Crayon and Character: Truth Made Clear Through Eye and Ear: Or, Ten-Minute Talks with Colored ChalksGriswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph)
Religion
Crayon and Character: Truth Made Clear Through Eye and Ear: Or, Ten-Minute Talks with Colored Chalks
Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph)
Chalk-talks; Moral education; Religious education
"It happens very often that two people look at the same thing at the
same time, and each of the two sees something entirely different from
the other. Somebody has described the optimist as the man who sees the
doughnut, while the pessimist sees nothing but the hole. So, also, you
and I might see before us nothing but an unshapely block of marble,
while the sculptor would see the angel in the stone!
"All of this proves to us that what we see doesn't depend upon our
eyesight, but upon the mind which is back of the eyesight and which
receives the impressions not only through the eyes but through the
senses of hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling. In fact, our eyes
and our ears may be tightly closed--we may be totally deaf and
blind--and still we may be able to 'see' things more clearly than we
might with our eyesight and our hearing.
"We have all heard about Helen Keller, the deaf and blind girl. I will
draw an outline of her portrait. [Draw Fig. 124, with eye closed,
complete.]
[Illustration: Fig. 124]
"This young woman has been deprived of her eyesight and hearing ever
since she was a young child, and yet her ability to learn, to
comprehend, to understand, to really 'see,' is developed to such a
high degree that she is advanced far beyond most well-educated people
who possess all of their natural faculties.
"Helen Keller, now grown to womanhood, has written many wonderful
things. Here is one of them: 'It does not matter where we are, so long
as we have light in our hearts and make our dark ways ring with the
music of burdens cheerfully borne and tasks bravely filled. They say
life is a closed book to me. One critic doubted that I could feel the
sun, and I believe he thought others felt it for me. But if, indeed, I
had so little share as that in the life of others, it would still be
true that
"'The least flower with brimming cup may stand
And share its dewdrops with another near.'
"Truly, the eyes of Helen Keller are widely opened to the great truths
and wonderful beauties around her--[change lines of the eye slightly,
completing Fig. 125]--whereas, the eyes of many of us which are
supposed to be wide open, are indeed closed to many of God's
blessings. Many of us have eyes to _see_ with, but we use them
only to _look_ with. Helen Keller has seen more and done more
without eyes than thousands who have perfect eyes, but have never
learned to use them.
[Illustration: Fig. 125]
"Helen Keller should be an inspiration to every girl here today.
Learn from her life the great principles of true living.
"Let us first ask the question, 'How did she reach the high place to
which she has been able to attain?' She must have had help. Yes, she
did have help. It came chiefly through a dear friend, Miss Sullivan,
who, through patient years, sent the light into the darkness which
enveloped the poor deaf and blind girl. And listen:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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