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to be the smallest, least-costly
homemade type of magazine con–
ceivable- mimeographed on a bor–
rowed mimeograph- headlines cut
by hand without a stylus or scope–
type cut on stencils with a bor–
rowed typewriter.
By that time
1
had made a con–
siderable advancement in bíblica!
knowledge.
1
realized, then, that
The Plain Truth
could never be
sold. The newsstand idea was gone.
Besides, who ever saw a
mimeo–
graphed
"magazine" sold on news–
stands? Don't laugh. It wasn't fun–
ny- then!
Also, by Feb r uary,
1934, the situation demanded other
subjects than the article on flaming
youth. Probably this article already
had become misplaced in that old
file-I do not remember.
Anyway, after being "out of
sight-out of mind" for 38 long
years, this article turned up in an
old, almost yellowed manuscript.
When it was discovered,
I
was
intrigued.
1
began to read it.
1
had
completely forgotten it.
1
found it
interesting. Perhaps that was only
because I had written it myself–
and the facts involved in its sudden
resurrection after a 38-year burial.
You may not find it a bit interest–
ing-but
1
simply can't resist put–
ting it before you to find out.
THINK ·OF IT! The "Sheik-Flap–
per" generation about which I then
wrote is the 65-75-year-old genera–
tion TODAY!
You 65- and 70-year-old people!
Were YOU those hell-bent sheiks
and flappers of 1927? IMPOSSIBLE!
Yet , it 's TRUE!
1 can hardly
believe it- and
1
doubt if
you
can!
The thought, however, intrigues
me! You middle-age readers, now
at least
approaching
old age, are
going to read, below, what
1
wrote
about
YOU,
when you were the
hell-bent teenagers shocking the
older generation sitting then in
such stern judgment of You!
And you teenagers among our
readers!
1
wonder if
you
won't get a
kick out of reading how "wi ld" and
"sinful" were your parents-yes,
and even perhaps your GRANDpar–
ents-when
they
were
your
age.
You teenagers, with your mod–
ern teenage slang. Are you going tó
8
get a bang out of the kid slang your
parents and grandparents were
using? And
1
wonder if any of you
65- ·to 7 5-year-olds will even
remember
how sorne teenagers
talked then. Perhaps
you
actually
didn't- but
many others
did!
But you of the older generation
who were the teenagers when
1
wrote this article-do you remem–
ber that the oldsters were out-of–
date old fogies then?
I
remember
reading a discourse Abraham Lin–
coln wrote. I think it was from a
speech he made, on the subject of
"Oid Fogy." The very
first
old fog–
ies, he said, were probably Adam
and Eve. And the older generations
have been old fogy to the young–
sters ever since!
In 1927, when this article was
written, this new psychology on
child rearing was just emerging.
Today it has fastened itself like a
leech or a barnacle onto a deceived
and misled society- and the
greatly multiplied rate of juvenile
delinquency testifies to its effica–
cy.
Here, then, is the article written
in 1927, now published for our
many new readers in the kind of
magazine of which
1
t hen
dreamed- and with a few com–
ments I have written in the form of
footnotes:
What's WRONG
wi th the
YOUNGER GENERATION?
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
I
s THE younger generation of this
modern day hell-bent or is it
not?
An older generation dares to sit in
stern and solemn judgment. The
jazz-crazed, pleasure-mad young–
sters hurl back the defiant retort that
their old-fashioned, back-number
elders simply do not understand.
The sheik-flapper' generation em–
phatically assert their ability to take
care of themselves. And they simply
step the harder on the gas.
The Terhune-Wright Debat e
Two literary luminaries- Harold
Bell Wright and Albert Payson
Terhune•- attempt to settle this
moot question in the June
Ameri-
ican Magazine,
3
by engaging in
debate. Mr. Terhune says the
sheik-flapper generation is hell–
bent. Mr. Wright says it is not .
Mr. Terhune believes much of
the trouble líes in the newer psy–
chology• in child rearing. Instead of
having been whipped and raw–
hided into parental obedience, the
present generation of youngsters,
he says, is the victim of a treat–
with-kindness , do-as-you-please
psychology. Lack of parental obe–
dience, he believes, is the heart of
the difficulty.
Mr. Wright denies that our
young people are hell-bent, be–
cause, he says, they are merely
aping their elders. According to
Mr. Wright, the parents are to
blame-not in lack of discipline, so
much as through example. The real
trouble, says Mr. Wright, is that
Dad attempts to correct young Wil–
lie something like this:
"Willie,
I
want you to keep out
of my cigarettes!" Or, "Willie, if
you ever sneak any of my hip-flask
liquors out to a party again, l'll cut
down your allowance!"
Or that Dad will reprimand his
flapper-daughter thus:
" Bubbles, you little painted hus–
sy, you Jet Mother 's lipstick and
rouge alone!"
Mr. Wright sees in our snappy,
peppy younger generation a real
improvement over those immedi–
ately previous. Their life, their pep,
their zip, their energy, he says, is
going to do wonders when they are
a little older and take the helm.
6
Mr. Terhune says human nature
has not changed. Our youngsters of
today, hell-bent as he pictures
them, are doing merely the things
the older generation would have
done with the lid of restraint
thrown.off. They haven't been held
down, while the older generation
was.
There is, beyond a doubt, much
truth in both their views.
The Real Cause
And now
1
intend to let fly a few
observations of my own upon this
hotly debated question.
1
have
mixed considerably with the
younger generation. I believe
1
know them and understand them-
The
PLAIN TRUTH