Page 45 - ThinkandGrowRichJourney2020

DESIRE 45
330 to cooperate, I would fill his mind so completely with a BURNING DESIRE to
331 hear, that Nature would, by methods of her own, translate it into physical reality.
332 All this thinking took place in my own mind, but I spoke of it to no one. Every
333 day I renewed the pledge I had made to myself, not to accept a deaf mute for a
334 son.
335 As he grew older, and began to take notice of things around him, we observed
336 that he had a slight degree of hearing. When he reached the age when children
337 usually begin talking, he made no attempt to speak, but we could tell by his
338 actions that he could hear certain sounds slightly. That was all I wanted to know!
339 I was convinced that if he could hear, even slightly, he might develop still greater
340 hearing capacity. Then something happened which gave me hope. It came from
341 an entirely unexpected source.
342 We bought a Victrola. When the child heard the music for the first time, he went
343 into ecstasies, and promptly appropriated the machine. He soon showed a
344 preference for certain records, among them, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary." On
345 one occasion, he played that piece over and over, for almost two hours, standing
346 in front of the Victrola, with his teeth clamped on the edge of the case. The
347 significance of this self -formed habit of his did not become clear to us until
348 years afterward, for we had never heard of the principle of "bone conduction" of
349 sound at that time.
350 Shortly after he appropriated the Victrola, I discovered that he could hear me
351 quite clearly when I spoke with my lips touching his mastoid bone, or at the base
352 of the brain. These discoveries placed in my possession the necessary media by
353 which I began to translate into reality my Burning Desire to help my son develop
354 hearing and speech. By that time he was making stabs at speaking certain words.
355 The outlook was far from encouraging, but DESIRE BACKED BY FAITH
356 knows no such word as impossible.
357 Having determined that he could hear the sound of my voice plainly, I began,
358 immediately, to transfer to his mind the desire to hear and speak. I soon
359 discovered that the child enjoyed bedtime stories, so I went to work, creating
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill