Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-05-19
A Queer Story.

Harry p Cain. the leader of the c. r.
L. Serenading Club. and violinist Of
some note. has recently come into pos
session of a rare treasure. 1t is nothing
less than a violin made of wood that
grew before the flood. Some forty wears
ago workmen engaged in digging mill
race through the farm owned by Daniel
Bulla, northeast of j. Il. Preston's resi-
dence. discovered at depth of six or
eight feet below the surface the trunk of
tree in I gool state of preservation.
1t was lying across the line OF the race.
and they had to cut Oilt 4 piece of il sew
eral feet long hrfore they counld go on
with their work. Geologists say that
the country around Richmond was once
covered with water in which huge ice
bergs iloaied or that immense glaciers
like those of the Swiss Alps traversed it.
The course of the ice from north to
south can still be traced by grooves on
the bedrock. The gravel that under
lies the soil is supposed to be the debris
that was carried down by the ice. Traces
of organic matter, such as wood and
grasses. lying on the hard-pan below the
gravel, indicate that there was a yege-
tation older than the gravel banks, and
some profess TO believe that the frozen
water that covered the land at that time
was part of the flood mentioned in the
Bible. Whether it was or not. it GER
tainly occurred many thousand years
ago. and the tree, which the stratitica-
tion of the gravel showed TO have been
! deposited when it was, must have rested
there ages ago. Ii was coniferOus. but
none of the woodchoppers 10 whom it
was shown, and none of the persons who
have seen il since. have been able to tell
what variety it was. The nearest kins-
man to it that now grows i'll our forests
| is the red cedar. The wood was care.
fully laid away, and was shown rs a
curiosity. One day Edward Parks. &
collector. who has supplied. the cabinets
and museums of Richmond with somt
of their finest specimens, heard of it.
! and went to see it. Before he came
/ back he had induced its owner TO part
with it. Mr.. Parks is IN enthusiastic
musician. as well :,S Il collector and ANA
teur geologiSt. and the idea occurred tt
him that the wood possessed all the re-
quisites for making line violin. 1t wa
light and porous. the grain was coarse
and the cells were large. Putting it un
der his arm. he went around to A. b
Clark. who was engaged in repairing ;
Cremona that was captured in the sieg
of Mexico by Prof. Barnes's father
Clark was delighted. 1t was the very
thing. lie made models of the ole
Crcmona, and in the course of three
months had given the finishing touche
To the new violin. The belly was of tn;
old antediluvian wood. and the back an,
neck'of wavy magic, cut in Pennsylvania
fifty years ago, and RATED down the Obi
to Cincinnati. and carried on to DaytOl
for an old cabinet maker who was neye
able to use ii. The figure of the old in
strument was followed exactly. an
when the new one was finished it wa
an exact fac simile of those built b
Stradivarius. When the bow was draw
across il the two connoiSsuers went int
ecstasies of delight. The glue was barrel
set and the varniSh was still green. bu
when they played the room was file
with the richest. sweetest melod,
There was an absence of the thick. ray
quality that marks new violin. Th
notes came out sharp and clear. an
: when the lower strings We're set vibra
ing they gave out rich. mellow musi'
that reminded them Of the yiolinS I
Amati and Guarnerius. .--Richmond Va
Pdiidtiium.