The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-02
CallOuSneSS
of Youth Is
Not Waning
Present Generation Has
Capacity for Cruelty
as of YOre.
BY GRETTA PALMER,
Times Special Writer

NEW YORK. Feb 2-Mr West
~ brook Pegler. whose bailiwick
Is not far distant from the spot
where We are standing. has been
conducting a heated debate with
himself on the nobility Of the young
as compared with their parents.
The December Pegler was a strong
supporter Of youth. The January
Pegler, recalling scenes from his
own childhood, hold that you will
find among the youth Of any cOun-
try as many evil-minded. lazy. cruel
and generally nO-gOOd characters as
might be disclosed by an accurate
census among the equal portion OF
citizens who have managed 70 DEFY
. disease, war and the accidents Of
industry unto the age Of-Just Tor
a flgure-50."
Il Is our seasoned conviction that
the January Pegler Is right.
Gang Rules in Girls Schools
In spite OF the sentimental and
unlikely suggestion that little girls
are made Of sugar and spice and
all things nice our recollection Of
the gang We grew up with Is less
fiattering. They were, at the age
Of 8, as hard-bOiled a lot OF little
hoodlums as you could easily mag
inc
For malice, cunning and mob
tendency TO make life wretched Tor
any one not accepted by the gang
In power there Is nothing like a re-
lined girls school.
one Of the most enjoyable fea-
lures of the Joyous school day was
catching your little friend as she
leaned over the water fountain and
deity bashing her head on to- the
porcelain. The dentists prohted on
more than one occasion from this
practice. Then there we're long,
happy hours spent in making faces
at any little newcomer who might
by good luck be feeling a little out
of things.
The local bellies also got some
pleasure out Of OStracising one small
dancing school boy for the sin Of
wearing the only Elton suit in the
place. What a life he led
Pleased by Savagery
Most Of us curly-headed little girls
were tougher and more unlovely
than We ever will be again. We
took a savage pleasure in diScomfit-
ing our elders. A large part of our
conversation among ourselves would
have carried a heavy penalty if it
had been sent through the mails.
There is no reason to suppose that
the 8-year-old girl of today is any
more civilized or noble a character,
and there is no reason to worry I'M
duly over her future. 1t may seem,
from present symptoms, that she
will grow up to a life Of lighthearted
diSreputability-prObably as some
bOdyS gun mol. But she probably
is no worse than you were when you
were her age and had not heard the
innocence of childhood talked about
by people who don't remember their
own.
Know Seamy Side
For a child really is a most alarm
ing citizen. Some of the things that
he thinks up in the way of tortur-
ing beetles and small animals would
have won praise from the board of
the inquiSition. Yet it is from such
unpromising material as this that
our nOblest adults emerge.
And there, we have always felt,
IS the strongest of all arguments
= against censorship. which is de-
signed to protect the minds of the
young from knowledge of the seamy
side of things. The young them
selves are often at least as tough
as the most deplorable characters
which are thrown upon the screen
or limned in the novel
The 8-year-old girl usually is bet
ter posted on the seamy side of life
than she ever will in all probability,