No man ever yet learned by having somebody else learn for him.
A man learns arithmetic by blunder in and blunder out, but at
last he gets it. A man learns to write through scrawling; a man
learns to swim by going into the water, and a man learns to vote
by voting.--HENRY WARD BEECHER.
(2424)
“Did you know this telephone business has resulted in a
telephone ear?” said a clerk whose work called him constantly
to the telephone, according to _The Tribune_, New York.
“I don’t mean that our hearing is injured, but that the left
ear becomes more keen than the right. If you’ll notice, all the
telephones are left-handed. That is, the instruments are so
placed that we hold the receiver with the left hand, so that we
may have the right hand free to use in taking notes of messages,
I presume. Of course, one naturally claps the receiver to his
left ear, as it would be almost impossible to twist it around
to his right ear. Consequently, the left ear gradually becomes
much sharper in catching sounds than the right ear. If you don’t
believe it, just try holding the receiver in your right hand
some time and use your right ear. You’ll find that conversation
which was perfectly distinct to the left ear sounds confused
and muffled to the right, and there is a distinct effort
to understand. It is simply that the left ear is a trained
telephone ear, while the right ear is not.” (Text.)
(2425)
* * * * *
Rubenstein--that thunderer of the keyboard--is credited with the
following dictum: “If I do not practise for a day I know it; if
I miss two days my friends know it; and if I miss three days the
public knows it.” (Text.)
(2426)