The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-07-23
Just Among Ourselves
Pas.ins Comment considersd or Ineorsidsrafs

set which, despite its princely cost, persists in
showing very cheap pictures; or when We hear
the new refrigerator purring away 1t turns out
baskets of cubes to cool our ardors, We might pom
der little on the great question of human progress.
Progress is generally taken as a thing most per-
fectly expressed in the swift development of more
and faster gadgets that are meant to serve human
comfort. And might ask ourselves, a neigh
Dor if wish TO his back turned promptly upon
us, whether this materialistc notion Of progress is
really justified
For there are some bitches in this smooth story
of the forward march of material things and
temporal events Here is Junior pounding out
his book report taken scientifically and swiftly
from handy volume Of dieested classcsl on a
noseless typewriter - if noiseless means not very
noisy. Papa did not know how TO use typewriter
when he was boy, chiefly because he had no
typewriter to And therefore we have gone
ahead the noiseless in the home. as well as the
threshing machine in the office is now common
place. But on the other hand, consider Papa
used pen or pencil, but then Papa knew how
to spell Junior can't spell, but he does all right
Tin the man) at copying out book report for
teacher. For education TOO, as you notice, has
gone ahead.
No doubt things have progressed, in one d-
rectlon another. 1t is good TO remember CheS-
tertons remark that progress literally means NOV
ing on, even If you are moved on by the police
which direction have we gone forward? Papas
loss Of typng skill or what passes for skill, is
Juniors gain; but Junior lacks the ability TO do
a neat page of correctly spelled handwriting which
is Pspa's priced possession How do the two things
balance up? And who has the better Of it. Papa
OF Junior?
In older day, wnen trains were shorter and
smoker, il was considered great thing to ride in
the cars. Grandpa rolling along in vanished
coach had plying thoughts of poor old gfeatgrand-
pa who had 10 do his travelling on horseback or
IN a surrey with fringe on the top Grandpa
templated progress, you see. Then Papa, lolilng
at ease IN a streamlined Pullman, thinks pitying
thoughts Of grandpa riding bumpy ratder that
stopped al every lamppost Progress again, what?
But consider Our driving DeseIs with great
Demonstrators of trains behind them, - trains
in which pampered people eat on sleep, or lounge
in a bar-room, or even take baths, are more
convenient for those who them, but less con
Nentent for the public at large For the trains are
not 40 many as they were, and they stop at feWer'
piaces and TO many towns once welt served by
the railroads, the trains do not 60 at all on
which side, then, lies the benefit and the true
progress, the old railway service or the new?
Everywhere there are busses or buses. if
you like that plural better than the other (The
dictionary will let you use either, but il won't let
n
10 think who emended this column last week..
Busses are the fruit and the expression of modern
progress. And If anyone thinks that busSeS are
improvement in the means OF travel he had
better have his head examined Progress, like
busses, goes off in various ways. Sometimes, like
busses, it backs up.
And what OF chairs? Is it an advance in con-
venienee and comfort land this in the general
view, is the whole meaning Of progressl to have
contraptions OF metal and piactc, with Springy
legs bent under them like those of acrobatc
dancer IN frenzy, and no supports at the back
and with arms extending a welcome TO any infant
that measures less than fifteen inches across? Is
this progress? Ii is not. really progressive per
would discard these horrible items OF porch
furniture, and scatter few good nail-kegs about.
Look at food Have we progressed in our un-
ending efforts to refine and enrich the bread
people used to call the staff of life II mans
life depended the soft, tasteless, oozy, death
white of damp goo that is sold today bread,
he would do we'll to get some quick insurance,
that Is If he cared for his relatives Progress has
done strange off-eourse journey in the matter OF
bre8d
Look a! the automobiles Many nan today,
and not old either, can remember the well
founded Jokes about the horseess carriage. Many
can recall the grunts and groans and roars OF
forgotten brands OF makes Of moorcar. Today's
cars look much alike and all Of them are sleek,
and swift and deadly Is this progress to have
vastly increased the number OF vehicles for travel
most OF II whimsical, and mere nervous bust
ling on The highways when this means still
yaster increase in the number OF violent deaths
among our people? II II is progress, IN which di-
rection are we progressing?
The little red Schoohouse is thing forgotten,
OF recalled only in nostalgia verse. The lad or
lssse trudgng weary miles 10 school, trudges no
more The Schoolhouse now is a great sprawling
building, equipped to the very rainspouts with
audo-ysual aids. and it is scientifically lighted
and furnished with auditorium and gymnasium
and cafeteria. there even books and blackboards
And children gathered from far and near by
notorious ProgreSs2 Yes, certainly, = in way
But the product Of these same wonderful school
houses cannot compare in knowledge OF the three
RS. nor IN the essentials Of culture with the pro
duct OF the old ramshackle schools where children
were expected to do a little hard work instead of
beng bored TO death with endless processes de
signed 10 entertain them.
Let us then think sometimes of this thing call
ed progress Let us abandon the impudent attitude
Of supposing that today is necessarily. and in all
WaNS better and brighter than YESTERDAY We need