The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1952-03-13

profe and
where (as two leading universities
recently learned almost half tn,
student body, it seems, admits I,
cheating; living in q country wher,
success is measured in dollars ane
where the Christian church is still
in a minority: what chance has ,
boy or girl to grow up straight ans
strong instead Of weak ard rssnedi
1t Has Been Worse
THE best answer 70 si1is question
1 is that youth mas always had 8
hard time of it, yet always there
have been some who have grown
straight and strong.
If this Goth century Is q bad
one, what about the first? At
that time there was certainly
bad example in high places, con-
sidering that Nero was the en-
peror and that many persons
actually worshipped that cruel
scOundrel rs a god.
Gambling was done by the best
people ali over the Empire; liquor
was even more part of high" so.
ciety than it is today; as for divorce
and marriage. the Roman record
was worse than ours; as for educa.
ton, most young people didn't get
it, and most of those that did found
themselves fitted for only one occu-
patton: politics. The Christian
Church was in far smaller minor
ity than today.
The Right Friends
YET it was in that bad century
l tina. some of the most famous
Christian saints and heroes lived.
Timothy, Paups young understudy,
was such man He had everything
against him. but Paul thought well
Of him, and Paul's standards were
extraordinarily high. His life Cor
what we know Of 1t from the Scrip
ture references to him) had many
qualities worth studying.
Let us look at two Of the causes
for this young mans high char
acter. One was the quality Of his
friends. He seems to have been the
sort of boy who might have gone
down fast If he had taken up with
the wrong crowd; but a list Of his
friends as we know them is a list
of strong. original, true-blue Chris
tians. He literally knew the best
people, not best by standards OF
Roman society nut best in the scale
Of true manhood.
We have q hint, too, thst his
mother had something to do
with this. She "steered" the boy
to the right crowd, one suspects
and that was enough.
One Of the best things parents
can do for their children is to see
TO it that they run into the right kind
Of people. This does not necessarily
mean the richest or the best edu'
Gated, but the people with the best
kind Of character. Youth will grow
to be like the older people 1t mos
admires; and admiration grows witt
acquaintance. Tell me who a boys
friends are and ] can forecast hi
future.
Self Contro..
THE other reason for Timothy!
/ character came from INSIDE
self-discipline, seh-control
Followers of these lessons ma,
wonder why Temperance has. t.
| be dragged in every on &c in so often
It's not dragged in; We justdare no
dodge it. Temperance just means
self control. in general. In particu
lar. one of the drugs-by all odd
the most popular drug-that tends t
make the users lose seh-control,
alcohol. AS the proverb has it: Firs
the man takes drink, then tn
| drink takes a drink, and then tn
drink takes the man.
Young people get more than
enough urging to become alec
holics. One of the best things
one can do for younger friends
is to awaken them TO the real
facts and dangers OF all alec
holic beverages.
There is book, Fruit OF th
Vine" by Grace H. Turnbul, (prin
ed by the Lord Baltimore Press an
published in 1850 at 223 CHANGER
Road, Baltimore IS, Md which
mine of facts about liqour-th
kind Of information you will not g
in the advertisements. Young Pc
pie who learn these things the cas-
way Cby reading such a book, fl
instance) may be saved the hear
break of learning them the h-I
way.