This is a fast age. An age in which good and evil influences abound. All of us are subject to either the former or the latter. Judging from appearances at the present time, evil influences or tendencies seem to have the upperhand. And among them, especially, the tendency to dispose of a number of things which in the past have made life richer and better. Included in this number marked for destruction are homelike pleasures, such as worth while conversation, discussion of serious topics, and quiet evenings at home devoted to books, relatives, and friends. What pleasures are better? What enjoyments are comparable to these?

While attempting to destroy them our rapid age would provide fancy substitutes; instead of books, it suggests movies, instead of relatives and friends, cabarets. An unbiased observer, however, should be able to discover quite readily, that the value of the substitute can not be compared with that of the original.

As an example, read a book, for instance, Dickens' David Copperfield, as you attentively peruse sentence after sentence, the magnificent tale unfolds, slowly and carefully, a faithful portrayal of life. You conceive ideas of little David, follow him along the path of his career, meet delightful Micawber and other friends, listen to their conversation and thus receive a stimulant, an aid to your imagination, besides learning lessons of great value. All of this is infused into your mind slowly, carefully, as it ought to be if you desire permanent, lasting impressions.

Now substitute a movie, David Copperfield is thrown on the screen. The tale unfolds quickly through on-rushing pictures. A few captions to explain hurriedly what the pictures portray. No opportunity, or very little opportunity, for the cultivation of imagination. No listening to delightful conversation. No valuable lessons learned. At best a very hurried, rushing conception speedily blotted out. The moral seems to be: Retain the homelike pleasures of life, enjoy evenings at home devoted to books, relatives and friends. Seek no substitute. Keep away from the movies.

E. Groenboom.