Evening star., 1942-01-14

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the great Victorian scientist, always
carried II his pocket q pair Of ear
muffs that he would clap on when
any one dared to differ with him on
any subject, In order to shut out
their voices. Isn't that a grand idea,
and wouldn't you like to have one?
For whats a mink coat, or new
suit of college clothes, compared to
a muffler that would make you deaf
to the critic on your hearth and i'm
mune to he repeater? Nothing. For
our ears are our most vulnerable
spot. There are the places where we
are most easily wounded. 1t Is
through them that our vanity gets
its death blow and our hearts re-
ceive hurts from which they never
recover. But heretofore we have
had no way by which we could pro-
tect ourselves against these sings
and arrows of outrageous fortune.
We couldn't avoid hearing what our
enemies said about us. nor what
those who told us Of our faults Tor
our own good said to us. So there
we were, and many a time and o1t
we have agreed with Mr.. Edison that
deafness is a blessing instead OF a
curse because 1t saves us from hav-
ing to listen to so many things we
don't want to hear. But the trouble
with deafness is that 1t cuts us of
from gossip, which is the spice OF
conversation that we do want to
hear, and so there seemed no solu-
ton of our trouble until Mr.. Spencer
devised the happy expedient OF the
earmuffs which could be taken on
and put on as the occasion de-
manded
When you think Of it, 1t is amaz-
ing how .ar-reaching and beneficent
are the possibilities Of this homely
little gacget. Indeed. 1t IS not too
much to say that, properly adjusted
and uset, 1t Is capable OF solving
almost al Of the problems that vex
humanity. For one thing, its abi-
ity to promote happiness almost
staggers The imagination, for who OF
us could be miserable or even down.
hearted in a world that 80 far as we
knew was giving us the glad hand
and singing our praises?
The thing that takes the Joy out
of life for most Of us is being belit-
tied. having fault found with our
work. our personal appearance crit
icized, or tastes sneered at, and
the knowledge forced on us at every
turn thai our fellow creatures rate
US pretty low in the social scale. On
the contrary, nothing so fills the
world with sunshine and roses as
the voice of the f1atterer telling us
how beautiful and wonderful and
brilliant we are. Think, then. how
happy we should be If we could listen
entrance1 to the hymn of praise and
clap on cur earmuffs at the first dis
cordant note!
The jrdicious use Of earmuffs is
the only practical solution Of the
divorce question, over which moral
lists spend 50 much thought and
worry. It is useless to hope that q
time will ever arrive when husbands
ana wives Will ScC eye W eye OAA CNC1y
subject and live together In perfect
harmony Two people Of different
sex, with a different heredity, with
different background, will always
differ in their thoughts, beliefs,
prejudices and tastes and they will
always argue and fight over them.
But all of these scenes could be
avoided snd the Dove of Peace roost
perpetuaily on every hearthstone. If,
when any controversial subject came
up, either one would reach for the
earmu1s and hear none of the mean
things the other said about his or
her judgment and stupidity. And
consider what cordiality would ex-
ist between a married couple In
which the husband could automati-
cally shut of his wife's nagging, her
criticisms OF his table manners and
her complaints that he never took
her out anywhere in the evenings,
and In which the wife never had to
listen to her husbands growls over
the bills and his wonder why she
could never make pies Ike hia
mother'A