THE LUMBER ROOM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 14, 9 October 1937, Page 4

THE LUMBER ROOM

"PAUL

PRY."

b,

Habit the Flywheel of Society* Habit is the flywheel of society, it* most precious conserving agent. The great thing, then, is to make4 our nervous system our ally instead of out enemy. We must make automatic and habitual, as carly as possible, as many useful actions as we can, and guard against growing into ways that are disadvantageou3 as we guard against the plague. The more Of the details of our dailv life we can hand over td the effortless custody of Antematism, the more our higher- powers of rnind will be - set free for their proper work. There is no more miserable person than one in - whom nothing is, habitual but indecision, and for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of deliberation. — William James. Tho Accepted Opinion. It seems to be the accepted opinion that the greatest composers never wrote good humoured, cheerful tunesj that they were always serious, scholarly and philosophic; that they wrote for the intelligentsia, never for the common. .poeple. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Bach was. full of the jojj of life. He loved good jokes^ and hk music is full of them. Haydn's Surprise Symphony is a joke from beginning to endj and the Fox Hunt in th» Seasons is the liveliest of open-air tunes. I have often heard an audience break into laughtfir when the. bass voice describes how God ."created the worm" in his greatest oratorio, Th* Creation. . Mozart's opersas, written f ot the brilliant, pleasure-loving court of Yienna, of necessity had to be light and delicate.— Nicholas Douty. Intoxicated Acqttiescence. Oratory entails the nse of words; a speech means something. But if the voice is thrilling, it needn'fc mean very mueh. At one time or another we hav*--all had occasion to listen to preacher*,' actors, politicians who were able, by the mere noise of their ntterances, to reduce us to a state of intoxicated acquiescence. — Aldous Huxley. Swept Into the Garbage Pail. One thing I have alway* done- in making a first call on a patient, and that is to'ask to see the medicine chest. Most of its contents can be swept into the garbage pail. It is amazing what families will keep on hand in the way of deteriorated drugs, and from motives of mistaken economy feed them to. the next member of the family who show* slightly - similar symptoms. — F. a. d# Ford, M.D. The Final Test. It is. ihe final test bf a geutieman — his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him, — W. L, Phelps. My Eyes Shut, I have always had a horror of listening to music, with my eyes shut. Th* sight of the ge&tures and moveinents of the body producing the fimsic is* fundamentfily necessary if it is to be grasped in all . its fullness.-— Igor

Stravinsky. Do You Lose Your Voice7 Many people lose their voices at th* time of an important interviewi II seems that emotional ten'sioU throws carbon dioxide into the lllood. "When the success of a conversation or publio speech becomes extremely important tn the individual, excitenient and avixietj overload the blood with poisons. Instantly the lungs'demand more oxygen; the jresult is a suffocated feeling, To counteract this annoyance, first exeri all your powers to persuade ~ yourself into a calm state of mind. Then, while you are waiting for the appointment, deliberately take long breaths. Get your blood thoroughly oxygenated beforehand. Then, when the time co'mes, intersperse your remarks with pauses. This will give your listener time to hear, and you the chance for another breath of air. Thus, you will continue to be oxygenated, have full nse of your voice, and get your idea across effectually. — Good Housekeeping. Those Who Disagree With Us. The friends who are the most stimulating to us .are those who- disagree with us. It is they whose ideas : we should ponder; not that we may be converted by them, but that, in the light of their. certainties, we may search out the basis Of our own. We dignify by the name of beliefs a jumble of traditions .and superstitions, and we need to go over them periodically, squrred by some skeptic, to sort'out the grain from fche chaff. — C. J. Cannon. Success. The most reasonable explanation of success I ever saw waa in the unconscious irony of a sign that hung in a shop window: — "No one in this place works more than 40 hours a week, except executives. ' * None ever got very far by working a 40-hour week. Most of the notable people? I know are trying to magage a 40-hour day. — Channing Pollock. Said the Spider. She's the plot of his life's story. He's not a singer . . . he's a vocalamity, ' A human "gimme" pig. She was permanently waved both a$ to hair and figure. He drives as if rehearsing for an accident, He is a man of high principle and no interest. Merciless Taxes. It is related that in the relgn of Henry I. taxation was SQ merieiless that the very doors were taken off th* houses when the people could no longe? pay; and another writer says, that a troop of unhappy cnltivators, came on one occasion, to the king's palace aud i threw down their ploughshares at Jda | feet, for the capital wa? exha.U3ted i which alone could set the ploughs at' work. — Historical Lights-