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Page Two. 1 THE MERCER CLUSTER Octqfe* 21,1921 The fiercer Cluster Published weekly by the students of the fourteen schools and colleges in the Mercer University System. George M. Sparks, Managing Editor The Cluster Staff: C. J. Broome, Editor-in-Chief; Robert M. Gamble, A. B. Cochran, W. K. Wynne, John P. Rabun, Edwin S. Davis, E. C. Hulsey, John C. Vincent, Associate Editors; Romeo B. Morris, Circulation. A CRITICAL TEST ' A Freshman, you are in college for the first time- in your life. You are now in the position where you must to a great extent readjust yourself to; your changed environment. Back at home in the Yellow Yam High School you were a stur. Your prowess on'the athletic field was her alded throughout Apple Valley. Your irresistible .orator^ and penetrating logic swept the audience and'judges ptr their feet when you stood on the stage as champion debater for the Rip Saw debating society. Among the students and in Yellow Yam tpwh itself you were ‘‘some ’triters,”' be lieve us! Perhaps you were president of your class when you were graduated or mayhaps you delivered a ringing and tear-starting valedictory to the assembled and sympathetic home- .folks. Anyway you were in all prob ability a star of the first magnitude back there in' Apple Valley or Goobertown. All this was and is well and good. We have been there ourselves, to a limited degree. Then we came to college. At college we found our selves in the same position that every Freshman finds himself. He is . no longer -the scintillating star; no longer the giant of the tribe, no longer flattered and praised by friends and fellow students. At least not yet! For the Freshman must again begin nt the bottom and work up—if he goes up at all. The Freshman at college finds him self in the midst of hundreds of other fellows who were stars at home and in high school. He finds that the other new men, the old men, even the faculty have heard very little about his accomplishments in the Yellow Yam High School. The older men, Seniors, Juniors, Sophomo’-ev nr? ! n charge of tbo student activities. No one rushes about proclaiming that a new star has arisen on the campus ■firmament! When ' the new situation strikes home to the ‘ Freshman, what hap pens? One of two things takes place. The Freshman measures either up or down to the occasion. He either adjusts himself to the position of, a beginner, a learner, a worker, 'loyal to his college, harboring an under standing heart, or he turns, grouchy, becomes a knocker, speaks of ho«v they used to do things at Yellow, Yam High School, and sees nothing in his college tb love and suport through hot times and high water. A vast majority of the new men at Mercer this year arc proving them selves real MERCER MEN. The.stu-! dent body, as a whole, is the best we have ever seen gathered in a single ' institution., But here and there a, grouchy, critical spirit 13 in evidence. A knocker occasionally raises his . voice in a plaintive wail that Mercer is not like Yellow Yam High School or Pumpkinsepd Academy. There is no room for the knocker or the grouch at Mercer. Every word spoken derogatory to Mercer will meet with prompt-and warm re sentment, so far as we are concerned. We have founil Mercer responsive to every fair' appeal. We nave lound her students above the average in- warm sympathy and fairness toward ‘right principles. And you, Freshman, will find this true if you will but give yourself to the 'full', support of ,Mer- - oer.' . . But, Fres.man, you mUst begin at the .bottom. Your prowess must be proved. , Your loyalty to your own must be shown hy your., unreserved J loyalty to Mercer. In casting your lot with MOrcer you., have become, a part. of Mercer; When you knock Mercer you are applying the hammer to yourself. If your ego is so en larged that you And yourself cramped at Mercer, kindly withdraw and make room for a real Mercer man. ^Freshman, yours is the glorious task of carrying the .standard of fiercer in the future to.higher and more victorious heights! THE TEAM Mercer’s football eleven this fall has made a good record thus far. We say this deliberately after a full consideration of the facts. We held Georgia to 28 points, and Georgia held Harvard to 10 points and scored a touchdown on the big Eastern university besides. Harvard beat Georgia only three points, thus placing Mercer only 31 points behind Harvard “in the dope.” . Next we held Vandy to 42 points with several of bur best players out of the game or crippled so that thgy could not play at top form. And mark our word, Vandy will come very near beating Georgia when these two lock horns in their annual fray Novem ber 5. Against Florida our eleven showed that we • have a real football team, despite some adverse criticism to the contrary. Florida has this year a team 50 per cent stronger than last year. She expected to swamp Mer cer, but the Orange and Black came very near to tieing the score, and thereby getting an even break. After all, it is the improvement' shown each year over the preceding year that shows what progress a team is making in football. Some of the follows seejn to think that a world-beating eleven' can be devel oped in one season. But this simply isn't done. At least two to four years are needed to build up a winning gridiron machine. _ . , ' Her.e is the best test of Mercer’s progress since last fall: Florida beat Mercer last fall 30 to 0; this year Florida with a team at least 50 per cent stronger, than last season beat Mercer only seven points. In other words, Florida has strengthened more since last fall. No other con clusion is possible from the; facts, and the team, the coach and others who are behind Mercer athletics' should be given great credit and encouragement by all' Mercer supporters. ’ Mercer has the nucleus for a great football team, and if we will work as hard for the eleven during the com ing year as Mercer lovers have worked in the past year, we will have a bunch next fall that will put Mer cer On the football map' against the best of them. . Give the team the glad han<j. The> have thus far nobly upheld the Mer cer colors' under very trying circum stances. ' “THE TAURUS TOSSER’ HONEST PREACHERS Is it' wrong for preachers to tell lies? Because there are so many preach ers at Mercer this year we take, the liberty of calling attention to one great need in the pulpit today. That need is for honest preachers. , Treachers can lie in more ways than they sometimes realize. One of the most common ways of . lying in the pulpit is exaggeration. Some preachers fall into the habit ' of stretching their illustrations to amazing proportions They seem to go out of their \vay to tell ah un truth,. sometimes in a half jocular manner, but nevertheless with grave violation of truth. Another way' in which the preach er .can tell a lie almost before he realizes it is for him to use the say ing of another preacher as his own without ■ giving credit to the origi nator of the saying, Some call th|s plagarism, but it involves both lying and stealing, also hypocrisy. This is not directed at the preach ers who are now at Mercer, for we have heard very few of them preach and believe they arc as a whole b est. Wo arc speaking of preache general. Sometimes the preacher college in class will look at his/sook when called upon to recite. Tmen when he answers the questioner writes .it out on the board, he hag lied, for he has indicated that hr knew something about the le^adn when he came to class. WcT'fiave seen so-called “out standing” men at college lie in 1 this way, both - preachers and laymen. We lay down the proposition that' a preacher has 1 no more privilege to lie "than "any other person. Honesty is not the best “policy” for anyone— honesty is'the-best PRINCIPLE-fof everybody. .’ The minister who lie, purposely or carelessly is not only wrong in policy, but corrupt in principle. May every Mercer preacher go out to his life work an honest, man; if he has no other qualifications to commend him . to the people. An honest man is Ah inspiration to his fellowman and a delight to the heart of God. ' By Bob Gamble This, gentle reader, is our debut as a colyum. chaperon. Already you be- gjn to notice the maiden blush of innocence on our lily-white cheek, but perhaps the bit of color makes it a "skin you love to touch." If so, please handle, our colyum aSsjrou would that cheek (if we had it), which,' being interpreted, is to say, gently. Now that interpretations are in order, it might be well to explain the heading of our debut. Taurus is Latin, which, being translated into English in polite so ciety, might mean ox or steer, but for the purpose of colyum simplicity, we will translate it into (not Eng lish, but) Campus, giving to the word the translation “bull,” which being further interpret'd means “hot air.” Tosser, a little highbrow in sound perhaps is just the Bostonian way of saying the noun for^fle South Geor gia provincialism, to chunk. ,The prefix “the” is just by the way to give that alliterative sound, for in this way we give the Colyum another touch of highbrow. . Devilish Debut J ., Our motto will be, “Give the devil his dues,” and so we will begin with Johnny D. Spencer, colyum promoter for many years on the staff of. the gi;andold Macon Daily Telegraph— not to cast any reflection on our good friend Johnny, however, but merely meaning to insinuate that we have heard that he sometimes, is a bit “devilish" and, too, that for this- col yum he is due much. Give J. D. S. his dues? Yes, be cause he is our chief inspiration for punting this type pigskin and we gladly give him credit. (See, we are generous, gentle reader, so in your criticism please be as kind and give us credit for an honest effort, at least.) Seriously how, about J. D. S. Many people say that Johnny deserves a place of honor in the hall Of fame for all the happiness that his colyum, “More Otherwise Than Wise,” has brought to its thousands of readers. It is in the spirit ,of altruism (as our own Dr. M. A. Clark, of the Mer cer Board of Trustees, would ■ say) that we Undertake this colyum. If, perchance, . it being an occasional smile or help to lighten some load by seeking to depict the humorous side of life,- the colyum shall have served its purpose., ■That’s our ambition, first and last, and if some day when we are old apd gray, someone should charitably compare, our best work with some of Johnny’s poorest, our remaining days will be lived in flowery beds of hap piness. So— . HERE'S TO J. D. S. My brain, tho’, is very much denser; I long to be like Johnny Spencer, His jokes have a point Worked into each joint, But I’m such a poor humor dispenser. Names Is Names We noticed, recently In the Atlanta- journal- the engagement of a Miss Dryer to a Mr. Cloud, .the heading naturally written thus: Dryer-Cloud . Let us hope that the matrimonial blisses of the newly-weds will not be disturbed by opinions as contradic tory as the cognomens of the couple. Miss Pluma Byrd lives in Calhoun, Ga., we are informed by Ralph Meeks, editor of the Calhoun Times, who received his diploma from Mer cer more or less years ago. Amateur Physiologists Go Mad Over These Whar are sphincters ? - ■ The action of the moustache is con trolled from where? What is. the shape of a hair? Prove it. So far as we know. Prof. Peyton Jacob; did not have any of these questions in his recent psychology test. . • < ■ What Say, Dr.Quillian? O, for- the' frame of our strong joshMi-way— 1 O, for the brain of a prof. But with’ neither of these' I’m called 4. big "cheese”— . O, well all of you Mercer boys are called Georgia “crackers,” so let’s go over and give the Wesleyan girls a feast!. .... V toavtek The president of Merger University is truly a Weaver of Dreams, but. the past has proven that his dreams of tonight become realities on the mor row. Jacob’s (Ladder With several children, between whose ages there are said to be two years in each instance, surely in the family of the dean of the Mercer school of education, we have Jacob’s ladder personified. Palatial Harmony Warren Holland, Mercer football manager, has been familiarly dubbed with the nom-de-plume “Queenie.” We have been cogitating as to the reason. Is it because the originator was well hep to the history of mon archies and sought to give fitting recognition to his studies, or is it be cause “Queenie” is a royal good fel low, a prince of a chap, or that it is expected that ere long h*e will be “crowned”? (We will now enjoy an intermission while we wonder.) “2,000 Striking. Miners Sent to Jail in Arkansas”—Headline. If we were a jail attendant we would strike if they brought us around that many additions to our registry, to be served beans and bacon three times each day. And if they jail miners for striking, what would be done with a jail attendant Who refused to work? (Only one answer allowed each Per son and the contest closes six months from last Tuesday.) / Freshman Inspiration “Sir: After reading all of Dr. Elliot’s five-foot shelf of books, I am still unabje to answer more than half of Mr. Edison’s questions. Am I still ‘umazingly ignorant’?” — Chicago Tribune. t 1 Just a bit of consolation, you first- year men who took the psychology test with disastrous results, a few weeks ago. Keep oh keeping on, read ing parallel, and rooting for the team and perhaps when you are old and uncertain of step, you may know enough to become Mr. Edison’s office boy. , It’s All “The Rage,” It Seems “Sir: One of the sweet young things at the boarding house advises me that her father has insurance on his car now so that he cah kill two people a year. I’m going to move to morrow.”—Chicago Tribune. Even Macon is showing an increase in the number of automobile acci dents. Be careful, boys, especially after -dark, and don’t try to drive there and back with only one hand. It may be thrilling, but, gee! it’s dan gerous. Of course we don’t suppose you are by yourself. Mercer’s Cosmopolitan Influence Narrow-minded people have no place on Mercer campus, if the action of a certain Mercerian a few weeks ago is correct as reported. He, the Mercerian, is a Presbyterian, attend ing a Baptist university. He went out of town and while there took a Cath olic girl to the Methodist church. The preacher straightened up in his chair and the* expression on his counte nance. might have indicated that. he thought Gabriel had blown his horn, so great was that preacher’s surprise. Ho-hum! TT Y OU do not need ex pert knowledge of woolens and tailoring to safely buy clothes here. , We make sure of quality for you; our own welfare depends upon safeguarding yours; that’s why we sell clothes “tailored to measure by Bom.” Bom Tailoring offers you good style, depend able woolens, painstak ing needle work and unusual value; it is guar anteed to please you— money back if it doesn’t. Crown Tailoring Co. 305 Broadway ' Full Line of Gents’ Furnishings "The Best for Less” Call to See Uk and Be Convinced Colleges are leaders in the educa tional system, but tail-enderh in the barbaric practice of “hazing.” R. H. Smalling s Sons GENERAL CONTRACTORS AND BUILDERS Phones 1102-J and 4092-J Macon, Ga. Murray Printing Co. Cor. Third and Poplar Streets Phone 4491 “By Our Work We. Are Known” Adams Bros. Grocery Company Wholesale Distributors . for Middle and South Georgia .V' Moi;e Than a Florist’s Shop A FLOWER SERVICE A complete, fresh stock of the flowers in season Nutting 6c Carswell FLORISTS • Phone 1776 414 Second Street Macon, Ga. .Mercer Men Should suport men that rap port Mercer. . ; R. S. THORPE A SONS'an supporting Mercer until the last whistle blows. Help your school by helping yourself in buying from.. R. S. Thorpe ' 6c Sons ■ Q ;. ; v A. 8. JOHNSON Mercer Representative