Newspaper Page Text
December 8,1922
THE MERCER CLUSTER
Three
MERCER CLUSTER’S
OPINIATED SERIES
(Continued from page two). .
“CLUSTER AND CRACKBR”
To th«f Editor of The Telegraph:
Your editorial on the Cracker and the
Clutter, commenting on the contract
between the attitude of the two pub
lication* toward the citiea of Georgia,
might well lead to an argument
There is a sharp contrast To one
w ho does hot admire" a holier-than-
thou attitude toward a contemporary
under. Are, the Cluster' suffers by the
contrast It required backbone and
intestinal qualiAcationS to deliver a
hick in the pants, even if the kick is
delivered in a mistaken spirit It re
quires nothing but fingernails to
scratch a back.
It is incredible that the article on
Macon, which the Cracker published
last week, was inspired by a .veno
mous attitude toward the native city
of the author. His record in civic
affairs is an unanswerable refutation
of any such charge. It is likewise
incredible that the article on Athens
Was not inspired by a desire to . place
the university magasine in the post
tiun of having wilfully insulted Ma
con. The honeyed tone of the Clus
tor’s description of the college city
is too pointedly^ in contrast with the
blunt criticisms brought by ,the Crack-
This contrast immediately sug
gests the Pharisee,-thanking his Mas
ter . that he was not as other men.
Speculating on the possible contrast
in the series of articles, it seems as
this, too, may reflect more credit <
the Cracker than on the Cluster.
Kicking’ is less pleasant than back
scratching but it gets more results.
At nay rate, it is enlivening, while
scratching ojily sdothes. This argii
ment will not hold, of course, if it ii
to be assumed that the Cracker series
is merely mischievous undergraduate
heckling.^ There is nothing but pre
judice and blind resentment against
all but praise to bear out such as
sumption.
It would be unkind to contrast the
literary merit of the two initial ar
ticles in the two college papers.
The contrast is between the man in
the bleachers add the mud-smeared
half-back qn the gridiron. The con
trast is between the Hollo books and
Babbitt. ..
B. B. Johnston.
Macon, Ga., Dec. 4.
something for Macon, but let’s pray
that k* keep off of them. I^et this Mr.
Johnston forget any past disappoint
ment*, if any, get a little fresh air,
Join the Chamber of Commerce, and
forget the'idea that it takes anything
remarkable in a- man to knock his
home town, throw rocks and not
praise his. own or his neighbor city.
Yours for the city I now live in at
present. .
A1 Jennings.
Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 4.
(Note—The writer of the- above sug
gests to Mr. Johnston that if he is an
employe of The Telegraph he should
get in touch with the editor of The
Telegraph and form some co-ordina
tion of opinion. This, toy' the infor
mation of the contributor, is wholly
unnecessary. An employe of The
Telegraph is as free to differ with its
policy in expressing his personal views
through its. letter column as is any
other individual—and this newspaper
has quite a record for granting the
fullest freedom of. expression to. all
corners.—Editor.) .
GEORGIA ALUMNUS
WRITES
“Mercer Cluster,
“Mercer University,
-“Macon, Georgia.
Gentlemen:
.,“1 am just in receipt of your
publication and was Very grateful
to you for remembering me in this
manner.
“I must congratulate you on the
general get-up of the paper, as
well as the splendid spirit shown
in it I read with interest the ar
ticle on 'Athens, Georgia, as well
as the personal reference therein.
It was extremely kind of you to
mention me in the connection in
which my name was mentioned.
“Again thanking you for the
courtesy and with best wishes, for
your success; I am,
• “Very truly yours,
R:S “H. D. Russell.’’ -
building cities and making the world
a bettor place to live in.
Marvin Pharr.
DEFENDS CLUSTER POLICY.
To The Editor of The Telegraph:
In reading over, the Mercer Cluster’!
praise of the city of Athens, no men
tion whatever is made of the Georgia
Cracker, or the slanderous and (then)
anonimously signed article about Ma
con. Therefore, the Cluster has no
issue with (he Georgia Cracker or the
author of the article in the student
publication of the University of Geor-
gia.' ; *. • .
The letter in Monday’s Telegraph
signed by one B. B. Johnston goes to
considerable trouble to slander the
Cluster article. He even acts as a
judge in the motive of the article and
pulls the old mossed “holier-than-
thou” phrase jnaed so often by the
backwoods manihnd the country store
•tick-whittler when anyone in the com
munity Would fain try to do the right
•hd charitable thing towards neigh
borhood or self.
The only room for attack Mr. John
ston Seems to have with the Cluster
is whether the . praise given Athens
is corrector not. As far as the writer
knows, everything good the Cluster
hsd about Athens or Chancellor .Bar-
r °w is entirely correct.
Several days ago, one signing the
name of Johnston, with the same ini-
tisi. wrote a story about Wesleyan
Md seems to have made many enemies
in that direction—more bad Judgment
and “funny” ridicule, according to
published communications sent The
Telegraph . by Wsnleyaa girls. We
wonder if Mils Johnston who attacks
'*• Cluster |a the
wrote the ridicule of Wesleyan girl*
■n Aheir annual Thanksgiving sports.
Bow, if this Johnston wrote a news
•rtfele ridiculing Wesleyan basketball
ha is evidently an employe of
Telegraph. If such is the case,
T .** 0,1 of harmony with the —
*•*•1 Policy off the paper. Ha should
■** the edRoto and form some sort of
■af opinion. -The same
toadatioa on local isoae
I Whit of i
is ahm striving to da
THE CLUSTER CONSTRUCTIVE
To the Editor of-The Telegraph:
Your editorial on the Cluster and
the Cracker and the comment' by one
B. B. Johnston cajls for a reply.
it is.the ’‘brilliant”'.letter of John
ston that I wish to discuss.. His letter
does not deserve the'dignity .of an an
swer, but the principles which he em
bodies in his letter demands some
criticisms.
The writer of the article is evi
dently -a man who .was .born in the
“objective case.” Perhaps incidents
o ^disappointments in bis personal
life, probably has given him a view
of life which is narrow and pessimis
tic. The horizon line of his vision
has been narrowed until it touches his
nose. |
Mr. Johnston is a full-fledged pes
simist. He starts out by saying that
it 'requires “more backbone and' in'
testinal qualifications” to knock than
it does to boost. His reasoning in
that respect, shows very clearly that
he is not an observer, of how success
is realized and propagated.
It requires very little backbone and
only a small amount of intelligence to
knock. The writer of -the article is an
excellent knocker.
The difference between a . knocker
and a booster ia only the difference
between a man with vision, poise, and
purpose—and a little man..
E The optimist has always been the
builder of hospitals, schools, citiea,
states and nations. The optimist has
most of the progressive principles of
the world. In fact, the optimist has
done so large a part of the building
of the world that there is nothing left
for the little, pessimist to do but
knock and try to tear down, the crea
tion of a big Mum, in whose shadow
he ia not worthy to recline!
The man who knocks always knocks
q man bigger than he is,.hoping that
the man he hits, will And time to an-
swer hit crciticism and'thus give him
the satisfaction that he is at least
noticed by a big man.
The article of the Mercer Cluster
is a constructive one and is thoroughly
in keeping with the principle of the
grant institution H represents.
The Johnston family seem* to be
“blessed” with other “brilliant” lite
rary geniuses. Judging from an article
commenting oq a recent event at Wes
leyan College.
Lsag after criticisms and opinions
of men, of the caliber of Johnston,
have bam buried by an optimlitk
public ooplnioa, this spirit and princi
ples which th# Cluster has advocated,
will live on to the hearts of mac.
A THING TIME WtlfeCURE
Savannah Morning News.
Macon is “all het up” because some
undergraduate or ether at the Uni
versity of Georgia haa written a
■creed about Macon, one of a series
proposed to be written about the
cities of Georgia. It ia not compli
mentary; no doubt it saya many
things that give a wrong impression
of Macon, playing up unimportant
things and never mentioning the Im
portant ones, but too many under
graduates are given to that sort of
thing and one with a warped sense of
humor (rather an undeveloped sense
of humor) might think them funny.
At any rate Macon is angry, and
should not be. The .men who ran the
“Cracker” at the University should
have had more wit, more ordinary
common or garden variety of sonae
than to try to poke fqn at Georgia
citiea; Macon points out that the
money Maconites pay in State taxes
helps to give, the humorous young
men of the Cracker a place at which
to acquire something of an. education.
The point is that Macon should not
be angry; the matter is, not So im
portant as. all that.. Would-be ridi
cule never is so successful as when
the victim becomes heated in con
sequence. The best answer to ill-
founded and ill-advised ridicule is
laugh. The Cracker will no doubt be
the butt of laughter itself, because of
its effort to be funny, and the series
of articles will not do any harm to
any community, or to anybody ex
cept the men who are responsible for
the Cracker.
No doubt the young man who wrote
the Macon article conceives himself
now to be a very important person
age, since he has aroused the ire of a
whole community. Ten years from
now, when he learns some things he
doesn’t now know, he will probably
regret that he ever permitted his de
sire to be accounted a humorist to
lead him in the direction it has taken
him; many ‘a boy in - college does
many things that seem wonderful to
hi • mat the time he does them, but
which later cause him regret and a
feeling .of sheepishness. He will read
his screed over again as he sits in
his office, possibly in Macon, and say
over and over to himself, “And once
I. even I, thought that was smast.”
So, let no community at which the
Cracker points its strained humor be-
it—as everybody else will. Let the
come angry. Just, laugh and forget
calf-humor of the ardent young have
its Aing. Years—and only a few of
them—will bring the cure.
GIRLS—THEN AND NOW
When our grandmas wen little girls,
And wore their hair in littl* curia,
The ydid things in n different way,
From what we Aappers do today. ^
They always did as they Were told'
Were quiet, and respectful to the Old.
And never spoke a single word
For children should be seen and hot
heard.. .H
When they were older (all of twenty)
They had men callers, Oh a plenty!
But they were never left alone
And had no beaux to call their own.
For Pa would ask about the corn
Or when he last had mowed the lawn,
And Ma was always fairly, aching
To obast to someone about her .baking.
And when the clock struck half-past
eight *
She yawned and said t’was getting
late. ;{ ■. ,
Anjj. then the young man would depart
_ ng with him Grandma’s heart.
We’ve changed to methods that are
new,
We girls of nineteen-twenty-two.
A girl who wants a date these days,
Can And a dozen idfferent' ways
To go and get it for herself.
Her brains don’t lie 1 upon the shelf
If some. theatre, book or show
That’s good, and Mary wants to go,
She smiles and sqys, “Oh! come on
quick,
Don’t tsay at home and be a stick!
At Grandma’s bedtime, half-past
eight,
You’ve just gone around to All your
date.
After the show there , is a dance,
And if at midnight, you perchance
Can'coach her home and And your hat,
You’re sleepy, tired and busted flat.
But Mary smiles atime or two—
Her smile sure makes a hit with you!
She’s never yet been known to yawn
And if Bhe did you’d stay right on.
For Mary is yours, and Mary’s sweet,
And Mary’s got her Grandma beat!
. " —Ruby Harris. .
KAPPA DELTA
The Kappa Delta Society met on
Saturday evening, Dec. 2. The follow
ing program .was given:
Kappa Delta Orchestra.
Violin Sold—Eulaiee Cheek.
The 'History of" Thanksgiving—Ev
elyn Williams. -
“Howdy-do Miss Pumpkin”—Mil
dred Thomas.
Kappa Delta Thanksgiving—Ruth
Scarborough. " 1
Solo—Lillian Lassiter.
A number of guests were present,
Eulaiee Cheeky the Society President
of last year, Annie' Tanner, Martha
Evans arid Mrs. Mallory Rumble.
fe^i!:i.ijjK;iac«;L'iOKiiCi3i6ioicuico:ix > Kic>:u!Tie^i"i3i;iSi6ej}3i3i';i:!stri:i:i^icna3K
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end t!14
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