Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1902-12-24
Tne T.nes~ Recorder is the
THE PROGRESSIVE SPIRIT AS A
SOCIAL FACTOR.

Human happiness is the result of ac-
tivity. We enjoy life just in proper
ton as we are able to use those facul
ties with which we are endowed; for the
highest forms Of pleasure are invaria-
bly, associated with usefulness To
be happy, then, is to be useful; and the
best interests of the individual and Of
society at large demand that every
system Of education worthy Of the
name should provide for the harmo-
NOUS development Of those faculties
which are most likely to render their
possessor useful.
To be most useful to our fellow-man,
we must adapt ourselves to the condi-
tions of the age in which we hve-we
must be animated to large extent by
the spirit of the times He who lives
century in advance of his generation
may render service to posterity, but
frequently fails to benefit his contem-
poraries. He who has not yet caught
up with the times, can hope to win but
little success in the stirring struggles
of the present day. There is no room
in the world for sluggards.
We are living, today, in essentially
a mechanical age an age of progress
an age Of action. The iron -throated
locomotive, piercing our hills and
laundering along our valleys, shrieks
out shrill challenge of defiance to ig-
norance, to istless ease, and to anti
quated methods. The whirring wheels
of the factory are singing a song of in
dustry. The world is alive today as it
never has been before. If our chill
dren are to play any very important
part in its great theatre of action, they
must go out well prepared, and they
must go out early.
There are those who deplore the ma
terialistic tendencies of the times.
The Times Recorder does not. We
are glad that our age is practical. We
are glad we are enjoying comforts of
living undreamed of by our fathers.
We are glad that our children may
avail themselves of advantages which
were never presented to our own
youthful years. We are glad that
space is being all but annihilated and
that time is fast becoming naught
but name. We believe that the bet
ter houses we live in, the, better food
we eat, the better clothing 1--WE wear,
are contributing vastly to the intel
Iectual, moral, and spiritual uplifting
of the race.
The olden times were not the best.
We ought to esteem it rare privilege
to i've in this present age. 1t is no or
binary blessing that we enjoy. AS for
ourselves, we should have been.glad to
hear at first hand the wonderful elo-
quence of Demosthenes, the noble
philosophy of an Aristotle, the spirited
song of Homer; but we would not
give this twentieth century civilization
for all the oratory, philosophy and
poetry of all the intellectual barbarians
in that beautiful springtime sof the
world.
While vast achievements have been
wrought in recent years, there still re-
mains much to be accomplished. We
may fairly expect great things Of the
century which has hardly yet begun.
Let us hope that our sons may acquit
themselves worthily in the great work
that shall soon be theirs to perform
and let us see that they are trained
with specific reference to the labor
that awaits their hand.
There was time when manual train
ing was regarded as all but degrading.