The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-03-27

rush to catch him should he reel and
fall forward from the pulpit. There
were evident signs of deep for
him in the congregation. Perhaps it
was only two minutes, but II
seemed an hour that this situation
held.
Then Rand, rising unobtrusivelv.
reached forward and turned of the
desk light. A moment later a look OF
relief came over the old clergyman's
face. He opened his eyes, paused a
moment, as If TO steady himself, then
went on again. and waited perhaps
80 seconds. | knew from the hand to
his a that he was still listening.
Then he turned on the light once more
and again listened. He next said
something in a low voice to DR.. Cole.
man, and, settling back comfortably,
folded his arms and listened to the
sermon at his ease. He had solved
the mystery.
How | endured the half-hour till
Rand and | were walking down the
avenue, arm in arm, with the happy
old clergyman, | do not know. DR.,
Coleman and he had already had some
explanatory words together, for the
first thing | heard was:
But, my dear Mr.. Rand, how did
You make so wonderful a discovery?
| can hardly realize it is n mystery
no longer"
1T was really very simple, after
all, DR.. Coleman replied Rand.
Through the Callahan men | col.
lected in advance, among other things,
the musical programs from every
church on Manhattan island. BY my
microphone | discerned that it was
Pfeister's Ave Maria that was being
sung somewhere this morning, its
echoes apparently audible to your ears
alone. From my indexed notes |
found that the only church where this
number was being sung was the
Church Of the Revelation, on the
West side, a mile away, a distance far
too great. of course, for the natural
conveyance of sound. Instantly, how.
ever, it flashed over me that this was
n Of the old churches in which | had
learned the old sounding-boards of the
Teleautic Company had been placed.
Here were the am music and the
same sounding -boards-but no wiring
had been put in. ] looked at the base
of the sounding.board beside me. No
wiring was there now! Yet there
must be a connection, There must
be wires-wireless reproduction being
eminently absurd. AS | sat absorbed
in thought | raised my eyes and
CHANGED to see that the electric wires
to the desk light ran over the top Of
the sounding.board. One chance in a
million of a chance connection by the
electric lighting company! Rising, |
turned off the light, as you may ra-
member, and the music ceased to be
audible, | turned the light on, and
the Ave Maria could be heard to a
close. You were alone In hearing the
faint sound.waves so clearly, because
your ears were in the exact focus CT
the radii of the sounding-board. | no.
ticed yesterday that the other church
services began at 11:15, and | will
guarantee, without visiting the audi.
forum of the Church of the REVEAL
ton, that the other board is so placed
that the choir sings directly into 1t.
If you were in the habit Of keeping
your desk light burning all through
the service, and If you stood Just
where you preach, you would hear
the other sermon and all the rest of
the music"
We visited the other church after
lunch and found all the details fitted
Rand's theory to a nicely. The mov-
ing of a plug in the Edison district
plant one-thirty-second Of an inch
forever hushed the voices of the I'm.
seen singers.