Hearing, an Important Talent
By A. E. Place
As an illustration of the eliminating process, I shall refer to an actual experience. One day in Denver, Colo., I went into the Western Union Telegraph office to speak to a friend, who was an expert operator. I should judge that there were nearly one hundred instruments in one room. Each operator was either fingering a key or listening to its click. There was such a Babylon of noise and discord of sounds that at first it seemed impossible for me to talk, or even to think what I wanted to say. I finally said to my friend, "Mrs. Hillker, in the presence of this awful bedlam, how are you able to know anything your own instrument is saying?" Her reply was:677"By concentration and elimination. It was very difficult for me at first, but I knew I must do it if I succeeded, and I was bound to succeed; so I put my mind as much as possible upon the sound of my own instrument, and paid as little attention as possible to other instruments, and gradually I found that the other instruments had less and less effect upon me until today I do not notice their noise at all. I seldom hear them. In fact, I suppose I hear my own instrument about as distinctly and easily as if there were no other instruments in the room." What a simple and brief statement of the case! and what a world of meaning in it! To paraphrase it, and condense to simplest form, it would read: "I concentrate and eliminate. I listen for the voice of my own instrument. I attend to my own business. I find myself lost to everything else." That little conversation awakened a train of thought in my soul that has kept ringing on and on to this day. It brought to my mind the words of the great apostle Paul, "This one thing I do." It brought also the words of the wise man, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it." I thought of the thrilling words of Jesus, which I feel sure were quiet words, but were heard by the winds and waves of storm-tossed Galilee, "Be still." And the record reads, "And there was a great calm." My friend said, "I listen to my own instrument." The Christian's instrument is Christ. The soul who listens for his voice—"the still small voice"—will after a time learn that it can be as truly and clearly heard in Babylon (if it is necessary for him to be there) as in the quiet of one's own room. My friend said, "I knew I must do it if I succeeded." Hers was an earthly work. Success to her meant ability to listen correctly to the voice of the world. It meant listening for money. To the Christian it means listening for the voice of God, and it means joy now and eternal life hereafter. To learn this lesson, to demonstrate this truth, constitutes at least one of the greatest purposes of life. This is true education. "Take heed therefore how ye hear."