The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-11

| ~.
The piano has been the cause teter-
rims of Quarrels that have sundered
ancient friendships; it has wrecked
many enterprises of great pith and mo-
ment: it has disturbed the finer adj
ljustments of the cerebral machinery in
many literary and scientific workers.
has driven studious men from their
books to the bottle and has stimulated
|peaceable citizens to- the commission of
violent assaults.
These are among the evil effects of
the piano, considered passive, as the
Eschool men would say-from the point
Iof view of the sufferer. But the oper-
ator does not come off scathless A
lrecent writer, DR.. Waetzhold, thinks
that the chloroses and neuroses from
which so many young girls suffer may
be largely attributed to the abuse of
1.-THE piano. He therefore urges that the
deadly custom of compelling young
Egirls to hammer the keyboard before
they are Is or Is years of age should
be prescribed by public opinion. Even
at that age the exercise should be per-
mitted only to those who, in addition to
real talent, possess a robust constitu-
Ition.-British Medical Journal
Miss Florence Klein, a leading So
lprano of Bridgeport, Conn, lost her
Iposition in the Park Street Congrega-
tional Church, because "she is too
dramatic when singing, and losses her
head too much"
New York Tribune: ITO the unini-
Itiated all bird notes are songs" said an
Iornithologist yesterday, but to the
Estudent who has studied them there is
as much variety as there is in the hui
man voice. The call note and the song
are as different as speaking and sing
ing.
THE common catbird is a good ex-
ample. 1t has been named for it's call
note, which is one of the harshest and
most petulant cries in the whole bird
gamut. On the other hand it's song is
so sweet, so varied, and it pours the
notes forth so untiringly, that we can
only be amused at it's evident delight
in it's own powers The male and fe-
lmale are alike, a stone gray, with black
leap. and, by the way Of touching up the
Quaker-Iike sobriety of costume, have
a patch of brick-red feathers beneath
the tail.
sOf all our familiar birds it is the
Emost amusing. 1t, is never still a mo-
men, and is the greatest dandy in the
bird world, always giving it's feathers
a pat then looking to see how you
like the effect. 1t is a perfect aero
bat, tumbling now head downward,
I,
ting it's hateful sauawk till you turn
away in disgust, when, without mo-
tment's warning, the air is filed with
delicious ripping melody. One may
Hook for this bird now in shrubbery or
thicket, but the deep blue-green eggs
are not laid till the fourth week in
May.
1.-THE thrushes are filling up their
ranks. The swamp angel or hermit
thrush is the first to come and the last
to go. 1t has been Joined by the wood
thrush, called also wood robin or bell
bird This last name fits best its clear,
ringing note, sounding like a bit of
metal dropped into bell
1T is a joyous creature, singing a
rich song and building it's nest along
the village street or city park with as
much freedom as in the woody dell A
marked characteristic of this bird is
the white ring which encircles the eye
giving the little creature a startled
look. ~ 159l
"Alice's and the olive backed thrush
are familiar visitors, while Wilson's
Thrush, or the veery, as they call it
in New England, though a shy bird in
nesting-time, is confident enough on it's
first arrival Then it visits the lawns
and garden for the insects it loves. It
is one of the few birds that sing at
| night
THE brown thrasher is known as
| brown, ground OF red thrush Though
it is not a thrush at alb, or mavis. or
| brown hooking bird. 1t is another
lively songster. making up in gayety
and dash what it lacks in variety. When
| the New England farmers plant their
seed they think it sings according to
| Thoreau), as it perches on nearby
| bush, Drop it, drop it! Cover it up,
cover it up! Pull it up. pull it up!'"
Here is a new tale on Patti. On the
| eve of starting for Bucharest, where
| Victor Ullman had gone as agent in
advance, she said to her manager: Il
shall not go there: it is too cold-snow
everywhere. l do not want to catch
my death Of cold. No, a hundred times.
no; you shall not persuade me to go
there" You may imagine what a blow
! this was for me Says the manager)
when I tell you that all the pieces, not