Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-08-16

by somebody playing on something some
where
what is ite Where does it come
from
That's right. Thomas. The level-head-
ed boy always asks questions. Hark!
Here comes another piece. Let's hear
a few more and then Mabel or her hus-
band will tell you all-Hush''
Suddenly it seemed as If they were all
listening to a full orchestra-and such
soft. sweet and beautiful music! Thomas
was sure he could hear all the fiddles
sweeping along in a charming song, and
the flutes and the clairnets weaving a
pretty accompaniment to the song. Then,
after a pause. they heard n fine organ,
and then another piece by the brass band,
with a comet solo. that made Thomas
clap his hands in applause, which made
everybody laugh.
well. Thomas" said Mr. Brown,
what do YOU think Of that my boy?
How is ii done?"
ITS very fine. suppose you have
pipe line for the
Everybody laughed, and Thomas did
not finish the sentence. However. being
a sensible boy and seeing his mistake, he
said:
is it some new kind of telephone or
phonograph? 1t does not sound a bit like
any talking machine I ever heard"
Gertrude came to the rescue and said
to Thomas:
See Here inside the fern and hidden
by its green fronds, is telephone. There
is another telephone behind those sprays
of syringa, over the center table, and
another behind the rubber plant in the
dining room"
She parted the great fronds of the Bos-
ton fern and showed Thomas a telephone
receiver behind the plant, and having a
| horn. like the horn Of n gramophOne
Yes; l see the telephone and l can
understand the music comes over wire
| from somewhere. But how is the music
| made? Is there real band and regular
| church organ on the line?'
mo. It's new and wonderful instru-
! ment, and when some one plays upon it.,
! thousands OF people can hear the music,
! in their telephones, miles and miles away.
| How II is done, l don't know, but sister
Mabel and her husband saw 1t in New
! York ands liked il so much father had a
! wire connected to our house, and now
we have beautiful music every evening,
right at home, by wire from New York.
Then Mr. Hayden-Jones opened the
! piano and Mabel sat before it and called
Thomas and Gertrude to her side. Ger
trude's father and mother drew their
| chairs nearer for they. too, wished to UNI
derstand this wonderful music.
Now" said she. Il viii touch the
lowest key of the piano and you will see
the little hammer fly up and strike the
/ HISI ana longest SlIlUBs Inc SlIlllB VI
brates and gives out a deep humming
sound. Touch it with your finger and you
feel it quivering. This vibration of the
string sets the air in motion, and this
motion spreads through the air, just as
you see little waves on a pond spread ovei
the surface of the water. We cannot SEE
the waves started by the string. yet WI
know that they fly through the air into oul
ears and we say we hear the sound made
by the vibrating string"
Thomas touched the big string and SAT-
that he understood that part of the bust
ness. Then said Mabel:
THAT lowest string of all gives Jus
sixteen vibrations a second. 1 touch
key one octave higher, and make its strinl
vibrate. Touch it, and you feel that 1t 1
moving much faster. 1t vibrates thirty
two times a second, and when the waves
set up in the air by the string, reach GU
ears, we say we hear a note one octav
, higher. 1t seems, TO the ear, like
, smooth, unbroken sound 1t is reall
thirty-two waves coming to our ear s
: fast that we cannot separate them, and
seems to us like a continuous note. So
J is with all the strings. The lowest give
! sixteen vibrations a second, the next oc
' tave, twice as many, and so on to tn
I eighth octave string that vibrates owe
J, four thousand times second and gives
Z very high note.
E $50 it is with all musical sounds. The