Country Morals Vary But Little With City Standard

1910

By Rev. Eliot White

The question whether moral standards are the same in city as in country probably cannot be answered alike for every comparison of urban with suburban. Some cities are notably narrow and backward, like overgrown villages, while some country places have so much civic sense and alert pride that they rank high in what we might call moral incubation, being true hatching places of better social ideals and keener ethical perceptions.

At the same time several elements in the comparison make it in the large possible to contrast city and country morals. For example, the power of neighbor opinion is considerably less in the city than in the country. By this I mean that dwelling near another person in the city does not mean necessarily acquaintance with or notice of him; whereas in the country, neighbor censors neighbor, often than not gossips about him or her and therefore exercises a certain degree of restraint upon him. Much of the laborious and often petty casuistry that harasses the typical country place and that the city dweller finds intolerable, is due to this.

Religious intolerance, with its magnifying of theological trifles, for the same reason flourishes in the country, while the city forges ahead and away from it like an express train from a stage coach. People have other and healthier occupations for thought.

At the same time the city independence has its faults. Isolation is a terrible strain for the young man or woman. The country may mean gossip, but it means united support and "company" as well, and to be transplanted from such rootage to the lonely places of the great city involves some of the severest temptations to which a character can be subjected.

The moral standards probably in themselves vary little between city and country, much as they may differ in application in the two places.

Franker instruction by parents end schools on physical matters should help boys and girls "find out things" in wholesome fashion, instead of through whisper. Festivals, open-air dances and romps are needed to feed the hunger for companionship, color and joy. More freedom under wise supervision for the children and youth of both sexes together has promise of nobler development and moral standard for both city and country of which we can all as Americans be proud.

No Good Deed or Sacrifice is Wasted

1895

God Will Use It

"No good deed, no genuine sacrifice, is over wasted. If there be no good in it, God will use it for His own holy purposes, and whatever of ignorance or weakness or mistake was mingled with it will drop away as the withered petals drop away when the full flower has blown." — Frederic W. Farrar.


A Deadly Sin

What makes selfishness such a deadly sin is that it is a self-deceiving sin. A thief knows that he is a thief; a liar that he has told falsehoods; but a selfish man does not know he is selfish, hence he never repents of his sin and it grows with his growth, strengthens with his strength.


The Current of Life

Keep the current of your life broad and full. To do this your thoughts must be full. Share your thoughts with others in different as well as in the same walks of life, and open your mind to share in their plans, aims, feeling, troubles and joys.