The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-06-23

engrossed with his task, darted to the
instrument, when the sounds again
ceased, without afording single cleW
to tbsfr origin. I endeavored to opeI
the front; but it resisted my efforts;
2, and as did not wish to alarm the house
hold, drew the piano forward from the
wall, gave it parting shake, and once
more curled myself up in the bed
clothes, not without a ferveht prayer
that the player might transfer his enter
tainment to more appreciative au
dience.
All, however, was unavailingj for he
shortly began again as brisk as ever; so
bowling to the inevitable, endeavOred
to convert the disturbing performance
into a well.intehtiohed lullaby As
thus lay In half-sleeping half-waking
| state, no longer interested in the cause
of the phenomenon, wss conscious of q
curious result. The strains seemed to
adapt themselves to stiatshes = n1ers
snatches, of familiar airs, curiously
| blended and interwoven. As soon as an
/ interval occurred that reminded me of
| another Jingle, 1T was Immediately taken
up only to give place to another. The
range of the treble seemed to be con
fined to the third below the faulty note
and the fourth above, which Of Cottrse
accounted for the plaihtive character Of
| the music. | cannot say how long this
| curious phase lasted. have, however,
a, hazy CONSCIOUSNESS of dropping off to
| sleep, lulled by these uhacCoub abls
note-ramblinRs.
in the morning I learned that none of
| the inmates had heard anything unusual
during the night. Being, however, de-
termined to solve the puzzle, | lost ne
time in returning to the room armed
with a screw-driver. When | had laid
bare the front of the instrument, | Oh
served that the wires of the note adjacent
to the faulty one had snapped, and its
perpendicular lever had been disiOinted
| from the hammer and fallen forward on
the strings, thus forming an opening be-
| tween the back and front, and estab-
| fishing communication between the
wires and the lower or horizontal levers
to which the iyories are attached. Still
no kew TO tEG riddle presented itself. l
| then proceeded to remove the levers one
| by o le, and had partially accomplished
! the task when the Gordian knot of the
mystery was severed in rather prosaic
! manner. I pushed the instrument back
to its original position, when out sGati1p-
cred not one mduse-but two, by the
slit ii the back which serves for
handle. They ran along the wainscot-
| ing, which happened to be on the saIrls
level, and disappeared in a press in the
corner of the room. It was plain that
| my mystic performer had resolved him
| self into the Commonplace of a couple of
mice, whose performances had been
| prolonged by the cutting off OF theit re-
| tfeat. Still l comfOrted myself with
the thought that if kept my own coun-
sci there was material enough t@ prove
me a first-clRss Spiritualistic rnediunl
An examination of their mbdUs 0ps-
Fqnda Explained il very simple tnatihet
the awe-inspiring phenomena of the
previous night. Mouse No l, on pop
pig through the opening in the per-
pendicular levers, climbed the broken
one that lay handy, purched upon the
end lii contact with the wires, and in
his efforts to ascend farther, or in the
mere pleasure of the sound, produced
the melody before referred to- Mouse
No. 2, meanwhile condemned to play
second fiddle, amused himself by creep
ing through between the snapped wires
and scampering up and down inside,
where there vas barely room for him to
pass, and thus contributing the rumbling
bass and the occasional sharp runs on
the higher notes. A cross-bar for
strengthening the foot gave him a foot
hold, and vestiges of his fur on the
larger wires rendered the explanation
more than probability. The motion of
the keys without the corresi 0nding
sounds must have been occasioned by
| their pattering ON the extreme ends of
| the horizontal levers, the majority of
| which ] found to be somewhat worn and
loose in their sockets The contingent
| phenomena | believe to have been
! the unconscious promptings of my own
mind, or of what may be termed my
! musical imagination.
On recOunting the adventure at the
| breakfast table | discovered that the
| mysterious sounds had been heard by
| another member of the family on a
! quiet Sabbath afternoon some weeks
! previous She, however, had been de-
| TERED from mentioning the circum-
| stance from fear of the ridicule she
! supposed would have followed her Ie
| cital. | may mention that the press in
! the room contained goodly store of
! things seductive to the stomachs of
mice in general. That they disregarded
| the tempting y1ands and betOok them
selves to the unpr ductive waste of the
interior of piano, must help 10 prove
that the love of music often ascribed to
this little quadruped is fact of natural
history resting on more solid foun a
! tiOn than exceptional eccentricity.
Though at first sight the foregoing
tale = the truth of which is vouched
for by our contributor-may appear
somewhat weird, we gladly place it
before our readers as offering additional
testimony to the fact that G. unaccount-
able sounds" are capable of being rele-
gated to natural causes. A little
trouble bestowed upon their careful
investigation would, as our writer says,
"save many one an infnity OF dis
composing thought"
VARIOUS physicists nave tried to