Morris tribune., 1880-04-22
Music Of the Ancients.

Out OF this old and wise and, as it
seems, musical Egypt came Moses and
the children of Israel. And, as they
had been for generations in that Nile
valley, and since the gifted leader had
been reared in the Kings palaces, and
had become skilled in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians, it is evident that
when the children of Israel emigrated
to set up state of their own they car
ried with them q music of no small
worth. We have long known that they
carried from the Nile many principles
of ethics and religion, some good and
some bad, but to this political science
and common literature we must now
add quite rich treasures of hymns and
music. We may suppose that the
hymns which Moses and the army sung,
and which Miriam sung with the &C
compartment of her timbrel and dance
were hymns created in land and age
when the harp had twenty-one strings
By the natural law of progress this
music had become still better by the
day when Solomon dedicated his
temple, and when mention begins to be
made of many: instruments. In the
last Psalm quite an orchestra springs
up before us. Seated in that grand
old house of worship, you are amazed
to see and hear trumpet and psaltery
and harp and timbrel and organs and
stringed instruments and high-sound.
ing cymbals. In the time of Daniel
500 years later, other instruments ap.
pear, and bands for the street had
sprung up. for it was decreed that
Daniel must worship the false gods al
the moment when he should hear in
the street cornet, flute, and harp, sack.
but, psaltery and dulcimer, and all othe,
kinds Of music. It seems that the
writer had not the patience to enumer.
ate all the instruments in the street
bands of the King.
Whence issued the stream of fresh
sound? It began in that benevolence
and wisdom of God which bestowed
upon man the power to perceive and
produce and love the beautiful; and
having thus begun, the power has grown
as the world has grown, and at last
music ranks highest of the beautiful
arts, unless we call literature an art. II
art is to be estimated by it's power, no,
only in any one person, but amid the
multitude, and following such method
of Judgment, painting and sculpture
and architecture fall far behind this one
form of sentiment-the sentiment oil
sounds. A few may confess their par.
tisGty for painting or statuary; indeed
some are music-deaf, as others are color
blind; but, looking at the human fam.
lily, the delight and pathos of music is
almost universal. It is the art which
holds all in its spell. The fables abou.
Orpheus, how. when he played upor
his instrument, the very trees listened
and the wild beasts came to hear and
laid aside all their ferocity, are only ole
efforts of literature to tell us how pow
erful this form of the beautiful has al
ways been. Long before the modern
penetration had said "Let me make the
songs of the nation and I shall not care
who may make its laws" Plato had said
If, you would know, whether state i;
well governed you must first look into
the condition of its music" We have
come to thoughts upon power which
reaches the most human souls, an6
reaches only to elevate. None are toe
poor to hear music; none are too hum
BILE in education to appreciate and en-
Joy the most perfect achievements il
this line of genius; none are above i
or below it in rank. It comes to all
like the sunshine which is grateful to &
beggar or q King.-Prof. David Suing