The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-26
M E N, w o M E N
 A ND T HIN G s

Is the eye gate being overworked' Never before In the history of tho world has such a tax been put upor vision. No wonder that oculists and opticians thrive in the land.
 In this day and time there Is such hurry to push the kiddies along by ambitious parents that the little ones scarcely leave aside taeir long clothes before they are called upon tos al least gaze on the pictures in nursery books.
 From the hour when the alphabet has been learned until they get their college diploma a tremendous strain in study is put upon their eyes. I am merely taking cognizance of the ac- tuaI work done in kindergarten, ele- mentary and high school and college and university which is only part of the load the eye has to carry.
 Outside of the curriculum there is an enormous amount of reading done by every wide awake young Ameri- can. for they have the newspaper habit in the highest degree, and l think it good one. Then comes a great appetite for the illustrated weeklies and the magazines, with a veritable landslide of fiction, tales of travel, and other absorbing stories too numerous to catalogue.
 l have always been an omnivorous reader from my childhood up and l often wonder how my eyes have stood the peak load which they have car ried during two score years nd/more, but somehow they stand it and I am just as eager to seize upon print as if l had never before glanced over a paper. dipped into a magazine or bored over book. I reckon I'll go to my grave with an untitled appetite for literature in one form or an- other.
 But now comes the movies opening up an entirely new world, for the man or woman who thinks that the screen is only passing fad has an- other guess coming, for they are here to stay. The love of pictures comes even before the desire for print, and grows, as is evidenced by the fact that it's the illustrated papers and magazines which have the great cir et, Ia ion and gets them.
 l am not speaking against motion. pictures, but the fact remains that together with reading they put just that much more of a tax upon the eyes of the people. It is for this req son that l welcome anything. which tends to shift the load from the eyes to the ears There isn't a shadow of doubt but that the Americans as a rule have made their eyes do much more work than their ears. There is a danger of sacrificing one sense that the other may be over developed.
 Let us hail as true benefactors every effort which seeks to cultivate the ears of the people. In these days, when the spoken drama is be- ing largely superseded by the nov ing picture, it is self evident that something ought to be done either to love for music and in this way act as corrective so that there may be a better equilibrium established be- tween the eye and the ear gate.
 It's a matter which should first be taken up in the home, then in the public schools, Sunday schools and churches; and when this is done there will be ever growing numbers who will be able to take part with pleas ure in the community sings. It is a wrong idea that one has to be musical to love music. I know this in my own experience, for while I am absolutely without any technical knowledge of the subject. yet l enjoy even classic music and have been known to sit through grand opera.
 l make plea here and now for all of the musical organizations in Bir- mingham. They need not only the support of their members. but the ac- tive interest of the public at large. The leaders are public benefactors and deserve well for the sacrifices which they make to popularize mu- sic, for by so doing they not only add to the pleasure and the culture of the people, but they relieve much eye ctro;p