The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-08-12

day is up to date! No one wants to be
pessimistic or Puritanical; but hear
me when / say in all calmness that
YOU must fight nowadays for your
very soul, else the siren music Of
naked sea nymphs' will dope to sleep
your decent instincts Habakkuk, |
say, is brought up to date!
The treaties Of peace have been
signed, but we are still in the fury of
it all. Forces of right and wrong are
still locked in deadly embrace.
"Godliness is brazen and blatant. y
There were explosives, destructive
explosives, stored beneath the ball
room of the Kremlin palace; and in
and through and beneath organized
society there are explosives just as
deadly. And yet, men, women and
children are crying, ION with the
dance" And again, Zone more dance
in defiance of the flames"
Who Is Shocked?
There is nothing more patent when
we stop and analyze the situation than
that we have become a changed peo-
pie in the last half dozen years. Many
of US do not see these things until
we stop and consider the matter:
We have ceased to regard too many
of the time-honored and the God
given safeguards to our home, and to
our individual hearts. You think
about it.; who is shocked nowadays?
Modesty, delicacy, and spiritual re-
finement a,e on low level. People
freely discuss matters that would
have seriously reflected on respect
ability and good breeding in past
years. And nobody thinks anything
about it! There are intimate, person
al and sacred things as freely dis
cussed nowadays as the hiring of a
cook, or the planting of corn or cot
ton.
1t is all symptom of the age Of
an age when con with the dance" is
largely expressive. Nor is this symp-
tom seen in men more than in women,
nor in the young folks more than in
the adults. 1t is simply matter of
"everybody's doing it,
! ask you again, who is shocked
nowadays? There has been a
breaking down of the finer sensiblli-
ties as sure as you live. 1t is a sad
situatlon! And unless there is a
break put on this downward drift,
terrible tragedies await US; they are
as inevitable as that the sun shines.
And you need not think that your
family will be spared. No man or
woman, young or old, can trife with
the laws of God and character. Char
acter is a growth; it needs soil and
atmosphere in which to come into
fruitage. My people, the atmosphere
is bad today! Too many of those
finer sensibilities have slipped away
from us.
Sex Familiarity
The familiarity between the sexes
today is one of the evidences that
modesty, and the God ordained rela-
lations between men and women, are
too largely marred, and defed: / am
sure that many of us have not really
considered this matter. You see, the
very atmosphere has been poisoned :!
There are others who know of the
dangers of such familiarity, but they
are like Che young man in the Krem-
In palace, and they cry, Gone more
dance in defiance of the fames."
There is a growing freedom in the
relation Of the sexes toward each
other. This familiarity is increas-
ing at an alarming rate. There are
but few topics tabooed today. The
drapery is torn away from everything.
Nest Of our people do not seem to
realize this situation, and feel no re-
bound therefrom; and in just that is
seen the gravest danger Of all. They
are caught in the maelstrom of mod
ern life. The miasma has come upon
them, and they are drugged. 1t is
"On with the dancen
God quicken our hearts and con-
sciences! 80 Lord, revive Thy work"
Social Relations of Young People
AS I consider the social relations
that exist among our young people
| wonder whittier are we drifting.
love young people; it has not been.
very long since was one of them. |
believe in fun; in socials; in associa-
tion between and among boys and
girls.
But there is certainly a growing
freedom and an increasing familiar
ty in the social life of our young peo-