manner. The artist gets his colour schemes by observing Nature. Suppose an artist did not see with the eye of understanding? He would know that a set of railway lines are equidistant apart, and looking at a section they appear to be so. But he looks at the lines receding into the distance and notices that they appear to meet. The man who first observed this illusion laid the foundation for modern art, in the sense that he started the practice of observation with the eye of the mind, as well as the concentrated and restricted gaze of the physical optic. The artist must use his mental eye or his drawings will be hopelessly grotesque. We should laugh at the draughtsman who drew his railway lines without making them meet; but is it not true that by lack of observation we miss many details of knowledge that would prevent our actions and thoughts being imperfect?

Get into the habit of looking for things. When you pass a draper's shop, notice the colour schemes in the window. Sometimes when you are re-papering a room or re-covering your furniture, the observation will come in useful. If you get into the habit of observing closely with your eyes, you will find that it will make you intent with your other senses. You will notice people's voices and habits of speech, you will appreciate people's motives, you will look for cause when you see effect. These things are the

mental eyes, waking up and taking in the vision of intangible things.

We talk of the eye of faith. This is the mental eye trained to look in a special direction. Deeply religious people concentrate their minds on spiritual things, and who shall say what heavenly sights they see, or what heavenly sounds they hear? If you concentrate your attention on everything you see you will open up to your mental eye a vista that will astonish you. In days of gloom you will see the sunshine and the sea-a vision at your command absolutely to cheer and enliven each day. People miss the glories of the world because they do not look for them. They are so in the habit of looking for perfection hereafter that they cannot see it here. They sing in church, "Oh, for the pearly gates of heaven!" not realising that, for those who see, the streets of the city are paved with gold.

There is beauty and gladness all around you if you will only see it. The mental eye will always show it to you. It will correct the errors of the physical eye. Where the casual glance sees only the man, the searching glance of the eye sees the God in the man. The mental eye is the eye of the spirit; the eye that is in touch with the Divine in us. It opens to our gaze all the splendours of earth and sky. It shows us the brightness when the physical eye sees only the cloud, and discovers for us the

treasures and gifts that the Creator has supplied for us. Look for beauty and gladness in everything. Resolutely refuse to see the black and sordid things of life. The world is a bright and lovely place, and only your own thought can darken it, just as your own thought can transform the blackest gloom into the radiance of the noonday. He that seeks shall find.

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'Keep your face always towards the sunshine,
And the shadows will fall behind you."

CHAPTER XV

THE USES OF ORATORY AND CONVERSATION

"The first duty of a man is to speak-that is his chief business in this world." ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

HE spoken word is the most powerful weapon

TH

a man can command in his dealings with his fellow-men. In conjunction with the eye, it conveys all his personal magnetism to his hearer or to his audience. The eye has a double use. It conveys impressions to the brain and it conveys impressions from the brain. Both of these uses need cultivation.

You probably have never thought about the importance of your eyes in conversation, but if you are to make full use of your mental powers it is quite necessary for you to do so. You need to cultivate a concentration of gaze, but not quite in the sense that a hypnotist does. I have heard men complain of persons who gazed at them so fixedly that it made them feel uncomfortable. Do not be like that, or you will lose all the pleasing effect you want to create. Get the habit of looking straight at the person you are addressing, so that he can feel that

he has your whole interest and attention. That is the impression you wish him to receive. People do not like your eyes to wander round the room while they are talking to you, nor do they want you to read the private papers lying on their desks. They want to see your eyes, because they tell them what is going on in your mind.

own.

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Many business men sit with their backs to the light, while they place you facing the window. this way they can read your face whilst hiding their One man I know told me once that whenever he finds himself in such a position he shades his eyes with his hands until the act is commented upon. Then he explains that he is at a disadvantage facing the light and prefers to sit elsewhere! If a man wants to read your eyes you have a right to read his as well; and this story shows the important part played by the eye in conversation.

Your eye expresses your emotions. When you laugh with your lips your eyes laugh with them if the emotion is genuine, not otherwise. When you are sorry your eyes show it, as they reveal truth or falsehood to the shrewd observer. Let your eyes speak and proclaim the interest you feel in what you are saying.

One of the best salesmen I ever knew called his mouth his "bread-and-butter machine." He knew the value of his conversation. The advocate or the