davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
PORT BONDS AT A PREMIUM

The sale of the first million of seaport bonds of Alabama at a premium. of twenty eight thousand dollars, and the lively bidding of various firms is con- vincing assurance of the stability of Ala bama's credit, the validity of the seaport amendment, and the worth of the seaport program. There is no doubt that the se- lection of General Sibert to supervise the construction and to lead in it's planning has had much to do with establishing the confidence of both the people and the in vestors in the ultimate financial success of the undertaking. To be sure, the bonds will be valid whether the project sue ceeds financially or not, but the fact that the project is in capable and experi- enced hands adds greatly to their at- tractiveness.
 Little construction is contemplated with this first million. It will be spent in acquiring title to the necessary acre age and in removing the railroad tracks from the waterfront. Perhaps a hundred thousand or so will be available for pre-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
sTREET.PAYING PROGRESS

A total of two million dollars is now involved in street pavings either under way or at once to be projected. Consid- erable money has been spent during the incumbency of the present commission on paving. That is well and good. Bir- nningham's need now is for even more paving than has been constructed, not for less. It is important, however, that this paving be of durable type and de- signed to meet the constantly increasing demands of traffic, not only in number of vehicles but also for heavier loads. Some of the paving is good, and is ap- parently able to serve it's needs for long time. There is other paving that is to the casual eye inadequate. Some paw, ings are going to pieces long before they should have, owing to deficiencies in specification or type, and not to the heav- iness of the traffic. Undoubtedly many of these pavings have cost as much as those of more suitable strength, which reveals a weakness somewhere in the administration of this important concern.
 It is also very evident that some paw ings are already too narrow properly to accommodate their peak loads. Such roads evidence that too little vision of growing traffic needs has been applied to their planning. This kind of road building is expensive, unless the initial construction has made allowance for later widening, as is not the case in many pavings already become too narrow. AL though there is qualification over the speed at which this work has progressed, the people should not be blinded to the fact that there are glaring imperfections which could have been foreseen and ob- viated, and that there is still room for the exercise of greater efficiency and greater economy in the building and paw ing of streets and thoroughfares. Econ ony is not alone matter of first cost. It is also a matter of maintenance and durability, as we'll as of adequacy.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
Brief Nature Studies
By J. OTIS SWIFT

NV THEN our first mother, sitting radiant w in dewy beauty in the Garden, like a
 damsel-fly drying it's wings after emerging from the larva, had listened to Adam and consented, womanlike, she wept and dried her eyes on a bit of filmy spiders web Arachne had spun on weed top. When she went away among the ferns tps prepare her trousseau, she forgot the lace handker- chief, and the next morning 1t had become the gauzy white blossom of the wild Carrot, long afterward called Queen Ann's lace.
 Perhaps that is why country brides pick Queen Annes lace for breakfast table deco ration. It is found O mornings still bejew- eled with the maiden tears of Eve. It is the most persistent of farmland weeds, growing beside dusty highways, among clover and buttercups and always lovely. It followed out ancestors from Europe.
 There is poetic meaning in the fact that as the flowers grow old they curl up like a birds nest-something like, perhaps, that nest Eve laid her first-born in among the trees of Paradise.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
Forum Of The People
A Plan for Birmingham

To the Editor of The Age Herald;
 A mayor by the people salary, $10,000 per year. Wards: East Lake, 1 Gate City, ? l; Woodlawn, 3; Avondale, A. East Birming- ham, 5: North Birmingham, 6; Old Birming- ham, q Elyton, 8; Graymont, g; West End. 10; Pratt City, II; Ensley, 12; Wylam, 1S Then elect q senate of seven men at large, and twenty representatives. Elect Wards l, 3, 5, :, 9, II, 13 for one year, and ?, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 for two years. Four senators for one year and three for two years, thereby keeping some experienced men in at all times. Two regular meetings per month; salary, $1O per >meeting-$20o per month, $2,400 per year. Five dollars for each member present at all called meetings of the mayor. A three-fourths vote of both houses to override mayors veto. A majority vote of both houses to pass any ordinance-law or improvements. Duty of the two houses to appropriate all funds in payments of all city expenses.
 Duty of mayor Appoint the heads of all departments, fix all salaries to be approved by both upper and lower house. Hold the mayor responsible for the actions of all em- ployes of the city. Do not allow the alder men or senate to have any say in whom the mayor employs. The old aldermen approved the appointment. of all police officers after they were elected by police commission. MT. Mayors excuse was that when a complaint was registered, the police were elected by the police commission and approved by the alder men and that he had nothing to do with them. Take that part of politics out of your government and you will get better results.
 Our great trouble has been that there are too many heads at the city hall. We only need one head. That will be in keeping with all successful corporations in and around our city. No business has ever succeeded with more than one head. The form of gov ernment has nothing much to do'with its sue cess; it is the men who are elected to run it. In city, honest, efficient, experienced men is all we need. I have heard many men ex- press themselves relative to the aldermanic form of government alone. They were not satisfied with it before, and will oppose it at the polls | have spoken to many voters about the above, and no one raised any ob- jections to it, and many spoke in favor of it. Our states and our national government did run with two representative bodies, and governor or a president.
 I am no politician and do not want any office of any kind, regardless of salary.
 T. B. STREET.
 Riruninahan. Ala
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
"Bubbles ln the Air

There is no example in history, that pas siye resistance ever helped accompanying part of the lost ground. am firmly convinced that some day we will have to organize active resistance against the arrogant people of France. What is important is to know when and how" So speaks responsible German official, Dr. Kurtner, minister of justice of the Bayarian government. The doctor, who belongs to the old junker-monarchi group, thinks that the present regime lacks in yirility and is led astray by liberal ideologisss. A section of the French press sees in such sen timents evidence that the German people have not disarmed morally. The trouble is the great majority of the German people are keeping silent. They believe in work and in peace. They leave the prating and the futile satre-rattling to the unemployed militarists. Consequently the world hears nothing but the junkers' blatant and flamboyant de- fiapce. But the very fact that they dare not risk q coup d'etat to restore the old empire shows that they are not so certain of their strength as their noise would indicate. An other thing is that their ranks are forever thinning. With the Dawes plan in opera tion and prosperity returning to the father. land, we will hear less and less of the mon- archists. Revolutions and overthrews of government. either from above or below, do not come about when people are prosperous The monarchists see prosperity round the corner and try to achieve their aims before their last chance is gone. @
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
Alexandre Dumas, FiIs

Alexandre Dumas, the younger, the een- tsnary of whose birth it is, has perhaps fewer admirers in EngIish speaking countries than his father. Yet he was a dramatlst of the new school, whose plays, like La Dame aux Camelias,' have not lost their popularity and favor. Departing from the spirit that ami mated play acting in his days, he was sincere and believed in the lofty function of the the atre He even went SO far as to say that all literature which does not aim at "a moral, an ideal or a reform is Etillborn.H f Such words make him almost the ethic zealOt of the stage. Yet his gift lay deeper than his theory He said once; You cannot become a dtamatist. You are that by birth or not at all, just as you are dark or fair by no choice of your own.n Sometimes his mission to re- form society hung oyer him like a sombre cloud, Obscuring his genius Still he fought bravely to free his spirit When you are suffering deeply, look your pain in the face It will console you itself and it will teach you something" he said.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
Sweetness Of Life.
By JOHN CARLYLE

Charm is something that you have or you don't have. There is no substitute. You can't initiate charm There is no use pre- tending to have it if you haven't it. No tall ent can equal it. Intelligence itself cannot take the place of it.
 There is no quality that man or woman can have more desirable and desired than charm. Like nothing else it makes one lov- able and loved.
 What, then, is this charm? What is this most desirable of attributes, like which there is nothing else? How is it made? How does it come?
 Charm comes mostly from unselfishness. It comes from being honestly interested in people. 1t comes from caring about their affairs and their welfare. Charm comes from really liking people.
 If y0u have charm you do not ever dis agree with people about trivialities. You never picker over petty things. You never fight unless the issue is big issue.
 If you have charm you do not insist that a new hat is unbecoming when somebody else thinks it is becoming. If you have charm you do not insist that the nights are too warm when somebody else finds them just cool enough. If you have charm you agree that such and-such an automobile is a very nice car, although you may have serious doubts about it.
 If you have charm you agree that picnic is lots of fun although you may really dis l like picnies very much. Do not get the idea that to have charm you must always conceal your true feelings or that you must be dishonest.
 Remember that this policy of being agree able is not to cover the really important is sues that we all have to meet. You must sometimes seriously disagree with your best 1 friend if the issue is vital Even then you can do it a way that is charming. You need not be ugly.
 Charm consists in caring about making somebody else comfortable.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
The Right Word
INDIRECT AND DIRECT
By CURTIS NICHOLSON
tFind Ihe ErrOr in Thls ArtlcIel

The following letter has been received from person in Upper Granville, N. s., who re- quests that my name does not appear in connection herewith :"
 ''I should like a little information. In the c, word contest, the abbreviation Co. was used. Why cannot that be called a contrac- tion of Company, even though it be an ab- stract noun? And are not culmination and connection equally abstract? ,Gss
 Also, we say chick-cEicks; and aelIicken- chickens; but are they not Synonymous When we use chick and chickens, lave we not both singular and plural?
 "In the grammar which l studied and from which taught, we were instructed that Verbs of asking and teaching take two ob- jects, both direct one answering to the ques- tion whom asked after the verb the ether to what ; as, They asked him question. Asked whom? Answer: Him. Asked what A Answer A question.
 '@The grammar speak of has been in use in. our public schools for more thar thirty years and our children's knowledge of Eng fish has been based upon it. Yet your treat ment of the verb ask in this column some days ago differed markedly from the above. l shall be grateful for information on these points" Ea&F
 1.-The Right Word" quotes as follows from Feranld's "A Working Grammar of the Eng. fish Language"
 '"The verb ask often makes an indirect object governed by the proposition of (under. stood) as, asked the man no questions Ii the order of words is changed of must be ex. pressed; as, I asked no questions of the man."
 "Co." may be an abbreviation for either one of the following words; Company, Cobalt Colon, County. Continuation and connection are abstract when they are used as names of qualities. Chick is the name of very young chicken. t Yesterdays Error
 Wrong: If any one could not make q hun dred, he does not know .
 Right If any one could not make3 hun dred they do not know ~
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
The Worlds s " ind do,O
Harrassinx Herriot
By PEERRE Y.AN RAANsEN

MI. HERRI0T is bringing light in the IN dark and gloomy atmosphere of the
 Europe of the past five years. Hay- ing substituted conciliation and a will to nn- derstand for Poincare's yindictiye revenge in principle, what the old parties of France and Britain could not bring about--the ac- ceptance of reparation terms by the Ger mans In the meantime the Poincafe group, backed by the royalists, are harrassins his policy by stressing the premier's remarks about the French policy in AlsaeesIp lorraine. M. Herriot said some time ago that were it not for Alsace he would recall the French ambassador at the Vatican, for in my con ception the supreme pontin represents q spiritual state and not temporal one, and consequently France can have no relations with him, for we Frenchmen do not accept the discipline of Rome" His opponents leave out the first part of his remarks: were it not for Alsace." They forget also that M. Leon Blum. leader of the socialists and par tieipant with M. Herri6t in the government, said that the sentiments of Alsace would be sacred to France. No parochial schools are to be closed, nor seminaries abolished in the two provinces where the clerical party is ih control The nunci0 .will stay in Paris. M. Herriot is too wise politician to send him home. Even despite M. Viviani,s assertion of few years ago "We Frenchmen have extinguished the heavenly lights the pope's ambassador was invited to come to France and everybody was satisfied M. Herriot is . liberal, who will respect the feelings of people who may differ from him on religious and political questions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
OUR HATs OFF no ENGLAND

It's customary to think of London as a
 foggy, slummy sort of place, distinctly. un- wholesome in comparison with New York. But the bitter truth is this Only sixty out of every one thousand babies born in London died last, year. In New York sixty-seyen out of every one thousand babies died. Taking England as q. whole, the infant death rate was sixty out of a thousand, and in the United States it was seventy-seven out of a thousand. So far as babies are concerned, in their first struggle for life, England is the land of opportunity. America could better af- ford to compare unfayorably with England in trade, in gold, in armaments, than to be be- hind her or any other country when it comes to fhe safety of her babies Dallas Dispatch.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
FOSTERS BUY LEAF.cHRoNIcLE

An interesting announcement in South ern Journalism is the purchase of The Clarksville, Tennessee, Daily Leaf Chrof- icle by Edgar M. Foster and his son, M. Stratton Foster, of Nashville. The pa- per was founded by the late w. w. Barksdale, and through his efforts soon became a prosperous and influential fac tor in that cultured and progressive com munity. Since his death it has been con- ducted by his widow. MT. Foster, the elder, is widely known, as a successful newspaper builder. He has been asso- ciated with The Nashville Banner since his boyhood, and for many years has been its business manager. He is regarded as one of the most capable newspaper ex- ecutives in the South, and is man of the highest character. Besides his news paper duties, he has found time actively and officially to take part in Nashvllle's civic betterment. The active publication of The Leaf Chronicle will be in the hands of the younger Foster, but the father will act as general adviser in mat ters relating to the papers upouildlng. He will continue as business manager ot the Banner.
 The policy of The Leaf Chronicle un- der its new management will continue to be independently Democratic. 1t says: "It believes in the fundamental princi- ples of the Democratic party as applied to government, state and federal, but The Leaf Chronicle will place public inter est above party mandates where the two conflict, and will ever hold principle above policy"
 That is a safe and sound enunciation of principle upon which further to build progressive and prosperous newspaper of character and influence.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
HUGE AMOUNT IN MOTOR CARS

' In 1923 there were manufactured 4,068,997 autOmobiles--a 53 per cent. increase over 1922; and yet 1922 was a 60 per cent. in- crease over 1921. No industry of major size can saneiy hope to continue such q stiff pace. We are today in America spending for automobiles and automobile supplies sum equal to twice the total national income jn 1850. Since January 1, 1913, we have man.
 lfactured 19I000,000 ears, as against only one million manufactured from 1895 to 1912 i'm elusive. The annual rate of output has beeA multiplied by eight since the first year war year. This year the number of automobiles in use became larger than the number of telephones in use. Already the number of people travelling daily in automobiles exceeds the number in railway cars.-J. George Fred. erick In the North American Review.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
Watching The Parade
rT1HIs morning Freddy Paul and I were
By JaIlEN PILGRIAI


 THIS morning Teddy Paul and were
 walking town the street. Happy as cat
 fish in a muddy river. Just walking in the warm sun and thinking about nothing and vaguely formulating plans for fishing or hunting or something of the sort at some later and indefinite date. Then we met Mrs Teddy Paul.
 Where are you going?" she asked.
 We'll, we were not going anywhere. Just walking. But to admit that to Mrs. Teddy Paul would have been equivalent to asking for trouble. You must meet Mrs. Teddy with well prepared story. buttressed at all points. She wants to know why and when and who.
 "So lie to her." said Teddy.
 So lied to her, too We stood in that nice, bright sunlight, on that happy street and lied our little souls away. By and by we convinced Mrs. Teddy that we were actually going where we said we were going and we resumed our interrupted stroll. But the pleasure had gone out of it. Teddy made a halting admission.
 Tive got Ito lie to her." he said. Some how, she cannot understand why one does the simple, ordinary, commonplace things of life. She insists that one shall be. driven by q duty all the time.s She abominates loafers and to her a. loafer is any one who is not actively engaged in productive toll. To get little peace out of life 1 lie to her. Now and then she catches me at it, but I'm hardened.
 Next time, say, I'll tell lie you can't catch me in
 There was never a finer, kinder, better woman than Mrs. Teddy Paul. She worries about Teddy, too. I can tell that she sus- poets him of being a confirmed liar.
 We'll, he is--so far as she is concerned. But she made him so
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
NO POLITICS IN HEALTH WORK

Assurance that the proposed new or dinance affecting milk regulations will not be acted upon until it has been re- ferred to the health board is gratifying to the people of Birmingham. When pol itics enters into questions of the public health, it is time to bid the health good by. For those who are to be curbed by regulations to formulate and present their own regulations is odd enough to cause distrust at the outset. The superb health position enjoyed by Birmingham has been hard-won and has been attained in spite of the protests of those whose loose practices once proved a public threat, whether it was a question of milk or of some other subject of sanitation. One has only to review the decline of certain diseases in this community, a de- cline directly attributable to the admin istration of the public health, to spring instinctively to the defense of efficiency in this matter; regardless of the private
 interest. It might be well for the dairy
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
Not 4 LdsU Of Action
IIMPossIBI.E null nest tenu' '--rl,
By DK. FhAs0 CRANE
runa la French proVerb. -

f.. FuuSfa Frencn prOEerbs
 Which is quite comfortable, but wholly un- true. siH5
 The very opposite is trueb Nine times out of ten it is the impossible to which our com manding conscience points. Y q
 You feel you may do, can do, would like or hate to do what you can do; but it is usually what you think you can not do that you feel you ought to do,
 You feel you ought to be perfectly pure you never will be, but so long as you live you will feel the tug of the obligation.
 It is your bounden duty to, be always pa lent, kind, brave, strong, selfrenErolled, sweet, tempered, forgiving, and altogether paragon of all the virtues This at the same time you understand very well is out of the question | you are too human. But that does not quiet conseience, you go on feeling you should be perfect
 Now, the meat of this matter, the solution of the puzzle. is this that conscience is not so much law of action as it is a principle of development
 Nature is not so much concerned about your doing just 50, as she is about your growing constantly. God & pyfpose, if I may. 50 speak, is not SO much HaEiess conduct as the continuous development oof our moral stature.
 It is only by trying to reach the unattain- able that our reach becomes ever higher. Our powers rise toward our ideas of perfection, as flowers grow toward the sun. It was not intended that any flower should attain to the sun.
 Responsibility says Bushnell, "is not measured by ability"
 Mistaken people are discouraged when they see how far they fall sheFt of their ideals. They never do quite what they ought to do !, hence, despair. What's the use? says one can't be good; so, to the bottleand the wal, low of the senses. 4lP
 Others, who will not sink so low, keep try ing, yet are necessarily irritated, pessimistic in the dumps.
 It seems to me all such might be com forted not little, and their lives made much more even and poiseful, if they would realize the fact that our sense of thought always points to something out of our reach, and that natures design is that we keep reaching, and so develop. And even if some rare soul did regch the highest mark set by his con- sciene4 straightway another and a higher mark would appear.
 Growth is ! deeper word even than right. eousnsss,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-20
Recollection
fBaron Ireland in Lifel

(Baron Ireland in Life) It's Old Home Week in Dinky Stream -(The letter came two days ngO), And sitting at my desk dream
 Of childhood scenes l used to know. The rippling brook the leaping trout;
 The barns, .ehOck-full of new-mown hay; The chickens chuck; my playmates' shout, Bidding me forth to childish play. The cool dark we'll the moss-green pump; The furrows that I used to plow;. The rappled horses, huge and plump How clear they stand before me nowe And Bill and George and Bert and Lew Friends of my youth-will all be there Among the folks that they, too, knew, Breathing the old-time country air , The old-time scenes the old-time cheer; The old-time laugh the old-time wheezei You bet your life I'll stay right here!
 Miss Burton, take letter, please z. Y.