THE ART OF NOT HEARING

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 55, 21 June 1884, Page 7

THE ART OF NOT HEARING

(I ■ Thr art of not hearing .should bo taught in every well regulated family. Ibis full as important to domestic hnppiness as a cultivated ear, forUvhich so much money and time are expended. There are so inauv things w..ioh it is painfulto hear, many which we might not to hoar, very many which if Heard will disturb the temper, corrupt simplicity and modesty, detract fro. v oonk'ntmenUn 1 happiness, that every one should be educated to take in or shut out sounds, according to their pleasure. If a man falls into a violent passion and calls mo all manner of names, the first word shuts my euis, and I hear no more. If, in my quiet voyage of life, I find myself caught in one of those domestic whirlwinds of scolding, I shut my ears, as a sailor would furl his sails, and, making all tight, scud before the gale. If a hot atul restless man begins to inflame my feelings, I consider what mischief these fiery sparks may do in the magazine below wl'ere my temper is kept, and instantly close the door. Does a gadding, mischief-making fellow begin to inform me what people arc saying about me, down drops the portcullis of my ear, ami he cannot get in any farther. Does the collector of scandal ask my ear as a warehonse, it instinctively shuts up. people seem anxious to heai everything that will vex and annoy them. If it is lrnted that anyone has spoken evil of them, they set" about seurching the matter, and finding out. If all the petty tilings said of one, by heedless or ili-natured idlers, were to be brought home to him he would become a more walking pincushion, stuck full of sharp remarks. I shon'd as soon thank a man for emptying upon my bed a bushel of nettles, or setting -loose a swarm of mosquito*, in my chamber, or raising a pungent dust in my house generally, as to bring in upon me all the' tattle of careless or spiteful people. If you' would be- happy, when among «ood men open your ear* ; when among bad, shut thorn. Ami a* the throat has a muscular an augment, by which it takes care of tl.e air-pa^sat-vs of its own accor.l, so the ears should be trained to an automatic dulness of hoaring ' It is not worthwhile to hear what your servants" say when tuey are angry ; what your children say after they have slammed the door ; what a beggar says whom you have rejected from your door ; what your neighbours say about you--children ; What your rivals say about your business, or your dress. This Art of not hearing, though untaught in the schools, is by no means unknown or unpractised in society I ,iave noticed tiiat a well-bred woman never hears an inn pertinent or a vulgar remark. A kind of discreet deafness .saves one from many insults, from much blame, from not a little apparent connivance in dishonourable conversation. There are two doors in.side my ears, a right-hand door leading to the heart, and .1 left-hand door, with n broad ami steep passage out into the open air. This last doo receives all ugliness, profanity, vulgarity, m i scuief- making, which suddenly iind themselves outside of me. Judicious teachers and indulgent parents save young urchins a world of 1 trouble by a convenient deafness. ■ Bankers and brokers often are extremely hard of hearing, when unsafe borrowers are importunate. I never hear a man who runs after me in the street bawling my name at the top of his voice; nor them that talk evil of those who are absent ; nor those who give me unasked ndvice about my own affair? : nor those 1 who talk largely about tilings of which they are ignora it. 1 If there are sounds of kindness, of mm.li, of love, open fly my ears ! But L temper, or harslme-p, or hatred, or vulgarity, or flatteiy, shut them. M you ; Keep your garden gate shut, your {lower* , ami fruit will be safe. If you keep your lour closed, no thief will ruu off with 5 your silver ; and if you keep your ears ' shut, your heart will loose neither its dowers nor its treasures.