A sidewalk leading to nowhere

Mississippi writer and professor Stark Young, who later taught in Texas, Massachusetts and New York, imparted the following image and words of advice in his essay ‘Not in Memoriam, But in Defense’ that was included in the 1930 Southern agrarian manifesto, I’ll Take My Stand:

I need not forget the grace I celebrate, nor the consideration for others that my boasts imply. This tendency – may I avoid it! – among Southerners at times to drive the shot home arises partly from hurt pride, a defensive tack after years of being poor and shut out from one’s inherited way of living; but the display of it is useless and only offends. On the other hand, I should study when to inflame or offend, to be downright and hot, and so bring the opponent into such heat that he will plank down his idea, tell me what he thinks a civilization should be be. If he has a solid theory, I can make a honorable argument. If he has only a jumble of puerile catchwords, he may be such as can be led to say: “In our town we’ve got twenty thousand miles of concrete sidewalks.” “And where do they lead?” I say. He will not have thought of that.’