The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1904-04-16
A Remarkable Echo.
From New York Commercial Advertise

A big French motor car occupied by two
men and two very pretty women whirled up
Riverside drive late Sunday evening and at
Ninetieth street drew up and stopped at the
approach to the Soldiers and Sailors monu-
ment 1t was long past the hour when the
crowd Of fashionable promenaders leaves the
drive as the party Of four stepped out of the
big, vibrating machine and climbed the steps
10 the monument.
One of the men was a millionaire well
known in the financial district. The other
was great tenor. With them were the mil
lionaire's wife and woman known in half a
dozen European capitals as one of the greatest
operate coaches iving-a woman who is
constant attendant upon operate stars and
sharer in no small degree in their musical
triumphs.
If it had been made during Sunday or a
weekday afternoon, a. crowd Of fashionable
folk would undoubtedly have had their curl
osity piqued by the peculiar visit of four such
well known people. The whole affair was SO
bizarre and the sounds which soon issued from
the narrow entrance TO the glistening white
monument were so strange that at any but
late night hour crowd must have quickly
filled the plaza around the marble shaft.
desire to escape any such annoying incidents
probably led the visitors TO choose the night
time for their visit.
.'The average American is a consummate
ass, said the New Yorker as he guided the
small party up the moonlit steps to the monu-
ment HE travels to the utmost parts of the
world spends barrels of money and generally
writes a book or two describing the marvellous
things he sees, when by remaining right at
home he could have seen sights of similar
kind which would have knocked the spots off
the things on which he has wasted his patri
| mony and paragraphs of superlatives.
But echoes, signor, replied the tenor as
he grasped the Wall street mans arm.
Echoes such as we have in the baptistery
Never-excepti the old cathedrais of ltalyf'
That's Just what Americans say, retorted
| the New York man. ''They go into ecstatic
rapiures 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 leading to
| the interior of the monument. A solid cylin.
drical wall of marble and granite surrounded
a slender room empty save for half dozen
/ dried wrenths lying on one corner of the stone
/ floor. When the whole party had wormed
/ its way into the monument, the Wall street
/ man bade them be very still and with upturned
| face intoned a low note. An echo was heard
/ which rivaled those marvellous reverberatlons
which have drawn travellers to distant parts of
\ the world aud have been the subjects of bril-
I liant descriptions in the daily press and be
| tween covers The note seemed instantly
! transformed into a moving ball of sound. Its
( Journey 10 the distant stone ceiling could be
/ distinctly traced Ii seemed to be waited up
ward like a ring of smoke or cottony dande-
/ lion seed The sound decreased until the
note seemed to strike the small, high ceiling,
! where il fingered moment before commenc-
! ing its downward trip. Gradually increasing
/ in oudness, it came back to the hoor OF the
monument, 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 monument and back was as pronounced
aud as easily traced as though II had been a
/ butterfly or toy balloon.
Magnificent r exclaimed the tenor in
tones Of rapture aud surprise. Il never
dreamed such marvellous echo existed out
/ side the baptslery at Pisa.
His voice made a perfect riot of sound
| within the narrow shalt. Countless tones
( going and coming in rapid succession pro-
duced an effect almost painful upon the ears
of the listeners.
AT the request OF one of the women 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 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 ia It's original vigor and fullness the effect
Of second singer was produced. The union
. OF the bell-Gke tones of the beautiful voice.
the wonderful echo and the peculiar strange.
ness OF the whole situation brought cries of
1 delight from the two women.
Il believe it is rs fine as the one in Pisa,
said the woman who coaches prima donGas,
lard to think that we never even heard OF 1t
before r
peculiar fact, said the New Yorker,
striking match and Illuminating the dark.
cold interior New Workers never know
ANYTHING about New York. You can't sit
down ia hotel lobby or in club and speak
of echoes bat n dozen men will commence TO
dilate on some everberations they have heard
in some backwoods German or Italian town.
Bat none of them knows of anything remark
able in bis own town, the greatest city on
earth.