The National tribune., 1899-10-19

fragments, some are stringless; all of
them are as dead to harmony as the soul
that swept the strings in that far-off time.
They have fallen into a strange place in
their wanderings down the centuries, but
the echoes tell the story.
Before language was known, since the
morning stars sang together, music has
fioated in the air; and from the earliest
ages some mode of expression has been
sought by variously-constructed instru-
ments. When the changes and improve
ments are completed in the Museum this
exhibit will be found in one of the upper
balconies, and if the plan of Dr. Goode is
carried out, the evolution will be after the
order laid down by Rowbotham: First
instruments of percussion; second, wind,
and, lastly, string instruments. Those
there gathered that make this object lesson
complete have been brought in from the
four quarters Of the earth.
The first are the primitive musical in
srumeHts of pcrcussion-the rattle"
made of gourds; some finished with handles
of bone and wood and feather ornaments.
Their birthplace was the land Of the Zunls,
Costa Rica, and the FIJI Islands. The
cocoon of the Mexican butterfly has added
its quota TO the Indians belt, and to the
sonorous timekecpers Of the dance; even
the dew-claws Of the deer have been utilized
for rattles, and the youths of these wander
ing tribes are initiated into the full stature
of manhood by the ceremonial known as
the puberty dance, and the "dcw-claw
rattle" is held sacred for this purpose.
TO these instruments Of percussion is
added the FIJI Islanders drum" Of hollow
wood, which can be heard for miles in
hours Of danger. Through the %gougs"
We talk with India, and with the Spanish
senoritas through the "castInets'; the
tambourine brings the Circassian maiden
before you, and Sambo with the bones"
dances the clog-dance. The hour-giass
drum belongs 10 the tea girls Of Japan;
the "midranga" is the classical drum of
Calcutta. There are the "tom-toms" of
Africa, the royal drums" of Siam, and the
"dcrvish drums" Of Cairo. They ali speak
10 us in a language not their own, for 81
lently and mute they hang.
How we long 10 have them take us into
their confidence, and tell US the mission Of
their birth; but, alas, they keep their secret
well. Ii could not be for sound alone that
they We're made-certainly not for melody.
Was it not Tor a rhythmic rhyme TO mark
the time when the dance, or the feast, the
burial, or the ceremony was on?
The savage in war-paint and feathers,
the dancing girls OF the Orient, and the
dervish dancers of Cairo were their hand
maidens in service, that they loved, that
they caressed; but they have become the
inheritance of new nation, and when ge
L,ok upon this collection of crude instru-
.ly-t hot
their thruins, if only in rhythm, for their
footprints lead the right way" In another
case We come upon the wind Instruments
In them we learn how melody found ex-
preston other than by the human voice
The earliest instrument OF this class was
PANS pipe" How quickly. we remember
that Mrs. Browning said:
"He tore out a reed-thc great god Pan
From the deep, cold bed Of tho river:
The limpid water turbidly ran,
And the broHen lilies a-dyiug lay,
And the drag0u-iy had fed away
Ere he brought it out OF the river.
"I'his is the way, laughed the great god Pan
Uaughed while he sat by the river,
The only way since gods began
To make sweet music, they could sue
ceed;
Then dropping his mouth TO a hole in
the reed,
He blew in power by the river"
And we know what followed
";Irhe sun on the hill forgot to die,
And the lilies revived, and the dragon-f1y
Came back TO dream on the river"
Over the world the vibrations went,
unUil Pans pipe" is found in Japan, India,
Siam, and the islands of the sea; always
of the same construction. Out from this
grew the shepherds flute. You can easily