The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-07-20

convey sound perfectly there must be an
sysa' and uniform current of alr-nos
sssns 3 pa)s,aion- .or there, win be q jar
in Ne soaad. Ny mind Ma directed
to ! Hudy Of shis theory when quite
.yoSsk man. lwas ~ engineer on the
railroad running from Baltimore to Phil
adelphia, and was stationed at Havre de
Grace, on the Susquehsnna river. l was
fond Of fishing and duck-shooting, and
whatever spare time I had from my pro.
fess,onal duties was spent on the river.
One day, while standing near tho water,
1 heard the paddle of an oar, and on
looking up discovered s man crossing
the river a distance Of six thousand yards
from me, as 1 afterwards ascertained by
measurement, yet I distinctly heard the
paddle Of his oars; heard his boat grating
on the sand when he landed, and after he
landed heard him in conversation
with another man on the bank
of the river. At once the IN.
inquiry was suggested TO my mind, why
is it: that can hear that sound so dis
tinctly and at such distance, when per-
haps on tomorrow at the same time and
at the same place could not hear it at
a distance of two hundred yards. The
result Of several years study. and obser-
walton led me to adopt the principle as
stated alredy, as the true philosophical
one, and applied it in the construction OF
the Academy of Music with acknowl-
edged success. Its done by means of .
large air pump, fixed on the rear Of the
stage forcing constant uniform current
of air out into the building and out OF
the buildings none of the same air
returns, as was demonstrated last winter
BY placing water in copper jars when
the thermometer was at zero, yet the
water did not conjeal. A person sitting
at the rear end of the building can hear
another person breathing On the stage,
so perfect is the acoustic arrangement.
Mile. Titiens said last winter, when in
Baltimore, that she had never sung with
such ease as she did in the Academy OF
Music, as it required no effort on her partt to
make her voice fill the whole building.
Mapleson, the manager of the Queens
Theatre in London, before building his
large opera house last winter. came over
to Baltimore for the express purpose OF
studying Nelson's principle and ap.
piled it to his house with similar success.
IF Mr.. Nelson's theory is correct and
there is no reason to donbt its correct
ness, tor it was a simple one after all,
he deserves to be clsssed as public
benefactor, for it is very rare thing to
find church, court house, an opera
house, or any other public building ex-
cept with imperfect ACOUSTICS. Whether
Mr.. Nelson's philosophy is sound
or not, the fact of his being a master
architect is established by his construc.
ton of the new hotel at this place, and
his design for the addition to the State
Lunatic Asylum at Staunton, Va.
THE INDIAN DIFFICULTIES.
1t will be remembered that in my last
letter I stated that Gen. Joe Johnston
had declined to express an opinion to
reporter of the Herald in reference to the
late disastrous expedition against the In
dams. But subsequently in converse.
ton with the correspondent, while de.
clining to criticize the action OF United
States officers, he gave much valuable
information in relation to the govern
ment's management of Indian affairs, as
It came under his own observation and
connected with his experience as an
officer in the old United States army.
Gen. Johnston had fought through the
seven years Seminole war in Florida,
he had experience with the Comanches in
Texas, and the various tribes in the
West, and he stated to your correspond
ent that in all our troubles with the In
dams the whites were invariably to blame
for bringing them sbout-always giving
the first provocation. In response to an
inquiry of mine if he did not think that
after the Sioux nation had negotiated
treaty with the government by which
they had agreed to 60 upon their reser-
vations at a specified time, and when
they failed to go,according to the stipua-
tions of the treaty, that the government
was justifable in raising force to compel
them to 70, as was the intention in the
late expedition, which resulted in such a
disastrous termination, the General re-
piled that his experience induced him
to distrust all government treaties with
the Indians. The government had once
made proposition to remeve the whole
Creek nation, of which the Semlnoles
were branch, TO the Arkansas reserva-
tions. A delegation of chiefs had gone
out to inspect the territory proposed to
be given them in exchange for their
southern lands, and were dissatisfied. In
the meantime the government officers
had gathered number of the lower class
of Indians into camp-fellows who get
drunk-and got them to elect new chiefs,
with whom treaty was negotiated, but
when the time came for the removal, the
Seminoles repudisted the action of these
self.constituted authorities and refused to
20. The result was, the government I'M
dertook to enforce the stipulatlons Of a
fraudulent treaty, and involved us in a
seven years war, involving great sacri-
fee of life, and costing as much as the
Mexican war.
And so it has always been. Whenever
the government makes a treaty. the terms
are dictated to the Indians, and poor Lo |
has no alternative but to accept.
"Why is it, General" inquired your
correspondent "that We have SO much |
trouble with the Indians when our neigh !
bors across the Canada line live in close |
and smicable relations with the same |
tribes2" The General replied by stating |
that there was something instiEctively |
attractive about a Frenchman to an In !
dian; that even in the early days of the |
settlement ofthis continent by the whites,
a Frenchman could so among the In
dams with impunity, where an English
man dare not venture without the risk Of |
losing his scalp. But in addition to that
i. .n,tlal h. Erannh ,,nlon;oe IF /