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In my own mind I knew that my son would hear and speak . How ? I was sure there must be a way , and I knew I would find it . I thought of the words of the immortal Emerson , " The whole course of things goes to teach us faith . We need only obey . There is guidance for each of us , and by lowly listening , we shall hear the right word . " The right word ? DESIRE ! More than anything else , I DESIRED that my son should not be a deaf mute . From that desire I never receded , not for a second . Many years previously , I had written , " Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds " For the first time , I wondered if that statement were true . Lying on the bed in front of me was a newly born child , without the natural equipment of hearing . Even though he might hear and speak , he was obviously disfigured for life . Surely , this was a limitation which that child had not set up in his own mind . What could I do about it ? Somehow I would find a way to transplant into that child's mind my own BURNING DESIRE for ways and means of conveying sound to his brain without the aid of ears . As soon as the child was old enough to cooperate , I would fill his mind so completely with a BURNING DESIRE to hear , that Nature would , by methods of her own , translate it into physical reality . All this thinking took place in my own mind , but I spoke of it to no one . Every day I renewed the pledge I bad made to myself , not to accept a deaf mute for a son . As he grew older , and began to take notice of things around him , we observed that he had a slight degree of hearing . When he reached the age when children usually begin talking , he made no attempt to speak , but we could tell by his actions that he could . hear certain sounds slightly . That was all I wanted to know ! I was convinced that if he could hear , even slightly , he might develop still greater hearing capacity . Then something happened which gave me hope . It came from an entirely unexpected source . We bought a victrola . When the child heard the music for the first time , he went into ecstasies , and promptly appropriated the machine . He soon showed a preference for certain records , among them , " It's a Long Way to Tipperary . " On one occasion , he played that piece over and over , for almost two hours , standing in front of the victrola , with his teeth clamped on the edge of the case . The significance of this self - formed habit of his did not become clear to us until years afterward , for we had never heard of the principle of " bone conduction of sound at that time . Shortly after he appropriated the victrola , I discovered that he could hear me quite clearly when I spoke with my lips touching his mastoid bone , or at the base of the brain . These discoveries placed in my possession the necessary media by which I began to translate . into reality my Burning Desire to help my son develop hearing and speech . By that time he was making stabs at speaking certain words . The outlook was far from encouraging , but DESIRE BACKED BY FAITH knows no such word as impossible . Having determined that he could hear the sound of my voice . plainly , I began , immediately , to transfer to his mind the desire to hear and speak . I soon discovered that the child enjoyed bedtime stories , so I went to work , creating stories designed to develop in him self - reliance , imagination , and a keen desire to hear and to be normal . There was one story in particular , which I emphasized by giving it some new and dramatic coloring each time it was told . It was designed to plant in his mind the thought that his affliction was not a liability , but an asset of great value . Despite the fact that all the philosophy I had examined clearly indicated that EVERY ADVERSITY BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT ADVANTAGE , I must confess that I had not the slightest idea how this affliction could ever become an asset . However , I continued my practice of wrapping that philosophy in bedtime stories , hoping the time would come when he would find some plan by which his handicap could be made to serve some useful purpose . Reason told me plainly , that there was no adequate compensation for the lack of cars and natural hearing equipment DESIRE backed by FAITH , pushed reason aside , and inspired me to carry on . As I analyze the experience in retrospect , I can see now , that my son's faith in me had much to do with the astounding results . He did not question anything I told him . I sold him the idea that he had a distinct advantage over his older brother , and that this advantage would reflect itself in many ways . For example , the teachers in school would observe that he had no cars , and , because of this , they would show him special attention and treat him with extraordinary kindness . They always did . His mother saw to that , by visiting the teachers and arranging with them to give the child the extra attention necessary . I sold him the idea , too , that when he became old enough to sell newspapers , ( his older brother had already become a newspaper merchant ) , he would have a big advantage over his brother , for the reason that people would pay him extra money for his wares , because they could see that he was a bright , industrious boy , despite the fact he had no ears . We could notice that , gradually , the child's hearing was improving . Moreover , he had not the slightest tendency to be self conscious , because of his affliction . When he was about seven , he showed the first evidence that our method of servicing his mind was bearing fruit . For several months he begged for the privilege of selling newspapers , but his mother would not give her consent . She was afraid that his deafness made it unsafe for him to go on the street alone . Finally , he took matters in his own hands . One afternoon , when he was left at home with the servants , he climbed through the kitchen window , shinnied to the ground , and set out on his own . He borrowed six cents in capital from the neighborhood shoemaker , invested it in papers , sold out , reinvested , and kept repeating until late in the evening . After balancing his accounts , and paying back the six cents he had borrowed from his banker , he had net profit of forty - two cents . When we got home that night , we found him in bed asleep , with the money tightly clenched in his hand . His mother opened his hand , removed the coins , and cried . Of all things ! Crying over her son's first victory seemed SO inappropriate . My reaction was the reverse . I laughed heartily , for I knew that my endeavor to plant in the child's mind an attitude of faith in himself had been successful . His mother saw , in his first business venture , a little deaf boy who had gone out in the streets and risked his life to earn money . I saw a brave , ambitious , self - reliant little business man whose stock in himself had been increased a hundred percent , because he had gone into business on his own initiative , and had won . The transaction pleased me , because I knew that he had given evidence of a trait of resourcefulness that would go with him all through life . Later events proved this to be true . When his older brother wanted something , he would lie down on the floor , kick his feet in the air , cry for it and get it . When the little deaf boy " wanted something , he would plan a way to carn the money , then buy it for himself . He still follows that plan ! Truly , my own son has taught me that handicaps can be converted into stepping stones on which one may climb toward some worthy goal , unless they are accepted as obstacles , and used as alibis . The little deaf boy went through the grades , high school , and college without being able to hear his teachers , excepting when they shouted loudly , at close range . He did not go to a school for the deaf . WE WOULD NOT PERMIT HIM TO LEARN THE SIGN LANGUAGE . We were determined that he should live a normal life , and associate with normal children , and we stood by that decision , although it cost us many heated debates with school officials . While he was in high school , he tried an electrical hearing aid , but it was of no value to him ; due , we believed , to a condition that was disclosed when the child was six , by Dr. J. Gordon Wilson , of Chicago , when he operated on one side of the boy's head , and discovered that there was no sign of natural hearing equipment . During his last week in college , ( eighteen years after the operation ) , something happened which marked the most important turning - point of his life . Through what seemed to be mere chance , he came into possession of another electrical hearing device , which was sent to him on trial . He was slow about testing it , due to his disappointment with a similar device . Finally he picked the instrument up , and more or less carelessly , placed it on his head , hooked up the battery , and lo ! as if by a stroke of magic , his lifelong DESIRE FOR NORMAL HEARING BECAME A REALITY ! For the first time in his life he heard practically as well as any person with normal hearing . " God moves in mysterious ways , His wonders to perform . " Overjoyed because of the Changed World which had been brought to him through his hearing device , he rushed to the telephone , called his mother , and heard her voice perfectly . The next day he plainly heard the voices of his professors in class , for the first time in his life ! Previously he could hear them only when they shouted , at short range . He heard the radio . He heard the talking pictures . For the first time in his life , he could converse freely with other people , without the necessity of their having to speak loudly . Truly , he had come into possession of a Changed World . We had refused to accept Nature's error , and , by PERSISTENT DESIRE , we had induced Nature to correct that error , through the only practical means available .