The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-07-24
ESTABLISHED 1879.

Il turned savagely toward the plano
knew there WAS but that one piano In
hearing distance, and l knew l was
alone in the room. l knew il that pi-
ano was the origin of the sound had
just heard that it was produced by
some other than ordinary means. 1
lighted the lamp. There stood the pr
ano, lid open, just as | had left it-si-
lent as l had left it-with the excep-
ton that there was the overtone of
pedal held bass note still vibrating
softly in the air. / looked, involun-
tarily, at the pedal Gentlemen, that
pedal was held down. 1t is monstrous,
it is incredible, but it is a fact-that
pedal was held down-and even as
looked it was released and came slow
ly back to its natural position, as If the
foot of the invisible performer was
taken caressingly from it.
''To say that was startled would be
to put 1t very mildly. l was thunder
struck and not little frightened, not
of bodily harm, but frightened as we
usually are of things we cannot under
stand.
81 took a step toward the instrument.
AS did so 1 not only heard that chord
again, but saw it struck repeat,
saw the keys go softly down and
heard the sound, soft, low, but clear as
bell. l STOPPED, petriied. turned,
walked an uncertain step toward the
door, turned again, and then dropped
weakly into chair Well thought,
I am either dreaming or have gone
crazy or am seeing a miracle! I must
brace up and do something But even
as / moved to do something there
stole through the air the prettiest
strain of music, the softest, sweetest,
merriest strain I ever heard. 1 listen
ed, spellbound. 1 had never heard
anything like it before, nor have
ever since. You have all heard that
composition that has made me what
ever amt is called my best compo-
sition-but l am a failure as a COM
poser, because have never since been
able to do anything so good.
1.-THE music continued for some ten
minutes, the piano behaving in all re-
spects as If being played by a human
being. The keys were struck with
every note, the pedals worked as If
pressed by foot of flesh, and then
with that rapid trill that ends on A
fiat the music broke off as abruptly as
it had begun-and seemed to hear
mind, say l seemed, to hear-a low,
sweet laugh-Elsa's laugh. But am
quite willing to believe that this might
have been all Imagination. How do I
know the whole thing was not imagi-
nation7 Well, in the first place, 1
know it from my consciousness Of
what is real and what is a dream. I
know it from the music, so strangely
played for me and which have never
forgotten, although [ have never been
able to play it with the power 1t had
when first l heard it, but lest you say
that l have only mental, personal
proofs, 1 will tell you this: l had just
had my piano put in perfect order,
newly tuned, yet that A fiat, on which
there is a long trill at the end of the
composition, that A fiat was a full
minor third out of tune, had dropped
that amount in an evening-and yet
the three strings of that middle regis
ter A fat were in perfect tune to-
gether.
'"That, gentlemen, is all there is to
my experience. 1t was my first and
my last Perhaps 1 should say that /
told the story to the judges before play
ing the compo sition in competition for
the Elliott prize, but they evidently re-
garded me as harmless lunatic. Any
way, they let me play it as my own,
and it won the much needed $4,000, en-
abling me to complete my course and
win what success has come to me. !
have, as l told you, no explanation to
pffer. 1t is as mysterious to me as it
must be to you. have asked often
for help to solve the riddle, but have
never come nearer the truth than at
frst. l shall be very glad Of any light
kny Of you gentlemen can throw on
the subject "-Washingt Post