davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
National Principles Analyzed

be given to the Office than to the man
who holds it. He is optimistic in
speaking of political corruption. 1t
seems to him that human nature is
essentially trustworthy. 1t is a small
price to pay to have all elements of
the community represented in gov
ernment He quotes with approval
Whitman's statement: 1T is doubtful
whether the State is to be saved
either in the monotonous long run or
in the tremendous special crisis by
its good people only
Prof. Merriam limits his discus
sion to the period between 1865 and
1917. He touches upon every salient
feature of this epoch. America as a
world Power interests him. He shows
how internationalism. pacifism and i'm
perialism came to be issues He shows
how government is forced to limit per-
sonal liberty. However, his best
chapter is on Political Ideals in
American Literature" He lays chief
stress upon Walt Whitman, but notes
every book Of fact or fiction which
illustrate our tendencies.
He realizes that despite our many
failings we have reasons for just pride
in the past and sure hope in the future.
His picture of our great national fig
ure is very good. He says: Some
times national personalities interpret
better than it's PHILOSOPHERS the inner
spirit of it's life. If we were to look
for a personal embodiment of the
typical American spirit, by whom was
our national ideal more faithfully re-
fiected than by Abraham Lincoln, with
his lowly origin and his lofty words;
his mingling of. strength and gentle
ness, of caution and courage, Of un-
preparedness and attainment, of rec
onciliation for the form of law with
the vital facts of human life. of hatred
of privilege and love of personal lib
erty, yet with shrewd ability to dis
cern and indomitable courage to act
upon the overshadowing issue-the
paintenance of the nations life
paramount to forms of law and privi-
leges guaranteed under the law and
vital to democracy and liberty?"
The New York herald., 1921-01-02

When Carter Harrison, the son, suc-
ceeded his father many Chicagoans
believed they were still voting for the
same man. And the author quotes:
"'I voted f'r Carter Haitch,' says
Dugan. I've been with him in six
ilictions an he's good man. he says
"'Why, man alive / says. Carter
Hatch was assassinated three years
ago. says.
WAS hep says Dugan. 'Ah, WELL
he's lived that down be this time"
William b. Ogden, the first Mayor
of Chicago, was the first strong ruler
and he really governed. He was a man
of culture. of fine and liberal tastes
1t was he of whom Guizot said: "That
man is the representative American
He built Chicago"
To have been the man who built
Chicago is no small honor; for such a
town, with all it's merits and detri-
ments, is one of the great marvels
which the American Republic has to
show for its century and a half Of
existence. Mr.. Shackleton feels
strongly the special quality of the
place, an attraction stronger than
charm, and he does full justice-as. a
traveller-to it's great achievements
both in material things and in the
things Of the spirit. The great build
ings, the crush of the people, the
magnitude of the commerce. the swift
pace-all are corelative with the
"folkseyness" of the people, the charm
of the offered hospitality, the sturdi-
ness of the simple citizen and such in
f1uences as the libraries and the art
museums diffuse. Mr.. Shackleton
says a bookseller told him there ex-
listed no guide to Chicago. In that
case it is high time there was one, and
no friendlier commentator, with all
place, could be imagined than the
writer of this big, well made. hand
somely illustrated book.
At the end he tells a story illumi-
native of the vital and growing and
expanding nature of the whole popula-
ton. AS Mr.. Shackleton stood by the
Saint Gaudens Lincoln, one twilight,
a little girl. still a child, who had been
playing near by, went up and walked
around the sweep of the granite base
Her eyes caught the letters of his
name sunk in the great curve. She
could not read. but she caught the A.
and her eyes flashed with delight
And next to A came B, and she ran
her fingers through the grooves of the
letters. The c at first eluded her
F. But she found it, She was
learning her letters from Abraham
Lincoln"
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
Reviewed by
T. COMMERFORD MARTIN.
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF HAM
ILTON w. MABIE. BY Edwin w.
Morse. Dodd, Mead 4 Co.

Mabie had a good many excellent
books to his credit, but It Is pity he
did not live to write one more, devoted,
like a swan song, to the long line of
religious editors now practically as
extinct as the pterodactyl. II we ex-
cept that venerable survival, Lyman
Abbott. But the theme to which he
could have done Justice had apparent
" no appeal to him such as he found
in Shakespeare and the authors of
Knickerbocker New York.
The subject of this serene. reposeful
biography was something more than
a great editor. His work was part of
the literary Towering OF modern New
York at the time when leadership
passed from Boston and the New Eng
land school. and II marked also the
beginning of the era when ecclesiastical
Journalism had so lost its puritanic
taints and traits that one OF it's fore
most exponents could find enduring
fame as the eulogist and historian of
~ mere writer of ungodly plays; and
took as much delight in the opera and
the theatre as in the conventicle.
The Christian Unlock" was ex-
changed for the outlook" :" with all the
broadening view that Is implied of hui
man life and destiny; and Mabie as
much as any man taught and typifed
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
A Turkey Dinner
Fell at Her Feet

WILD TURKEYS AND TALLOw CAM
DIES. BY Ellen Hayes. The Four
Seas Company
wild turkeys were so plentiful as
to become a pest to crops. They went
in flocks the size of a hundred. When
they began to sow there are instances
of where the sower set down his wheat
to club back the turkeys. Six
years after the settlement, Enoch
Graves paid Spencer Wright nine fat
turkeys, caught in,a pen, for three
pounds of sole leather. A turkey that
had been shot came flying overhead
and fluttered down by the side OF Mrs.
Winchell, who was at work out of
doors. 1t was unable to fly further
and So furnished them dinner: when
dressed II weighed twenty-five pounds.
~ Deacon David Thomas killed
seven with two shots. having a shot
gun and getting the turkeys in a row
as they sat on the fence. Old MIR.
Hoover had the name of killing the
largest in the colony; when dressed
IL weighed thirty-eight pounds
Inefc, now what no Jithcy poocc'
movies and electric signboards add to
our happiness to balance the loss of
those pioneer joys. Think OF having
a turkey dinner. all complete except
the cranberry sauce. come and roost
of its own accord on your back garden
fence!
People who like "reminiscences of
pioneer days will enjoy this pleas
ant. leisurely volume. Traditions and
memories of Granville. Ohio. as from
tier settlement and backwoods town.
are here set down by one OF the last
of those who saw the tallow candle
period and heard at first hand Of the
wild turkey period which preceded It,
1t is well worth while to preserve this
material for its historical interest: and
at the same time Miss Hayes has pro-
duccd a pleasant and readable story.
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
Lincoln Sought Essential Truth

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: MAN OF GOD.
BY John Wesley Hill. G. p. Putnam's
Sons.
Lincoln's personality was so vast
that there is always room for another
study of his character. DR.. Hill. who
is chancellor of the Lincoln Memorial
University, is here concerned with
Lincoln's religion. and the presentation
of his life as that of man of God"
in the broadcast sense. The charge
that Lincoln was an 'infider' and
"hypocritical' has long been regarded
as patent absurdity; Dr. Hill refutes
it in some detail But Lincoln was too
big to be confined in any narrow sec
tartan fold. His religion. as DR.. Hill
says, was the outcome of a deep
delving into the fundamental truths
of life" His beliefs were rooted in
the teachings of his youth. in an age
of faith, but were clearly also SUBJ
jected to mature criticism, although
he died before the full advent of our
present era of agnosticism and evolu-
lloHdiy S'ltIctt DhyS LII. ftlll.
HE sought to find. not the mere
doctrinal forms of ecclesiastical life
as formulated in orthodox theology,
but rather the practical principles. ap-
picable alike TO religion and to all
other concerns OF life. But Lincoln
was no more orthodox in his political
and economic beliefs than I'm his reli-
gious faith. He no more accepted the
formulated statements of previous po-
litical parties than he accepted the
formulated doctrines of denominations.
Mr.. Lincoln believed.in and practised
the things in orthodoxy that were
simple, substantial and humane; but
with profound insight he never failed
to separate the essential from the nom
essential. the transltory from the per-
manent."
That goes to the root of Llncoln's
greatness--in his marvellous ability to
grasp fundamentals. to get to the root
of any matter with a sureness,
rightness that often strike one as we'll
nigh superhuman. He was. indeed.
profoundly religious. but II is impos-
sible to imagine him as debating over
a controversy "the width of a chasu-
ble's hem"
Dr. Hill adds an interesting sketch
The New York herald., 1921-01-02

Senate in Apri lof 1920 with that di-
vorce claim.
A visitor is struck by the general
expectation, in Chicago. that a man
will look out for himself pretty care
fully; it is part of the city's conf
dence in itself. Elevators in business
buildings and apartment houses are
not protected from the standpoint of
careful cities. Buses, with
passengers on top. run for a long dis
tance under elevated tracks below
which hang live electric wires.
Hidden motor cars back out swiftly
across sidewalks. To turn a
corner without honking seems the
usual way. One would expect
certain natural results from the gen.
eral carelessness. And at least the
subject of funerals exercises unex-
pected fascination for city so alive.
Funerals are favored incidents in
books by some Chicago authors. :.
An advertising sign in trolley reads:
The spirit of emotion is tenderly
woven into every bouquet from the
sympathetic hands of master florist
When a caucus was picking
candidates it came to the Office of
State Senator. But Springfield seemed
far away from the loaves and fishes of
Chicago politics. One after another
present, offered the chance, declined
1t. It's a dress-up job and poor re-
turns expressed the general feeling.
Then, suddenly, came a winning idea:
Why not give it to Eds brother?
He's got a silk hat! / saw him with
1t at funeral the other day"
In a chapter on "The Dukes of Chi
cago' Mr.. Shackleton considers several
of the leaders OF Chicago, the men who
control, who are obeyed. Chicago,
says he, loves to be arbitrarily ruled.
Chicago is under control of some such
ruler the citizens wish nothing so
much as to be rid of his rule. :.
But when the votes are counted he
will be found to have a majority of
them" The elder Carter Harrison was
Specially successful in this sort of
domination. AS a young man, in Paris.
he had seen the third Napoleon carry
out his coup d'etdt; he could not un-
5erstand how 1t succeeded. A distin-
guished Frenchman with whom he
spoke said: But you do not under
standl The people will only thank
Napoleon for giving them so magnifi-
cent a show" 'This," says Mr..
Shackleton. was the most important
practical lesson of his life. 1t gave
him the secret of ruling the unruly.
He found later that 1t won in
Chicago"
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
In the Same Lake Region With Chicago Lies Forgotten Ian
Legends of Shore and Marsh

Of the Pottawattomies. She was 90
old she had lost count. She cherished
a. silver arrow with which a defeated
rival had slain the man who won. And
afterward the squaw had avenged her
brave with the same arrow.
There are passages from "Wether
Book" of two generations ago, written
by a grown man but spelled like
Plupy Shute's diaries. Here are some
bits
Feb. 15th-Out yesterdy & 20 inches
snow in woods. Shot patriches near
the house. Wolves yelled all mite.
Sene geese flying N. but they better
go back. 1t is warmer thow. Som
deer crossed river last mite. This is
being a remarkable month. ="
July 15th.-My almanack says
Jerusalem was taken today in 1929.
1t is probly hot there now. II the
almanack would go as far foreds as it
does back it would be valuable rec
ord. 1t also says w. Penn died in
171s on the goth. 1 keep my almanack
here with me in the shade. Penn
was a CRATE man. l come from his
State" And he solemnly records on
Dec. 31st the observation:
This was the last day of the yeare
and whatever happened is now all
over"
The characters that hang around
Upton Posey's store are pictured and
their talk reported. We are also in
troduced at the Turkey Club. The
book is of quite uncommon character.
Reeds pictures are divided between his
well known studies of wide marsh,
low skies and flying water birds and
his studies or characteristic types in
these river settlements near the south
ern end of Lake Michigan.
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
AMERICAN POLITICAL IDEALS. BY
Charles Edward Merriam. The Mac
milan Company.

AMERICAN POLITICAL IDEALS. BY
Charles Edward Merriam. The Mac
milan Company.
When Count Smorltork met Mr. Pick
wick at Mrs. Leo Hunters gathering
he jotted in his notebook an entry
which began: THE word polite sur
prises by himself" He was struck by
the originality of Mr.. Pickwick's con-
ception of politics as embracing very
wide field At present the world has
moved so far that ii is taken for
granted that a people must be thor
oughly studied before their political
institutions can be readily understood.
In his book on american Political
Ideals" Prof. Merriam makes an ex-
haustive survey of all those factors
which find expression in our political
life. His analysis of the American
mind is not as acute as that which
Mr.. Comfy has recently written. nor
does his summary of political life
have the glow which appears in Her
bert Croly's Promise of American
Life" He seeks to record the salient
fact rather than to interpret it. In
performing this task he has shown in
dustry, impartiality and a power of
selection.
In earlier books Prof. Merriam has
discussed the theory of democracy as
developed by the fathers of the Con-
stitution. He partly recapitulates this
material. Then he takes up the widen
ing of the consent of the governed by
the extension of the franchise He
shows how impossible it has been to
maintain the theoretic balance of
power between the executive. legisla-
tive and judicial functions of govern
ment. The agrarian element in pol
itics lost its influence during the
period which he discusses. Conse-
quently some of the checks upon
predatory wealth lost their power. 1t
was felt that these courts were cor
rupt. He regards the change in the
status of the judges the most signif-
cant change. die believes that the re-
call of judges is a good thing. He
believes that no more respect should
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
The City Of Audacity

different kinds of people have got into
Chicago during her brief existence as
into any other big city of Nhe world
And however different they may be,
there is Chicago influence which
blends them. Mr.. Shackleton notes:
Chicago people have a character all
their own, among those of large cities.
through the constant meeting with one
another in the shopping district and at
the clubs. For the amazing fact is
that the present great business district,
the LOOP. was originally the business
district. and pretty much everybody
goes there every day.l They all know
what their neighbors are doing, and If
a friend has a visitor it quickly be-
comes common knowledge. Boys
and girls still go to school together and
grow up together and use first names.
and II anything happens to anybody it
is talked over by everybody. AL
together, 1t is a city that is loved. not
only by it's own folks, but by sojourn-
ers. Chicagoans are folksey
folk, and there is no difficulty in find
ing apartment houses that-have no OBJ
lection to children; than which It
would be hard to find better evidence
of folkseyness''
1t is impossible not to attempt, by
quotation, to follow Mr.. Shackletons
excellent method of visualizing this
marvellous population of a marvellous
city. His pages are heaped up with
stories besides such generalizations as:
More than any other city, this is a
place for meetings. Chicagoans
are good listeners. In almost
any gathering of Chicago's business
men the average is younger, and you
see more badness than you see i'll
Eastern cities. Chicago is not
always good theatre city for brilliant
plays Theatres of all kinds are
open on Sunday. 1t is not
wicked to have your hair cut on Sun
day. The police are. as in other
cities. made common target for criti-
cism, but recently criticism was quieted
for at least six months through the
outspoken declaration of the police
head that for every. dishonest police
man there were five hundred dishonest
citizens-which made the city gasp
and grow silent"
Now. that is a rather sweeping
statement, and the city may have been
too shocked to answer quickly Within
a few weeks we have heard that the
Chicago Police Department has been
completely reorganized by indignant
citizens. Doubtless things are better
now. But there is an extraordinary
crop Of such legends Mr.. Shackleton
remarks that "one may hear the
charge-or boast-that in this twen-
tieth century the city averages one
murder a day." And this was written
some months ago, before the present
forced draft in criminal operations!
However. there are as many sides
to Chicago as to a cut GEM
"The city boasts Of more litigation
per capita than any other city of the
world. 1t also claims more divorces
than any other city, with figures ready
to prove it, and Chicagoan went be-
fore a committee of the United States
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
The Immigrants Are Our Pupils

THE SCHOOLING OF THE IMMI-
GRANT. BY Frank V. Thompson.
Harper & Brothers.
No present day movement in educa-
ton is of greater Importance than that
which is seeking to Americanize the
foreign born portion of our population.
Educators of note already see in it So
cial, political and industrial regenera-
tion, so the more hopeful of them de-
clare. In this book Dr. Thompson. Su-
perintendent of Public Schools in Bos-
ton, has contributed the first of eleven
studies In Amertcanization which will
be of the utmost interest to teachers
and educators everywhere, as well az
to every one interested in immigrants
and their assimilation by the land OF
their adoption. Although the school
- looked upon as the chief instrument
OF Americanization, DR.. Thompson
points out the danger of regarding Il
as the sole factor or as an isolated In
strument apart from other forces.
we are assuming too much" SAYS
he. when we conclude that the formal
schooling of the immigrant will auto
matically solve the problem of Ameri-
canization. Not only the school. but
the home, the church. the street. the
playground, the moving picture. the
Job, are factors which determine the
character and tendencies of the citi-
zen."
Dr. thompson shows that progress
slve nations and States have been
apie TO reduce illiteracy in their native
porn population and among the chill
oren OF foreign parentage to a fraction
OF one per cent. He believes that the
Judicious extension of attendance re-
quirements to persons who are ordi-
narily regarded as having passed be-
yond the school age would greatly cut
down the comparatively large numbers
OF immigrants who are at present I'M
aole to speak or read English.
Persuasion and not compulsion. js
urged by DIR. Thompson as the most
enective method of instilling a knowl-
edge OF English and OF the spirit OF
American institutions in the minds OF
newcomers TO our shores. He has but
little sympathy with the so called 100
per cent. Americans who hold auto-
cratic views with respect 10 proper
programme of Americanlzation and
who would, by edict compel the ec-
quirement Of the English language by
all within a brief period of time and
would abolish the Little Italics. the
Little Hungaries and the ghettos.
III Americanization is primarily a
mode OF thinking and feeling" DR..
Thompson says. "the compulsionist Is
forced to maintain the theory that
naoits OF thinking and feeling can be
"A n h-r
And this, OF course. the doctor feels. is
n most un-American attitude for anv
one to maintain. Immigrant children
and the children of Immigrants come
under the compulsory education law
which is compulsion Of another nature
than that discussed for adults
The problem Of Immigrant education
Is considered by DR. Thompson TO be
Federal one. We are at present pro-
ceeding to do through communities
The New York herald., 1921-01-02

TALES OF A VANISHING RIVER" ("
BY Earl H. Reed. Illustrated by the
author. John Lane Company.
A river has living current of life
along its banks or upon it's surface. as
Mark Twain made Immortality clear in
his Mississippi sketches. Reeds river.
the Kankakee yields an entirely diff
ferent set of impressions. The noise
and stir of river steamboat life are
wanting. In its place art seizures In
word and design of the ines, marshes
and woods of the region and stories of
the people. with the treasured legends
of earlier inhabitants. Among these
denizens were birds of species now
extinct.
"The passenger pigeons came in
multitudes to the river country in the
fall and settled into the woods, where
the ripe acorns afforded abundant
food. The old inhabitants tell Won
drous tales Of their migrations, when
the innumerable flocks obscured the
clouds and the sound of the passing
of the gray hosts was that of a moan
ing wind. The gregariousness of these
birds was their ruin. They congre-
gated on the dead trees in such num-
bers as often to break the smaller
limbs Owls, hawks and four footed
night marauders feasted voraciously
upon them. They were easy victims
for the nets and guns of the pot hunt
ers and the blind destructiveness OF
man wherever nature has been prodv
igal of her gifts. For years these
beautiful creatures have been extinct
but the lesson of their going is only
now beginning to be heeded.".
The second chapter is an Indian
story told by Waukena, human relic
The New York herald., 1921-01-02
Journalism of Pulpit and Pew

the passing of the older narrow ira
ditions as they merged into higher and
nobler influences.
or course Mabie was not the first of
these notable editor-authors to whom
the opportunities of the pages Of semi
sacred journalism were inadequate.
and who sought escape into larger
literary fields. One of his predeces-
sors, 1renaeus Prime. wrote a ponder
Gus history of Morse. and In doing so
mutiated horribly the correspondence
files of the great inventor, choppins
up invaluable holographs with as much
nonchalance as the priests OF Egyp,
stuffed papyri into the gizzards OF the
sacred defunct ibises.
Nor was Mabie mere writer chap"
AS this volume shows. he was much
and deservedly sought after as. lee
turer and postprandial orator; and his
friendships were altogether charming
and admirable, with much resultant
intercourse that belonged I'm the social
movement of the day. IL is worthily
typical Of him that In 1912-1913 he was
selected as the representative of the
C''i h'Sie iHiuVNhicnt loi inttfHatiOndi
Peace to deliver lectures In Japan on
American ideals. character and life:
carrying out fertile suggestion made
by Hamilton Holt OF the Independent.
This enlarges the conception OF the
ambassadorial function removed far
from diplomacy of the dollar and poker
hand. and based upon the employ
ment of International sorviCe of svn-
pathetic personalities through which
American cultural forces can be set
before the world