The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1904-04-01

About Like n Ball.
~ big French motor car occupied by
two men and two very pretty women
whirrrd up Riverside drive late Sun-
day evening and at Ninetieth street
drew up and stopped ut the approach
/ 10 the Soldiers and Sailors monument.
1t WAS long past the hour when the
crowd of Fashionable promcnadcrs
| leaves the drive as the party OF four
stepped out of the big. vibrating NIL
chine and climbed the steps to the
monument.
One of the men was 4 millionaire
well known in the financial district.
The other was great tenor. With
| them were the millionaire'S wife and a
woman known in half q dozen Euro
pcan capitals as one of the greatest
| operate coaches liring-a woman who
is Il constant attendant upon operate
stars and sharer in no small degree
| in their musical triumphs.
If it had been made during Sunday
or weekday afternoon, a crowd Of
| fashionable folk would undoubtedly
| have had their curiosity piqued by the
peculiar visit of four such well known
people The whole affair was so BIZ
zarre and the sounds which soon issued
| from the narrow entrance to the glis-
| tening white monument We're so
| strange that at any but a late night
hour 4 crowd must have quickly filled
| the plaza around the marble shaft. 4
| desire to escape any such annoying in
| cidents probably led the visitors to
choose the nighttime for their visit
The average American is Il consum-
mate ass" said the New Yorker as he
| guided the small party up the moon-
| lit steps to the monument. He travels
| TO the utmost parts of the world.
| spends barrels of money and generally
writes book or two describing the
| marvellous things he sees, when by re-
naming right at home he could have
seen sights of a similar kind which
would have knocked the spots off the
things on which he has wasted his
! patrimony and paragraphs of superla-
tives."
"But echoes. sigror." replied the ten
or rs he grasped the Wall street mans
arm. Echoes such as we have in the
Daptistery! Never-cXccpt in the old
cathedrals of Italy,
That's Just what Americans say"
rctortcd the New York man. "They go
into ecstatic raptures over European
mediocrity without knowing that they
live among the greatest collection OF
marvels in the world. Listen to this
The party had reached the door lead
ing to the interior Of the monument.
\ solid cylindrical wall of marble and
granite surrounded Il slender room
empty save for half dozen dried
wreaths lying on one corner Of the
stone floor. When the whole party had
wormed its way into the monument,
the Wall street man babe them be
very still and with upturned face in
toned q low note. An echo was heard
which rivaled those marvellous re-
verberations which have drawn travel
crs to distant parts of the world and
have been the subjects of brilliant de-
scriptions in the daily press and be-
tween covers. The note seemed instant
" transformed into Il moving bail Of
sound. Its journey to the distant stone
ceiling could be distinctly traced. 1t
seemed to be waited upward like q
ring Of smoke or Il cottony dandelion
seed The sound decreased until the
note seemed to strike the small, high
ceiling. where it fingered moment be-
fore commencing its downward trip.
Gradually increasing in loudness, it
came back 70 the floor of the monu-
ment, apparently as loud and as intact
as when it was uttered The whole
wonderful incident occupied only
few seconds. but every stage Of the
sounds trip to the top of the monu-
ment and back was as pronounced and
as easily traced as though it had been
butterfly or toy balloon.
"Magniccntr' exclaimed the tenor in
tones of rapture and surprise. Il never
dreamed such marvellous echo existed
outside the baptistery ut PISA"
His voice made Il perfect riot Of
sound within the narrow shaft. Count
less tones going and coming in rapid
succession produced an effect almost
painful upon the ears of the listeners.
the tenor sang very slowly and softly
few phrases of La Donna e Mobile"
The effect was peculiarly beautiful
Two men seemed to be singing. one 4
half beat behind the other. As in the
Wall street mans experiment. each
note could be heard distinctly soaring
aloft to the ceiling and back. AT the
return of each note in its original vigor
and fullpess the effect of second
singer was produced. The union of
the bcl-likt tones of the beautiful
voice, the wonderful echo and the pc
culiar strangencss of the whole situa-
ton brought cries of delight from the
two women.
Il believe 1t Is rs fine as the one il
Pisa" said the woman who coaches
prima donnas, land to think that we
never even heard of it before"'
peculiar fact" said the New Yorker,
striking q match and illuminating the
dark, cold interior. New Workers
never know anything about New York.
You can't sit down in hotel lobby or
in club and speak of echoes but
dozen men will commence to dilate on
some reverberations they have heard
in some backwoodS German or italian
town. But none of them knows of any
thing remarkable in his own town,
the greatest city on earth. New York
Commercial Advertiser.