Roots in the Great Plains: The Applied Psychology of Harry Hollingworth

Part I: Our Town

XII (ljV(f £ OUR TLJW;V our town 1 PAR T % In the day. and plaoe ot .hiob I write. boy', town w •• hl, wor14. Hi, elders ••re llttle better ,1tuated.tor that matter . 'Exoept tor ocoasional long Journey' by train, people ot neoe••l ty kept olos. to hOlle on the plalna or Nebra.ka. Ada,'. loumey and baok by team or hor.ebaok dld not. Uk. onetar ."'"ad and the geograph1cal envlronment ot the young was bounded 01 r.glona whloh the, could ge' to and return fran ln & daY'1} walk. Small towna we......t,t.ered over our oomer ot the eta" at lnwM'&l. of eeven to t,en mlle. 1n any dlrect.lon and man,. ot u. gre. to adulthood wlth only the moat oa.ual aoquaintanoe with nelShborlng village••There waa ln taot. a town not more than .ix ml1ea trom ours \hat, I have never let, .een, andotblr. only a tew ml1es farther a.a,. Th. tarm. &bout, ua walled 1n our town and olroumsorlbed our 11.,•• 1n every oonoeivabl. w.,_ They presorlbed our pia,. our eduoation, our vooat,lonal Informatlon , our oourtshlpa and helped determine the parentase ot later generat10na. An lndividual thU8 be... more OJl' le•• • produot ot the sp1rlt ot b1. town to a 4egre. thatia ao' oommon anywhere ln the world t,odal.Improye4 transportation and oommunloatlon ,and numeroul teohnologloal advanoea,hav. taken care of that. ( roots in the great plains 2 In a genuine .en••,a••el1 a. by corporate tlotlon, a town In tho.e day. had a aplrlt,- a peraonallty and t.one that. mlght Sharply dl.tingulsh It trom other town•• In re.ent year. 'OOlal .clentl.t. ha•• trled to quantlty tbla spirit, ln the oaae ot oltle•• and to derlve statl.tloal tormulae tor 0_putlng the -'oodn•••• ot suoh plaoe.. Small town. may not lend t.hem.elve.~uantlflcat,lon. and the pre.ent atandarUb· tlon ot town. would make tnt caloulatlon. a waste of tlme. in anI event. Suoh splr1t as the modern town hal oomes o.er the radlo,from the tourist oamp, trom ohaln .tore. and nat,i.onal ad.ertl.lng, trom oompullory eduoatlon and routlne ourrlcula. But In the day' and plaoe of whlch I wrlte the splrl t ot a town emerged a. a net re.ult&nt trom the personalltles and the hlstorle. ot It. Inbabltan,••. In a ••nae .....Ten thertatlstloal lndloe. ot goodnea , tor larg.r oommunltl,. ha.e only a hl,torlcal .alu•• The llbrarle.,barber lhop.,poo1 rooaa, and lohool taxe. ot a given clt.y .ere not tlrlt .e.tabll&bed by tn. Lord, 10 man1 ot eaoh per thou.and ot populat.lon. Even the furnlture ot a 01t1 a. exhibited In the ,tatiltlcal tOl"Dlulae had tlr8t to get there betore 1t could be counted. The.e things do not oonltltut . the .plrlt ot a clt1.- th.y are only rath.r late and sup.rflo1al expressiona of that .plrlt a. It exist.d at 80.e .arll.r date. The small towns around th. one of whlch I wrl te had, tor given periodl at 1..1', their r.cognizabl•••••no••• It. 1. probable that tbere 18 leiS lag in the .piritual .xpre.slon our town 3 ot a -..11 town than 1n ~e oa8e or a 01t1. !hI. sptrtt ~l.e. more tmmedlate11 from \be momentlr, and current aotlvlti•• ot \he populat.lon and 1\ I. le•• weighted Dr the sl\lgglahn... ancl lmmobl11t.y ot e.tabll.ed monument.s, endowmen\8 and b.tt'\1t .lona. On. could In taot. r.adl1y o1,a.slt1 ~e towns In our .ect.lon ot Nebraska under head~' commonl1 uMd tor Ind.l"ld. ual personalltl.s. There were sober t.OWn8 and drunk.n one', pol1te and roue;b-neok, sedate and bolst..rous. intant.l1e an4 ••nl1e, Introvert and extraver\. s\able and unatabl.. There were even t.eble minded t.own. that DeY.r aohleved adult .\at. UH, •••ell a. hypertrothled town. that tar OtJiIran aDJ sound excu.. tor their belng. It seema l1kely alao that towna. o.er a ShortAr Ol' lona. er tl.e, eelblt the nonDal. phenomena ot d••alopaent. and haye genuine l1te Ounel • Moat towns, perhaps,ar. detinltel, coneelftd berore th., ar. born, although ~.re appear to be excep. tlons. The town ot Wbloh I wrlte,at 1••1'. baa It. lnltlal conoeptlon (preoed.d b1...