The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1916-10-20
SOCIAL TRANSITION
FRANK GREAVES.

equilibrium than at present, and. Will
this neceSsitated caste. it was wit
such apportionment of values, true o
false. as to station human RELATIONSHIP
upon a firmer foundation. This is n
longer true Society has changed, it
ideals have changed, its values are un
stable and impressionistic. Thes
things, or phases of things, are obviou
to ephemeral intellects-and why
What has thrown down that ancien
structure of human appraisement
which segregated the false and insti
tuted a system Of social reward an,
punishment? Are we less sworthy o.
the one and more eager to gravitate Il
the lower planes of existence? Sure
ly there must be a motive or there
must be a cause for effect. In short
why are social standards less exalted
now than when a mans conduct was
q criterion as to his sphere among
his fellows?
This is the great social transition
period; not, as We might presume, a
settling to satisfactory quiescence af-
ter a storm. 1t is a roofing up of es-
tablished ideals and customs, a recre-
ating Of modes, a revolution in that
great domain Of the social economy
known as the civic body. A something
is being made, and another something
is being lost
The past held something which the
present has lost-home. And by home
is meant not simply a tangible domi-
ell, but the inherent spirit. personality,
atmosphere of that domicil, which was,
of course. the peculiar charm of liv-
ing personalities They then expert
enced life, lived it more eully-if more
carefully. The charm was unaffected,
real and truly simple. A mans home
was his castle ordered according to
his viii, 1t was not rendezvous on
rainy days, a retreat at night, and a
place to be avoided. Latter years have
seen this in truth, however, and the
club is the result. And again one may
ask why is not there now that charm
ing restfulness and sweetness of as
ISOLATION about American home life
which seasons with gladness the hopes
of the weary? Certainly modern lux
uries and innovations tend to draw the
mind away from home to other things,
but the extent to which this is true
becomes perplexing when it has ever
been a national popularity to enshrine
ones domicil among the most loved
things of life. However, today finds
the old library vacant and the home
circle at evening INTENDED, while the
pleasure seeking, rowing spirited
American adds to the ever moving tide
of social unrest. No one hobby claims
patriotic following or attendance; the
show tonight, and tomorrow something
else; so goes his variegated career be-
tween business hours until it seems to
be a quest of anything but home. So
the man himself has changed very
noticeably from the nonpresumptious
to the one Of hauteur; from disinter-
estedness in friendship to a tabulator
of obligations and follower of favors.
Analogous, one might say, to denatur-
ed wine has become character-or per-
sonality-hat, insipid, and of a bland
sameness with all others of a like
kind, regardless Of name or outward
differences. As environments have
changed, so with the genus homo"
who, chameleon like, colors to the NOR
al hue of the surroundings. How
strange, you say, and fifty years ago
he was vital quantity imbued with
a personality and differing from his
fellows at most angles Today, there
may be a difference in clothes and COM
pleXion, but few be there who when
plucked from the mass and turned in
side out would differ a bit from the
rest Therefore he doesn't give
d--n.
Nowadays we bet on the future, dis
card the present and canonize the past.
Today's regulations and demands are
not needed, and so raptly do we con-
template the morrow that we cannot
feel or realize our association with the
present. Life passes, passes like a
chimera of shadows; the sensibilities
are numbed by the flying transitions
from experience to experience, soon
forgot, and day to day-not remem-
bered as individual episodes in life's
conscious series.
I'VE are living" said one. Indeed!
and-are we realizing as we live, as
did those of simpler age who so or.
dered life as to observe it's phases and
feel its emotions? 1t seems not.
If this generation were to die and
wake up depending on what they rem
embered Of what they'd gone through
how many, do you suppose, could re-
call any of those finer feelings or ex.
periences that come-as one said
from thoughtful slipping and sensible
tasting?" Very few surely; therefore
we seem unconscious of our real selves
The great dynamic power Of today
is procrastination-I speak from the
aesthetic point of view-materially we
are successes-but truly culturally We
are mimics Of the past without power
of self concentration. And while speak.
ing of procrastination there comes a
memory Of a fnancier who had be.
come so absorbed in bonds and mort.
cages as not to know the real mean.
ing Of his religion. He invested in the