NO. 11, f II I . RpR/fi R» R R R 1 *\ L/tifl s STRIKE M RIGHT KEY By Her. A. U. Frierson, D. D. This old world would be an exceedingly monotonous, hum drum and dull place for habita tion were it not literally filled with music. There is nothing we can name or know that so touches a sensitive and respon sive chord in the life and heart of sentient and animate beings as music. It indeed has charms “that soothe the savage breast.” Every sound we hear can be re duced to music, and is but a re sponse to nature's finger-touch upon some string of her magnifi cent harpsicord. The low, plaintive sighing of summers' gentle zephyr, and the mad rush and wild bluster of mid-win ter’s tornado are nature’s touch upon here a minor . and there a major strain. The faint murmur of the babbling brook and the thunderous roar of the restless sea are but the stretch of her fingers upon an octave. From well-nigh inaudible Whit: per to dread thunder peal dr earthshake she blends sounds, into harmonious, rapturous mu sic. Run the whole gamut of na ture and but one thing will ap pear—to wit:—all nature is strung to music. Then, “stirke the right key and all life is har mony.” Now what after all seems to our limited and defective sense of hearing indistinguishable polyphonies are harmonics, eu phonies. If I were asked to de fine music without consulting Mr. Webster or any other au thority on defining, I would an swer, music is the harmonious, synchronous blending of sounds. The proper blending of soundf produces, harmony which de .^t^Wr^Every^mg aSTfio music must be subordinated to harmony, since where there is no harmony there can be no mu sic. We have . heard a crude critic in the art of music make these observations upon the per formance of an amateur and an adept player. When the former sat before the key-board, of his touch the critic said, “There is something wrong. I don’t know what it is. That does not sound right.” Commenting on the latter he says, “That is right for it sounds right.” The single or sole difference Detween my two characters is this, the for mer strikes the keys at ran dom and without knowledge or reference to relative sounds; the latter by study of the art has acquired the habit of strik ing the right key. Thus while one brings out a discordant, confused sound, the other brings out a concordant, resonant sound. To my mind this illus trates the difference between the people in the world. Some go up and some go down. Some succeed, others fail. The ups and successful have found the art and formed the habit of striking the right key. For two generations the case of our manifeld shortcomings as a people or race has stood docketed before the bar of pub lic opinion. In some of these short-comings, I at least fear we stand fair prospect of having to plead guilty or of summary con viction. But as I can not talk about all of these at this time, I am going to discuss one—our unsettled social status. We stand charged as a people of having fallen below the social standard of all law-abiding and orderly peoples. Whether this be true or not, to cease to be looked upon as a social liability in the forward march of races and peoples it is up to us to purge ourselves by striking the right key socially. Our social status has entered more largely into our rating as a people than any other single element, our political and rei gious status not excepted. There fore, we need to strike this key with a vigor and firmness that will make it ring out the world round. We have made decided and commendable progress in this direction, but nothing short of perfecting the art should satisfy us. Let us do this so as to close forever the mouth of ridicule^ reproach and viliiica* ,tion. But we can do this only by the same painstaking and painful process pursued by all others who have built securely socially and otherwise. The pruning knife looks cruel and cold; but it is the most kindly and helpful instrument to a decaying tree,, To a man suffering from a dead ly malady that sends him to the operating^ table there is nothing that looks more terrible than the surgeon’s knife; yet to the sufferer it is the m&st merciful and often Ithe sole instrument of life. Drawing nice social lines ahd exercising a wise discrimi nation, at times, seem as cold as thd grave ; and yet it has always proyen to be the highest exercise of social aesthetics. ' All life is one. When the body functions we call that physical life. When the conscience func tions we call that moral life. When the spirit functions we call that spiritual life. Strike the right key physically by obey ing‘nature’s laws, we have health — harmony — music. Strike the right key morally and we have as a result ease of conscience, peace of mind—har mony—music. Strike the right key spiritually and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus— harmony— music. Our past marvelous progress ing the right key socially. Our continued advancement will rest with our physical stam ina, mental development, moral poise and balance and spiritual susceptibilities and passions in coming days as it has in all the past. Strike the right key. I pause to ask a few pointed questions. As a result of ques tionable social status are not our boys and girls marrying too young? Are we not fast becom ing, or at least threatened with becoming, a race of physical and mental pygmies? Are we not getting and putting upon the public an army of intellectual sycophants by our boys and girls quitting school too soon and passing up too rapidly? A calm, sober survey of our young folks in the rural districts is not reas suring, to say nothing of being utopian. Here is a call to strike the right key. I am for striking the right key. NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE ANNOUNCES FELLOWSHIPS The National Urban League announces that applications may now be filed for the Urban League Fellowship Awards for a year’s study in Social .Work at the New York School of So cial Work, the Pennsylvania School of Social Work, the Bos ton School of Social Work, the Graduate School of Social Ad ministration of Chicago Univer sity, the University of Pitts burgh, the Carnegie Institute of Technology, or some other social service training center selected by the League. These fellow ships are for a minimum of $70 per month during the school year and free tuition, and are awarded to colored graduates of colleges of recognized standing. Applications may be filed on or before April 15th on blanks which will be furnished by Eu gene Kinckle Jones, Executive Secretary, National Urban League, 127 East 23rd Street, New York City. Competitive examinations are held in May to test the applicant’s knowledge of current social problems, and the awards are made around June 15th. PIONEER BOYS N.C. THE PIONEERS OF THE CAL VARY PRESBYTERIAN : CHURCH, WILSON. By Arthur Henry George, Guide. “It is a great thing to teach a boy how to do things and it is a great thing to teach him that he has a personality to mould, a leadership to acquire over him self, and a soul to develop and save. Hats off to the boy. He is the future leader of mankind. His life is big with possibilities. He may make or uncrown kings, change boundary lines between States, write books that will mould character, or invent ma chines that will revolutionize WJUHUfl* The Calvary Presbyterian church is trying to develop her boys through the organization known as the Pioneers. This club is more than four years old. Its certificate of registration with the Associated Presbyteri an Boys’ Club dates in March 1923. The present membership of the club is over fifty. The average attendance is around thirty. The club endeavors to carry out the four-fold pro gram. Its physical equipment con sists of supplies for basket ball and base ball teams, also a tent, twenty folding cots, cooking utensils and other camping ac cessories. The primary object of the club is to lead the boys to Christ. No meeting is held without the claims of Christ being held up. Great emphasis is put on the period of worship. He who is not present for the worship pe riod thereby disqualifies himself for further participation in any activities of the club during that particular meeting. Talks are frequently made to the boys on social hygiene and kindred sub jects. The boys are often giv en an opportunity to make a practical application of their Christianity. During the recent heavy snow a poverty stricken family was supplied with food. A few of the boys also assisted in making paths to the homes of a number of widows who were shut in by the snow drifts. When the survey was made a lot of the work was done by the Pioneers. The Sunday school'library is available for the boys. They are urged to read such books as, “The Boy Problem,”by Forbush; “The Unfolding Life,” by Lamo reaux; “Touchstones of Suc cess;” “The Junior Classics.” At times they are asked, to tell something of their readings. The club has each year a Father-Son banquet. This feat ure serves to bring about a bet ter understanding between the men and the boys. It is grand to see the men join in with the boys in the “jamboree.” At the last banquet about seventy-five men and boys were present. Another feature of the club is the annual camping trip. Into tie woods the boys go and live the care free life for a few days, ell ordered program for the it is mapped out. There is ^interesting feature for each dftjr. At night the boys gather around the camp fire where they haye singing, camp fire stories and character talks. The days spent in the woods with the boys are days of genuine, unal loyed happiness. Each year the boys look forward with keen de lig it to camping time. I Vhile the club is under Pres by erian control its membership is|not restricted by any means ibyterians. The policy of “Friendly Church on the present a con IHrlFWTOr munity. Its aim is to be of the greatest help possible to the greatest number possible. Hence any boy who is able to meet the conditions is eligible to membership. Chief, among these conditions is that he must be a member of some Sunday school. BARBER COLLEGE NEWS By Joetta Stinson. Monday evening a health re presentative came to Barber with a portable moving picture outfit, for a lecture on “The Care of the Teeth.” This was not a slide but a real “movie” with comic intervals to relieve the probable dullness of a mere “tooth” lecture. King “Felix” who is so well known in Aesop’s Fables was a real hero as the “Germ Demon.” On returning from the Con ference at Tuskegee the Deans, Misses M. A Kinniburgh and Ruth Smith, had many interest ing things to tell about the school. It is such an immense place with order and system per fectly arranged. The discipline and management are the things which excite the most interest to a stranger, as the long lines march by with the same sort of clock-work as befits an army. Everything is in tune. In their very interesting talks in chapel Wednesday morning Miss Kinniburgh and Miss Smith both spoke about the cleanliness of everything and the fine school spirit that was very evident. They said the busts and pictures and statues of Booker T. Washington meet one on every hand all over the campus and* perpetuate in the minds of the students the spir it of loyalty and Washington’s own favorite principle—“Team Work.” besides being an inter esting place Tuskegee is full of interesting people. They also had the privilege of seeing and talking with Madame Wicksell of Europe, who is the only wo man in the League of Nations, and is studying educational sys tems in this country for foreign use. She plans to come to Bir mingham. Barber would certain ly favor a visit from her. The student government sys tem becomes more and more ef ficient as the year grows and with the new officers and new energies at work good results are evident. A group of generous college students were present*at a pro gram and “foot party” at South Highland School Monday eve ning at 8:00 o’clock. The pro gram was good and the rest of the evening, which marked a new epoch in the history of “feet,” was interesting as well as giving lots of /