Hearing, an Important Talent
By A. E. PLACE
THE Great Teacher at one time said, “Take heed therefore how ye hear.” That admonition is just as pertinent and as applicable today as when it came from the divine lips. The power to hear is called one of the five senses, but it is more than this: it is a divine gift, a rare legacy deposited in the bank of human possibilities, and upon it man is permitted to trade, or draw daily for either weal or woe. Let us suppose for the moment that this gift is suddenly withdrawn. Can you imagine all the sweet melodies and harmonies in word and sound to be as though they were not? What would their loss mean to this poor, dying world? That little bird chirping, or warbling its morning song at our window, its throat seemingly almost bursting with the ecstasy of the joy of living, would be of no service, for it could gladden only its own heart. The coo and prattle of the first-born child, so sweet, so thrilling, so inspiring to the ear of the parent, would be unheeded. The first “real words” of the little one, which the father gleefully declares to be “Da-da,” and which the fond mother claims to be “Ma-ma,” would be unheeded. Those almost priceless expressions, “Dear husband,” “Dear wife,” “Dear Mary,” and “Dear John,” spoken in tones of affection and love, would fall cold and dead from the speaker’s lips, until the lips themselves would cease to move. Yea, the thousand and one words and sounds, from the bird song or child prattle to the great, soul-thrilling oratorio,—words and sounds which today furnish a goodly portion of the elixir of life; words and sounds which have the power to calm fear, to inspire courage and fortitude, to heal wounds and still the tempests of the soul,—these, all these, would, without hearing, be lost to the world. What a loss to a world where their presence and help are so much needed! Thank God, they have not yet gone! But let us ask ourselves the question, Are these sweet melodies and harmonies going from the world? Are they being driven from our hearts, our homes, and our lives? If so, to what extent are we to blame? A careful study of the difference between harmony and discord, the effects of each upon ourselves and others, constitutes an important factor in a good education. The difference is doubtless as strong as that between love and hate. True love is the melody, and union in true love is the harmony, of the universe. So it is the melody and harmony of the world. As one untuned string in a piano affects every other string, and makes it impossible to play a perfect tune in which the untuned string has any part, so violation of the divine law of love has not only put one string in man’s nature out of harmony, but has sadly affected every string in the harp of life. And a continued violation of divine law will, after a time, drive all harmony from the soul, and develop in its place bitter hatred, the end of which is often murder or incurable insanity. As the discords of life, if listened to and dwelt upon, harrow and make bitter every day of life to the end and make life’s last remembrance a curse, so also will the melodies and harmonies, still living and vibrating in the world, if listened to and appreciated, sweeten even the most bitter cups of life and make glad life’s last review. And when the end comes, the melodies and harmonies which we have cherished through life, will, by angel voices, be swelled into a divine oratorio, as they take us from this world “to meet the Lord in the air,” to go to that kingdom where discords will never come.