The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1921-03-23
WILD YOUNG FjJjl.H.:
Not Much Worse Than Those of
C.her Days,
Writer Answers Indictment Of "rhese
Wild Young People"-f'rankneo Il
Striking Characteristic Of tho
Generation of Today.


I'VE Of the younger gcncratlon,"
says John Il. Carter, Jr., I'm the Attain
tic, answering an Indictment OF chose
wild young people," by certain "Mr.
Grundy" in the same magazine, Eve
are frank With each other, frank, or
pretty nearly so, with our leaders;
frank in the way we feel toward life
and this badly damaged world It may
be disquieting and misleading habit,
but Is 1T Il bad one?
awe find some few things In The
world that we like, and whole lot
thnt 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 ycarned 10 be glitter
ing gcncralities, 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 clivaIry. ador-
able modesty and impcccabe pro
priety.
"l5ut I really doubt II they were
so. Statistics relating to, LET MS 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 It. they
see their youth through Il mist Of mus
lin, flanncls, tennis, bicycles, T"nny-
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
our elders didn't care or didn't dare to
consider them. and now they are for
gotten. We talk about them unabaShcd
ana not necessarily with Presbyterian
diSapproval, and so they jump to the
caHcluSion 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 arc busy.
that what pleasure we snatch must he
incidental and feverishly hurried We
have to make the most Of our time. We
actually haven't got so much time for
the noble procrnstinations Of modcsty
or Of the elaborate rigmnrole Of chiv-
airy and little patience 6or the lovely
formulas OF an ineffective faith. Let
them die for while! They did not
seem to serve the world too we'll In its
black hour. If they are inherently
good they Will come back vital and un-
furnished. But Just now we have lot
of work, old time is still n-fying.' and
we must gather roscbuds while we
mny.
"Oh. know that we are pretty
bad lot, but has not thnt been true OF
every preceding generation? Az least
we have the courage to act according
ly. Our music is distinctly barbaric,
our girls are distinctly not Il mixture
OF nrbutus and barbcd wire. We drink
when we can and what we can; we
gamble, VIC are eXtravagant-but we
work, and that's about MI that we can
he expected to do! for, after oil, we
have Just discovered that we are stir
very near to the stone age
"Oh, suppose that It's too bad that
we aren't humble, stnrry-cycd. shy, re-
Spcctful innoccnts, standing rcverently
mt their side for instructions, playing
pretty little games in which they no
longer believe, except for us. But we
Grcn't, and the best thing the oldsters
can do about 1t is to go into their re-
spective back yards and dig for worms,
great big pink oncS-for the Grundy
tribe are just about rs important ns
they are. and they Will doubtless make
company more congenial and docike
than these wild young people, the men
and women of nv generation"