The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-03-06

tho may be =
He thinks he's man. yet he's only a baby.
Mary ID. Brine, in ". I. independent
WHAT WE DO WHEN WE TALK.
A Little Boys Answer to q Seemingly
Simple Question.
If should ask you what it is YOU do
when you walk you would very likely
say it was foolish question, and one
you could answer without stopping to
think. But ami quite sure you could
not. Indeed, you would have to think
q good while to find aplain and simple
answer even to that simple question.
Try it, and see if it is not so. If should
ask you what it is you do when YOU talk
you would have still more trouble in
giving the answer, and you might not
be sure even of what the question
means. / asked it of little boy only
ten years old short time ago. and /
will tell you how he answered it. You
may like to see if you can solve the one
about walking as well as he did this one.
The question is like good many
others that might be asked; it is about
something which we are so familiar
with that we think We know all about
1t, when really we have never taken
notice Of it; becatise it is so familiar.
You will remember the. old problems
that SO many people have had to give
up; about how q cow gets up on to her
feet, how long d horses head is from
the top of his ears to his nose, and the
like? Now, il we "took notice" as
we go through the world, we could
answer such questions as those, or as
this one about talking, without much
trouble. But, as it is, we look at and
think of things just enough to "get
along as we say, and rarely stop to
consider them and see how they are,
and what they are. This boy said,
what you would probably. say, that he
did not see what the question meant l
told him that if the question were ex-
planned to him he would see what the
answer should be at once, and 1 wished
him to think it out himself. He said
no more about it, but when j asked
him, after q day or two, if he had any
answer, he replied that:
Talking is making a noise"
Yes" said /, s.but when pound
on this table with stick. that is max
ing noise. too, and do. you call that
talkinga'
"Well, / should say not" said he.
Then making a noise can't be all of
the answer, can it?'
mo" he replied. shut you do make
q noise when YOU talk
Ss1tr .
down for the first part Of the answer,
that when we talk we make a noise"
After another day or two inquired |
again what he had thought of about my |
question.
He replied: 81 think the noise You
make must be in-in-Ican' t pronounce !
the word, but know what it is-ingible,
or something like that ess
Ineligible, you mean," I said;
:. and that's9 good answer. Talking
must be intelligibIe, else / Shouldn't
think we could call it talking. But |
lid you ever hear a telegraph instru-
ment ticking as message was being
sent over itP" - -
Oh. yes" he said, "I've often heard
them. sss.sss b.a.sss
Sand was not that noise ineligible
70 the man who was reading the mes
sage?"
)" Why, yes" he replied.
. Then talking must be more than
making an Ineligible noise you see.
But now we have two parts of our
answer. First, it is making o noise,
md second the noise must be one that
5 Ineligible"
] Again I waited several days, and
when / questioned him the next time
- was ready with the answer that
he noise must be made with the mouth.
That's right" told him; ..and now
fou seem to have the whole answer.
aatting the three parts together, you
zee that talking is making an intelli- i
,ible ppise with. the mouth ;ror, giving
1 n0EB bin.ply. it IS making with the
mouth noise, and by noise we mean
# counsel n9nber Of noises that 9TH
rs can understand. You have done
,fetty keH TOD. to get so good an an
WEI. for I really think it is not an easy
question for boy only ten years.
OF course one might say that people
ak with their fingers, or by signs, and
make no noise, and do not use the
Mouth But. If you think . moment,
1pu will remember that when we speak
{ such talking we always add: with
no fingers" or ''by signs. and when
re say simply talking we mean
That the boy 1 have told you about de-
cribed: ~: G. Dana, in Co Zen Rule