We Hear What Our Ears are Tuned To

Anthropologist Ethal Alpenfels once told me about a woodsman who was walking down Fifth Avenue in New York City with a friend. All at once the woodsman said, “Why, I hear a cricket.”

“Nonsense,” scoffed the city man. “In this uproar? Not a chance.”

“ But I do,” said the woodsman, “and I’ll show you.” At that he took a dime out of his pocket and dropped it on the pavement. Instantly, people within 30 feet turned around to see whose coin had dropped.

“You see,” said the woodsman, “people hear what their ears are tuned to. Mine happen to be tuned to crickets.”

A. Purnell Bailey, columnist, Capper’s Weekly