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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 Our Stock is Complete Make Your Selection A FEW CHRISTMAS GIFT SUGGESTIONS INGER80L WATCHES LEATHER GOODS MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS NOVELTIES QP ALL KINDS OFFICE SUPPLIES ' PLAYING CARDS BRIDGE SETS BIBLES DIARIES . GAMES • ■ KODAKS KODAK SUPPLIES MEMORY BOOKS CALENDAR PADS CHILDREN’S BOOKS EVERSHARP PENCILS FANCY STATIONERY FLASHLIGHTS FOUNTAIN PENS SPORTING. GOODS The J. W. Burke Company * sher hats rrs A PLEASURE TO SERVE MERCER MEN We want you to fasl at homo, follows, in onr store. Drop around any old time, whether yon trade or not. Tattnall Square Pharmacy Mercer’s Drug Store v on campus 1% of our groes receipts go to promoting. Mercer ^thirties. Phones SMI and 8826 end t!14 F. C. Benson F; A. Whitaker C. M. Bullard Vivian H. Roberts F. C. Benson Co. “The Square Deal Store” FOR GOOD CLOTHES FOR COLLEGE MEN Phone 4886 666 Cherry St,, Macon, Ga. WITH BEST WISHES The 2 Macon News MACON, GA. YOUR FRIENDS Bayne-Martin Drug Co. Cherry and Broadway Bibb Building Phones 1941-1942 “Superior Service” SmittyV Place The. Beat Place for Soda, Lunches, Cigars Cigarettes, “Hot Dog” and Good Old Barbecue TRY US Hotel Lanier CATERS ESPECIALLY TO MERCER STUDENTS ' THEIR FAMILIES AND FRIEND? SHER H ATS Where you get most for your money in hat value 12.43 and inbetweeu'to'94.98 Printers, Rulers, Binders, Lithographer*, Stationers 408 CHERRY ST. : MACON, GEORGIA 553 Cherry St. AUTOMOTIVE EQUIPMENT for every make car A. 8. HATCHS a GO. 468 3econd Street FLOURNOY &KERNAGHAN Agents— Balfour P. Stevens EngravingCe. Graen Watch Ce. Repairs 670 Cherry Engiariag