100 PER CENT. TALKIE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 951, 19 April 1930, Page 8

100 PER CENT. TALKIE

THE QUIET CORNER

(Written for THE SUN by the Rev. Charles Chandler.)

Women are generally considered to be the greatest talkers, but ■•/ hae ma doots .” Adam had his “loud speaker” long before the days of radio, but / very much doubt whether Eve talked at half such length as her husband did, once he was moved to speech. Such luminaries at Plato and Aristotle were, in some measure, humbugs, in that they looked upon talking as their peculiar job, while others, not so highly favoured, had to do the far less interesting, though not less important, work of turning the wheels of industry. One is not in the least surprised to learn that Xanthippe Socrates one day emptied a bucketful of water over the head of her “better half,” while he teas expatiating upon matter philosophical, under the Tree of Knowledge. Man is a hopeless talker. It's less of a gift than a disease. His tongue is indeed an unruly member. The human voice wields tremendous power, and has a strange fascination for crowds. Brutus and Mark Antony, each touching upon the death of Casar, were yet able to sway their hearers —in opposite directions. As a piece of general advice it might be said: Be more ready to trust the man of faltering speech, for a glib tongue seldom goes ivith downright honesty of purpose. The whole of the recorded utterances of Jesus can be read at one sitting, and all His speeches were short. His parables, of matchless literary merit, seldom exceeded the compass of 250 words. Probably the greatest democratic utterance extant is Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg oration —less than 350 words —and yet every school-child in America has been learning it ever since. Talking will never save the world, and though speech may be silver, silence is golden. Next week: THE LAST WORD.