Grand Forks herald., 1922-01-16

W. - -..-.- 60. -.
Df towns that are better. The author
Of Main, Street either sunintentionaily
overlooks 'tr wiiirully spurns the
splendid community spirit. the neigh
the little group OF cultured
people. the excellent schools and
strong churches. the beautiful homes
and. clean streets overarched by trees
Of many aStoYnaof three thousand In
habitanfs. Main Street lacks poise
and balance. its perspective is distort-
ed and equilibrium disturbed. Gopher
Prairie Is not representative.
He seems to imply that the small
town is worse than the big city. It
highly specialized skill. here great
preachers hold forth, great lawyers
argue, great physicians practice. great
business men operate. Here leading
actors and musicians charm multi
'tldes. Libraries hold the. mental
gems of the ages, and galleries exhibit
the art treasures of the golden CEN
turies But there is also the tenement
and the slum., vice and crime ignor-
ance and sQualor, such as the small
town knows not. The average of hu-.
manity. the commonalfty OF mankind.
is just about the same everywhere, in
city and small town. In things essen
tial men as a whole are much alike
regardless of their place of residence
in these United States.
Mr. Lewis deliberately creates the.
It is hopelessly bad. 1t
can not.,be improved. 1t is imposst-
i,ble to raise the standards of the
|yOkelry and the peaEantry. One must
either yield to their pernicious infiu-
enceI and be absorbed by them, or be
reviled and rejected and isolated. To
be sure a Carol Kennicot. weak-willed
| a pure visionary. tactless and incom-
petent. can never< escape sordid en-
vironment by changing it. On the
other hand. there are many cases on
record which refute the thesis of
! Main Street. Many a community has
been invaded by man or woman
who became the center Of the re-
organization Of the town. The peo-
pie do actually respond to leadership
of imaKination and intelligence. 1t
has been abundant demonstrated
that q stronK personality can re-
construct a small town closer to the
! hearts? desire. Carol is the effective
lesson in how not to rebuild a COM
munity. but a constructive suggestion
would he more illuminating and in
spring. ~ @
| !dH4nS., lHe DoOk dS WHole oHs
feels that it's general view Of life is
bad. Its philosophy is wrong. A
rank and frank lpaganism permeates
the book. Its characters of import
ance are unashamed and naked
| pagans. a$''
On, a warm summer day Carol and
the doctor attend the services of the
Baptist church. which was the church
from which they We're absent when
l fhoyy did or OF ~ o1 1rxy fhn =.
mon theme announced. The pastor
the Rev. Edmund Zitterel. preached
on Am erica. Face Your Problems
It was the time Of the war. and thf
hearers expected an exposition: of na.
tional issues and patriotic duties; The
problems which the Rev. .sZittere
called upon America to face were
Timely and skiilful treatment of those
points, might have done something fol
the sermon, but the preacher deliver
ed himself Of combination of mis-
information and sheer drivel. The
sanctimonious JUNCTION with which he
preached added to the depression. L
Is small wonder that the people found
the pews hard. do not deny thai
such sermons are actually given IL
small towns of three thousand more
Inhabitants. I admit that they ART
occasionally delivered in :. the larg,
i atty. is.tp bSRoted .th4sn the autho
of ,hE9an 9treet Noes not Submit hh
sermon astypicafsand average preach
ing of theEsmall towns: but as a. spe
cial effort. as a$sermon the theme o
which was advertised. as a produc
upon which more than usual care ant
ordinary diligence was expended. Th'
Inference is. if that is the best tina
the church of Gopher Prairie has t.
offer. what must be average sermon
be. and what horror the worst
Granting that much inferior preach
: ing is being done everywhere. let u
not forget that most of the preacher
of the strong city churches have wol
their spurs and achieved distinction
as sermonizers in the Gopher Prairie
of the land:
Even. more pagan is the, conception
of the church which Main Street cher
t ishes. DR.. Kennicott says that he be
> lieves in the church he so seldom at
!. tends, for the lower classes must b
! kept under control and taught to re
E spect property. What a conception Q
/ the function Of the Christian ministry
1t Is the preachers Job to hold tn
masses down in order to give polio
2 protection to the property Of the rich
\ Whatever the ministry may have bee
r guilty of in the past. that is Just tn
p thing it is not doing in the Gophe
e PfalrleS To-Day. some OF US na0 pee
Of the opinion that it is the purpose o
! the Christian church to open bin
I eyes. to bring out the prisoner fron
his dungeon. to proclaim liberty to tn
: captive.
: Stin more naive: if that be possible
Z, is Carols notion Of the church. She
repelled byvthe study OF the geneolo
) gies in the Bible and by the constan
, repetition of the Chaldean phras
"tho h1Ood of tho a m h - hr,% SIo doe
, sense an attractive human element Il
!. the sociable gatherings of the churc
: : people. She does also concede tina
of all forces compelling respectabilit
the church is the most important.
Now Mr.. Lewis created Carol in tn
!. image Of culture and in the likeness o
I refinement. Surely the mark of cul
e