Page Two
The Hilltop
‘Plain Living and High Thinking’
Hill
'ounde
Entered a. .he Poa. Office, Mar, Hill N. C ** Second Class Matter,
February 20, 1926.
Member Southeastern Junior College Press Association.
STAFF
Lionel Hoffman
Lditor *
Faye Ebbs
Associate Editor
Hubert Elliott
Managing Editor
Iris Rabb
Society isaitor —
Dortha Morgan
Religious editor
Edgar Kirk
Sports Editor
Annabelle Lee
Nina Grey Liles
Poetry Editor
Harold McGuire
Intercollegiate Editor —
R. G. Anthony
Business Manager
Felix Speer
Circulation ivxanabci — ^ McLeod
Tvntts "'Marion McManus, Fay Ebbs, Bernice Callahan
VOL. VIII MARS
HILL, N. C., DECEMBER 14, 1934 No.b
Peace And Good Will
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good wdl to
ward men.” Thus sang the angels nearly two thousand years ago.
Thus was the birth of our Savior announced. Thus was salvation
eiven to the world. ^
And yet how humanity has lost sight of the teachings o our
Christ We seem again on the verge of another great war. 1 he
world is again rearming. Hatred and fear are again breaking over
the boundaries of reason. Nations are viewing each other with
suspicion. We are htladed straight toward the hell of another war
And what is there for us to do.? Certainly Christ did not intend
for nations to be always at each other s throats.
Why can’t we as Christians do our part in preserving world
peace? Why can’t we so spread this message of peace throughout
the world that there will be no thoughts of war among the nations.^
We are now more civilized than ever before, and yet we are
more able to destroy civilization. Can this be what Christ intend
ed? Is this why our Savior died? , , . f
Let us unite and tear these flaming war gods from the hearts o
men. With the message of Christ alone can we ever hope to do
this.’ The League of Nations has failed. The disarmainent con
ferences have failed. Now let us try Christ. Will He failr
—L,. i . rl.
For One Brief Starry Night
For one brief starry night let us forget
The clamor of the zvorld, our loss, our fear,
And let us light the candles in our souls
This one night of the year.
Let us be shrived of self, and let us ft ay
Only vchite prayers—v:hite selfless prayers tonight
Lifting clean hands up to one glorious star
That is burning with holy light.
Unfailing it has shone thro* all the years.
While we, God knows, have wandered strangely far;
Now for this one brief night let us forget
All but his steadfast Star;
All but the supreme high sacrifice
Of God, the Giver, sending One to lift
The burden from our hearts, and let us reach
Glad hands to take His gift.
—Grace Noll Crowell.
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President Robert Lee IVloore
The statement that a great Institution is the lengthened shadow
of a great individual can be truly applied to Mars Hill College
and Ur. R. L. Moore. Through the seventy-eight years of its
history, the College has received the consecrated gifts of life and
money of devoted men and womens but more than aii>’ other in
dividual, President Moore is responsible for the Mars Hill College
of today. Into the warp and woof of the character of the institu
tion has gone his personality.
A third of a century ago he, himself a son of the hills, as
sumed responsibility for the destiny of this, then weak and o -
scure, institution in a relatively secluded mountain community,
and for thirty-seven years he has devoted the powers of his body,
mind, and heart to providing here education that is Christian to
heart-hungry boys and girls seeking broader and more ab^undant
lives. The innumerable acts of self-sacnflce he has made j the
times his strength of faith and purpose have carried him throug
periods when lesser souls would have given up in despair; his
patient labor through the years in adding here a little anc^ there
a little to the physical equipment of the college; his unrelenting
efforts in wooing the more mundane to nobler and holier modes ot
living, and his kindly but uncompromising tolerance for those
who have not shared his ideals; the numbers of students whom
he has helped personally in countless ways; his work and mflu^ce
in the community and abroad, the world will never know. The
principal evidence of his work is seen in a rugged community made
better by his presence and in the institution which he has served—
a college which, despite its material limitations, is rich m spirit and
tradition, standing for Christian ideals of personal life and service
and for high standards of scholarship. _ , . , , . , , .
Those who have been closely associated with hirn through the
vears have never known him to be guilty of employing a word or
ideed for the exaltation or aggrandizement of himself, or to re
sort to chicanery as a means of achieving his aims. _ Likewise, he
has never been known to attempt to promote the immediate in
terests of the College at the expense of other agencies of the King
dom. His loyalty to Mars Hill is surpassed only by his loyalty
to the world at large. ^
In his personal life President Moore exemplifies his motto ot
“plain living and high thinking” and its corollary, froin Phillips
Brooks, “The man who has begun to live more seriously within,
begins to live more simply without.” In our luxury-seeking day,
he has been accused of being ascetic. With a soul sensitive to the
needs of others, however, he always has money to give away but
none to waste in extravagant living. In training others in set -
denial and giving, he leads the way, as in teaching lessons ot nobler
living he supports his precepts with an example. He abhors waste
of money and time and the dissipation of the powers of body and
mind. Accordingly, in his teaching he insists on honesty, thorough-
THE HILLTOPPER
H. A. ELLIOTT
Many have requested that we print
the editorial carried in the New t ork
Sun thirty-six years ago in reply to a
letter wTitten by Virginia O’Hanlan
on whether or not there is a Santa
Claus. So in place of the usual ob
servations that are recorded here I
Shall give that article from an excerpt
in the Readers Digest of December,
1933.
Dear Editor: I am eight years old.
Some of my little friends say there is
no Santa Claus. Please tell me the
truth.
—Virginia O’Hanlan.
The Answer
Virginia, your little friends are
wrong. They have been affected by
the skepticism of a skeptical age.
They do not believe except they see.
They think that nothing can be which
is not comprehensible by their little
minds. All minds, Virginia, whether
they be men’s or children’s, are little.
In this great universe of ours man
is a mere insect in intellect, as com
pared with the boundless world about
him, as measured by intelligence cap
able of grasping the world of trutJi.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa
Claus. He exists as certainly as love
and generosity and devotion exist.
And you know that they abound and
give to your life its highest beauty
and joy. Alas! how dreary would be
the world if there were no Santa
Claus! It would bo as dreary as if
there were no Virginias. There
would be no child-like faith then, no
poetry, no romance to make tolerable
this existence. We should have no
enjoyment, except in sense and sight.
The eternal light with which child
hood fills the world would be extin
guished.
Not to believe in Santa Claus! Tou
might as well not believe in faii'ies!
You might get your papa to hire men
to watch all the chimneys on Christ
mas Eve to catch Santa Claus but
even if they did not see Santa Claus
coming down, what would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is
no sign that there is no Santa Claus.
The most real things in the world are
those that neither children nor men
can see.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle
and see what makes the noise inside,
but thei-e is a veil covering the un
seen world which not the strongest
men, nor even the united strength of
all the strongest men that ever lived
could tear apart. Only faith, fancy,
poetry, love, romance, can push aside
To Hon
fiZ doz
Gift To Girls’Hoi peaks
in N
Virgil
Is is hi
Miss Allen Gives
Roof Garden In Hon
Father, Admirer oH
The initial gift of thre
dollars made in October to '
toward the roof garden foi',
girls’ home inspired others];,
enthusiastic efforts in secur
for the building. Eventu|
“only to help the cause”,
told us an interesting sto
recalled the days of “Old
the sacrifices of that pione
During the Civdl War her]
Northern soldier (New
mained long in Libby prisj
mond, and suffered the ren
his life from this experiencej
Mr. Allen greatly admire
Christian character of
Southern general, and
named his first son for hii
Lee Allen. He saw above
the worth of real character i
tian ideals and sought to ir
into the lives of his childrel
ness, and accuracy.
To infer that Mars Hill is a one-man institution because of
the place President Moore holds in its life is to err. A secret of
his success as an executive lies in his respect for the opinions of
others and his ability to utilize the knowledge and Initiative of
hs co-workers by granting them freedom in their respective fields.
As president of Mars Hill College, he leads rather than dictates.
One frequently hears the expressions, “I want my son (or
daughter) to study under R. L. Moore.” A student was heard to
say that his faith in mankind was stronger because of his having
know'n President Moore. Hundreds, even thousands, of former
students are today on hlg'her planes of living because of his in
fluence. His faith in God, his devotion to Truth, his personal cul
ture, his love of mankind, and of youth in particular, his attach
ment for learning translated into usefulness, makes him one of
God’s noblemen.
Miss Allen and her broth
sonville, Florida, wish to
gift as a memorial to th
and to the ideals of Chri
hood and womanhood whic
in Mars Hill College.
The College deeply apprei
gift of this faithful instrs
the purpose for which it wa
that curtain and view the
beauty beyond. Is it all
Virginia, in all this world
nothing else real and abidi
No Santa Claus? Thank
lives, and lives forever. A
years from now, Virginia,
times ten thousand years fi
he will continue to make
heart of childhood.
T