The record-union., 1894-08-11
MoooK AND THE PHoNoGRAPH.
How the Teachings of the Mother
Were Confirmed.

Were Confirmed.
General McCook, Commander of the
Department OF the Colorado, is given to
moraliZing sometimes when he feels
good, and not long ago, sitting at the dim
ner table, the conversation turned upon
the wonders OF the photograph, where
upon the Generl unlimbered his tongue
and discoursed as follows:
when l was boy [ was not very
bad boy. My mother said | gave her
less trouble than any other boy she had.
When 1 went off fishing or playing
hockey and got back after meal hours /
did not complain. A little bread and
milk would do, or piece OF cheese and
cold potato; anything that happened to
be convenient. But on one occasion my
mother said TO me:
Alexander, you have some awfully
trifing ways. Iou idle away great deal
of time. You say a great many foolish
things. Do you know that God keeps an
account of all you say and all you do and
that you will have 10 answer for it on the
Day OF JudgmentY
"Whereupon l said Mother, do YOU
mean to say that when / GO fishing or
'possum hunting; when l run with boys
and we tell stories: when | try to make
a good showing for my short comings,
and when / am trifling and no good, that
the good God is keeping account of all
that and will spring it upon me eventu-
ally?' My pious mother assured me that
that was the case, but [ could never see
through it. 1t always seemed to me
that L was so trif1ing a boy that the Ruler
of the Universe could not possibly make
any note of what / did. But three or
four years ago l went to Boston. / hap
peDed to be there one Sunday morning
and went around to old South Church to
look over the military museum which is
there. l found an old soldier on watch
l addressed him as 'comrade.' He asked
me TO register my name, and when l did
and he looked over the register, he was
delighted, and said: i am so glad to see
you, General McCook. / am glad you
have come this morning, too, because we
shall not be disturbed Sunday morning.
the museum is not open to the general
public, and we can take our time' So
for an hour and half we looked through
the museum and at last came upon pho
nograph. l asked what it was, when he
said; Did you ever work a phonograph,
General?' Being answered IN the mega
tive, he said: Take a seat. Now he
added, General, make a little speech
which | did. Now sing little song,'
which 1 did. Now whistle if you can,
General and / whistied. Then we got
up and strolled through the museum
again, but coming back by the phono-
graph said: why did you ask me to talk
and to sing and to whistle before this in
strumentP Oh said the comrade, Il
forgot; take a seat Then we set the ma
chine going, and it was McCook sure
enough making speech; it was McCook
singing song, and it was the same old
whistle that my sainted mother so COM
planned of when | was a boy. Then
quick as flash came the thought that If
that little thing called a phonograph
could pick up my voice and retain it and
Il Il l:@ef.
ton made by little common man named
Edison was sufficient to catch and to
hold my voice and to repeat it back to
me, who knows how easy it would be for
Him who first created the air and the
light and sound vibrations to have fixed,
just TO be operated by natural laws, such
an adjustment as would catch and hold
any word that | spoke. and with a finer,
clearer faculty catch and hold every
thought i'll my heart? And if this earthly
instrument. in an hour or week or in
ten years after l spoke into it could re-
peat my words so that my very lnhec-
tions would be distinct, what would
hinder that other machine from catching
and holding for a life time all my words
and my thoughts and at the Infinite
touch on the last day repeat to my shud
dering ears the whole story? There is
many sentence in the Good Book
that l do notunderstand; many q
one that L do not pretend TO understand,
but since L saw the photograph and
since l know by its response that it in
silence caught my tones and hurled them
back at me, | do not doubt the truth of
that other statement that all our acts and
words are recorded, recorded by natural
process. by the workings only of natural
laws, ana that sometime the key will
be touched and every tone will be re-
peated back to me. And the thing
which seemed impossible when I was
boy, not only impossible but ridiculous,
has become an absolute reality since
then. A poor, weak mortal whose span
in this life is not long at best, has proven
to me that it is in the power of Just q
mortal to catch and hold my voice and to
repeat my words in the very accents in
which they were spoken, and If this is
possible with mortal, what is impossi-
bic with the great God, who, when He
framed this earth put round it the means
to preserve the record of what men
should do, what they should think? Who
knows, too, if there are not sound waves
to thought? Who knows if the soul has
not voice that is heard in the stiller and
clearer realms, and that when we hear it's
tones coming from the more delicate
own? The photograph is all Invention
which was stolen from the spheres"
Science is fayorlte pursuit in modern
college study. Over one hundred Vsssar
girls in one class alone have chosen a
course in biology.