Show things we might have missed by THOMAS ARKLE lato late dean of men university of illinois the story Is told of bach the great musician that one day he visited a distant city in which there was a cathedral containing a wonderful oi bigan g an lie he approached I 1 pro the buston in charge requesting V hina him first P that ho he might bo be ka Q allowed to see the v 4 organ and this request being granted that ho he might play lay upon it the file sexton r refused e f Us e d this second re qu queaa est saying ing that it was quite contrary to his directions to let any stranger touch the instrument which might be injured if not carefully handled bach was insistent however and persuasive and finally the sexton yielded As he listened to the great mus musician lelan handling the wonderful instrument the sexton was first astonished and then held spellbound finally it dawned upon him who it was to whose music he was listening there was only one man in the world who had such skill when the music was ended he came up to the player and grasped him by the hand you are bach he said and then remembering his refusal to let the musician touch the organ and to think I 1 might have missed the mas terl ter I 1 how much we have missed or come near missing by our stubbornness or our unwillingness to take advantage of opportunities I 1 think I 1 might have missed all the pleasant experiences which have come to me during the last forty years I 1 had a boy friend who had away from our community and whom I 1 had not seen for a half dozen years I 1 had thought of inviting him to visit me but had put oft off the invitation as one will in such cases then one day I 1 had bad the inspiration and acted on it ile he came tie he had been to college and hi he persuaded me to go but for the inspiration which led me to invite him to visit we me I 1 doubt very much that I 1 should ever have left the farm maybe it would have been just as well did you ever wonder what would have happened to you and what you might have missed had you turned down a different road than the one you took one night or if you gone to the party where you met the girl you married or where you would be today it if you had not made certain decisions a score of years ago Q 1032 western newspaper union |