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Show The Average, Normal Man fill Ijf t NEVER Becomes Great Because U He Has No Weakness Inside to Fight Against, but the Deaf May Write the Greatest Music, as Did Mozart and Beethoven, and a Timid Lad Like Napoleon May Rule the World Beethoven and Mozart, two of the greatest of composers, suffered from deafness. Beethoven is shown here playing his compositions to his friends. "If he had not been deaf," says the psychologist, "he probably never would have written great music." V"J"t MEEICA Is at present If ena?el i11 a strenuoas if buat for efHeiency. We iff are ol that each Indi-A Indi-A -Ew Ik, vidnal In society must Ft select his forte for his , dyry? strong points and de-r de-r ; velop them so that so ciety as a whole may be benefited. All of which is very proper and obviously ob-viously commendable, but which nevertheless neverthe-less neglects one phase of character formation forma-tion namely, the defects sometimes called weak points which every human beine bv nature is endpwed with. It should constantly be borne in mind that many of the genuiscs of history became be-came proficient, and thereby famous, because be-cause they struggled to overcome their natural nat-ural faults so bravely and persistently that they created abilities within themselves unrivaled un-rivaled in all the annals of talent. It should be remembered that Demosthenes, Demos-thenes, the world's greatest orator, was i:: his early days the exact opposite of what tho world might expect an embryo orator to be. He was a shambling, awkward Athenian boy, a homely lad who stammered pitifully, much to the amusement of the other street urchins. His principal oral difficulty lay with the letter R and his efforts ef-forts to pronounce it were laughable in the extreme. Furthermore, he had a weak voice and Inferior lungs, so that his breath came short This naturally made him embarrassed em-barrassed when speaking and the result was that he became a bashful, surly youth. Resolves to Become Orator. When he arrived at young manhood, however, he came to realize Just how much of a failure he was. He heard in the forums the scholars and statesmen of Greece speaking to the crowds. He understood under-stood Just how they commanded the attention atten-tion of the populace by oratory. He began to wish that he had been born wlch a silver tongue in his mouth and with gracious manners at his finger tips. For a time he grew melancholy, then he resolved to remake re-make his character and to become an orator. Having thought it all .out, he decided to begin at the beginning and change every habit that ho had. First he went to work upon his breathing power. He climbed the mountains of Greece day in and day nut. Walking along the streets he practiced deep breathing. Constant exercise finally told, and he was gratified to note that his lungs were full and lusty. Then be set to correcting his stammering. One clay he found out that two or throe small pebbles in his mouth would force him to speak slowly and with painful efforts at distinctness. distinct-ness. So he went about for days stead-' fastly holding these pebbles under his tongue. In time he tried speaking without them, and found that he could pronounco every letter in the alphabet. So he drilled himself in keeping the clarity and slowness of speech which the pebbles had enforced. Finally he mastered his stoppage of speech entirely. His next step was to retire to a house and live there alone. Setting up a mirror at one end of a room, he practiced the gestures ges-tures which to him seemed to fit the most trivial statements. From that he. came to studying what movements of the arms supplemented sup-plemented impassioned utterances. So afraid was he that he would be tempted to slight his work that he shaved half of his head so that he would be ashamed to appear ap-pear in public in so ridiculous a guise. At length he became what he thought to be on orator and made a test of his ability, abil-ity, addressing a meeting of fellow Athenians Athe-nians in the forum. But his utterances not only lacked fire but were laughable to his audience on account of being dull. Still determined to become proficient in his art, he went to the seashore and practiced prac-ticed alone before the waves, finding inspiration in-spiration in their tumult and action. In this way ho learned how to throw emotion into his voice. Rises to the First Rank. After a considerable length of time spent in this study he went to Athens and began the career that has. since become immortal. im-mortal. In a short time he was acknowledged acknowl-edged to be the equal of Athens' best, and before many years were gone he was awarded award-ed the popular palm of being the foremost in the land. No man his since risen to dispute dis-pute his crown. The secret of his co-patriot Socrates' success in commanding the attention of all who came within hearing of his voice lay in a similar weakness. Socrates was born In-teusely In-teusely ugly. He was short, thick-necked, fat, and his eyes were big and always- bulging bulg-ing from his head. Added to these grotesque gro-tesque qualities were au upturned nose, widespread nostrils, a largo mouth and thick-coarse lips. There Is much testimony to prove that a man could be only with difficulty dif-ficulty more homely than he, and yet he was the most charming conversationalist that the world has so far produced. His wisdom seemed boundless and his teachings teach-ings embody such marvelous concentration of horse sense and attractive diction that civilization today regard them with awe. Virtue and nobility are terms that but incompetently in-competently describe his character. Dr. William A. White in his book "Character Formation" cites him as an example of how a man with a deficiency compensates compen-sates for it by developing devel-oping qualities that overshadow it. "The ugly Socrates," he says, "made himself a beautiful soul." Terhaps the most famous evidence of this is found in the story of how Socrates I: : v . - - ,- - -Jj Pff Demosthenes declaiming to the waves to get power and emotion in his voice. js Homer's songs of Grecian wars, which charmed the ancient world, were evolved by the bard during long evenings while he sat by the fire listening to the warriors tell their exploits. Had he not been blind he likely would have had no time to "waste" listening, and certainly he would not have been so careful a listener. The scene here is from the sculpture, "The Lay of Homer." charmed the love-mad Alcibiades away from the beautiful Aspasia with no inducement in-ducement other than the attraction of his sayings. Alcibiades as a young man came to Athens to study, but before beginning his work he chanced to meet the brilliant young woman who had come to Athens from Miletus and won Pericles by her charm and gifts of intellect. The lad immediately im-mediately became enamored of the woman and idled away his time with her. forgetting forget-ting his studies entirely. It was only when Socrates came to the illfamed house and talked to him that he broke away from his attachment So stirring were the words of the philosopher that lie promptly turned from his love and began following the ugly man who spoke such marvelous words. Die fact that later in life he failed to let Sodrates' teachings influence him from a life of indulgence does not disprove the value of Socrates' charm. Homer, the "divine singer," was blind, and because he could not see he listened all the more closely to what people said. He had little to do but listen, and in listening he collected his heroic epic songs which have ever since been the models of poetry and art, so great and noble that every high school boy has been forced to hate them by the pressure of memorization. Who will say if Homer had been able to see he would have found time to sit In the corner at eventide even-tide and slowly and laboriously collect the legends and stories of Greece? His delect made him. Dr. White in his book indicates other instances of how defects inspired men to genius. "Mozart had an imperftxrtly developed de-veloped car, Beethoven had otosclerosis." this disease leiug an affection of the small bones of the ear, 7ro(!ueing deafness of an acute form. Mozart Precocious Child. Mozart as a child was most precocious and captivated Queen Marie Antoinette with his playing of the piano, but in his twenties his creative talent seemed to wane. France said that he v:is overworked and done. Modem slang would have termed him at that time "a morning glory." But after a time Mozart began composing pieces of music far greater thau any he had made as a child. This, as stories of the time run, was due to the study he had put upon music. Being deaf, he had bent his energies ener-gies to a closer scrutiny of melody and music formation and thus deepened his ability. Beethoven suffered from his disease from birth and at the age of 23 his deafness deaf-ness became acute. It had much to do with his proverbial aloofness and disagreeable characteristics. He had the name of being unapproachable, sour of the world, testy with those who addressed him and antagonistic antago-nistic to mankind. But in this same retirement re-tirement he wrote the music which made him immortal. Like Mozart, he gave closer attention to the tine points of composition because he could hear music in its eutirety so unreadily. Because it was bard for him he worked overtime. Because he was not attractive personally he gave his life to his music, compensating his regret at missing miss-ing the former by becoming thoroughly "wrapped up" in the latter. So painstakingly painstak-ingly did he work and so profound a workman work-man did he become that to mention music now is to think of Beethoven. Eonaparte Timid Boy. XajMjleou Bonaparte in his youth suffered suf-fered from extreme timidity and bashful-nes. bashful-nes. In military college he was laughed nt by his comrades for his moodiness and lack of ability to "get along" with them. He often thought of ending his life then and there, he afterward confessed, on account ac-count of his unconquerable diffidence. Still there burned in him the desire to assert himself and become masterful. Imagining the feelings of a suixn'-potent man, he came to study how he might become such a person. per-son. He watched leaders in the army, ho noted what they did to attract the idolatry of the private soldiers, and. so studying, he learned. One thing he perceived was necessary nec-essary firmness and detorminiiiiu. When he had his chance to show whether or not his period of study had been fruitful he proved It by breaking the backbone of the French revolution. At the time, that the lawless mobs of the red terror were attacking attack-ing the Tuilerics, the palace of the king, he was in command of a detachment of regular troops, and promptly leading them up the street he attacked the rabble, dispersed dis-persed it and restored order in that particular par-ticular part of the town. That the violence vio-lence over Paris subsided from that event on was due in great part to the fact that France was weary of the guillotine and the mob rule, but there is little doubt that the law returned quicker because a bashful boy had conquered his defect and learned masterfulness. If Beethoven Had Heard! Vho knows but that if Demosthenes had been born tongue-free, Socrates handsome, hand-some, Mozart and Beethoven sound of bearing, bear-ing, Napoleon self -confident, none of them would be remembered today? It is distinctly dis-tinctly probable that they would not. Dr. White says: "A man with a weak digestion becomes a dietetic expert in battling bat-tling with fate. Little men walk straight; tall men stoop. Handsome men aro superficial. super-ficial. A subnormal eye intensities the visual psyche. Weak parts and functions draw attention and are invigorated thereby, i'e.'ir of an object excites interest in it, and this brings the knowledge that casta out fear." He points out that our organs or functions func-tions that ore below normal give us a sense of incompleteness and insufficiency, and this arouses an impulse to be complete and efficient which those ieople who are normal never feel. The average normal human being never becomes great because he has nothing to fight against. From a psychological standpoint it is well known that self-satisfied people rarely achieve great things, fur, being complacent, they have no incentive to do better, and only a restless, ceaseless determination to excel prod ices superior results. James YVhitcomb r.iley, who was con sidered in his lifetime to bo the greatest public entertaiuer of America, and of whom Sir Henry Irving said, "When he refused to take the stage as his profession America lost il.s greatest actor," was intensely bashful. bash-ful. George Ade, his literary contemporary and close personal friend, tells that Riley always mounted the lecture platform in a panic of fear and stage fright, and that Iiiley then would say: "Tins is the time they find me out." This luck of assurance mingled with the determination to go ahead made hira speak each time with an indescribable charm and ability to stir tha emotions of his audience The man whose success is assured can be confident, but he scarcely ever produces a masterpiece of workmanship, because ho has nothing to inspire him to do better than he knows how. Dr. White's observation observa-tion upon the handsome man is to be seen proved in everyday life. The good looks of this individual lead people to favor blm upon first acquaint ancu; he gets momentary momen-tary results. All his life ho has received the help which his personal attractions won, is'ever having to fight for every point or to comjiel atteutiou by eloquence or logic, lie becomes lazy, thinking that he will "get by" without the study and labor necessary to become mentally profound and learned. Ho has loss opposition to conquer than has the unattractive man, and consequently never thinks uion acquiring knowledge and character as a business or social asset Tho light and airy "come-easy-go-ensy" kind of thinking becomes his property and he grows to be Indeed superficial. IC'jpyrighl, 1916. by J. KrcIcy.J Increase in Foreign Trade American shipping engaged In foreign trade has doubled In tho last two years, increasing from 2,'lnr vessels of 1,()70,1."2 gross tons on June :'., pit 1. to :. rjr vessels of 2.IDJ.47U gross tons on June :!D, l'Jlfl. Nearly half of this tonnage is from tbo port of New York. |