PAGE TWO
mAroon and gold
Wednesday, December 14, 1949
Maroon and Gold
Edited and printed by students of Elon
College. Published bi-weekly during the
college year under the auspices of the Board
of Publication.
Entered as second class matter at the
Post Office at Elon College, N. C., under
the Act of March 8, 1879. Delivered by
mail. $1.50 the college year, $.50 the
quarter.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Bob Wright Editor-In-Chief
William Sinclair Managing Editor
Walter Graham Staff Photographer
Luther N. Byrd Faculty Advisor
SPORTS STAFF
Rocco Sileo Sports Editor
George Stanley .... Assistant Sports Editor
Joe Spivey Assistant Sports Editor
Jean Pittman Girls’ Sports
Joe Bryson Boys’ Sports
Freddie Williamson Staff Cartoonist
Alvin Pate Staff Cartoonist
George Seay Boys’ Sports
BUSINESS BOARD
Evelyn M. Graham Business Manager
Wynona Womack .... Circulation Manager
B. G. Frick Printer
Jack Tavormina Make-Up Man
Jack Steele Press Man
reporix:rs
Jennings Berry Robert Jones
Jane Boone Maynard Miles
, Waldo Dickens Bill Williams
Hal Foster Freddie Williamson
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1949
YULETIDE
Once more the Yuletide season is upon
us, and we were made aware of its advent
even before we had set ourselves about the
task of incurring our Thanksgiving Day in
digestion.
How often we have heard the remark,
“It seems as though they start the Christ
mas season earlier each year.” Would
that it were so.
We will not attempt to pretend that the
merchants who step up their Christmas
dfecorations each year are prompted by an
altruistic motive. It is obvious that they
have one eye on jolly old St. Nick and the
other on their balance sheets.
Be that as it may, let’s return to the
remark in the second paragraph. If in
deed th« Christmas season is started ear
lier each year, we may look forward to
better days. Why should this period of
“peace on earth, good will toward men”
be confined to a scant week or two? A
comic strip recently had one of its char
ters, a little girl, crying because Christmas
was getting closer. She reasoned that the
closer it drew, the sooner it would be over.
Rather than condemn the merchants for
nudging us into the Christmas season ear
lier each year, we should condemn our
selves for needing the nudge. In passing
may we mention that the Salvation Army
kettles in front of the stores with the most
extensive Christmas decor&tions seem to
be the fullest on the streets.
If only the magic spell which descends
upon us during this season of the year
could be analyzed. What makes us this
way for at least two weeks out of the year?
Hunger and need are recognized and de
plored throughout the year, but at Christ
mas time it is unthinkable to us that any
one should be hungry or in need. Are we
alleviating the condition of the needy, or
are we trying to clear our consciences
when we open our hearts and our purses?
If only the Yuletide spirit could be ema
nated from this month and permeated
through the other eleven. If this could be
brought to pass generosity would not be un
usual, we would be amiable toward our fel
low men, churches would be packed every
Sunday, the privation in the world would
be eased. In other words, we would come
closer to what we profess to be—Christians.
What brings on the Christmas spirit? Is
it the carols? Sing them all year ’round! Is
it the decorations? Have holly and Christ
mas trees rampant all year ’round! Is it
Santa Claus? Elect him president! We
don’t know what works this magical change
in people at this time of the year, but we’re
for it. In fact we’re for the Christmas
spirit all year ’round!
R. W.
the
yankee peddler
By BOB WRIGHT
Headline: “Senator Asks For Probe Of
Coffee Prices.” We always thought a
dime a cup was too darn much.
♦ ♦ ♦
If you feel the urge to write a book and
want to be assured of a large sale, merely
start the title with the words “How To—
The American public has shown that it
will snap up any book which will tell
them how to do or achieve something
ej»ily.
m
Headline: “Coin Machines Offer Items
From Soup To Hosiery.” If that hosiery
is filled, who’s got change for a dollar?
f ♦ ♦
We hear that 40,000 Methodists gathered
in a mass service on Sunday, December 4.
If they had done that on Friday, Decem
ber 2, and put in a word for S. M. U., it
might have turned the trick against Notre
Dame.
* * *
We read of a youth of seventeen sum
mers being convicted of bigamy — three
wices. Ah, young energy!
'They say that crossword puzzles are
supposed to be good vocabulary builders.
Here are a few VERY useful words we
picked up that way. A HIA is a crested
hawk-crested parrot. An ULU is an Eski
mo tool. OKI is American Indian for sup
ernatural. A BOULE is a senate (Gr.
Antiq.) An OBI is a Japanese sash. The
ARECA is a Batal Palm. AGRA is the lo
cation of the Taj Mabal. We know our
future conversation is going to scintillate
with these new words.
« « «
Did you hear about the bed bug who
was enceinte? Going to have a baby in
the spring. ^ ^
* * •
The Cynic’s Christmas
The things one finds in Christmas stock-'
ings
Are seldom even fit for hocking.
The socks you get are sizes small;
The ties belong on Dali’s wall.
The cigarettes are not your brand;
The gloves wiU never fit your hand.
The shirts are a pattern grim;
The belts are for one much more slim.
The shaving lotion hints of sin;
The pocket knife is high grade tin.
L’envoi
Prince, if indeed there’s Christmas
cheer
It’s ’cause egg nog replaces beer.
—R. W.
♦ ♦ ♦
Ah mistletoe! How many faces thy tra
dition will keep from getting slapped.
* ♦ ♦
Then there’s the one about the little
boy, who on Christmas Eve asked his
mother to tell him a story. His mother
replied, ‘Wait until your father comes
home. He didn’t show up for supper, and
when he gets here he’ll tell a story that’ll
be a beaut.”
♦ ♦ ♦
As we see it, dear reader, we can leave
you with one of two admonitions. We
can urge upon you that maxim of Ben
Franklin’s which advocates, “Eat not to
excess, and drink not to elevation.” On
the other hand, we can urge you to have
the merriest of times over the holidays.
Rather than pressing our intentions upon
you, you may take your choice of either ad
monition. Merry Christmas, and we
trust that it will be a Happy New Year.
browsing
around
LITERACY AND LIGHT TO ALL THE WORLD
with
BILL SINCLAIR
I would like to invite the students to send
in any news on birthdays, weddings, or
births. Either send the information to Mr.
Byrd, or see me between classes. All in
formation of this nature concerning Elon
students or students’ wives will be pub
lished.
♦ • ♦
The Campus Shop should be getting a
rush order for lipstick. Doctor Sloan gave
his students permission to write their tests
in lipstick if they wrote legibly.
♦ ♦ ♦
Mrs. Johnson spoke in chapel on Mon
day. As she sat down there was a booing
from the students. This is very disrespect
ful and should not be heard in a college
chapel. After all we are given brains to
think with, and no one can use those brains
for us. Suppose we try to treat others
with respect. '
♦ • ♦
Christmas seals are” on sale at Elon. The
money received from the sale of these
seals will go into the fight against tuber
culosis. We all know that this disease is
almost the number one killer in North
Carolina. The fatality rate has dropped
for this disease, but we still have to main
tain constant vigil against it. Give to the
seal sale!
* * «
The Messiah was presented by the Elon
College Choir on Sunday, December 4th,
the oratorio being presented to a packed
house with many turned away. I believe
most of the spectators will agree that it
was the most beautiful event in the year.
Congratulations to the choir director, mem
bers, and visiting soloists on a very beau
tiful program.
Does anyone know when the road in
front of the Veteran’s Apartments will be
paved? If so, please inform this writer.
♦ ♦ ♦
What happened to the students during
the nomination of the May Queen? Par
don me—I meant the proposed nomina
tion. Apparently the students did not
know who could be nominated and most
did not know how to nominate. Could it
be possible that we need training in par
liamentary law? One student called the
proposed nominating a near insurrection.
I hear that there was very little debat
ing at the student legislature meeting held
in Raleigh. Could it be because the rep
resentatives were only given seventy-five
cents per meal? Half empty stomachs are
not conducive to good debating.
If * *
One mark of distinction for Elon College
at the meeting in Raleigh was a proposal
to have all cars in the state of North Caro
lina inspected. It is good to know that the
representatives were intent on business.
It was put in the form of a resolution and
was passed by the house and senate.
♦ ♦ ♦
Have you read the following books?
They are in the library and are highly rec
ommended for good reading. Let’s use
our library more.
THE LILY AND THE LEOPARD, by
Harwood. Historical novel.
THE CHAIN, by Wellman. Novel of a
man of God.
STORY OF TOBACCO IN AMERICA,
by J. C. Robert, of Duke University.
GOLDEN DOORWAY TO TIBET, by
Nical Smith. Travel and adventure.
ALFRED TENNYSON, by Charles Ten
nyson. Biography.
THE ROBBER, by Brooker. Tale of the
time of the Herods.
* ♦ ♦
Some of the students are working in
Burlington now. I happened to see Peggy
King in the record department of Sears-
Roebuck. Any good record for sale? Percy
A. Price is working in the furniture de
partment.
* * *
Irene Sykes received , word from the
state board that she had passed her nurs
ing examination. Congratulations.
* ♦ *,
Mr. and Mrs. James Hailey and Mr. and
Mrs. Fred Allred celebrated their wed
ding anniversaries on December 8th.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
The stockings were hung by the chimney
with care.
Because of high prices they all were left
bare.
I wish to say to all the th^e students and
faculty members, “Merry Christmas and a
happy and prosperous New Year.”
Dr. Frank Laubach, world-famous literacy expert, is shown (in circle above), surrounded by
illustrations of his work in benighted and backward nations. (Upper left) Dr. Laubach teaches a
Meldpa chief to read near Lae, New Guinea, while others of the tribe look on with interest. [Upper
Center) Two of the seven hundred warriors of the Meldpa tribe, who participated in an all-day
dance or “sing-sing” to honor the Laubach party for its work in New Guinea. [Upper right) Dr.
Laubach is shown teaching two Siamese girls to read during a Bangkok literacy conference, which
was sponsored by the Royal Siamese government. (Lower left) Following Dr. Laubach’s plan of
“each one teach one,” a Siamese girl teaches a grandmother to read. (Lower right) Men and
boys labor and learn at a “well-side classroom” near Lahore, Pakistan, lifting an eye from their
classwork now and then to watch their cattle that graze near the well.
And He Said,'"Let ThereBeLighf...
Perhaps no man in the history
of the world has done more than
Dr. Frank Laubach to spread th«
light of learning to all the world,
for he has helped governments
and Christian missions in sixty-
stream-lined English
t i t’l e d “Making
World Safe.”
In 1947 he returned to the Near
East to revise previously prepar
ed materials in Arabic and to de-
Series, en- scribed the high point of tise
Everybody’s meeting in one of his letters.
He writes graphically of ooe
mighty man from the New Guinea
Plateau, who came forward wear
ing nothing below his neck ex
cept a leather belt and a bright-
one countries to set up campaigns velop the system in Persian. Later,
against illiteracy, and he is cred- ^ the invitation of Emperor Haile ' colored “G-String” around his
ited with teaching an estimated Selassie, he went to Ethiopia to | powerful loins, yet wearing upon
j 60,000,000 people to read in 175 develop a primer in the Coptic ai- j ^ ^^at of
!of the world’s languages and dia-' p^abet. He also toured British
lects.
It has mattered not to Dr. Lau
bach, whether a nation or tribe
boasted a written language or al
phabet. If no alphabet existed,
he created one and then taught
the people to know and under
stand it. Such has been his ex
perience in more than one of the
literacy campaigns be has directed
during iiis long years of service as
an educational missionary.
Dr. Laubach was bom in Ben
ton, Pa., and graduated from
West Africa, the Belgian Congo,
North and South Rhodesia and
the Union of South Africa, help
ing to build lessons and organize
campaigns in sixty different lan
guages.
He and bis associates have
been especially active in 1949, for
h€ and his party travelled all
over the Far East during the first
half of this year. He was accom
panied by his son, Robert Lau
bach, and Mr. and Mrs. Phillip
Gray, an artist couple, as he vis-
Princeton University in 1909, ited Siam, India, Pakistan, Aus-
later going to Columbia Universi-j tralia and New Guinea,
ty, where he received the Ph. D. The party spent January and
Degree in 1915. Since then he February in Siam, where a pro-
has devoted thirty-four full and gressive king is struggling to
faithful years to the ministry of transform his country from the
the Congregational Christian backward nation it has been for
Church. j centuries. In India he was forced
Upon completing his education- to break across the rigid caste
al preparation in 1915, he went lines, which have handicapped
at once to the Philippines as a India’s millions since time im-
missionary. Always he sought to memorial. Everywhere he went
teach his missionary congregation he found the teeming millions
to read, so that they might glean anxious for the light that is
from the printed page a fuller spread by the printed page,
knowledge of the Christian faith, j One of the most dramatic ex-
One of his most interesting ex- periences for Dr. Laubach and
periences came when he settled in his assocites came in New Guinea
1929 among the still savage Moros vvhere they were flown into the
of Mindanao, a backward Moham- interior to conduct a literacy clin-
medan tribe of about 50,000 peo-' ic for a savage cannibal tribe,
pie. Finding that they had no j Dr. Laubach and his co-workei's
written language, he reduced joined with government officers
their dialect to Roman phonetics,' and fifteen Protestant and Ro-
experimented with ways of teach- man Catholic missionaries in one
ing them to read, and became | of his famed educational projects.
The job was that of making thir
teen languages for tribes, which
their devoted friend.
News of his success among the
Moros spread to other sections of
the Far East, and ruling officials
of other nations called on him for
help. The years prior to the war
took him'twice to India, the Malay
States, to the Near East and to
North Africa. During World War
II he made two extended tours
through Central and South Amer
ica.
In 1946, at the request of
UNESCO (United Nations Educa
tional, Cultural and Scientific Or
ganization), he helped prepare a
world plan for education, and
during that same year he com
pleted a second reader in the
up to that time had lacked a med
ium for written communication.
The project called for 1,500 pic
tures, which PhiUip Gray pro
duced at top speed. The group
worked night and day, finished
up in ten days, and tried out the
charts on natives who had never
read. As usual, the lessons
worked.
The next Sunday the church at
Lae was crowded to the doors
and windows with 1,000 white and
black people, speaking five differ
ent languages and coming to the
front to speak as the
moved. Dr. Laubach himself de-'his native'America.'
King David.
“I have been a bad man,” this
savage chieftain declared,” and
my people have been bad because
nobody came to teU us what was
good. We need the words of
truth. (3an words take legs and
walk these mountains alone? You
can fly over the mountains. Come
up with your big bird planes and
teach us!” This chief was speak
ing for perhaps two million peo
ple—nobody knows exactly how
many— most of whom are still
cannibals.
The next week Dr. Laubach
and the rest of the literacy team
boarded a plane and were flown
into the uplands into one of the
wildest and most primitive places
left on earth, where they were
met upon landing by 10,000 naked
people of the Meldpa tribe, bod
ies glistening with grease. Both
the sight and “odor” was awesome
as the mob voiced squeals of joy.
A full week was spent there,
teaching eager tribesmen to ■ read
from mimeographed charts. 'As
one group learned the first les
son, its members were ushered
out onto the rich grass of the air
port, where each one passed the
lesson on to several others. It
was Dr. Laubach’s idea of “each
one teach one” mutilplied many
times over.
The Meldpa chiefs staged a
great festival in Dr. Laubach’s
honor on the final day of his visit,
when 15,000 crowded onto the air
port to give the air of a country
fairground. Several hundred war
riors danced six abreast In a huge,
circle, each one wearing a birtf-~
of-paradise in his headdress and'
with faces painted in vivid colors.,
The celebration continued all day..
The next day, as the Laubach.'
party prepared to fly av?ay, ^
new and strange chief arrived
with the plea to “come and teach
us to read also.” Dr. Laubach,
however, had to explain that he
could not do so because of prev-
ous appointment in far-off Ko
rea. It is the plea of that chief
and others like him that Dr. Lau-
spmt bach extends to the people- of