Wednesday 9 December 2020

The Whispering Gallery

In St. Pauls’ Cathedral in London, similar to St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, there are steps that will lead you to the cupola and get a bird’s eye view of the city. The corridor that leads to the gallery is called the Whispering Gallery because of the echo it produces when someone speaks ever so softly. Even if a person is on one side of the dome, a tiny whisper can be heard on the other side, many feet away. It is said that years ago, a poor shoemaker told his girlfriend that he doesn’t have enough money to buy more leather for his trade, and so he could not marry her. On the other side of the dome, someone overheard the comment and tried to help them. This person walked behind the shoemaker and followed him to see where he lives. Then this kind gentleman bought some leather and made sure it was delivered to the poor shoemaker, making sure the donor remains anonymous. Everything turned out beautifully as the shoemaker kept working, made a little more money, and was able to marry his sweetheart. Years later it was discovered that the kind gentleman who donated the leather was none other than the Prime Minister of England, William Gladstone. Let us go through life without doing anything extraordinary, but simple ordinary things with a lot of love and concern towards others, as William Gladstone did. He served as Prime Minister for 12 years, spread over four terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894.

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