THE CAMPUS ECHO
Page Three
It’s Not True—What
They Say About Dixie
those w
have never known the Lord
Jesus will be constrained to fol
low him. The main trouble with
the world today is that too many
so-called Christians have gone
back into the world, and are do
ing likewise with the sinners
that they have no influence over
the sinner. Another reason is
that too many people are seek
ing after worldly pleasures in
stead of heavenly rest.
Young people seem to think
that we are here to stay always,
but young people must consider
that Jesus has no respect of per
son. So it is our duty to prepare
ourselves, for Jesus is coming
soon and will we be able to
stand? We, as young people,
seem to form the opinion that
all we should be concerned with
is having a good time. Pleasures
are all right if they are of the
right kind, but there will come
a day when the pleasures of this
world will do us no good. There
fore, we, the younger people,
should consider the question of
“religion” more seriously than
ever before.
Speaking of our own Presi
dent, Dr. James E. Shepard,
admire him for one particular
thing—that of being a Christian
who, every time he has an occa
sion to speak, bases a portion of
his talk on some phase of Chris
tianity. We need more men like
our president, including our
teachers and the student body
as a whole. A suggestion woulc
be to have more emphasis placed
on Christianity by our teachers
in the classroom, or devote one
hour a week to some such re
ligious discussions wherein the
students may take an active
part. —Flora King.
It’s really not true what they
say about Dixie, especially
about its cooking. In the Ameri
can Mercury for January, 1939,
in an article, “The Truth About
Southern Cooking,” Isabelle
Post states: “The truth of the
matter is, to be brutally frank,
that the South’s over-publicized.
Epicureans subsist for the most
part upon its three traditional
m’s—meat, meal, and molasses;
1’ that the meat is usually limited
to a fat salt pork realistically
termed “sow-belly”; and that
these three foundation foods
I find their way from the raw to
aristocratic Dixie palates via the
type cook who when asked if she
can feed fifteen men, replies,
ij “Yes suh, jes gimme de grease.”
Can you imagine any person liv
ing on fat salt pork, cornbread,
and molasses fried in grease?
It would be improbable for all
the South to do such a thing
when it is from this region that
we get most of our fruits and
vegetables. Why should we eat
only fat salt pork when so many
hogs are raised in the South; do
we sell all the other choice parts
and keep the fat? Yet Miss Post
contends: “A really good steak
in Dixie is as hard to find as a
good Republican—and infinite
ly tougher. Nowhere in the
South is it possible to beg, bor
row, or steal a first rate cut of
meat, since the prime cuts are
shipped from the Middle West
to the large cities of the North
and East.”
Why should all the prime cuts
be sent to the big northern and
eastern cities only; are not some
of the southern cities large
enough? Stores of any section
are not allowed to sell inferior
food. How can Dixie do it? Miss
Post also mentions: “Chickens
are small and scrawny com
pared with those up North,
which fact probably accounts for
the genesis of Southern fried
chicken—a foul system of cov
ering the bird with a thick layer
of flour or cracker-meal before
frying—otherwise there would
be nothing to bite into.” South
ern chickens are not all small
and scrawny, just those that are
fried. These are called spring
chickens or fryers and are not
allowed to grow to full size so
they will be juicy and tender.
The author contends, “In the
matter of fruits and vegetables,
conditions are hardly better. Ex
cept during the short growing
season, fresh ones are practi
cally non-existent.” She does
not realize that in Dixie such
vegetables as cabbage, turnip
salad, and collards are grown
the year around. It is true there
is not much fruit out of season,
but each season brings another
fruit. The people of Dixie take
pride in canning when it is in
season. The reason Miss Post
has never tasted a good plum,
cherry or pear in Dixie is they
are not usually on the market
because everybody has a gen
erous supply of his own.
The author insists, “While the
current program for the retire
ment of cotton land is encour
aging the growth of the dairy
industry at the present, the
average Southerner is scared
stiff by most dairy products.
Fresh sweet butter as we know
it is unknown in the South, and
even the packaged, salted vari
ety is found only on the table
of the better class.” Evidently
the author refers to a few gen
erations ago, because there are
at least three large dairies in
each of the larger cities of Dixie.
In the smaller towns, if there
are no dairies, nearby farmers
with cows can keep the people
supplied.
Miss Post continues, “Last but
not least, there is Southern ice
cream, which is a sorry apology
for the real thing.” We wonder
why large ice cream companies
would lower the quality of their
product just for Dixie. As long
as our ice cream is pure and
palatable we are satisfied.
States the author, “Cooking
in Dixie means frying. Many a
home I know boasts as its sole
culinary equipment an assort
ment of frying pans—and little
else. I used to wonder what
Southern ladies did with the
roasting compartments of their
stoves until a little private
sleuthing revealed their pur
pose—the storing of frying
pans.” I admit we use the frying
pan too much but if we use the
roasting compartment of our
stoves for storing the frying
pans, where do we cook the low
grade cuts of meat we buy or
the “fairly creditable biscuits’
we are given credit for having?
In the frying pans too?
“The food is spiced and fla
vored within an inch of its life,
not to mention the life of its
consumer,” says Miss Post. Rich,
highly seasoned foods seem to
be a weakness of the Dixieland-
ers, but the foods are seasoned
to suit the individual taste.
The author continues: “One
can travel from Richmond to
El Paso, from Memphis to Mi
ami, without finding a cafe or
hotel dining room sufficiently
good to make him want to go
back for another meal. Service
is slow, noisy, and often insol
vent. Flies infest all restau
rants, and the cockroaches usu
ally to be seen scurrying across
the floor indicate the kitchens
have their quota of rats.” South
ern cafes may not be what they
should because they are com
paratively new. Until recently
Southern people did not patro
nize cafes but they lived at
home. No city would tolerate
anything like the one described;
the health inspector would force
it to close. ’
Miss Post contends in con
clusion: “Small wonder, then,
that the South is the country’s
best market for liver pills, stom
ach cures, and other digestive
panaceas.” The true reason for
the large market for such reme
dies is that the people over-eat.
Would not anyone over-eat if he
had food he could really enjoy?
We Southerners do sincerely
wish that before such articles as
the one here mentioned are pub
lished the author would visit
the South. Some of the ideas the
article contained may have been
true fifty years ago but not in
Dixie today.
—Edith A. Parham.
I Wonder Why
I wonder why does man
spend so much time preparing
to kill himself. Is it because he
is king of the animal kingdom
and hates himself most, or is it
that he wants to be unfair to
himself?
God has put animals and fouls
here for man’s use, such as hogs,
cows, sheep, rabbits, foxes,
squirrels, chickens, and birds.
But when man is going through
the process of molding steel bul
lets in order that he may kill
these animals and fouls, he does
not trouble himself to make
those large balls of steel that he
makes to kill himself.
In the time of peace, man is
busy preparing for war. In mak
ing this great preparation he
forgets who is to suffer the re
sults of such cruel preparations.
He no longer molds the small
balls of steel as he did to kill
the animals and the fowls, but
now that he is preparing to kill
himself, he bullets are molded
into large balls and he even
goes so far as to make what is
known as bombs, and these
bombs are filled with poison
gases.
Man! I wonder why you
would be so detrimental to your
self? After all, preparations are
made to kill you, and when you
are dead, do you expect the few
of us who may survive during
your wars to eat your bodies?
Why certainly you don’t. Then
I wonder why do you forever
keep your minds and your
hands engaged in making prep
arations to kill yourself. I won
der, I wonder, I wonder why.
The Measure of a Man
Not—“How did he die?”
But—“How did he live?”
Not—“What did he gain?”
But—“What did he give?”
These are the units
To measure the worth
Of a man, as a man.
Regardless of birth.
Not—“What was his station?”
But—“Had he a heart?”
And—“How did he play
His God-given part?
Was he ever ready
With a word of good
cheer,
To bring back a smile.
To banish a tear?”
Not—“What was his church?”
Nor—“What was his creed?”
But—“Had he befriended
Those really in need?”
Not—“What did the sketch
In the newspapers say?”
But—“How many were sorry
When he passed away?”
French Forum Under Way
FAIR WARNINGS
At the San Francisco
World’s Fair—
Husbands and wives contem
plating offspring may step up to
the “heredity doll,” push a num
ber of buttons indicating color
of their eyes, hair, complexion,
height, etc., and out pops a doll
which looks the way their own
child will look. —Esquire.
The forum of the 12B French
class, under the leadership of
Professor A. Heningburg, is
well under way. The committee
is doing fine work; it is keeping
the class posted on the current
events of the day, especially
telling of the activities of
France. During National Negro
History Week we were told
many interesting and unusual
things concerning Negroes not
mentioned in textbooks of this
day and age; we were told of
Negro Americans and Negro
Frenchmen. We expect to invite
you soon to a special meeting,
and will be disappointed if you
don’t come.
—Floreta Irma Hunter,
Class Reporter
America and Progress
There is no doubt in any one’s
mind about the progress in
America. She has been elevated
to the age of all ages, “The Ma
chine Age.”
This machine age has taken
America by the roots of her
hair, demanded and commanded
her into becoming its servant,
until she has admitted defeat
and no longer has a will of her
own. It has, without warning,
stepped politely into the fac
tories where thousands of men
have been laboring for years
and ousted them from their
security. Negro cotton pickers,
who know no other kind of
work, are being thrown out of
their jobs by a machine that can
pick cotton and clean it in less
than half the time of the pick
ers. Then comes this era of ma
chinery into the private homes
of America with washing ma
chines to wash clothes, electric
stoves to cook the meals, elec
tric dish-washers to clean the
dishes. Still treading lightly
down the streets of America, it
stops in the telephone buildings
and puts operators out of their
positions through the dial sys
tem; going on it halts at some
of the largest offices, tells those
stenographers to get out and in
stalls a stenotype machine;
walks through the large depart
ment stores, tells the people
that it knows they are tired of
walking up and down stairs and
installs escalators and elevators.
It is still tramping through the
streets of America and when it
will stop tramping, nobody
knows.
What has this machine age
done to the people, the people
who no longer have jobs? It
walked into the White House,
told the president to put on re
lief these millions of people who
are out of work. Now that the
people have no worries about
shelter, clothing, and food, they
find themselves with time on
their hands. Their brains begin
to function, making them think
many things. Crime is one of the
results of this time on their
hands. Crime has become so
large in America that she is
hardly able to control it. Jails
are becoming so full that new
ones are constantly being built
or the old ones being enlarged.
Another result of this ma
chine age is that we find many
youths going to college. For
what? There are no jobs for
most of them. As a result, they
become America’s public ene
mies and many “go on relief.”
What is America going to do?
America is not going to do any
thing. The machine is going to
put its hand in the situation and
perhaps a “machine war” may
be the result.
Yet, there is no doubt in any
one’s mind that America is pro
gressing?
(Suggested by a recent lec
ture by Dr. A. Clayton Powell
and by a group of readings,
“Machinery and Civilization,”
in Topics for Freshman Writ
ing.)
NOT NEEDED
Merchant: “Before I can en
gage you, you will have to pass
an intelligence test.”
Girl candidate: “Intelligence
test? Why, the advertisement
said you wanted a stenogra
pher.”
I