The Llano colonist. [volume] (Llano, Calif.) 191?-1937, 1922-11-04
SOCIETY
BY Robert Lindsey

Halloh. Bill! How are things in
your town9"
Dull. dull, as usual. Nothing 60
ing on at all except a little church
now and then. The boys have a bas-
ket ball team started, and that is
about all there ever is
why don't you have a dance oc-
casionally and a community pro-
gram?"
What are you talking aboutp Do
you suppose we would have such de-
grading thing as dance in our town ?
Besides, there isn't soul that could
play for one, and no one has any mon
ey to hire music. As to a program, |
guess that would be all right-but who
would ever take part2 There is no
one in our town but Jack Brown who
can entertain. and he sure couldn't
hold a program by himself"
Such is the condition in nine towns
out of ten in the outside world. No
entertainment, no social life-simpIy
because there is no one to make it;
and yet the human animal is the great
est social being in existence. All the
animals Of. the forests and the plain
can live a secluded life better than
man. Man, when isolated from hui
mainly, grows to be like the animals
he is associated with. Thus, if he
lives in the jungles, he becomes alert
in his senses of hearing and seeing, as
a means Of protection from his enc
mics. If he lives on the plains. he be-
comes rough, hard-headed, and brut-
ish, like the cattle and the bronchoes.
If he is entirely shut away from hui
mainly and all animal life. he often
becomes insane. 1t is through mans
close association that he has become
so highly developed and it is through
still closer association that he will be-
come still greater in intellect.
1t is mans natural desire to be with
his kind, and yet it is difficult for him
to make society entertaining. How
often have | gone to party and tor
perhaps two hours every one would
sit and talk silly talk and giggle, wait
ing for some one to start something, as
you call it. No one felt brave enoubh
(if you might call it bravery to make
suggestion. AS soon as some one
did, all were ready and willing to toll
low. ....
The same is true in all our social
life. The fellow to start something is
seldom to be found. We all wait for
the other fellow to make the break and
then we follow whether we like it or
not What is the matter? Is it ignor-
ance or bashfulness? If either, or
both, it can be due only to neg lect-
and that is a lack of social life. There
is no excuse for a girl or boy being so
bashfuI or so society-lgnorant that ne
or she sits in a corner and passlvely
smiles at everything that takes place.
| have lived in several small localities
since | can remember. and only one
has been truly social. A little church,
Sunday school. an occasional party, a
little ball and no logical system to any
of them, unless they have leader
which was seldom the case. My town
is dull; how is yours " SO is mine.
This is what we hear from all small To-
calities and in the larger ones all the
social life is made by companies tor
money; and if you indulge, you also
deduct.
The social problem Of the world is
one of our greatest obstacles. There
are over a hundred million people in
these United States, and yet hardly
a single community, town, or city
makes its own social life. The small