Mundane Musings

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 187, 28 October 1927, Page 5

Mundane Musings

Can You Listen! In these days of rush and scramble, “listening" is in danger of becoming a lost art. The trouble is that so few of us care to listen, or to become good listeners. On the contrary, with the cultivation of “personality,” “ego” and the “soul’s self,” there has arisen the urgent, if unconscious, desire for expansion, expression and self-assertion. So we talk more and listen less. We all love to talk, infinitely preferring to have an audience than to be one. Of talking, indeed, there is truly no end; but, according to each

one’s own account, it is always the other person who is doing it. Yet, curiously enough, this very “other person” always thinks differently! “Oh, yes, I was delighted to see Mrs. X.,” exclaims Mrs. Y. “But once that woman gets started, you can’t squeeze a word in edgeways.” Mrs. X., in the meantime, is saying precisely the same thing of Mrs. Y. And, of course, you have a friend who, listening to you with scarcely veiled impatience, is only waiting her chance to chip in: “Why, that is just what happened to me. I remember—” and she starts off with her own reminiscencs ad infinitum. Wherever you go, with whomsoever you converse, the result is practically the same. You are always—it seems to you—out-talked! Indeed, so long as the cult of self-assertion flourishes it is inevitable; and it is useless to be annoyed. The wise woman will leave it at that and seek to score on totally different lines: as a listener. The world loves a cheerful listener. And the first step in the art of “listening” is to be interested and to enjoy listening. This is simply a matter of stimulating the imagination. A sense of humour, a keen desire to understand human nature, to see things from different points of view, to learn how others think and live —these are other necessary qualifications. “I always listen to people,” said a man of noted personality, “you learn so much.” And it is wonderful how many interesting thing's are poured into the ears of those who have cultivated the art of listening. That you are not bound to believe all you are told only adds to the attraction. But a sympathetic listener rapidly acquires the ability to read human nature and is seldom takep This gift of reading character will compensate you for anything you may lose as a non-talker. G.M.H. CUTTING DOWN THE FURNITURE How often do you hear a woman say: “I must have large rooms, because all my furniture is of the large type, and it simply will not fit into small rooms.” This state of affairs, at a time when flats and houses of any kind are difficult to discover at a reasonable rent, greatly complicates the o'utlook. Is there no way of meeting it? There is—by means of cutting down the furniture! It sounds drastic, but it is not so drastic as it sounds. The Victorian wardrobe, for instance, with two hanging cupboards flanking a central space containing shelves and a shoe well, can be converted by an able carpenter into three separate pieces to fit into small recesses. According to the construction, it may or may not be necessary to supply new sides to the inner section, and the cornice fitment may have to be adapted. In some cases, however, the pieces will look better and lighter without any cornice at all. A tallboy is a little overpowering for a small room, but it is an easy matter to divide it up into two. The top of the lower section will probably not be of such good wood as the rest of the piece, but .this is easily remedied: have a piece of plate-glass fitted to it, and paint the glass underneath in the salieht tone of the decorative scheme. A cumbersome chest of drawers can be cut. in two and used as seats either in the window or in a recess. Cover the tops plentifully with cushions, or have an upholstered squab to fit each. Sideboards of Victorian persuasion, like the wardrobes. are frequently made in three sections, of which the central one may be discarded in the small room. This central piece will ferm a separate cupboard somewhere else. M.L.