Social Rivalry and Extravagance — The Amusement Craze — The Unnatural Educational Grind — Religious Fanatical Enthusiasm
By MARY ALICE HARE LOPER, M. S.
The celestial universe, with its millions of revolving suns and systems, preserves, in its onward trend through space, the same speed that has ever characterized it since the beginning of things. The great Creator set the pace, and He never changes. He set the pace for the revolutions of this little mundane sphere upon which our humble lot is cast. He made laws to govern man in his speed upon life's journey, and gave him minute instructions as to the importance of living in harmony with those laws. But some way, after nearly six thousand years, great changes have taken place in earthly affairs, in every line of human thought and action, everything seemingly having gathered a terrific momentum.
EVERYBODY IN A HURRY
This is an age of rush, of breathless hurry, of breakneck speed. The old-fashioned ox-cart is now preserved in paintings or statuary as a relic of the dead past, while the dear old horse-drawn vehicles are fast falling into disuse; for we have entered upon the strenuous age of automobiles and flying machines, when everything—to use the vernacular of the small boy—goes like whiz. Everybody seems to be in a hurry, whether he is accomplishing anything worth while or not. And it seems utterly impossible to supply the demand for speed in travel, no matter how dare-devil the attempts may be, or how many human lives may be sacrificed as the result.
“THE AGE OF RUSH, OF WORRY, OF STRENUOUSNESS, OF UNCERTAINTY”
Social rivalry is everywhere prevalent, even among the professed followers of Christ. It is a selfish process by which one seeks to outdo others, and which never brings real satisfaction to anybody. The lavish expenditure of money upon social functions knows no limitations, and the keen rivalry among society people grows more and more intense with passing years. Social standing is determined by dollars and cents, and not by “going about doing good.” The woman of fashion who dislikes to appear in society twice in the same gown, finds so much to occupy her time in trying to keep up in her line, that she is likely to have no time for either God or humanity.
The night was made for sleep, but it has been turned into a time for revelry and social whirl; and the direful physical results are seen on every hand in pale faces, weakened constitutions, and chronic invalidism. Multitudes are kept in a continual round of perplexity, trying to ape that which brings neither profit nor happiness; and the strenuous efforts constantly put forth, breed discontent, misery, and unhappiness, and too often result in the severing of sacred home ties.
Society rush and slush are undermining the foundations of the American home, bringing in alienation of affections, and all the misery that goes with it. Many a man gives up in despair the task of trying to satisfy the needless and extravagant demands made upon his hard-earned income. Many a woman loses her courage, and has her hopes shattered, because her husband spends his evenings at the social clubs and elsewhere, lavishing money actually needed to supply the necessities of life in the home which it is his bounden duty to support. “If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Tim. 5: 8.
THE AMUSEMENT CRAZE
There is to-day a world-wide craze for amusements. This calls for the expenditure of vast sums of money, which is worse than wasted, causing some to deprive themselves of common necessities of life. Multitudes habitually attend theaters and picture shows where crime and immorality are vividly depicted, which leave hideous impressions upon the minds of old and young. The restless discontent and feverish excitement seen among children are deplorable. The yellow-back novel finds its rival in the moving-picture show, where in one evening may be absorbed the vile contents of a whole volume, and in such a vivid manner that one need not be surprised to find children playing murder as a mere pastime, and many crimes are committed as the direct result of this demoralizing education.
SUGGESTIVE OF VICE AND CRIME
Not content with cheap, vulgar pay shows, the archenemy has on exhibition many free suggestions of vice and crime, such as that mentioned in the Fresno Morning Republican of July 25, 1915:
“Los Angeles, July 24.—Anthony Comstock, secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Vice in New York, who took a casual stroll to-night, discovered objectionable pictures in photographers’ windows to which he took personal exception. ‘These pictures are disgraceful,’ he said. ‘They are a menace to morals, and should be suppressed. If such pictures should be displayed in New York, the person responsible would be sent to the penitentiary for a year, and fined $500.’”
THE EDUCATIONAL GRIND
These are also the days when parents seem to think that the quicker their children are ground through the educational mill, the greater their life possibilities. So they are put into the kindergarten hopper when mere babies, and are ground from that time on for an indefinite number of years, unless “notebookitis,” “history-mania,” or some other modern malady puts an untimely end to their earthly career—such a result, of course, being considered a “mysterious dispensation of Providence.” Parents consider skipping grades a mark of intellectual superiority to be encouraged, not realizing that “much study is a weariness of the flesh,” and that there are limitations to the endurance of the human mechanism. Children gone to seed educationally are as verily dwarfed as is the plant that receives too much sunshine or too much water. The pretentious class picture may be a precious relic of a child’s early achievements; but when, as a result, health is impaired, and the higher culture and education are sacrificed, it has been purchased at too dear a cost.
Business is rushed until it becomes fagged out, and too often one man’s success means another man’s ruin. There are too many human parasites, who live by sapping the life of others. There are honest men in all legitimate lines of business; but there are so many fakers in every line, that voyagers on the sea of life have become accustomed to be constantly on the lookout for human sharks, who are ever ready to seize upon their prey. Then there are so many lines of illegitimate business, so many bent upon evil, that business ventures of a good character have become very uncertain. Truly men’s hearts are “failing them for fear.”
This is a time of religious rush and fanatical enthusiasm. Roads purporting to lead to heaven have been adroitly laid out, with flowers of self-indulgence all along the way. Thousands have their names upon church books who do not possess passports to the heavenly country. Many professed Christians “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” are so absorbed in earthly things, that they have no time to read the blessed Bible or to pray.
At the present hour, standing on the very verge of time and the threshold of eternity, they rake, as Bunyan says, among the chaff and rubbish of earth, and are too busily engaged in their pursuit for perishable riches, to cast one glance upward at the golden crown that is held within their reach. But at the close of life, they always find time to die. Earthly schemes and treasures affording no comfort, some, even at that late hour, have made their peace with Him in whom every hope centers.
But it is hazardous to put off the day of salvation, knowing that this earthly career often terminates suddenly.
And how unjust to use the loaf of time
In service of—not Christ, but self and sin;
Then, when life’s end is surely drawing near,
To give the last remaining crumb to Him!
But the melancholy picture of the world to-day, with all its rivalry, war, and turmoil, is sure evidence that the end of all things is at hand. This age of rush, of worry, of strenuousness, of uncertainty, will shortly give place to one of tranquil and everlasting peace. The mad efforts for earthly treasures will be succeeded by contentment and perfect satisfaction. But even now, amid all the uncertainties of life, and all the evils and vexations that abound on every hand, it is our blessed privilege to possess that heavenly peace, “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” which makes the path from earth to heaven more and more enjoyable as the end draws near.
