severity. An attack may be made through the corrupt use of money, it may be through open violence, as was the case in the murder of soldiers in the state of Washington. or it may be through the written and spoken word of sedtion.
 These juries are to be congratu- lated for having administered justice to all alike.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04

Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes" is far more heroic than this.
 Nor have we given the worst lines of the Royal George. One almost hates to. For what is the conclusion Cowper draws? He says that these 500 men who were drowned, together with their captain. will never sail the sea any more
 For kemperfelt IS gone,
 His victories are o'er; And he and his eight hundred Shall blow the waves no more
 It seems obvious At least the acct dent occurred some time in the eigh- teenth century and they haven't saneo Jet.
 This poet whom we want to shake. r. dulges in one more equally obvious re- flection in this worst of all poems He says if the vessel could be raised and her timbers proved to be sound she would float.
 Her timbers yet are sound,
 And she may float again
 Full charged with England's thunder
 And blow the distant main. That is purely speculative, however She might have tipped over again On the whole we believe the Loss of the Royal George" to be the worst blow ever dealt to the British navy and universal ltera- ture.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
LUKE M'LUKE SAYS

Never ask fat woman her weight. The Recording Angel has enough lies to keep track of as it is.
 The H. c. of l.. wasn't such a much in the old days when a man wasn't t ashamed to wear paper collar.
 If the knockers do not like the way the girls dress there is no law pre- venting the aforesaid knockers from wearing smoked glasses on sunny days.
 They can prevent a girl from wear ing a one piece bathing suit at a bath ing beach. But they can't prevent her from wearing a one-piece, skin tight dress on the street.
 Every man admires the homely, sen sible girl But he wants to marry one of the silly. pretty kind.
 What has become of the O. f. man who covered his derby with crepe when a relative died?
 A man in love shows it but doesn't know it. A girl in love knows it but doesn't show it.
 A married man is often an animal who never begins to feel at home until he gets out of the house,
 Memory is some thing that enables a man to remember the s10 you owe him and enables him to forget the s1o he owes you.
 When they are first married he tries to compel her to take all of his pay so she will have some spending money. But later on he tries to hold out on her so he will have little spending money.
 The chauffeur who tries to drive his car when he is full of moonshine should be sentenced to be shaved by barber who is full of raisin jack.
 dressmaker can make a skinny girl look like Corn Fed. But she can't make a Corn Fed look skinny
 Many man would be better off if his house was as we'll painted as As wife is.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
Doing Good Work

T am well pleased with the work of the citizen police committee so far says Commissioner John H. Taylor. Several arrests have been made by members of the committee. Most of the arrests have resulted in convic- tions. Reports l receive are to the effect that there is noticeable let up in the amount of speeding and reckless driving.
 Persons who were appointed as members of the committee are still coming to the office to secure their commissions. The whole personnel of the committee, amounting to 175 per- sons, will be completed in a few days All the persons who have been selected as citizen police show that they are conscientious in the matter and ex- pect to arrest all violators of the traf- fic regulations"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
More Improvem ent

Much progress has been made in the erection of new school buildings for the county during the past two years says Dr. x. R. Baker, county superintendent of education.
 While we have torn away many of the smaller buildings and have com bined several and erected large build ings to accommodate them. we have not completed our programme as yet. Of course, when two or more schools are combined it means that the pupils must be transported to the school, but in this way we are able to have all modern equipments in the schools where we couldn't do this in the small schools Under our programme we have to have the county schools equal to any in the south and are making great strides along this line. Several hundred thousand dollars have been expended in the erection of schools within the past two years, and every one in the county should be proud of the many handsome structures recent ly erected"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
oPEN-AIR LIBRARY

From the St. Joseph Gazette. The city of Madrid, Spain. has ac- tually done what some cities-or some talked about doing; it has established an outdoor public library in it's finest park.
 Most of the books in this open-air library are Spanish. of course, but there are also volumes in English, French and Italian. Any person using the park is welcome to use the library. He may tuck under his arm a volume of poetry, little book of essays, a good novel or d collection of short stories. just as his mood requires, and go off to quiet corner to read and rest and dream.
 Such a library offers an excellent op- portunity to the good librarian to ex- ercise Judgment and taste in introduce ing a very high type of summer read portunity to the business man or woman who likes to take a few min- utes or an hour or two completely away from the days routine to dis cover many an author or bit of liter ature which may be of genuine pleas ure to the reader, but which he might never have found in the ordinary course of his reading.
 Every city should have parks. readily accessible to those workers who must spend their days in the crowded busi- ness or industrial sections. In time. perhaps, every such park will have
 it's open-air library to increase the leasure and aid in the recreation of the city worker.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04

An Illinois man fell a victim to the altitude of Pike's Peak. Many tour ist has been the victim of alutudinous hotel prices in that vicinity. but has lived to tell the tale.
 + F Nearly 5000 suicides were commit ted in the United States in the first six months ofl192o. An investigation might show H. c. L. to have been the predominant motive.
 # x # The export of underwear and hosiery is said to be "paralyzed.' Still. that isn't going to have any effect on the man who changes his socks and under wear about twice month.
 # # x An English critic sneers at the kind of language spoken in America It seems to have been forgotten when American soldiers were marching through London.
 Going over 10 England, Mary and Doug" hobnobbed with Colonel House, thus showing that it is possible for a great man 10 unbend
 +s < # How a man with as much money AZ William Bross Lloyd is said to possess could ever get interested in commun- ism passes comprehension.
 # # 4 Maybe one reason why sporting editors call wrestlers "grapplers" is because they are so eager to grapple the gate receipts
 # # # The bolsheviki announce that they will not violate the German border. Certainly not They have friends just across the border.
 T # + If the truth were known. Japan probably has as little respect for Uncle Sam as she has for his immigra- tions laws
 
 Turkey will sign the dotted line to- morrow. Turkey knew all the time that she would do that very thing sooner or later.
 ;s # # Thus far President Wilson's contri- buttons to the 1920 campaign have not increased the white paper shortage. 4 # $ Brother Debs elects to stay in pris- on. That speaks well for the accom- modations over in Atlanta
 < + < Old Pop" Geers is just another il- lustraton of a mans ability to laugh at the flight of time.
 # + x It is hardly worth while to remind you that Victor Berger is still circu- lating among the voters.
 4 < # A former press agent of Ponzi has turned against him. Looked at in one way. that is creditable to Ponzi
 # < # The old reliable River Bug is once more appearing in the public prints Kindly pronounce it "Boog'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
More Light Needed
 on Soviet Russia

WHAT is the power behind the
 Wy bolshevik armies which have beaten Poland to her knees and now menace the peace of Europe?
 It was stated that Poland had one million men in the field when the un- successful "drive" against bolshevik Russia began. These men were pre- sumably under capable leadership, al . though the supply system was faulty and inadequate, due to the disorgani- zation in Poland following the world < war. Furthermore, the Poles are an ! intensely patriotic people and they fight with the ardor of men who twould give their lives freely for their country
 Yet, the bolshevik armies have Deen everywhere victorious. A soviet gov ernment has even been set up in parts of Poland occupied by the soviet forces. The allies are reported to be alarmed by these developments which < threaten to involve Europe in another bloody war, drawing the exhausted nations into a maelstrom similar to ' the one from which they have but re- gently emerged
 Curiosity will not be satisfied by I the kind of explanations offered for the hold Lenine and Trotzky have on Russia. Correspondents have drawn i narrowing pictures of the economic condition of the country. They have told us of universal starvation and disease, of industry abandoned and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04

From the New York Tribune.
 N NE may be permitted to doubt lV U whether the expert publicizer of W the movies who did not drown the young Japanese girl in Central Park lake was as close to the heart of Sec retary Humility and the nations of Flu rope as he himself confessed. Since MT.
 Swann insisted upon giving additional publicity to this bright young man. he may well be pardoned for not under standing his claims to distinction. But we
 do feel sure, upon what may be called the internal evidence of the case, that he exaggerated not at all his intimacy with MT. George Creel.
 In fact. running over his ingenious philosophy of publicity. one is driven to
 the conclusion that only that best of words produced by the war, namely. to creel," is. adeouate to describe his activt- ties He himself preferred the word 'pubIicize," which he claimed to have taken from President Wilson's own
 mouth. But, pretty as that mouthful is it has not the pep and the race ~associa- tions of Ito oreel."
 It is all one to such publicizing whether the object to be publcized is a great
 war or a new movie or Clara KimbaN
 Young. You toss the fourteen points in
 the air, removing your cuffs to show that there is no mechanical trickery, and bring down q white rabbit; you put this
 animal in bowl of goldfish and take
 o..t the heart of the world. By this time
 all italy, all the world, is applauding, and
 it is plain that your public is properly
 puhliclzed.
 Thera are slower ways of persuading
 people, but none of them are involved in
 cree.ing. That is the press agents own
 peculiar method. and nothing that the
 Wiiscn administration did in the war was
 more delightful than this application of
 movie publicity to a great war. It is
 good to be reminded of it by this worthy disciple of the great George, even though he did not drown the Japanese girl in a Central Park lake and she was only a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
IN HOTEL LCBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE
Hit at River

Hit at River
 The Frisco system, since October. 1915, has been interchanging freight at the Cordova tipple." says Il. T. De- Bardeleben, manager of the Warrior river transportation.
 Now that the river is about 10 amount to something, it seeks 10 throt- tie it by declining to interchange at the tipple, or river bank, but to stop it's delivery at Cordovs station three quarters of a mile away and charge extra for switching cars back and forth from the tipple and the new derrick.
 The railroad sets up that the old contract was with the DeBardeleben Coal Company, but that the govern ment now operates the terminals It makes no difference to the shippers who operates the terminals, but a diff ference between switching charges and interchange of freight at the river is vital, because switching charges will eat up all the savings of the 20 per cent differentials allowed for move ment by the Warrior,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
Librarians in Demand

"Competent librarians are hard to get and still harder to keep" says Lloyd w. Josselyn, director of the Bir- mingham public library. Our chil- drens librarian, Miss Fanny Taber is leaving us this week to take charge of the library at Montevallo.
 Many new libraries are being es- tablished all over the country They all must have librarians. Their de- mand is exceeding the supply of per sons competent to take over such work. Larger eastern and middle western universities are now featur- ing their schools for librarians. In order to do the best work librarians need some technical training as well as plenty of general knowledge"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
Common Failing

Birmingham is one of the hest places to sleep that l have ever seen in my life, and it is all that I can do to get myself up after having been in Rudolph Johnson.
 Tn spite of the large amount of smoke in Birmingham, l think the air we breathe here is just about as pure as any other city in the country. I about it, but I know that when l get started sleeping and breathing the cool air that floats down into Jones valley it seems as if l never want to get up."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
New Minis ters

Birmingham is fortunate in having three new Baptist ministers to come to take up pastoral work in the dis trict," says Rev. T. M. Wood, secre- tary of the Alabama Baptist state convention Rev. c. A Hughes of Arkansas accepts the charge of Union church at Lipscomb; Rev. l.. l.. Hearne comes from Haleyville to serve at Wy lam, and Rev. J. w. Partridge, of Rus sellville is now on the field al West Woodlawn. All these are well known and strong men in the Baptist denom- ination and their coming will mean much to the cause in greater Bir- mingham."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
AND A LITTLE POKER

From the Cincinnati Enquirer
 President Wilson plays golf. MT. Harding plays golf; Governor Cox plays golf, But most of the plain American peepul shamelessly cling to baseball and pitching horseshoes
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
MINNIE SAT ON TT

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
 Overheard in a city park yesterday:
 Sure I got it across all right You come over tonight and I'll give you a drop"
 But how did you get it by the cus- toms inspector?'
 "oh, Minnie sat on it while he was going through the bags"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-04
CREELING FOR THE MOVIES

Chinese girl after all. and Clara Kimpa;i
 Young was not Kidnapped by Mexican bandits and we are still at war.