New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-09-09
INDIAN WHISTLES IN The MUSEUM.

A MusICIAN pIscOURsEs ON THE EVOLUTION Oh
PIPES AND FLUTES AND ORGANS.
"Bebold the footprints of the infancy OF our
art" said musician standing In front OF glass case
In the Museum OF Natural History He pointed to the
whistles rates in the collection OF articles present
ed 10 the museum by Heller r. Bisoop. Tho collection
came from the shores OF British Columbia. and the
smallest portion of 1t was composed of the objects that
lind arrestcd the attention of the musician Only score
or more OF big and little whistles some OF bone SONS OF
wood one revised aud improved by the author by the
addition OF tin powder canister as bell few showed
two whistles bound together
"a Yankc. boy. with a good jackknife and sappy
willow twg would discount the collection In nftecn MIN
utCsY said matter-of.fact reporter
$50 he might 80 far as the musical product OF his
work would be ooDcerne ," assented the musician, but
his Whistles though as duloet-toned as the voice OF
pbomsla would not have the significance OF the small
est Of those rude Instruments. Would you hear what
they speak me Would sec how In those whistles
made by savagcs lie the OF the organ that thun-
cers aud pleads and walls and sings III chorus OF seraphs
voices IN Trinity Cnurohi Would you transport your
self back In time through and SEQ instruments Ike
these III hands OF the people who aterward cnanted
hymns to Isis and Osiris saug the songs OF the Vedas
made music with the sound OF tho cornet. hute harp
saoRbu psaltery and dulomer rsIsed psalms Of thanks
giving In the temp jerusalem and listened 10 the
enhanced lips of Homeri Follow me-in your mind
Those little bone whistles among the earliest OF
musical Instruments, they follow hard the heels OF
clappers and drums and they antedate the whoe
tribe Of sirnged Instruments They were known In ths
stone age and been dug With the relics OF that
terrific man who had TO contest the occupancy OF middle
Europe with the rhnoceros the mammoth and the cave
lion When they were first made they made with flint
knives That's one proof OF their antiquity; another
furnished by phiology and mytnology The Egyptians
called the inge flute blown ut the end seo' ana stot Is
the name Of tho bone tho Latns called 1t hba, and
Hbia IL the Of the legbone. The Greeks tod the
fact more POLITICALLY. According TO one OF their Legends
Paa. Atneno made the first flute. forming 1t out OF the
bone Of deer order 20 mimic the kissing sounds
made By the shaker On the heads OF sth6no and Euya
the sisters OF Medusa when they reised OF lainen
tation over Der death
"From bone whistles TO whistles made OF reeds the
step was not great mechanics but u told OF an nd
vance IN musical taste The was no longer con-
fning II 10 the hunt mayhap he was using 1t TO charm
his female companion lie bound two together as those
two are bound together. Long years afterward the
Hebrews called the double flute mishrokIa; the Greeks
who had varieties OF IL of wnch tney mads SER
yeeS0s 1 or "a nine bsiss Gios n the tubes were
alike the Romans called the double hute hb6 pdroj
they were dincron bio iDpares Tncy. too. put them
on vases and Ike the Greek, put band1 around tho
cheeks OF the beautiful women who playcd thein is
uiaces which would have pnned the eyes ofau antique
Now from this point iu tho evolution Of the flute
down 10 the discovery Of the essential principle OF the
pneumatic organ there practically nut Two steps.
one OF these steps Hadan Indians have taken, for
have seen evidence In tho collection oil obj Gets
from rented tribes sent BY the Rev;
Sheldon Jackson 10 Princeton IL Is TIE
invention OF the syriDx Paudeau pes, and the addi
unn OF an artificial air reservoir. You the nrst
union the bagpipes. The Assyrians had them, the
Hebrews, Greeks and Romans had then ana they were
esteemed right regal Instruments II was not the fiddle,
but tho Hbid uircdrs that Nero played on when Rome
was burning. Win tue syrinx We reach classical ground
that you walked AT school Two names suggest the
legend relating its origin. Virgil and OVID have"
Pan priins caldrnOs eerG eonfnGoe pIurss instIfu
repeated the reporter, not LONG irOm scnool
Right You are; and now recall rom the Meta
morphosos the episode OF the loyeslck Pan, whose
couth and shaggy breast beaved with sgns for svnI.
one Of the oVeliest nymphs OF Arcadia She was timd
and fed from his advances lie pursued rolling about
Ike the hulk he was, and believing his protes
tations n Ike the bull OF Bashan. Down 10 the
edge brook lay the path OF higut and Pans greedy
arms were all but around tho flushed and nnitering
syrnx when she murmured q prayer to pacious god
aud was changed into clump OF reeds. Poor, neon
Pan She he doubtless thought, would De his only
love. lilo cut tubes fiVm the newborn reeds,
Joined them with and gave his disappointment
utterance thrOugh brcatbings on the syrinx."
"Did ne aftorward tue other coy nymphs OF
Arcadia with this tunefu relic OF his lost love I'm
afraid ho did"