The Delta independent., 1921-09-09
Wild YOUNG FOLK
Not Much Worse Than Those Of
Other Days.
Writer Answers indietnsnt o. ~rhess
Wild Young Peopie"-Franknsss .
Striking charaetsristie Of the
Generation Of Today.

"We Of the younger generation. (.
says John F. Carter. Jr., In the Allan.
tic. answering an Indictment Of those
wild young people," BY . certain ''Mr.
Grundy" In the same magazine. 1--WE
are frank with each other. frank, or
pretty nearly so. with our. leaders
frnnk, In the way we feel toward life
and this badly damaged world. 1t may
he disauietine and misleading habit,
but is II bad one?
I'VE find some few things in the
world that we like, and q whole lot
that we don't. and we are not afraid
to say SO or to give reasons. In ear
lier generations this was not the case.
The young men yearned to be glitter
ting generalities, the young women to
act like shy, sweet, innocent fawns-
toward one another. And now. when
grown up, they have come to believe
that they actually were figures Of pris-
tine excellence. knightly chivalry. ador-
able modesty and impeccable pro-
priety.
But I really doubt If they were
so. Statistics relating to, let us say.
the immortality Of college students in
the eighties would not compare favor
ably with those Of the present. How
ever, now. as they look back on II, they
see their youth through mist Of mus
lin. nannels, tennis, bicycles. Tenny-
son. Browning and the Blue Danube
waltz. The other things, the ugly
things that we know about and talk
about, must also have been there. But
drs OVd didn't da I
consider them. and now they are for
gotten. We talk about them unabashed
and not necessarily with Presbyterian
disapproval, and so they jump to the
conclusion that We are thoroughly bad,
and keep pestering us to make US
good.
"The trouble with them is that they
can't seem to realize that we are busy.
that what pleasure we snatch must be
Incidental and feverishly hurried. We
have to make the most of our time. We
actually haven't got SO much time for
the noble procrastinations of modesty
or Of the elaborate rigmarOle Of chiv-
airy and little patience for the lovely
formulas of an ineffective faith. Let
them die for a while! They did not
seem to serve the world too well in its
black hour. II they are Inherently
good they will come back vital and un-
tarnished. But Just now we have lot
Of work, old time is still a-hylng.' and
We must gather rosebuds while We
may.
"Oh. I know that we are pretty
bad lot. but has not that been true Of
every preceding generationf At least
we have the courage to act according
ly. Our music is distinctly barbaric.
our girls are distinctly not mixture
Of arbutus and barbed wire. We drink
when we can and what we can; we
gamble. we axe extravagant-but we
work, and that's about all that we can
be expected to do! for. after all. We
have Just discovered that we are still
very near to the stone age.
'Oh, / suppose that it's too bad that
We aren't humble, starry-eyed. shy. re-
spectful innocents, standing reverently
at their side for instructions, playing
pretty little games. in which they no
longer believe. except for us. But We
aren't, end the best thing the oldsters
can do about It Is to go into their re-
spective back yards and dig for worms.
great big pink ones-for the Grundy
tribs are Just about as important AZ
they are. and they will doubtless mako
company more congenial and dociis
than these wild young people, the men
and women Of my generation"