Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1922-02-11
THE MAN WHO TALKS

/ research and is written in a very sym
pathetic spirit. 1 am thinking however,
what in all human probability would
have happened one hundred years ago If
q great man of philosophic trend had
devoted his trained faculties to such a
! topic as play" and especially If he had
treated 1t as he would have a learned
| question Of theology To say that he
| would have been violently denounced is
| to put the matter lightly. Play was
something to be looked at askance; 1t
was to be curbed and limited and al
ways to be reduced to a minimalm 1t
was some sign of depravity and unless
held in leash was sure to plunge one into
| destruction. But to regard it as a nat
ural instinct, as much as hunger or
hearing and seeing, was left to a broader
and more intelligent age to develop.
The day on which these lines appear
in print will be near the day more or less
| celebrated at ST Valentines. 1 wonder
If the young people especially have
| clear idea who st. Valentine was? The
! valentine custom arose during the Upper
| Gala a festival that was celebrated by
| the Romans in the month of February.
| number of young people would assem-
| Bile during the festival, and would in
| scribe on bits of paper the names of an
equal number of maids and bachelors of
their acquaintance, throw the whole into
a receptacle and draw them lottery wise
! care, of course, being taken that each
| would draw one of the opposite sex. The
| person drawn became ones valentine 1t
| was supposed that one should be devoted
to ones valentine for one year. 1t was
plain that many life attachments arose
| from this practice. When pagan Rome
| fell and papal Rome came the clergy
| gave the custom religious aspect by
af1xing to it the name Of the beloved
st. Valentine, whose day was the 14th of
| February. The grotesque feature of the
custom-wtich has become such bur
den to the mails-gradually orept. in
later.
One cannot glance over the daily
newspaper, however hurriedly, without
realizing the alarming growth of emo
tional insanity" whatever that means
Sure it is that under the momentary
spell of sudden nervous excitement
crimes of the most appalling nature are
committed. Whether one is responsible
or not for the things done when in this
condition is not a question for the lay
mind to decide. But we do know, all of
! us, what terrible deeds are committed
under the name of emotional insanity
And there is another thing we know
about it, and that is it is all due to over
NiettA5llt llCl NCSJ NIliCH Is lIle IeSull "a
the unnatural. high tensioned way in
! which we Americans are now living.
Our pleasures as well as our food is overs
spiced. To escape tameness we crowd
three days into one, thinking that this
| moonshine excitement will give the need
, cd tang to our faded nerves The Old
hymn Take time to be holy" has com
mon sense as well as religion. Why not
go a Sit slower and see some things by
! ~ -, H. IN Oh
day-and 1t will be a long one.
While this country is still far from
normalcy in its business activity and
while the number Of unemployed is still
dis-ressingly large it is refreshing tc
find signs of prosperity in some urlt
tons. This s particularly true Of the
churches, most of which have had theil
! annual meetings in January. a tone o
satisfs ction and hopefulness has marked
: the reports that haze appeared in print
. especially the treasury reports. Churcr
, | people have been fully awake to III,
. needs of a suffering world as seen in lht
vast amount contributed in 1891 to be
nevoience, and also in the generous wa,
in which the home expenses have beer
2 met. l ran across an item last weel
i that must make Henry Ward Beeche
:; | rejo'c e in glory and make him feel tina
r his labors for 40 years in building III
Plymouth church We're not in VAN, for i,
1871 the treasurer reported that he hat
received and disbursed $4,000 for worl
at home and abroad In the same cit,
l Of Brooklyn, Tompkins avenue churcl
c handled $7s,179. Like mighty arm,
: moves the church of Cod
; We hear it frequently stated-an,
( doubtless there is much truth in tn
= statement-that there is an unhea!th
trend toward frHolty and exciting pleas
ures; that young people are shying a
;. serious things in these days and ar
feeding on the .froth of movies and othe
: shallow things. We must remember tina
n this is no new claim against young PEG
# pie. Cotton Mather in his day cried gu
Il against the Iferversity of the young Hal
. a century later jonathan Edwards sa;
q them marching in solid phalanx into de
!, struction evidently all of them did nc
q, get there). Evangeists of the severe
type ever since have seen young peopl
through the same blue glasses At lea
lie there are 1000 who have. not bowed tn
y knee to Baal. If the movies are patron
l. lied as never before SO are the college,
s Dartmouth has a waiting list of LOO
d clamoring for entrance. The enrollmer
= Of Boston university is 10000 Til
:. Christian Endeavor societies of the wori
have a membership Of 1000 900 in S
% countries and among so denomina ton
Young people stin have some fibre.
We are constantly forming opinion
and just as constantly expressing then
E. and it is clearly our right to pas
* Judgment on persons and things when "
have arrived at definite conclusions Bl
the great trouble les in the manner
which we form judgments and arrive :
conclusions. We are very apt to let oil
=" prejudices, passions, preconceived opil
IONS our likes and dislikes enter to wal
the correctness of our judgment F,
" instance, brutal murder is comrnitte
W and all the details are set forth In II
daily press At once we make up O,
minds who the guilty party is We col
lis denim him before the evidence has be,
n submitted or the trial begun. That is Ii
=. very reason why SO many persons q
1t disqualified from sitting on jury case
We jump at coneluions without lookii
on all sides Of a question and then jud
lst ing according to the weight of evidenc
ng we oftentimes do people rank injusti
DIS by our snap judgments. Let us remer
Der that there are two sides to eve
question.
to There Is scarcely any association
lst ideas between St. Valentine and Abr
to ham Lincoln. although the days
which both receive special recogniti
fall nearly together. We know very |
tie about st. Valentine and a good de
M about Abraham Lincoln. We know t
zee nigh moral grandeur of Lncoln's chara
ill ter, and presume that Valentine also W
nigh grade parsonage, for the pref
saint has stood before the name V;
-. entine for centuries. We ought not. no
ever to be misled by the word "sain