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Campus Mirror
Published During the College Year by the Students of Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
VOL. XVII FEBRUARY. 1941 No. 5
An American Folk Story
The story of the incident when the fa
ther of little George Washington de
manded of the child to know who had
hacked his valuable cherry tree and re
ceived a reply which could not have been
the child’s first thought—this story has
become a part of American folk litera
ture with epic worth, because it charac
terizes an American hero, and is not
a thing to jest about, nor a story to be
distorted in the telling, as it often is.
The child’s simply worded reply, “Fa
ther, I cannot tell a lie,” is correctly-
quoted, but rarely do we hear any
hint of the thought which must have
brought out that reply; that is. the pos
sibility of denying the truth and of get
ting off without any consequences of
what he had done. The forgiveness of his
father is seldom referred to any more,
and is less important than the boy’s crit
ical moment of weighing what he might
do weakly against what he did do
strongly.
Some of us can say very glibly on in
consequential occasions, “I cannot tell
a lie”, and it may seem amusing. We, in
many cases, become prone to say and to
hear such expressions so lightly that the
absolute truth in them escapes us, and
they become easy sayings. Yet on other
occasion^ when we are most serious,
when we want to be most careful, and
when we want to arrive at a fully satis
factory conclusion, those little sayings
that we employ every day, do not occur
to us; for at such a time, we have cast
them aside as useless.
Suppose each of us should say to our
selves either on light or serious occasions.
“Whatever happens, I cannot lie to my
self. I may be able to deceive others who
can see only what I show them, but in
evitably I must know deep inside of me
that I am lying to myself.” It is infinite
ly more important that we be true to
ourselves first; then there is les- pos
sibility that others will be deceived by
our actions. In psychology we learn
An Interview With
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, who began his
administrative work as President of
Morehouse College, July 1, 1940, sub
mitted to an interview by representa
tives of the Campus Mirror staff. Feb
ruary 11. Very early the interview-ers
learned that here was a man who took
the interviewing situation for what it
really meant.
“Interview? Hence,” said he, “you ask
me the questions, for it is I who am sup
posed to be interviewed.” This was dis
concerting to the students at first, but
they eventually realized that he was try
ing to help them to develop the inter
viewers’ technique. From this point,
questions and answers flowed rather free
ly. cordially, and pleasantly.
Dr. Mays completed his high school
work at State College, South Carolina;
his college work at Bates College in
Ma ine, 1920: in 1925 he received the
A.M. degree at the University of Chi
cago; and in 1935. received his Ph.D.
degree from the same university.
The years between his College degree
and his Doctor's degree are seasoned with
many experiences, activities, and literary
works. He was a higher Mathematics
teacher at Morehouse Colege from 1921-
1924; Professor at South Carolina State
College in Orangeburg. South Carolina.
1925-1926; social worker from 1926-
1928, serving as Executive Secretary of
the Tampa Urban League. He has done
(Continued on Page 3)
about the schizophrenic, who has a split
personality, and of some other psychotics
who have delusions of one sort or anoth
er. Is it not a dangerous road to travel,
from a mental, if not from a moral view
point, to act thus in one situation and
differently in another, if only one or
neither is the true self?
It would be an interesting experiment
some time for any one in any status of
life—high or low—just to try George
V ashington s method by stopping when
on the verge of saying. "I cannot tell a
lie to think, to consider seriously, every
phase of his life; then to try to an
swer these questions: "Am 1 lying to
myself? Do I lie to myself, ever?”