The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-04-28
old foundation, they still stand.

AOllilOl Has DtCn DIOuSHl up III tHt
orthodox Protestant faith. He was
taken to church until he was old
enough to go of his own accord, and
for time he questioned nothing, anal
wed nothing, thought out nothing for
himself Now he is uncertain he is
asking questions, he is trying to dis
cover why and why not. 1t is not that
he is irreligious: he sincerely wants
to be truly religious, but he is deter
mined to think things out for himself.
Many other young people are getting
the same point of view, in other things
as well as in religion but there is fact.
The young person of today is more
resourceful than any other young per-
son whom | have ever known. He can
do anything that he wants to do and
can do it better than any of his prede
meet your challenge with success
that is almost unbelievable. | said
that he can do anything that he wants
to do The chief difficulty is to get
him to the point of wanting to do
something.
, He has been talked about and writ
ten about so much that he has become
self-conscious. He has been praised
until it has not infrequently gone to
his head: he has been written up and
talked about and preached to until he
too often feels under the obligation to
live up to the reputation of being the
wild devil that he has been painted. He
hates above all things now to be
thought unsOphisticated. In general
he is much less wise and much less evil
than he would like to have you think.
His designations are pretty largely SUI
perticial. and this statement is quite
as true of the young mans sister as
of himself.
| had talk not more than a week
ago with a young fellow whose reputa-
ton was badly furnished. He has con-
fesSed to his friends all sorts of
designations, and it looked as if he
were pretty far gone in sin.
You won't believe me- he said, but
I've done none of the things which
l have been talking about"
But you've boasted of them" l said,
land quite generally, too"
That's where I've been a fool"
why did you do it,"
I've always been shy and a good
deal of a prude, perhaps. l wanted the
fellows to think that 1 wasn't afraid of
anything and that I'd had lot of eX
perience of which they had never
guessed. l guess l thought it would
make me a hero"
His is tendency of youth today
We have pictured him as wild and I'M
conventional and he wants to prove
that we have been correct in our judg-
ment.
Our young people today are different
from what we were, but we, too, have
changed, and they are like no one so
much as like their parents. We who
are older live more comfortably than
we did when we were boys and girls
and in general more luxuriously. We
travel faster and farther and in greater
elegance We dress better, we live in
larger and better-appOinted houses
than we once did, and in certain
sense we make fewer sacrifices; and all
these changes in ourselves and in our
environment have had their effect upon
our young people. If there is anything
in particular the matter with our
young people, parents, more than any
one else and more than anything else,
their training in an amazing manner;
they take on habits very early which
dominate them throughout life. By the
time they are twelve or fifteen the path
they are going to follow has been
pretty well marked out for them and
parents and the home are most largely
responsible for this choice.
1t is said that young people are ex-
travagant today. Possibly Someone
was speaking to Clara about her fur
coat or, to be more exact, about one of
her fur coats, for Clara had three when
her mother before her had had to be
contented with a modest wooden one
when she was Clara's age, and her
mothers coat saw service for several
winters. The fur coat question was
a very beautiful one but not very serv-
iceable.
you coat is no so beautiful" one Of
her friends remarked; sit is too bad
that it will wear out so soon."
What matter?" Clara responded.
"Who wants to wear fur coat longer
than one season."
Who, indeed? But Clara is not at
fault it is her foolish, indulgent par
ents.
There is drinking among young peo-
pie these days, we are told, and what