Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/94

 they are our most intimate companions, our most faithful servants. They play such a large part in the phenomena of our being that, paradoxically, we fail to regard them as the chief actor-element in our lives. They are too much of us to be dissociated from us. We accept them as a matter-of-course, just as we accept our bodily members. We pass through life’s little day oblivious of their deeper significations,—only mildly attracted by their mysteries.

Some of the characteristics of words have been noted, others have been suggested. We have seen that the simplest aspect of a word is complex, and that the word itself is widely related. The spoken word, for instance, is a sound entirely homogeneous produced by the organs of speech. The sound is made up of elements which flow together so harmoniously that where one sound ends and another begins is indeterminate. These parts blend and flux into an acoustic impulse which carries the image as a soul.