Home Rebellion Or
Home Religion?
(By George Walter Fiskel
"To many grandchildren smoke
and too many grandparents jazz,"
says Doctor Cadman. "Mutton mas
querades as lamb and lamb as mut
ton." These are minor symptoms
of a widespread home disease: In
dividualism run amuck. In count
less American homes every member
is busy "expressing himself with
selfish abandon, obeying instinct
and impulse without restraint, each
running off on his own pet tangent,
(ill the old home-centered life is no
more. This subtle selfishness is kil
ling out the old home loyaltv which
has been the cement of Vmerican so
ciety. The individualistic mother
centers her interest in bridge and
social climbing. Hie individualistic
father is absorbed in fighting his
competitors and "the plaguev un
ions." No wonder the individualis
tic sons ami daughters pursue their
own favorite sens,, pleasures, crush
es, crazes and intoxications, quite
independent I v, each going his own
separate way. and making the home
chiefly a point of departure and re
luctant return.
$ujrh centrifugal homes are sel
dom found in llie country. They are
usually urban or suburban, symp
toms of overprosperity. social satie
tv, demoralizing luxury and the sud
den growth of commercialized sen
sational amusements. Rural life in
general plods along in teh same safe
grooves; but cit\ lif,. finds a new
thrill every week for every member
of thi' family, and thrill-chasing ab
sorbs the time and energy of the j
multitude who lose their ideals in j
the easy glamor of the city. In fact,
the thrill is the chief pull to the
<? it \ . for rural youth whom it entir
es are really more fun-hungarv than
dollar -hungry.
Partnership on the Farm
Farm life is necessarily a partner
ship. I lit* farm family simple has
to function, or I he business fail?.
But the city home, especially in flats
tenements or apartments, easily be
comes centrifugal. There is less
mutual (lepemlenee and irifinit'dv j
more temptation for each to go his j
own selfish way. Countrv life is
still home-centered, (lily life must
again heroine so, il the American !
famil\ is to be saved. It is rather!
rapidly becoming a very different
sort of social institut'on. This sel- !
fish, thrill-chasing ??roup in th-? ceil- .
trfugal home, related by blood but j
no longer by mutual intercts or real
life-sharing. is not longer a true :
Family. Often they are tied togeth
er only by the parental purse
rcr!2!Jl!v "fit ?>??>? or.
na lapron-strings, or by anybody's
heart-strings. And probably the
matter owns no apron anyway.
This type of home presents a dif
ficult challenge to religion. .The
church in the city and the suburb
must find a way lo rebuilt lh? tem
ple of home religion, for nothing
else can stop the spread of this insi
dious disease. Education alone can
not do it, not even social education,
for it lacks sufficient motive power
to work the miracle. Only a new
born spiritual purpose, in terms of
modern religion fitted anew to mod
ern social life, can furnish motiva
tion powerful enough to conquer
this "individualism run amuck."
The worst phase of the situation
in selfish centrifugal homes is the
damage done the younger children,
who often realize they are being neg
lected. A spirit of resentment to
ward thir parents, rising sometimes
to open hostility, is occasionally re
vealed to sympathetic teachers. In
a frank discussion about parents re
vealed to sympathetic teachers shrr
cently in a class of fifteen-year old
girls there were some significant
revelations. Only two of the group
were inclined to make a slight de
fense of adults in general. 4fcThe
rest," the teacher says. # "attacked
their parents with cheevfui energy."
They loudly protested that their par
ents failed to understand them,
could not get their viewpoint, had
forgotten they were young them
selves once, and did not appreciate
the baility of older boys and girls
to think for themselves, make deci
sions and take care of their own af
fairs. Quite evidently some parents
are a problem to their children, as
well as the reverse!
Acute Problems, of Hipl i School
Youth, ,
In .the midst of the discussion, one
girl blazed forth with this bitter ar
raignment : "Parents are three
things. They are cowards, because
thev are afraid to tell their children
what they actual I > know and actual
ly think themselves. The yare hy
pocrites, because they try to pretend
to their children that they are what
they are not. And thev are dishon
est. Iwrause the\ try to make their
children do things that they won't
<?d themselves, and be what they
aren't themselves." Inquiry discov
ered the fact that this astonishing
philippic echoed the words of an
older sister: but the deep feeling
pro\ed it was no mere echo. There
was open rebellion in that family
and the youngest was one of the re
be!s. Several others in the class,
though not phrasing so sharply their
antagonism toward their parents,
showed real Hostility . evident disre
spect and even dislike fo rtheir
fathers and mothers. In how many (
self-indulgent homes, where the eld- '
ers sacrifice unity and the welfare j
of children to the selfish pursuit of i
their own pleasure, are foolish ul
tramodern parents reaping this aw
ful harvest of the wrath of abused
and resentful youth ' Surely this is
reaping the whirlwind.
People who are making a careful
study of high school youth know
that young folks today in middle
adolescence are facing serious per- ;
sonal problems. They are difficult '
social and moral problems, more
serious than their parents faced
three decades ago. for they are com- :
plicated h\ tht? automobile and the
general speeding up of modern so
cial life, the breakdown of home dis
cipline. the weakening of old social
conventions and time-honored reli
gious sanction*, with main new free
doms unact ompanied by any new
self-controls. General Laxity seems |
to be in command. The old pudti
an ism has gone forever, but the new I
social control has not vet been
achieved. \\ bile a once- respected
judge goes fiom city to city profit
ably debating trial marriage, dis
guised under a new and attractive
name "Compassionate marriage" a
negro preacher calls it! the citadel
of adolescence burns with freshly
kindled fires.
Y?i idealism i- still strong in the j
hearts of youth, and a wholesome ;
purpose is usualK found there **to .
live true, to right and wrong and to
honor the king.*1 In general our |
high sc hool youth are struggling for
moral stability, for the supremacy
of character and for spiritual vic
tory. Inexperience and often lack
of help at home make it difficult
for them to see clearly what is right
and why wrong is wrong. Con
b/>tnnoA Jo nmniwSnw f?Am tUn
^.w..w ??"??; 8SHS89 """* M,u
shadows and speaks with rather un
certain voice. Though self-asser
tive in many ways, they are often
timid and dubious in the midst of
the moral tangles of their complex
lives. They know that their social
schedules have grown faster than
their spiritual insight.
A'eic Temptations Teach New Duties
Thousands of them in many high
schools have been interviewed by
various people the past two years, to
discover what they consider their
chief personal problems. Frank,
honest answers have been given and
a great variety of moral difficulties
and social situations discovered. The
ethics of "dates,"' "petting," "joy
riding," pocket flasks," et cetera, re
cur frequently, recalling very simi
lar but less high-powered dangers in
the slower days gone by, but reveal
ing far greater variety and subtleyt
in the temptations our modern youth
arc facing.
Vo one could examine many hun
dreds of reports from these honest
girls and boys without feeling the
keenest sympathy with them and ad
miration for their moral earnestness,
as they confess their chief character
problems and reveal their need of
clear-cut ideals and spiritual help.
The following summary of problems
reported, classified under seven con
venient groups, will be an interest
ing indication of the moral struggles
of our adolescent youth. These
groups are not mutually exclusi-.e.
To some extent they overlap (es
pecially the last two.) which ac
counts f r the excessive parentage.
Personal problems of school and
su.es __ 42
vocation 3
Problems of honesty and truth
p\\m& ;>l^?4A-4-;*44 , 15
Problems of social pressure, imi
tation. etc. 1_ 1 1 ? 11
Personal problems relating to
religion . ... 12
| Difficulties with parents and rel
atives ... . 15
Social relations with the oppo
site sex 32
(Including acute sex problems.
11 pe cent )
Problems relating to social plea
Pct.
Our data sufficiently general so
that this percentage may perhaps be
taken as fairly typical, indicating
the kind of difficulties our high
school youth are facing. At least it
is clear that many of them are hav
ing their trouble with their own par
ents. and that they all need the mor
al and spiritual help of sympathetic,
t intelligent and strongly Christian
homes. It is plainly evident that
hosts of them are not really getting
this help from home.
If hat Some Parents Have Done
For five months last winter an in
fluential group of parents in a su
burb of Cleveland determined to
face the home needs of their commu
nity in a discussion class. It was a
well-educated group and intensely
in earnest. All through the winter
they studied th<? sociology of the
family and the practical problems
of social ethics and home religion
broadly interpreted. At the closing
session a summary of results was
discussed, which represented the co
operative thinking and convictions
of the group. This was put in the
form of a mutual covenant and was
unanimously adopted. A condensed
summary of this covenant follows:
"We realize the startling serious
ness of the home situation in our
modern suburban life: yet we are
thankful for our modern world and
our children. We believe we are
living in a better world than our
grandfathers knew, yet with all our
modern privileges and comforts our
home problems are complicated by
changing social standards and the
very opulence of life. Even our .
moral ideals are threatened by the
reckless speeding up of this automo- 1
live age. with its resulting nervous
tension, overstrain and restless, hec
tic city living. To often we find lux
ury breeds self-indulgence, disregard |
of the rights of others anda thought- j
less life of mere sense-level pleasure [
with its subtle sex-complex. We.
therefore eonie to the conviction that 1
we must not longer drift along com
placently, hut must make the effort
to reconstruct religion in our mod
ern homes, whatever it may cost us;
in curtailed selfishness and indivi
dual preference. In the spirit of a
fresh consecration to both, we pledge
ourselves to a higher level of home
loyalty.
Children Have the Right of Way
"We recognize that the rights and
welfare of our children must have
the right of way. We admit we have
nothing to live for more important
than this. If we have been giving
the right of vav to personal com
fort, social ambition, business prof
its. our persona! pleasures and sc!f
indulgence, this must stop, ? for the
children's sake. If 'individualism
has run amuck' in our homes, we
must somehow get back to a home
centered life. We will plan for more
sharing of life with our children,
cost what it may in sacrifice of sel
fish adult interests.
"We will strive to make our home
a true democracy, with mutual re
spect for personality. We will not1
| abdicate responsibility for the moral
welfare of our children, nor turn
this function over to school or
church. We will try to endow them
with the great moral safeguards of
life: self-control, self-respect, a
sence of honor and the spirit of chi
valry. By faithful instruction and
the homely projects of the house
hold, we will practice them in all
the homespun virtues.
"We know ihis task is hopeless
without religion, which must be the
motive of it all, its inner spirit and
power. We therefore face the neces
sity of a vital personal religion,
frankly acknowledged and honestly
lived with our children. We pledge
our.seives to find afresh the high in
spiration* of the Bible in the light
of modern learning. We agree to
revive th<*. simpler prayer custom of
Jesus, at feast to bless our family
meals with , the grace of thanksgiv
ing. We pledge cooperation with
the church aiid its allies which are
striving to rak'e up a generation of
\
I
I
VoufK who can "meet VTctorously the
Subtle temptations of present-day
living. . ; V
"In thus resolving to rebuild the
temple cf home religion, we seek
not simply to restore a neglected al
tar in a corner shrine apart from or
dinary living, but to caroy the sac
sed flame of its altar fires into all
our home life, making holy all its
work and play, its laughter and its
tears, its mutual sacrifice, its inex
pressible joys." ? The Christian Re
view.
The annual two-day short course
for beekeepers of North Carolina
will l?e held at State College, Janu
ary 24 and 25.
Tom Tarheel says he has found
it pays him to sell his corn and
hay crops to licestock on the home
place.
LEGAL MATTERS
TRISTEE* SAI.K
By virtue of the power of Hale contained i
in a ?leed of trust execute*! l?y C. C. Mills
and wife Dona Mills. registered In the office
of the lb-sister of Deeds of Cherokee County
in book 94 at icikc 311 and in the office of
the leulster of Deeds of Graham County In
Imok 5 of Real Estate Mortgages and Dreds
of Trust at page 1S2. conveying to me the
land* hereinafter described to secure the
pa>*ment of certain notes. default having
been made in the payment of said note*, and
the holder and owner thereof having demand
ed foreclosure. I will, for the purpose of
satisfying said notes and the costs of sale,
sell at the door of the county courthouse In
Murphy.
l?n the 25 day of February. 1920. at pub
I lb- auction to the highest bidder for cash,
the following described lands:
First tract: In Grahum County. North Car
olina. Tract No. 1095, grant?-d by the State
..f North Carolina to John Dockery which
grant is registered in book F page 532 in
t h-? t fflce of the Kejrlster ??f Deeds nt Gra
ham ? ounl.v, and conveyed to C. ? Mills by
Ka-1 1*. Tathatu and J. I*. EarA'Co.l |y deeds
the first of which is registered Ir said office -
in book A\" at j .ige No. 392 and the latter
In said ltook W at pate 4?">9. reference to
which said record of said Krant and dee?ls
is hereby made for more full -n 1 perfect de
scription. Said tract is on the waters of
l.ittle Snowbird Creek in Graham County
? ind contains 200 acres more or less
Second tract: Part of tracts No. 7937 sit
uated in Cherokee County. Hcginnlni: on a
idack oak cruner of James Turk Davis and
runs with that line N. 45 W, 14 pole* to a
locust comer: 20 K. l*o isdes to a corner of
same: thence N. 55 W. 3q poles to a chest
nut corner of same: thence N. 4.1 K. 134
IMtlcs to a black oak corner: thence S. 50 K.
to the top of the mountain divide lictween
HanKingilog and Davis Creeks; thence down
the main divide to the beginning containing
| 50 acres, more or less. llelng the lands con
voyed by II. I.. Mulkey Trustee in bankruptcy
I to M. W. Hell Trustee l?y deed registered in
j ileed Iwiok No. 9? at page 24 and by deed of
i M. W. Hell Trustee ?o C. C. Mills registered
in l KMik 97 at page 86 in the of rice of the
itegister of Deeds of Cherokee County, refer
ence being here made to both of said dees for
description.
Third Tract: Adjoining the lands of F. W.
I (a vis and others in Cherokee County. Ite
ginning on a chestnut the corner of 7935. and
running thence with that line N. 15 \\\ GS
istles to a chestnut the beginning corner of
said tract No. 7935; thence S. SO W. 140
poles to a dogwood; thence S. 50 E. to a hick- '
?tv stump; thence 40 E. Is" poles to the lie- I
ginning. It lieing the lands lniught by C. C. |
Mills front Joseph Davis l?y deed registered |
in the office ??f the Register of Deeds of
? 'herokee County in book 08 at payu 331.
which aw.
This the 24 day of January, 1929.
<25-4t-Jdni.) J. D. MALI.ONHE, Trustee.
xotick:
Having qualified as administrators of the
??state of Rev. A. U. Smith, deceased, late
of Cherokee County. N. C. . this is to notify
all persons having claims against the estate
to present the same to the undersigned, and
all persons owing said estate any indebted
ness are hereby notified to make immediate
payments of the same to the undersigned.
This notice wiii in In bar cf "nT
and all claims not presented to the under
Mimed within one year from and after thlii
date.
This January 22. 1929.
JOHN V. SMITH. Mara Hill. N. C.
USIR SMITH. Marble. N. C.
Administrators of estate of Rev. A. B. Smith
deceased. (25-6t)
FOR SALE
NEW CHEVROLET COUPE
1928 MODEL
Wof ford Terrell Co.
If You Have
DRY CLEANING & PRESSING
to be done Call at
ELLIOTT'S ODORLESS DRY
CLEANING PLANT
Murphy, N. C.
Not a scent in a hundred dollar s
worth
I
Our Foundation oF
? Industry
To justify the claim that Our
Country can look forward to a con
tinuation of real prosperity on its
present foundation, take a few sim
ple and elementary facts:
1. In the automotive industry a
single manufacturer (not Henry
Ford) increased his olitput of cars
manufactured continuously in the
past 15 yeais fourteen hundred per
cent.
2. From 1919 to "1925, four
great divisions of labor ? farming,
mining, manufacturing and railroad
ing ? increased 20 per cent with
1,800,000 fewer workers, higher
I wages and shorter hours. The turn
over of labor was mainly taken up
in newly created jobs.
3. In the first quarter of the
present century, the population of
Our Country increased 50 per cent
but in the year 1925 we produced
two and one-half times as much
wealth as in 1889, with industrial
workers on a 10 per cent shorter
day and higher wages.
4. Disclosing the great growing
future of Our Country is the increas
ed use of power on machines used
in manufacturing. In the first 25
years of the present century pofer
use of the great prime movers
among American manufactuicrs
grew from 10.000.000 horse-power
lo 37,735,000 horsepower.
Industries Inspire
Confidence
Stockholders of our greatest in
dustrial enteiprises todav comprise
inillions of citizens, including their
own customers and employes. Tick
ers on the stock exchanges during
the past year could not operate fast
enough at times to record the pur
chases of industrial securities by the
people. Unprecedented sales reach
ed from five to six million shares
per day.
Bertie County has the distinction
of being the largest peanut produc
ing county in the United States, hav
ing an annual yield of about thirty
six million pounds.
R. H. KING
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
STANDARD GASOLINE
MOTOR OIL
WANTED PEAS
J Highest Cash Price. Also cane
Seed
H. R. McINTOSH
Hayesville, N. C.
See The
NEW
1929 WHIPPET
I
DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR VALUE
AMERICA'S LOWEST PRICED
4 DOOR SEDAN
.!
E. C. MOORE
SALES AND SERVICE,
Murphy, N. C.
1
THE MURPHY SERVICE STATION
is prepared to give your car a
COAT OF TOP DRESSING
and make it look like new for a reasonable sum.
Drive your car down to our station today and let us
save you the cost of a new top.
MURPHY SERVICE STATION
'