The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-02-01
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OF which means much for the future OF
the city as regards the intellectual pro-
gress and social development Of its young
men, and which, laying aside all personal
prejudice and looking at it from a purely
business standpoint, is entitled to their
most earnest and serious consideration.
Shall We or shall We not have a Young
Mems Christian Association in Durham?
Shall We or shall we not have a select
library and public reading room, attract
lively fitted up and supplied with COM
forts dear to the heart of every exile
and which appeal to the best impulses of
our young men?
Shall we or shall we not provide a
home for our young men who have no
humes, where they can spend their leis-
ure hours In healthy recreation, sur
rounded by good moral influences and
among companions who are decent and
law abiding, or shall we force them to
seek amusement in doubtful haunts
where, If not really hurtful to their
morals is nothing to stimulate or incite
them to intellectual effort?
People who have homes and friends
and families of their own can never real
lie the yaHning vacuum in the empty
life Of the average young man who stands
behind a clerks desk or a dry goods
counter ten hours a day and puts in the
remaining fourteen eating boarding house
hash and wandering simlessly through
space. They can never realize the aching
void in that heart nor the yearning of
such a one for sympathy and companion
ship.
AS q general rule young men raised in
an intelligent christian community are
not naturally bad, but on the contrary
have . desire to do the correct thing
provided the correct thing is in sight.
They are not, however, so universally
inclined to early piety as to make the
church and the prayer meeting and the
Sunday school sufficient to satisfy their
social and intellectual instincts; for
which reason the club is Us necessary for
the young man as Is the sewing society
for the pious sister who makes shirts for
the heather and SANDERS her neighbors
for the good of mankind.
The Y. NJ. G. A. has, during the past
year, done a great work for the young
men Of this city. 1t has not only furn-
ished at all times a pleasant and conve
nient place in which to meet their friends
and while away any idle hour, but has in
troduced a number Of novel and interest
ing features, which, if carried out, cannot
fail to prove a wonderful stimulus for in
tellectusl improvement and of incalcula-
bic benefit to those who participate. The
young business man whose schooling has
been cut short and who, DESTROYS for self
Improvement, /. awaiting the tide which
leads on to fortune in the shape of an
education, has here the opportunity and
here the invitation.
That the opportunity and invitation
are appreciated by many is manifest from
the interest now being shown in the mock
senate and other features looking to the
same end-that of self education. SEC
RETARY WHITE has proved himself a
most efficient officer and to his energy
and zeal the association owes much.
But now the question comes home.
The Y. NJ. G. A. like every other institu-
ton, requires money to sustain it and
carry on the good work. 1t is just en-
tering upon a new year and the treasury
is short by several hundred dollars. Tn
less the money 10 raised the officers tell
US they will take it for granted that the
people do not want it and will close
doors.
But Durham will not allow this. As a
people it would be an everlasting dis
groce and as a town We cannot afford to
let the association go down.
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