Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-10
AS OTHERS SEE AND HEAR US.
The Varying Sensations as One Meets
or Hears Himself.

From the New Orleans Times Democrat.
"One of the strangest things in life said
an amateur philosopher of Camp street, lis
the fact that we never really become ac-
quainted with our physical selves. Here 1
have been living in this body of mine for
nearly fifty years, yet l have no idea how
/ lock- how l bear myself, what sort of an
impression 1 make on the minds Of others
when they meet me in daily intercourse. 1
don't even know how my own voice sounds,
although I've been listening to it ever since
l can remember. Did you ever hear your
self talk in a photograph? No? Well, try
it the next time you have chance, and you
will not only be astonished, but what is
still stranger. you will be disappLl nled-
probably little shocked. Everybody has
that experience.
L supposed that was perfectly familiar
with my own voice. and thought, privately,
that 1t was rather agreeable. l Lad been
told SO plenty of times by other people.
and never knew that they were only Jolly
ing me until l made a phonI graphic rec
ord and set it grinding. AT the first word
l jumped back in diSmay and nearly pulled
my ears off N the listening tubes. Merci-
full heavens! 1 said to myself, is it posi-
bic l talk like that!' l thought there must
be something the matter with the cylinder
and called in friend to hear it. He
grinned with delight. That's one of the
most natural records I ever heard in my
life he declared. heartily, and l yearned
for his gore. But, as l just remarked.
everybody who tries the experiment has
the same experience. The voice is always
absolutely unfamiliar and positively I'M
pleasant. Yet there is a certain something
about it that differentiates it from any
other voice you ever heard in your life
something indescribable, that gives you a
little secret thrill clear down to the soes
of your feet. 1t is the voice of the mystic
rious body which you inhabit and don't
know.
Seeing ones self is another great sur
PRISE" continued the amateur philosopher.
You think you do that every day in your
looking glass, but you don't. What you
see there is a conventional image, SYM
Dol. 1t stands for you just as certain arb.-
trary ink scratches stand for your name,
and 1t is handy IN showing you where to
part your hair and how to tie your cravat:
but it doesn't give you any idea of how
you would look If you were to meet your
self here on Canal street. 1t is only by the
rarest accident, happening maybe twice or
thrice in a lifetime, that one gets glimpse
of ones real self. An unsupported mirror
or a chance reflection in window pane Is
usually the agency. You somebody ap-
preaching, somebody you know perfectly
yet who startles you by a poignant, mex
picable sense of famil. arity. In half a
heart beat the trick discovers itself and
the illusion vanishes, but you had a glimpse
of the real thing, and, oddly enough, the
experience is almost always the exact re-
verse Of the sensation produced by the
photograph. Ten to one the stranger
seemed quite attractive. The first time 1
at the head of a staircase. l was bewlI-
dered, but I remembered distinctly that the
gentleman who advanced on me out OF
space struck me as being rather distin-
guished-looking person. l felt proud OF
him after I discovered his Identity and
asked him to have a drink on 1t.
without exception everybody have ever
spoke to on the subject has admitted to me
that he was pleased by the appearance OF
his double. So there's a hard metaphysical
nut to crack-why 1t Is that we generally
hook better and talk worse than we had
supposed The one exception to VIII CHI 1
referred involves Q curious bit OF q story.