22 BIBBS AND MAN 



their secret, or "business," and, like the secret 

 and real name of a person among some savage 

 tribes, not to be revealed but at the risk of giving 

 to another a mysterious power over their lives 

 and fortunes. Even worse than the reticent, the 

 superstitious, and the simply unintelligent, is the 

 highly imaginative person who is only too ready 

 to answer all inquiries, who catches at what you 

 say in explanation, divines what you want, and 

 instantly (and unconsciously) invents something 

 to tell you. 



But we may, I think, take it for granted that 

 the faculty of retaining sounds is as universal 

 as that of retaining sights, although, speaking 

 generally, the impressions of sounds are less 

 perfect and lasting than those which relate to 

 the higher, more intellectual sense of vision ; 

 also that this power varies greatly in different 

 persons. Furthermore, we see in the case of 

 musical composers, and probably of most 

 musicians who are devoted to their art, that this 

 faculty is capable of being trained and developed 

 to an extraordinary degree of efficiency. The 

 composer sitting pen in hand to write his score 

 in his silent room hears the voices and the 



