The Chapel Hill weekly., 1931-01-09
Tones's Article on the South

Thz Sosth T. Frequent : betu .
cures q be ne Sc cor 81, has
a. carla8 fares .in us h
rsar<S explain tb1 hna j ie
soTge< that og1ssssrs a. 49, - th
So15hernecs Lhemss .ses cuutribute 81
the self f-consciousness. Whether IL
praise or censure the world persists
in standing of and gazing al the
South as q. some sor1 Of museum
specimen Mr.. Jones displays abun-
dani sympathy with the resentment
tia, Southernery fee or many occa-
sioTs
In vlew Of tne patropIzsng attitude
Of certain types Of coEnS.-acent North
err visitors IN the South, an edge o.
suspicion in the Southern attitude Is
understandable and 70 be forgiven.
Unfortunately for goodfeeling, not
only do these visitors come South
with q fixed idea that the inhabitants
are shIttless, lazy, and incompetent,
not only DO they on occasion express
thelr views with voices like so1nding
brass, but they sometimes bring with
then, save-the- South complex that
I should be sufficient excuse for horni-
eide There is still considerable
stripe Of moral ueddlers determined
% instruct the Southerner IN better
ways They want 70 reform every
/ thing from his. speech 70 his soul.
Northern churches still spend vast
sums on home missionary work IL
the South, Northern social agencies
labor untiringly II behalf OF down
trodden white and lowiy Negro,
Northern business sends its teachers
into Dixie. OF course one must dis
tIngulsh between goodwill and intel
Agent aid on the one hand, and pat
ronage and pharisalsm on the other,
/ but, after making all allowances,
there must be moments when the sen
gjtive Southerner resents his being
cas-, n the double role Of starving
Armenian and unspeakable Turk.
But tactlessness on one side, though
It may explain, does not justify bad
manners on the other and | would
still argue for the correction Of Ger
tain regrettable Southern lapses in
the interest Of finer courtesy"
/ have often thought that, when
people talk or write about the diff
ference between the North and the
South, they are, without being aware
of II, talking Or writing about the
difference between al urban and a
rural, or small i-tcwn civilization.
When used 10 dwell in New York
Southern friends If mine would come
there on visit, stay week or 50,
and discourse confidently on the con
trastlDg attributes Of North and
South. To them New York was the
North. Having been in New York
they thought they knew the North,
whereas they did not even know New
York. | recall one North Carolinian
who, after visit u the city, wrote
his impressions Of it for the home
town paper. He had spent all his
time in the theatre district, and from
Times Square he had now and then
looked up Seventh avenue and seen
the trees Of Central Park. And one
sentence IN his report read: North
of 53th street, in New York, all is
a dense forest" That is fair speci-
men of the extent Of many Southern
ers knowledge of other sections.
Although passed most Of my time
in large cities, It happened that some
times my afFair& took me To Northern
small towns, and | remarked there
instances Of much the same sort Of be
haVlor, good and bad, which Mr..
Jones found in the South. The rural
OF village atmosphere prevails pretty
generally in the South. We have few
large cities, and even those we are
accustomed 10 speak Of as large are
trlfiing in size compared with those
Of the North-they are mostly over
grown small towns.
| assure Mr.. Jones that | have been
in Northern communities, remote from
the great centres Of population, where
! saw evidences Of the same hesita-
ton about accepting strangers from
beyond the Potomac that he says he
found in the South. ! did not find
this exclusiyeness general, however,
and one Of his statements with which
do not agree is that it is general in
the South. "Strive as he will TO con-
form to prevailing prejudice" he
writes, "the Northerner in Dixie is
likely to remain Northerner until
he dies" have known too many
Northerners, in too many Southern
communities, who have been absorbed
readily into the people and the life
about them, TO permit me to agree