Room at the Bottom 89 



A MISTAKE IN TRAINING 



Too long we have been training young people in 

 the school and in the home to struggle for the best 

 of everything a sort of rivalry that results in 

 envy, jealousy, and strife, and a falling apart where 

 there should be cooperation and sympathy and a 

 spirit of mutual helpfulness. The craze for clothes, 

 the glare of the electric lights, and the lure of the 

 cheap theater have struck the country people and 

 are drawing away much of the best young blood 

 there. It seems that we have over-done this thing 

 of pointing to the top and urging our young people 

 to scramble for that, until as a result no one is 

 looking for a place to serve, while all are looking for 

 a place to shine. Now, there may be "plenty of 

 room at the top" for selfish scrambling, but in some 

 respects the top is woefully over-crowded. On the 

 other hand, there is a vast amount of good room 

 at the bottom, acres of it, and we might well com- 

 mend it to every one who may be imbued with the 

 idea of doing some effective work in the world. 

 All over the broad, open country, in thousands of 

 rural districts, the situation at the bottom is literally 

 crying out for constructive workers who will come in 

 there with their good courage, their scientific train- 

 ing, and in the name of the Most High get down 

 among the people and the common things in the 

 midst of which the people live and lay a substantial 



