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Page 2 THE WOLVERINE OBSERVER £ ommen its i • om i Is 1 fea 1 tures 1 i THE STAFF James C. Reese Editor-in-Chief John R. Sanders Associate Editor David Talbot Associate Editor Naomi Whatley Society Editor Donald Smith Sports Editor James T. Redd Business Mgr. Paul Owens News Reporter Lillie Glads News Reporter James Williams Humor Dorothy Cobb Feature Harold Amold___ Advertising Esther Jones Press Walker Solomon Press The Wolverine Observer is a publication printed monthly under the direction of Professor V. C. Clinch EDITORIALS BE THANKFUL Long, long ago, before 1621, before the Pilgrim Fathers ever thought of landing on the shores of New England, long before Columbus dared to de fy the authority of Church Education and State, the re sult of which is America— yea long before then, Man ob served Thanksgiving. Far down the dusty corri dors of History we observed Paganism directing iteslf to the worship of a goddess of Agriculture—Ceres. This Ce res was the Roman name for Demeter the worship of whom was introduced into Rome from Sicily between the 4th and 5th centuries B. C. She was regarded as the goddess- '-'4? blvo anulln k. V.lcvLi".»0 llo production, special emphasis being placed on fruit and grain. The Roman Cerelia compares with our Thanks giving. Just one more retro spective step. The Pilgrim Fathers dedicated this day in thankfulness to Him who, throughout the year, had fed, clothed, and taken care of their welfare. Would it nott be fitting to us, the scions of their loins, their re-incarnat ed selves, the only possible expression of their thoughts to pause in the midst of our jubilations, our feasting, our reckless pleasures, our wor ship at the shrine of Bacchus to dedicate some time to the God of the Harvest, who giv- eth all? In other countries Thanks giving takes the form of a sa cred feast, known as the feast of Harvest. A portion of the increase of the field is taken to the church where it is ded icated to God as a gift from the grateful hearts who have been blest by His tender mer cies. Hymns and prayers of thankfulness are sent up and the products thus offered are used to further Christianity chiefly through charitable deeds. What impediments ob struct us or what civilization forbids our being grateful. Grateful for life, grateful for a reasonable portion of health, grateful that in the midst of the greatest economical ca lamity that has ever befallen this mundane sphere, w e thought perhaps by its great momentum have not been submerged under its debris. Though perhaps smitten by the avalanche of the depres sion, we have neither been swept away nor demolished. We need to be grateful that in the midst of the tumults and conflicts which at this time disturb the entire earth, our glorious democracy—rule of the people, for the people, by the people, is still preserv ed. While nations are destroy ing each other and even them selves, our form of govern ment remains untarnished and presents to the world a united front. Great is our blessing in being allowed to be members of a student body of a school such as is Morris Brown—a heritage passed to us from our immediate an cestors watered with the sweat and nourished by the blood of over 200 years of cruel mnuman, wicxed slav ery. Because we are being pre pared for the difficulties of life by such an administra tion and faculty, because we are the future controllers of the destiny of this world, be cause we have been taught how to enter the battle of life and quit us like men, because life with all its thrills lies be fore us and because All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and won derful, The Lord God made them all; Let us on Thursday, 26th of November devote a frac tional portion of our time to Him from whom we derive our health, wealth, power to think—our All. Let us be thankful. THE KEY TO CULTURE Mastery of Conversation There are certain ‘don’ts” in discussing mastery of con versation that are well to re member, the most common— and one that is disregarded most—being, never interrupt It should be remembered that among those people of real culture, interrupting a speak er without a good and suffi cient reason and without an apology being made for doing so, is most emphatically not tolerated. There exists, of course, as in nearly every case as for as rules are con cerned, exceptions to this rule, but in most instances if at all possible the most cour teous and the wisest course to pursue is to permit your companion to carry his speech or queries to a conclusion. You should never deliberately contradict another. You must remember that there are dif ; ferences of opinion and, al though you may feel positive that your opinion is correct, yet there is the possibility that you may be in error. No matter how bright and intelli gent one may be, it is certain that no one is infallible. Consideration of others is another element in the mas tery of conversation. One should never forget that others like to talk as much as they possibly may. The listen er must remember that the rule of reciprocity applies in conversation as well as in other social graces and that he should not be only willing but anxious to observe the Golden Rule in this respect and feel that in return he has a right to count on the same courtesy being shown him. One is safe in feeling that he is playing safe, by following this rule “Talk frequently but at no great length”. THE CHRISTMAS SEAL FIGHT TUDEftt, CTLU3I3 Buy and Use CHRISTMAS SEALS “It takes a Christmas seal to make it Christmas mail.” As the holiday season ap proaches, everyone thinks of spreading good cheer. Many of you will spend Christmas at home, others will visit friends. But where- ever you are, you are plan ning for a season of joy and happiness. Stores will be jammed, the mail will be loaded with packages, letters greetings and smiles will be handed out wholesale. In your plans please re member that the smiling Santa Claus on the 1936 Christmas seal will do double duty. He will help to beauti fy your letters, greetings and gifts and also recruit funds for skin tests, X-rays, and Clinic service. The Tuberculosis Associa tion is not fighting a losing game—the death rate among Negroes has shown a marked decline. HELP KILL THIS LIFE CONSUMING MONSTER! Seals may be purchased at The Atlanta Tuberculosis As sociation, 286 Forrest Ave., N. E., Walnut 9580. THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY By Dorothy Cobb The Oxford English Dic tionary is, as has been said, a dictionary with a history like that of a great cathedral. It was put together after sev enty years of labor involving some 1,300 experts . If this book is not a part of your tool chest you are a poorer work man than you really ought to be. The first installment of this article mentioned Her bert Coleridge, Dr. F. J. Fur- nivall, Archibishop Trench and A. H. Murray as having been the leaders in this great educational movement. There was also mentioned the im portant data the voluntary workers from various parts, of the world, contributed in this great collection of facts. In the rest of this article most of the space will be giv en to the making and value of this Dictionary. The raw material that had been sent in, and the editors already possessed, was typed, and put in a bundle on small slips of paper. This ma terial was put upon shelves in chronological order when a member of the staff prepared a word or group of words, he began by taking the slips from the shelves. His first task was to go through the questions chronologically, no ting the forms, then to tac kle the serious and difficult work of definition. In doing this the use of the existfng dictionaries was necessary. After a meaning has been drawn, modern technical terms and colloquialisms must be given special atten tion. The search for mater ial has consisted in the exa mination of the Old English and Middle English Diction aries, the glossaries to every text and the concordances to the Bible, Shakespeare and other poets. Through the va rious stages these “slips” passed until they were for warded to “copy” to the prints. Though the book is a bar gain to many who purchase it, it was not cheap to pro duce. The material of the Dic tionary is owing, in the main, to the unremunerated albors of the members of the Philo logical Society and its army of volunter readers. The cost of the conversion of this ma terial into the Dictionary it self, and the cost , of the man ufacture, has been borne by the Oxford University Press. The Oxford English Dic tionary contains a record of 414, 825 words; 240, 165 of these are main words. 67,105 subordinate words, 47,800 special combinations, about 500,000 definitions and 1,- 827,306 illustrative quota tions. Of the 240,165 main words in the whole of the Oxford Dictionary 177,970 are current; 52,464 are abso lute; 9,737 alien. The letter “S” yields the most words, not fewer than 57, 428. “P” coming next with 37,689, and “C” third with 29,295. The value of the Oxford Dictionary is not determin able. From the time of the publication of the first part of “A” in 1884, the Diction ary has been a source of daily enlargement and satisfaction to an incalculable number of readers. The Dictionary has done a great deal to correct vulgar errors. It has been and still is, used by the physician for medical terms. It has been repeatedly relied upon in courts of justice, where mem bers of the bar have quoted it and members of the Bench bowed to it. It has been ap pealed to in a political con troversy in Parliament and on the platform. If such a book as this is in reach, why shouldn’t we take the advantage as well as op portunity to use it. Make it your by-word and your guide. THANKSGIVING We thank thee, Lord that we have seen Spring clothe the earth again in green. We thank thee for the April breeze That gave new life to all the trees. We thank thee for the joyous hours, The fruits, and rain, and sum mer flowers, For the autumn with its har vests of gold In which we see blessings manifold. We thank thee for these true friends Upon which our succes in life depends, We thank the for each battle fought, We are grateful for the vic tories wrought. For all that has come our way, For blessing unasked from day to day To thee, Lord of Harvest, we raise A strong and mighty hymn of praise. —D. Cobb. “I won’t” is a tramp “I Can’t” is a quitter “I Don’t” know is too lazy “I might” is waking up “I will try” is on his feet “I can” is on his way “I will” is at work “I did” is now the boss!