The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-10-25

From The National Repository iSr November.
Sometimes oae Is conscious Of sound
20 locate or define. Its del
icate mpmur which seems TO come from
nowhere In particular, but whichis as un.
mistakable as the moro blatant noises TINT
smite the ear, 1t comes from multitude
Of sources, aud d recognizable only IN q
peculiar stiffness OF the atmosphere. This
tissue or gossamer sound Is tho nearest TO
fine hearing that we mortals
ever get, and II sets one thinking Of
what George Eliot calls "the roar that lies
on the other side OF silence"
Almost any time in the country tho
noise Of q hammer driving nails can DO
heard; Il ia athriitysound, suggesting well
kept tonees and gates, carefully mended
farm implements and things generally kept
Ia repair. The farmer whose hammer is
bright Withtrequent use, Is likely TO have
fertile fields, and 10 make good show Of
vegetables and stock ut tho agricultural
fair. In tho fall when tho barns are full
Of hay and grain, the music Of the fails
resounds through the air, and inspirits
like q military march. The wood.chop-
pcr's az Il mot nearly so musical an instru-
ment; but in bright, frosty weather 1t
makes q clear, ringing sound on tho bare
hill,sides. There Is an endless fascination
In waiting for tho report TO reach the ear
after the eye has seen the blow fall. In
tho distance II seems to play u kind ofGame
tag in which the sound never succeeds in
quite catching up with tho ax.
When q big tree falls in the forest the
whole nciEhborhood ia reused by the up
roar. One fancies how 1t must alarm the
thousands OF Quick.earcd creatures in the
woods remember the fall OF a tree at
night.iall OF an early winter day. The
place was one where nature was in her
widest mood, which the road running
past only emphasized. II Was as II doz-
on mighty temples had fallen together in q
hugo shapelcss mass; vast unhewn rocks
hung beetling over the sides, their lodges
hardly anording nutriment enough for a
stuntCd pine 10 take root in. The rude
majesty 81 tho place almost stopped the
breath, A tiny fall OF water tumbled
down between the rocks, paused ut their
foot in a natural basin, and crossed the
road into ditch. Across the fields was \
long curying line OF rugged bills closing
IllU NlSN llpltA gAhN oSANAAs AhS W.
tern horizon was an intense clear gold /;
and the saplings OF young trees growing
along the road were outlined in delicate
tracery against Il. Awoodman's AK some.
where on the other side Of the rocky hill
filled tho lonely, savage place with wild
echoes; but when the tree At last fell, the
crash seemed to shake the whole world.
The ponderous rocks groaned with the
conclusion. and the amphitheatre oppos.
ito roared like an angry lion. This sound
was thrown back and forth from tho walls
OF stone in a succession OF discharges, and
a long series Of reverberations rolled from
cliff 10 cliti, as Il reluctant to die away at
last in faint vibrations among remote hills.
When they seemed to have expired alto,
ccther, deep, delicate tremors Of sound
still returned. and shook themselves out
airily in invisible distances. II WAS some
thing to listen to with bsted breath and TO
remember for lifetime