Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-02-03
4 REMARKABLE ECHO
WONDERFUL SOUND EFFECTS IN A
NEW YORK MONUMENT.

About Like Bail.
4 big French motor car occupied by
two men and TWO very pretty women
whirred up Riverside drive late Sun
day evening and at Ninetieth street
drew up and stopped at the approach
! TO the Soldiers and Sailors monument
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 ma
4 chine and climbed the steps 10 the
monument.
! ore of the men was a millionaire
/ well known in the financial district.
| The other was great tenor. With
I them were the millionaire's wife and Il
woman known in half dozen Euro
( pcan capitals as one OF the greatest
operate coaches li"ing-a woman who
is constant attendant upon operate
stars and sharer in no small degree
in their musical triumphs.
II it had been made during a Sunday
or n weekday afternoon. 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
zarrc 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 q crowd must have quickly filed
the plaza around the marble shaft. A
desire to escape any such annoying in
cidents probably led the visitors to
choose the nighttime for their visit
The average American is q 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 a book or two describing the
marvellous things he sees, when by re-
manning right at home lie 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, signOr," replied the ten
or rs he grasped the Wall street mans
arm. Echoes such as we have in the
Daptistery! Never-eXcept in the old
cathedraIs of Italy"
That's just what Americans say"
retorted the New York man. They go
into ecstatic Taptures 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 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 low note. An echo was heard /
which rivaled those marvellous re- |
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 /
iy transformed into moving ball OF |
sound. Its journey to the distant stone |
ceiling could be distinctly traced. 1t |
seemed to be waited upward like 4 |
ring of smoke or cottony dandelion
seed. The sound decreased until the |
note seemed to strike the small, high |
ceiling. where II fingered moment be-
fore commencing its downward trip. |
increasing in loudnesS, it
came back to the floor of the mOnu-
mcnt. apparently as loud and as intact
rs when it was uttered. The whole
wonderful incident occupied only a
few seconds, but every stage of the
~. . . l,A 1
ment and back was as pronounced and
rs easily traced as though it lad been
a butterfly or Il toy balloon.
Magnificent" exclaimed the tenor in
Zones of rapture and surprise. Il never +
dreamed such marvellous echo existed
outside the baptistery at Pisa"
His voice made a perfect riot of
sound within the narrow shaft. Count
ess tones going and coming in rapid
succession produced an effect almost
painful upon the ears OF the listeners.
At the request of one of the women
he tenor sang very slowly and softly
few phrases of La Donna Mobile"
The effect was peculiarly beautiful
Two men seemed To be singing, one
lalf beat behind the other. AS in the
Wall street mans experiment. each
lote could be heard distinctly soaring
loft Ia the ceiling and back. at the
'eturn OF each note in its original vigor
md fullneSs the effect OF a second
singer was produced. The union of
he bell-like tones OF the beautiful
-oice. the wonderful echo and the pc
'uliar stranGeness of the whole situa-
ion brought cries OF delight from the
wo women.
Il believe it is as fine as the one in
Pisa" said the woman who coaches
'rima donnas, and 10 think that we
never even heard of it before
Peculiar fact" said the New Yorker,
striking Z match and illuminating the
lark. cold interior. New Workers
never know anything about New York.
fou can't sit down in Il hotel lobby or