While, of course, I could make a long catalogue of the compensations and advantages of deafness, we must all admit that there is another side. For instance, the man of the silent world must avoid the pitfall of pronunciation. When sound is lost he forgets how words are pronounced, and the new words and phrases constantly entering the language are mysterious stumbling blocks. For example, no sensible deaf man will mention the name of that Russian society, the epithet now so glibly applied by conservatives to all who show radical tendencies. Nor would he attempt to put tongue to the hideous names of some of the new European States, or even to the name of McKinley’s assassin. He lets someone else attempt those, some reckless person with good ears. A strange thing about it is that our friends do not understand our limitations in this respect. My wife ought to know most of the restrictions and tricks of the deaf. Yet she was quite surprised when I hesitated about reading a church lecture without a rehearsal. It was a canned lecture, where you procure the slides and the manuscript, and select some well-voiced “home talent” to read it. I was chosen as the “talent,” but I remembered how years before I upset a sober-minded group by twisting up “Beelzebub.” Therefore, I wanted to read the lecture over several times and practice on some of the hard Bible names. Suppose I ran unexpectedly on those men who went down into the fiery furnace. Every child in the Sunday school could reel them off perfectly, but I had not heard of them for years, and I defy any one to get them right at sight. Let the wise deaf man stick to the words he knows about until he has practiced the new ones to the satisfaction of his wife and daughter. He may well put up a defensive fight in most of his battles. Let him be sure of his facts, sure that he is right, and then stand his ground. Let others do the advancing and the countering and play the part of Napoleon generally; the deaf man will do better to “stand pat.” “But when was there ever a successful defensive campaign?” I advise you to get out your history and read of the Norman conquest. The battle of Hastings decided that. The Saxons lost that battle by refusing to “stand pat.” They ran out of their stronghold and were divided and destroyed. Had they taken my advice to deaf men, the history of England would have been bound in blond leather instead of black! That might have made considerable difference to you and me. I think I may say without fear of contradiction that the deaf invite most of their troubles by running out after them; when if we would keep within our own defenses and stand our ground we might avoid them. CHAPTER X MIXING WORD MEANINGS Misunderstandings and Half-meanings—The Lazy Vocalists—The Minister and the Chicken Pie—Reconciling the Deaf Old Couple—When One Book Agent Received a Welcome—Putting the “Sick” in “Music.”