The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-11-14 00:00:00

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14th, 1885.

EFI:EOTS OF MUSIC ON. ANIMALS.

THE stories of the mythical Anon and Or-
pheus, transmitted to us by classical authors,
serve to indicate the high idea which the
ancients entertained of the magical power of

music. _Anion was a Greek m-usicai genius,
who was thrown into the sea by some surly,
unappreciative sailors, and rescued from
drowning by a humane dolphin that earr:ed
him to shore on its low, and strong back.
The dolphin that picked up the Greek
musician was no more an ordinary inhabitant
of the deep than the whale that saved Jonah

-
from a similar threatened fate : it must have

been endowed with a delicate musi al car,

4ud thus differed widely from the members
of tho common run of finny tribes, which are
deaf makes, being destitute alike of ears and
ton4ue. Orpheus was a Thracian poet, who
played such an enchanting accoppaniment
en the lyre to his own verse that he put life
_ .

and motion into inanimate things ; and even
Pluto was so overcome by the spell of his
marvellous music when ho visited the nether

regions to recover his lost Eurydice that the
grim king agreed to restore to him his
spouse, on cftudiiion that he would not look
back when returning again to earth. But
curiosity unfortunately was too strong an in-
_

stinct iU the Thracian- troubadour; and as

he could not resist turning his head round
just when his foot was about to touch the
firm land, the precious burden he bore
melted from his grasp at the same moment,
and 'vanished like a vision of the night. In

ap prec iat ion of musical sounds -the seal,
which is an amphibious animal, has an
affinity to the classical dolphin, as voyagers
in the high latitudes which it chiefly fre-
quents have reported it to be fond of listen-
ing to sailors when they whistle their
fayourit• airs. Old Tom, in Marryat's
“Jacob Faithful," who had served on board

whaltr. used to say, when relating his
Arctic experiences, that seals conld be had
for a whistle. Grimm took no account of
the fact that ordinary fish, less fortunate
than seals, are deaf mutes when he put into
the mouth of the fisherman, in one of his at-
trac tire stories, these artless lines :
fi h of the actft, -
Como listen to me ;"

but in fairy tales it is just as natural for fish
to listen as for quadrupeds to talk. Being
vocalists themselves, cage-birds take much
delight in instrumental music, and at once
start an accompaniment in singing when a
piano or accordian is played in the room. If
they happen to be sitting in a drowsy mood
en their perches just before the music be-
gins, they change in a moment, and become
quite sprightly and gay. Even a coaxing
chirp, especially if it issues from sweet
musical lips, is quite sufficient to put them
into the best of singing trim. In cottage
kitchens the sound, cheerful if not musical,
of something savoury cooking in the frying
pan is quite sufficient to stir up the liveliest
straine of the pat canary, or the loudest
warbles of the caged thrush. The domestic
cat is so well pleased with her own dtowsy
mirr when comfortably resting on the warm
hearth that she does not pay much heed to
piano playing or any other music, and the
name of the "Cat and Fiddle," which figures
on some inn signboards, is not to be taken
as an indication that puss waa ever skilful
in tho use of the violin, but merely as a
happy suggestion derived from the familiar
"Hey l diddle diddle" nursery rhyme. Sing-
ing birds, whether wild or caged, are best
relished by puss in the form of cat's meat.
Dogs seem to entertain a d;slike for music
of any kind. They often bark furiously at
Italian organ grinders in the street, and
Christmas waits, breaking the silence of
midnight or the small hours of the morning,
only evoke from them the response of long-
drawn howls. Cattle, feeding on the pas-
ture, are greatly concerned when a proces-
sion, with bands and banners, suddenly ap-
pears marching along an adjoining highway.
It is difficult to say whether it can be the
nattering of the flags, or the sound ot the
drums and brass instruments that affect and
excite them most. They stand gazing for a
time in wonderment, become restless as their
bewilderment increases, begin to dance
wildly about, and finally scamper off helter-
skelter, with up-hoisted tails, too much ex-
cited and perturbed to resume feeding until
the procession is out of hearing and sight.
Cart and carriage horses often exhibit so
much alarm when bands of music are passing
along the streets that it ig necessary to ems°
playing at intervals in order to avoid causing
runaway accidents. But horses, when they
get accustomed to instrumental music, show
a decided liking for it, and prance proudly
on the march in cavalry regiments when the
mounted bandsmen are pla3 lug stirring
,tunes in the van. War-horses that, from
- long service in the field, are entitled to be
ealled old campaigners, seem to draw an in-
spiration, which sparkles in the dilated eye
and thrills through the sinewy frame, when
the lear notes of the bugle, ringing out
amid the din of battle, sound the charge.
-Marvellous dancing feats, to the accompani-
meat of music, • performed by well-trained
cavalry homes, always prove an attractive
feature of the military tournament annually
held in the Agricultural Hall at Islington.
It is not BO much the inspiriting influence
of lively tuns as the recollection of cruel
treliment, and a dread of its repetition, that
• induce dancing bears, at the command of
their keepers, to go through their clumsy
performance many times a day. Among the
• race of reptiles the snake is the only one that
feels the power of music, yielding to its in-
fluence uto an irresistible spell; and in
India there are snake-charmers possessing
something of the serpent's subtlety them-
selves, who make a livelihood by travelling
about the country, like Punch and Judy
showmen, with their stock-in-trade, which
in their came happens to be live stock. It is
a pity that the magical musical skill which
enabled the "Pied Piper of Haralyn," immor-
talised in Brownings' inimitable ballad, to
induce tho legions of rats that infested the
town to commit suicide by drowning, has
become an extinct art, and lives only in the
tradition of the quaint old German legend.

LOC U. GOVERNMENT ENQUIRY AT THE
LYE.

A Local Government Fnquiry in regard to the
iyatent of emptying iokhpite at the Lye, Craclley.
and Wollescote was lacld at the Temperance 11,11,
Lye, yeetertay afwarnt!on, be`ore Mr. Terry, (LE.,
and Dr. Parsons, ot the Local Government Board.
Dr. Partons cated Attention to previous reports 48
tO the et ste of things in the .3istrict. and said he
con:d not 0.0. a thet anythEng had bcen done to meet
the :tec_44lir., of the C 340, and some of the Outt.roi •
ang present thought it was not desirable for a
*lunge.
Liter the enquiry they visited some of the streets
in the district to look at the state of the places.

NERVOUSNSES LOSS OF ENERGY
"ma viTAL POWER.
Resulting front whatever cense, not as treated by Qauks
with mineral poisons and coloured water, bat effectually
d by a NOTEL AND HIGHLY SUCCKSSFUL AMA
OP T.,ATEENT, discovered by the advertiser, who,
niter ataxy years of extreme suffering, wee completely rs.
'Wed to imurid health.
PreSsptcd by feelings of humanity, he thus maker known
1"6" LY which ICYYST BurpEßsitut INAISLED TO
CUSS If !WILY PERFECTLY and at tile LEAST
PtHid ISLE cO3T, without having recouree to advertising
OiriC9 sr their vaunted aostrolW.
11-* 1r!44 kf koppri to forword the portico/owe t• any *Wen*
etb-r of • eleseped awl directed
.I.Blllnuou isig.,""&Aser, mow.