The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-01-30
cHILLIcoTHE, MO.
BY BENZ. V. LONGDON.

Dg bi-NJ LC-NpDONH
The mind may be likened to an an
cient city with gates. There is the
eye gate and through it pass friends,
a multitude of strangers, the forests,
the fields, the marching clouds. There
is the ear gate and therein go troop
ing all sweet songs, all conversation
and eloquence, all laughter, and
sights, of woe and grief. And for fear
of stepping too close to the heels of
an error we add that the mind has
two pair of important gates. That is
we have two eyes and two ears per.
fectly matched and duplicates of each
other in all their parts. 1t has been
abundantly demonstrated that by hav-
ing two eyes and two ears we are in
sured against emergencies, just as a
man will provide himself with 1.-TWO
keys for tn esame lock, lest he lose
one. We must recall the first news
which the child gets from the other
world of sight and of sound to esti-
mate how much education the human
mind receives through the eye and
the ear. In order to conclude with a
brief comparison we begin at once to
emphasize the Importance of each.
Whatever of goodness emanates
from the soul" says Saunds, gathers
its soft halo in the eyes; and if the
heart be a lurking place of crime, the
eyes are sure to betray the secret"
Nor can it bedenied that a series of
impression first of color, then of
form, then of distance and lastly of
definite objects, all are made upon
the human mind until by repition a
vast store of picture memories are
there laid up for life, as so many OBJ
ject lessons. How much therefore is
the mind of a young child deprived
of, if it becomes bline before the eye
could give it a single lesson. Now as
for the big a bespeaking a kind
and generous disposition and the lit
tie ear signifying a miser's spirit, it
is for you to decide. But we know
that with the ear closed a child re-
mains more a mere animal than when
any other avenue with the outer
world is closed, because it is dumb.
Let nature arrest Blind Boone's sense
of hearing and his master mind would
nc longer touch and play with the
hem of tones garment with such
charm and ease. If words once be
gin to reach through the ear, the
mind springs forward to its limitless
inheritance, and especially of feeling,
It is sound, not the sight of things
which moves the heart. 1t is the cry
for help beating against the drum of
the ear gate rather than the sight of
the man struggling in the stream
which quickens the pulse and sends
us to his rescue. On that dark and
fogy night the eye found that the ear
was a friend in time of need, for the
inhabitants of the heightened cities
of England were conscious Of the
presence of German air crafts, be-
cause they could hear the buzz of ma
chinery overhead. On the other hand
the seeing of the eye supplies the in
tellect with more ideas than do
sounds which come through the ear.
But the intellect informing eye makes
more mistakes thar all the senses put
together. News received through the
eye gate as well as information by
way Of the a gate must be weighed,
revised and corrected by the senses
according to our knowledge of the
veracity of the giver before it can be
accepted upon the vantage ground of
truth. Men have never doubted the
fact of human responsibility nor the
reason why every man is responsible.
Nature located our ayes and ears in
that noble region above our sholders
and their use, value and worth is
up to us"