The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-09-18
RURAL MORALITY

1t has often been observed that our civilization is a thin
veneer-thnnest where it shines most LUMINOSITY 1t is fragile,
and when cracked or broken the bidder, savage is revealed
Take the case of Boston. Here is a large, rich and prosperous
city, opulent in educational institutions and other civilizingI
agencies. Here stands FanueiI hail. the cradle of liberty. Bos-
ton has been called the Athens of the Western continent. Here
the New England conscience is supposed to abide. Here is
where education and culture have done the most. The Back
Bay is where superior spirits assemble on a higher plane with
out the trouble of diving Yet Boston has shown that she is
ruled and held in check by the pofcemans club, and when that
retrbutory cudgel IS withdrawn chaos enters. Boston found her
self without a police force the other day, and riot, rapne and
plumber were INDUCED IN by her people. How do such things
begin? Simply. No policeman on the block, and some good
citizen stoops down mechanically and picks a peanut of a fruit
stand Another prefers a roasted walnut. A third, seeing that
the picking is easy, takes an apple or an orange ANhungry
man picks up a handful of bananas. Others crowd around, and
the proprietor from the lonian isles or sunny Italy makes a
rumpus that aggravates matters. The hoodlum element IS
attracted, and what it does not see in front OF the place 1t seeks
Tor on the inside. No policeman to interfere and other places
are invaded, and the spols that are carried away inilame the
appettes and cupidity of the mob that soon c~ongregates' Inc
veneer of civilization is broken and people become primitive
They take what they want wherever they can lind II, ana a
saturnalia Of loot begins. This soon merges INTO conflict between
those who have and those who want Heads are broken and
blood is shed, and one crime after another IS added TO the cate
CORY, until crime is rampant and chaos rules.
In the Alps, where the accumulated SHOWS are piled on the
mountain tops and sides, disaster is preciptated much in the
same way. The equilibrium of one atom of snow is destroyed
by agitating the atmosphere and it topples over. This may be
done by the sound Of a horn or whistle, the ring of a wood
mans AK, or the sound OF a warbling rnaiden's voice, Or it
NAV happen by the parting of one Of the curious and beautiful
crystal formations. The first liberated atom strikes the one
below it, These two the third, and as they multiply their
power increases in geometrc proportion. soon a tumphng mass
is formed, and as this goes down it grows in volume, gather
ing into its grasp first the smaller then the larger objects that
It detaches from the mountainsde. Pebbles and stones, first,
then trees and rocks are gathered in and carried along in the
downfall until the mountain is stripped OF its mantle OF snow
and everything detachable, and the mass rolls down in an ava
lanche. sweeping everything before it and overwhelming every
thing in its wake. SheepcoteS, houses, hanlets, towns and VII
lapes and all the works of man are crushed and gathered IN ana
swept awav by this bosom Of destruction and when the harm IS
done silence returns and no evidence Of guilt or remorse may be
seen. II is much the same with a rioting mob, and all tax OF
Furnishing those who started it is futile. 1t Just happens IKE
any other calamity; indviduahsm is absorbed and lost in gen
eralzation.
This is also the character of the city mob. 1t is an ava
laache of passion, where mans primordial instinct asserts
itself He takes what he wants from those who have, and
what he cannot carry away he is loath to leave behind and
applies the torch to destroy It.
How different the country, Here are hundreds and thou.
sands Of square miles Of occupied territory in which there is nc
policeman. There is no club swinging over the heads OF people
and yet they respect each others rights, There is room. There
is no crowding or congestion, and there can be no explosion
The mob spirit finds no abiding place, and is never present
The few disturbances that occur soon die out for lack Of mate
rial to work on. There is peace, tranquility and Christian
morality and the solid virtues that hold a nation together ant
make it great, Education will not suffice, although many con
slider it a universal panacea. Such religion as we have will no
do il. These together, assisted by evolution, may in time ras
humanity above its occasional reversions to savagery, blu
evolution is a slow progress. Every country must depend OIL
its rural morality for its salvation. Great cities are a constan
menace. New Yorks gunner are the natural products of it
life AS we sow We shall reap, in any city.