time-intervals plainer. Others of us are
natural "stressers," in that we pay primary
attention to the "weight" of words, -- the
relative loudness or pitch, by which their
meaning or importance is indicated, -- and
it is only secondarily that we think of these
weighted or "stressed" words as separated
from one another by approximately equal
intervals of time. Standing on the rocks
at Gloucester after an easterly storm, a
typical "timer" might be chiefly conscious
of the steady sequence of the waves, the
measured intervals between their summits;
while the typical stresser, although sub-
consciously aware of the steady iteration of
the giant rollers, might watch primarily their
foaming crests, and listen chiefly to their
crashing thunder. The point to be remem-
bered is this: that neither the "timing" in-
stinct nor the "stressing" instinct excludes
the other, although in most individuals one
or the other predominates. Musicians, for
instance, are apt to be noticeable "timers,"
while many scholars who deal habitually with
words in their varied shifts of meaning, are
professionally inclined to be "stressers."

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