Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/184

 1G8 ESSAYS AND LETTERS

enemies of truth to use for deception, but must also see that it is used on the side of trutli.

To refuse to make use of a hook or a letter to convey one's tlioui^hts or get at the tliought<« of others, would be like refusing to use one's strengtli of voice to convey to many people at once what one has to say ; or to use one's ears to understand what some one is saying in a loud voice. It would be like refusing to acknowledge the possibility of con- veying tliought except tt'te-a-trte, or when conveyed in a wliisper. Writing and printing have but multi- [>lied a tliousand, a hundred tliousand, times the number of people by wliom the thought*? expressed may be heard ; but the relation between him wlio expresses and him who receives tlie thought^ remains as before : as in conversation tlie liearer may grasp and uiulerstand wliat is said, or may let it go in at one ear and out at the other, so it is with printed matter. As the reader of a book may twist it tliis way or that, so may he also do who hears spoken words. As in books (and we constantly see this) much may be written that is superfluous and empty, just so is it with speech. A difference exists, but it is a difference tliat is sometimes to the advantage of vocal, sometimes of printed com- munications. Tlie advantage of vocal communication is that the hearer feels tlie spirit of the speaker, but the disadvantage is that very often empty talkers (for instance advocates) having a gift of words, sway men not by their reasonableness, but by their mastery of oratorical art, which is not the case with books. Another advantage of verbal communication is that a hearer who has not understood a matter can ask ques- tions, but there is the accompanying disadvantage tliat those who have failed to understand (often purposely failed) can put questions which are not to the point, and can thus divert the stream of thought, which is not the case with books. The disadvantages of books are : First, that paper can endure all things, and people can have any nonsense printed, causing enormous labour to be wasted in papermaking and typesetting ; which is