Sound Living

Almost daily we read in the press expressions from every part of the country indicating that what people are seeking most strenuously today is some sort of firm foundation upon which to build for the future.  Probably each one of us feels hopeful that the days to come are destined to be better days than any we have previously known.  However, we are undoubtedly each wondering how a sane basis of economy in government and business is to be finally reached, and once attained, how it is to be preserved. 

There is no doubt that for many years we have been following false ideals to an alarming extent:  The man or woman doomed to a quiet, wholesome, steady and dutiful mode of living was to be pitied; one who took thought for the morrow, or questioned where all the hectic living was leading, was regarded as oldfashioned and a kill-joy into the bargain.  But fortunately for all of us many of these ideas and valuations appear to be changing.  People generally seem to be reaching out for a sense of soundness for themselves and for the country, to insure the long pull ahead.  This is encouraging, for there is after all nothing which can quite compare with the firm satisfaction of knowing that one is doing his duty as best he sees it, and is keeping his conscience clear by wholesome living.

It appears evident that we as a people, without in the least decrying the value of sane recreation, are nevertheless becoming oldfashioned enough to wish to trade much of the get-rich-quick splendor, and night club glamour, for the ways of life which lead to a wholesome self-respect, a quiet mind, and the happy enjoyment of the simpler things of life.  And if the depression which has been such a burden to most of us results in the reversal of the conditions which provoked it, how can we regret it too deeply if the final result is to bring us to a realization of the truly worth-while things in life. 

Editorial from Needlecraft The Home Arts Magazine February 1935.

Amazing that they were thinking then what most of us are thinking now...