VOICE of the NATIONS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 175, 20 April 1929, Page 17

VOICE of the NATIONS

SAYINGS AND WRITINGS :: :: OF THE TIMES :: ::

The Preacher’s Voice. How many people, sound in both ears, stay away from church because they have found’ their preacher, through no fault in the building, inaudible, ,or audible only in part? His responsibility here is very great. It is his clear duty to bring into the pulpit as his indispensable instrument of expression a voice and speech trained, if they do not do it naturally, to give every word its due and full sound value for the normally-functioning ear. If his voice or speech is structurally or organically incapable of this development, then why was he appointed to preach? Or, if it is found not so developed, then why was it not trained? One of our finest public speakers has pointed out that public speaking—and, of course, preaching is but a form of that—is the only art that is practised without training. And so it comes about that the old question, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” often resolves itself into “How shall they hear now they have got him?” The Church has trained his choir boys, but him as a speaker it has not trained. Why not? —“Layman,” in the “Manchester Guardian.”

Life’s Little Mysteries. Why are the German-Swiss the best barbers in the world? Why are the French the best cooks? Why is the Russian Ballet Russian, and not Swedish or Spanish? Why are most modern successful English dramatists childless? Why is cricki» the national game of Australia and not of Canada? Why are French billiard-table- made without pockets? Why does the restaurateur, from the highest to the lowest, regard the sardine, not as common fish, to be served generously as though he were an anchovy, but to be parted from reluctantly and almost with protest? These things puzzle me, and, incidentally, they add to the interest of life. The scientist can explain much. He would reduce all mysteries to a formula; but, though he may be able to trace the ascent of m n and to draw in detail a genealogical tree that starts with a jelly-fish and finishes with a poet, the nature of man eludes him. Humanity ■ remains freakish. ' As a matter of fact, ' humanity revolts against being explained away. General experience will support my assertion that the German-Swiss makes the best barber. But why? Is it because of the mountains or the snow, or has ability to cut hair in a seemly fashion some mystic connection with William Tell and the apple?—Mr. Sydney Dark in the “Morning Post.”

Courage in Business. ' “Courage is vital to all business progress. ’lndustrial prosperity demands enterprise under ail sorts of conditions; the sea is not always smooth, and the business vessel must often steer its perilous course through stormy/waters. Decisions have constantly to be made that are far-reach-ing in their consequences, and which demand courageous thinking and action,” writes Mr. Angus Watson, .chairman of Angus Watson and Co., in the "Baptist Times.” In my own experience, I would say that unless a business man, like Abraham of old, is prepared sometimes Jo go out not knowing whither he goes, but prepared not only to face life’s problems, but to overcome them, he cannot finally succeed. The great dividing line for human nature is whether we accept the secular or the spiritual interpretation of life’s problems. If we think of business, or of any of life’s activities, in purely material terms, we not only limit our horizons, .as so many business men do, but finally we destroy our vision.”

Saved by Nobodies. "The hope of the future- lies in those men who do not wait for institutions to change, or for a social Utopia to be established before practising a new virtue, or adopting a new attitude toward other men. Democracy already exists, not in institutions, but in the actions of men who live to-day in accordance with the democratic ideal, serving other men, and treating all other men as their equals. The ideal is being realised by the nobodies who always save the world when the superior persons have made a mess' of it.”—Dr. Delisle Burns.

Fruit for the Teeth. “The surest way to preserve the teetli is to purify the blood—for it makes out teeth as it makes the rest of our bodies. Pyorrhoea would be impossible,” says "Nature’s Way Monthly,” if apples, oranges, and grapes were applied to the cleansing of the system generally. We don’t suppose that the most observant explorer ever saw lions and tigers rubbing the enamel from their teeth. When such a discovery is made, we will take back all we have said in the foregoing.” Taste.

“Theye. are a great many things of value that the rich cannot buy. Perhaps the most, conspicuous among these is Taste,” writes Lady Oxford, in the “Daily Mail.” “You may be born with taste, or you may acquire it, but while .money may enable you to collect objects of value, it will not give y m the taste to select or arrange them.” Biographers. “Truth is the end of the biographer. It is what he is after. That platitude makes it desirable that in his record the biographer should endeavour to confine himself to those matters of which the truth can be ascertained : that he should steer clear of the area of pure conjecture. That is why, as a very material person, I am always sceptical of those biographers who unlock the secrets of the souls of defunct statesmen and monarchs. I do not admit that the compilation of a card index is the writing of history. Biography is a thing with certain perfectly definite limits. It is a region that is bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium. It seems to me,” added Mr. Guedaila, “that you can put all you have to say about a man into one volume. — Mr. Philip Guedaila, in a speech at the Authors’ Club.

A Wise Will. There is a distinct novelty in the clause in the will of one Mr. Samuel Gluckstein, in which he refuses to leave money directly to his children. If every child were to be treated generously according to its “moral worth” the world would be a different place. But if that ideal is incapable of fulfilment, at least it is a welcome step in the right direction for rich parents to make the inheritance of the wealth they leave conditional upon some attempt to deserve it. Unearned wealth is too frequently, as Mr. Gluckstein suggests, the impulse to extravagance; but it is interesting to find the recognition of this sequel in such a quarter. Perhaps the fact that Mr. Gluckstein secured his wealth by hard work and initiative is responsible for the value he rightly places upon these qualities rather than upon their reward. —The “Daily News.” The Best Way of Life. If, under the spell of a wizard’s wand, the banquet of life could b< spread out before us, and one wen asked to make his choice of the best things within reach, it might well b< that, next to what Saint Paul calk the “Fruits of the Spirit,” the following would be among the blessings pre ferred. A modest house, with wife and weans, two or three tried friends, a garden of roses, a book in a nook, a sense of humour, a good digestion, and means just sufficient to enable one to gratify his love of travel, music and art. Rather a large order, it may be said. And yet, reasonably within one’s means, if one remembers that, to make oneself big, one must always be making himself small. In fine, a measure of self-sacrifice, a sense of values, along with a modicum of tenacity, grit, hard work, and pluck, and the best, to say nothing of the good things of life, is within the reach of most of us.—Mr. W. C. Loosmore in the “Daily Chronicle.” The Best Way of Life.

If, under the spell of a wizard’s wand, the banquet of life could be spread out before us, and one were asked to make his choice of the best things within reach, it might well be that, next to what Saint Paul calls the “Fruits of the Spirit,” the following would be among the blessings preferred. A modest house, with wife and weans, two or three tried friends, a garden of roses, a book in a nook, a sense of humour, a good digestion, and means just sufficient to enable one to gratify his love of travel, music and art. Rather a large order,' it may be said. And yet, reasonably within one’s means, if one remembers that to make oneself big, one must always be making himself small. In fine, a measure of self-sacrifice, a sense of-" values, along with a modicum of tenacity, grit. hard work and pluck, and the best, to say nothing of the good things of life, is within the reach of most of us.—Mr. W. C. Loosmore in the “Daily C ronicle.”

Literary Obsceneties. “I have been reading a recent book,” says Mr. A. G. Gardiner, in the “Star,” “which is in wide circulation, whose theme from the first page to the last is promiscuous lust recorded even to the bites which the foul satyrs inflict in their disports. It is frank, blatant, uncompromising diabolism. Yet, so far as I have seen, it has been received by the professional critics .with a unanimous chorus of praise, without a suggestion that the subject is revolting, and the treatment—technically brilliant enough —an insult to the elementary decencies of conduct. If the author’s conversation were on a par with his -written work, he would be banned by the critics themselves as a lewd fellow. But in the name of the ‘liberty of the Press’ he is applauded for publishing broadcast the sort of putrescence that he would be ‘cut’ for uttering in private. The ‘liberty of the Press’ is not a fetish; it is a privilege exercised within certain limits of social decorum."

President Hoover on Peace. “It is impossible'for my countrymen to speak *of peace without profound emotion. In thousands of homes in America, in millions of homes around the world, there are vacant chairs. It would be a shameful confession of our unworthiness if it should'develop that we have abandoned the hope for which all these men died. Surely civilisation is old eijpugh, surely mankind is mature enough, so that we ought in our own lifetime to find a way to permanent peace. Abroad, to west and east, are nations whose sons mingled their blood with the blood of our sons on the battlefields. Most of these nations have contributed to our race, to our culture, to our knowledge, and our progress. From one of them we derive our very language, and from many of them much of the genius of our institutions. Their desire for peace is as deep and sincere as our own. Peace can be contributed to by respect for bur ability in defence.—President Hoover. Future of Architecture.

Architecture to-day is not a single profession, but a combination of several, in which the engineer takes a prominent part. • He is the scientific builder of the skeleton, and. to him belongs the heating, lighting, and ventilation. The successful planning and equipment of all factories and many buildings of the industrial class, cannot be done without an intimate knowledge of the details of the business to be carried on in the building,, the acquisition of which is more suited to tire engineer’s mentality titan to that of the architect. As the architect, by reason of his training, should have a better grasp of the science of grouping than the engineer, the layout of the building, to obtain the best results, should be the combined work of both. The science of building lias so far advanced that in modern steel-framed and reinforced concrete buildings, the architect is forced to assign to the engineer (generallv an outside firm, and frequently a firm of contractors), the responsibility for the stability of the structure.—Mr. H. Williams, in “The Observer.”