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AUGUST' X 1906
The Commoner.
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....The Great World's a "Whispering Gallery '"
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In the capitol at Washington, In St. Paul's
cathedral, London, and at Gloucester cathedral'
in England, there are domes in which the faintest
sound conveyed around the interior may he readily
heard and these are called "whispering galler
ies." The original "whispering gallery" was built
centuries ago by Dionysius, the tyrant. It was a
cavern 170 feet long GO' feet high Jtrid 20 to 35
feet wide. -It was built so that Dfonyslus could
hear the solitary murmurlngs bf his prisoners, t
was1 connected by a secret passage' to the tyrant's'
palace and' was known as the "par 6f Dionysius'
because the' faintest whisper of a. l prisoner
reached 'his master's ear. Men will'be more care
ful as to their thoughts and deeds when they
learn to remember in every moment of their
lives that this great world is a whispering gallery
where the smallest thought or deed has 'wide
spread influence'.
Rlchter gave' us the idea when he wrote:
"Words that a father speaks to his children in
the privacy of home, are not heard by the world,
but, as in whispering galleries, they are clearly
heard at the end, and by posterity."
"As with a father's words, so with the words,
and deeds, and even the thoughts of others. The
mother's prayer, the father's counsel, the sister's
tear, the friend's smile and the brother's word
of cheer, exert an influence extending far beyond
the ' interests of the immediate beneficiary even
"as t the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake; the
center mov'd, a circle straight succeeds, another
still, and still another spreads."
Every man and woman under whose eyes
these lines fall, perhaps, remembers some other
man or woman, or perhaps a little child, who
has exerted marked influence for good upon the
life 'and character of another.
"Such bouIs,
Whose splendid visitations daze the world,
Vanish like lightning, but they leave behind
The voice that in the distance far away
Wakens the smoldering ages."
Schbuler in his history of the United States,
refers- to the marked influence which Washing
ton h'adi,upori "Monroe; saying I ' "The' illustrious
example Of the 'first' 'incumbent had "become with
Monroe an overpowering 'influence," and adding:
"Even in personal Toolcs 'the last Virginian) With,
his placid and sedate expression of face, regular
features, and a grayish-blue eye, which invited
confidence, had come to appear not unlike the
first; so that in these years the names of Wash
ington and Monroe became naturally coupled to
gether." The' Duke' of Wellington had said that he
considered Napoleon's presence in the field equal
to forty thousand men in the balance. He later
admitted that this was a very loose way of talk
ing, .explaining: "That Idea is a very different
one from that of Napoleon's presence at a battle
being equal' to a reinforcement of forty thousand
men." . ' -
In his address1 on "The Alchemy of Influence,"
Henry Drummorid says: "Through all the range
of literature, of history, and biography this law
presides. Men are all mosaics of other men.
There was a savour of David about Jonathan and
a savour of Jonathan about David. Jean Val
jean, in the masterpiece of Victor Hugo is Bishop
Bienvenu risen from the dead. Metempsychosis
is a fact. George Eliot's message to the world
was that men and women make men and
women."
Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles"
was a well-bred woman who fell because of the
bad environment she hacl, adopted. As we learn
from the life of ""Tess" that "evil assopiatio'ns
corrupt good manners" so from Browning's drama
"Pippa Passes," we learn of the "blessed ihflu;
ence of one true, loving, human sdul on an
other." That was a great and profitable day spent
by "Pippa- the heroine ' of Browning's tale.
Pippa was a girl employed at the siik mills' in
northern Italy. During the whole year she had
but. one holiday. It was New Year's day and
she determined to" mak;e the . most of , it. She
thought of the four persons who3e lot was most
to be envied in the little town, and she concluded
that' she would Imagine herself 'each of these in
turn'.
Pippa enters' the street singing.
Ottiraa and' her paramour Sebald have mur
dered Luca, Ottima's husband, and are- talking
calmly of their sin. Seated near their 'window
they hear Pippa singing as she passes: "God's
in His heaven all's right with the world." Her
simple song stirs the soul of Sebald, while Ot
tima begins her redemption in self sacrifice, pray
ing "Not to me to him (her paramour) be mer
ciful." Some students from Venice have played a
great joke upon Jules, a man of culture, by means
of sham letters they sent Jules as coming from
the glrrhe loves. They persuado him to believe
that she is a cultivated woman and the two
are united in marriage. After the ceremony the
truth Is told to Jules. He gives his bride gold
and bidff her leave him. When Pippa- pasdes the
room where Jules and his bride are preparing to
part she sings, "Give her but a least excuse to
love me." Jules reasons that hore is a woman
with utter need of him. Plppa's song works the
reconciliation.
' Lugi, known as a patriot and suspected of
belonging to a secret society, is discussing with
his mother a plot to kill the emperor of Austria.
- His mother warns him that half of Italy's ills
are feigned and urges him to delay his journey
to Vienna. He is on the point of yielding when
Pippa passes singing in tribute to "a king Who
lived long ago, in the morning of the world when
earth was nigher heaven than ndw," and saying
"no need a king should ever die." Lugi hears
and remarking: "Not that sort of a king" de
clares: "It is God's voice calls." He goes away
and thereby escapes the-police who had arranged
for his arrest had ho remained at his mother's
home over night.
Pippa moves on and passes the very houso
where a bishop is listening to one who is at the
time plotting the ruin of the mill girl. As Pippa
passes she is singing one of her little songs, end
ing "Suddenly God took me." The conscience
of the bishop is awakened and he calls upon
his servants to arrest the tempter.
Weary from her journey Pippa re-enters her
chamber, wondering how nearly she has ap
proached these people of her fancy to do them
good, or evil in some slight way, and falls to sleep
murmuring: "All service ranks the same with
God with God, whose puppets, best and worst,
are we; there is no last nor first."
In the language of one reviewer: "The drain a
shows us, too, our mutual Interdependence.
Pippa, the silk-girl, had a mission to convert
Ottima, Sebald, Jules and the bishop. We look
for great things to work for us; it is ever the
unseen,' unfelt influences which are the most
potent. We are taught, also, that there is noth
ing we do or say but may be big with good or
evil consequences to many of our fellows of 'whom
we know nothing. People whom we have never
seen, of whose very existence we are ignorant,
are affected for good or evil eternally by our
lightest words and our most thoughtless actions."
Ned C. Abbot, principal of the Tekamah,
Neb., public schools, and well known throughout
the, state as an educator, delivered an interest
ing lecture on this subject. In that lecture Mr.
Abtyptt said: "In one of the larger cities of Ne
braska there lives a banker of a very modest,
retiring nature, who occasionally can be led out
of his native reserve,-and whose conversation at
such times is a delight to all his listeners. His
sentences are invariably, turned with grace and
-could be. printed as he speaks them without the,
use of the blue pencil. It was a mystery to me
how he obtained his fluency this marvellous
mastery of our language until once his niece
said to me: 'Did I ever tell you how Uncle John
nie saved his reason while confined in a military
prison? No? Well, -you see, he and another
young fellow felt they were losing their minds,
so in order to have something to do they began
committing the, Episcopal prayer book. After
. they had learned it by heart, they started in on
Shakespeare somebody had left a paper volume
containing eight of the great plays. Do you
know, Uncle Johnnie can say every one of those
plays yet?' What had been a mystery to me up
to that time became clear as the mid-day sun;
for who could help speaking fluent English, if he
knew eight of Shakespeare's plays by heart?"
. In the crowded car a man looks at his watch
and immediately his neighbor does likewise.
We yawn and our neighbor yawns; we smile
and he smiles; we weep and he is moved to
tears.
.The sour and surly man makes sour and
surly all with whom he comes in contact and
the hearty, whole-souled, cheerful fellow makes'
others happy. ,
.Did you eyer wait for a belated train on a
rainy day in a' dingy : waiting room of d dingy '
station? Perhaps the train is several hours late.
Passengers ask surly questions of ono another
and the station agent and recolvo surly replies.
Suddenly a young girl enters with a smiling face
and a cheery good-moruing for all. The gloom
Immediately disappears; tho timo passes rap
idly; the station is not quite Bo dingy as it
seemed; a rainy day is not, after all, so very un
pleasantand all because of a sweet-faced, smil
ing girl. "The very room-, coz she was in, seemed
warm from floor to cellin'."
A man who was struggling to conquer his
appetite for liquor was a guest at a banquet whore"
wine flowed freely. Ho was on tho point of yield
ing to tho temptation to tuke "a sip or two,!'
when a man for whom he had a very poor opinion,
rose to- speak This speaker had no appetite
to struggle with, but ho had many faults moro
serious than those of tho man first mentioned.
Tho speaker referred to the temptations of every
day life and, becoming somewhat personal, said:
"If I could forget God at the banquet table or
elsewhere, I could go to pieces very quickly."
The man, with his hand upon tho glass, restrained
himself and avoided tho fatal "sip or two." While
he had all along regarded that particular speaker
as a hypocrite, he gave to him the credit of sav
ing him from a serious error.
Neither 1b this influence for good or evil
confined to a small circle. Tho one who carries
a smile or wears a frown is as choke full of con
tagion as a man with the measles. As the frown
or smile is "caught", by another, ho in turn passes
it to the first person he meets, and so it goes
on and on and on. Whether it he a vile story
or a pure tale; a malicious word or a kind
speech; a cruel act or a generous deed; an idle
thought or a noble sontlmont It makes itself -heard
In tho whispering gallery of this great world
of ours. - '
Who can estimate the value 'of thoughts and
deeds? Mr. Bryan expressed it well when, in one
of "his lectures, he said: "I fear the plutocracy of
wealth and respect the aristocracy of learning;
but I thank God for the democracy of the heart
that makes it possible for every human being to
do something to malco life worth living while he
lives and the world better for his existence in
it. Mathematicians are able to calculate how"
far it is from the farthest star to the earth,, but
no mathematician has yet been able to calculate
the influence lor good of one kind word, or of one
kind act. The life comes Into contact with tho
lives about It, and through this generation It
reaches on through the countless generations to
come."
"So when a great man dies, for years be
yond our ken, the light he leaves behind him,
lies upon tho paths of men." But "great men"
do not necessarily mean famous men. It means'
good men; and it means particularly thoBe men
who, without fame or fortune, and unaccredited
by their neighbors with genius, pursue the even
tenor of their way, live the life of the ordinary
man, and have yet the genius "for doing right
the genius for making the world bettor because
they have lived.
Some ono has said that the tiniest sparrow
lighting upon the highest twig of the most mas
sive oak, sends a gentle shiver to the deepest
root. There is a hint for the humblest of men!
And as we learn the lesson of influence from
the story of the sparrow, no from 'the literature
of tho children literature very dear to some of
our simple souls we may learn of the value of"
of the little things. Tho service given by the
humble daisy was described "by Wordsworth when,
writing in a little girl's album, be said:
"Small service Is true service while It lasts:
Of humblest friends, bright Creature! scorn not
one;
The daisy; by the shadow that it casts,
Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun."
RICHARD L. METCALFE.
Senator, Penrose of Pennsylvania was among
the public ,men invited by President Roosevelt
to confer with him at Oyster Bay. Can It bo
possible that Mr. Roosevelt Is giving support to
the Penrose machine In Pennsylvania?
If it is frue that General Trepoff planned the
latest Jewish massacre in Russia It Is up to the
czar to make it General Trip-off.
The- trouble with the fool who rocks the
boat is that he always insists In taking some
helpless -'companion along... -' - 1.
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