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FOND OF SWEET SOUNDS
ST 1KcdiH)al of Sumptuary
Latvs Might He of Service
Wonderful Collection of Instrument in ths Metropolitan I
Museum of Art Shows That the Love of Mu3ic
Has Been Universal for All Time,
MAUVF.l.Ol'S collcc-
Jtion of musical Instrtl-
Intents- one nf the most
I notable of its kind In the
Jworli Is on permanent
jrxhlWtloii at tho Metro-
politan Museum of Art
in New York. Instrument from
every country under tlio sun
are comprised in the collection,
which Is housed In four largo galler
ies if t!ie Museum. One of these gnl-lerb-s
i- tlie home of the Asiatic In-sti-imcnts.
lieginning with t'hliia,
w . p,i s-n ' essi i'Iv to .lnpnn, Korea,
Si.it;i. Unrma. India. Asiatic Kussia,
l'i vm.i. Arabia an 1 Syria.
Ain.thcr gallery :s .uuoii tip to
An.il.'. i. Noitli an. I South, to Africa.
T.ns of Indi.i.
Guitar With
Sympathetic
Strings.
sr. 1 tn (i i anli a F'lrupe fills the
two r- ti.altiina galleries
To ( lie hiisi (it i- it iis acquaint
ai i will nri-nnl instpimenis has
I i i n unlii'.t , to Ihf tutilctits (if the
KMupcan uvhest: a, tin- I cvclat loti if
i.ow ft inns in tint n iiii'i t inn is simply
hewildci jug. Nil loiitilry Is ho re
mot". Ho tl'ihe mi liin l ilii'il. lull tins
Its n 't't"si ntal iv e. Kuypt sends the
l.arp anil tin1 sistrum: Mi xle ati'l
I'er.i have restored from tin- montuls
t In i lay whistles it in I trumpets long
npi li ii ieil with their iitnifiit inhale
Hunts. China contributes Its tongs
of sonorous stoiif. ami from Its hoary
temples brings Imlli tin "go." or
(Touching tiKir. From far Alaska
nine tlrimis mailt' of skin, it 11 1 shaped
lUe a palm leaf fan. Tln North
American lmlian sends lils love llnte.
and his brother of the south his rat
flo. .lava has the "anklnng." with
its musical I'HiiiImm) tuhes In octaves,
living a soutnl like running water.
From more distant Islands come the
panpipes and the nose Mute. And so
one might run on Indefinitely. No
people or tribe so primitive or so re
mote but they have invented some
ileice to gratify their love of sweet
sound.
The singular fact revealed hy such
a collection l: that all devhes were
known to men from the earliest
times, and may now he found nmonv
men of the rudest forms of culture.
The piano of Ciislnfori i.nd the
A frit an "marimba" are first cousins.
The modern oboe had a sister allium;
the ancient Fgypt inns, tnd the fam
ily is today rept fscn'eii in almost
very quarter of the globe. China
has known from time immemorial
the use of the free reed whic h gives
us our harmonium, and the reser
voir of air which makes possible mr
Miami organ is found in every gypsy
bagpipe. Fvcn unusual inventions
like Uenjamiii Franklin-, glass har
monica i hi . not to be so original
as they appear. The principle of pro
ducing different musical tones by
rubbint; smooth surfaces of different
size has been applied by the natives
of New Ireland In the IlismiircU
archipelago, who In their "kulepa
ga:ie." have devised nil instrument
in which four distinct musical tones
can be obtained by rubbing us many
polished surfaces of wood.
Special Interest gathers about the
ensos which contain the instruments
of our own North American Indians.
Here may be scon within narrow
compass what our western hemis
phere has contributed to the develop
ment of tho timsiial art. A pathetic
Drum from Alaska.
interest at taihes to many of the
specimens There is that fine col
lection of the Sioux instruments. Hut
a few short years ago and you might
have heard their like played by their
makers In one of those singular or
chestral concerts which sometimes
lasted for weeks. Now, like the but
Talo, their day Is past. No longer
will the plaintive tones of me love
ftuto be heard as the young brave
goes forth to woo Iuh bride, and the
tappers and drums which once bent
so brave a dance now serve but to
idorn a museum wall.
As we pass from one of the great
Mvlllzatlons to another, from China
lo Slam, from Slam to India, from
India to Persia or to Arabia, we are
itruck by the strong marks of na
tional peculiarity. The principles
ire the same, but the application dif
fers widely. Material, workmanship,
lecoratlon, form each bears the
lump of the country from wtatrh It
lu come. Instruments which have
FT sTtvi j
LOW.
Peaccck
oeen uomesticawHt. as is the cone
with the Chinese Instruments In
Korea ami Japan, tako on a new
haracter w ith the new environment,
and persist as distinct types. One
feels the Isolation or conservatism-
the civilization which grows from
within. Rtnl which owes little or noth
ing to foreign contact. One wonders
how long this independence will
maintain Itself, In view of the ever
growing pressure from the West. AI
ready the Japanese are abandoning
their national instruments and adopt
ing those of modern ICurope. Will
the day come when this will he true
of India and of China? Will the
cheng" give place to tho harmo
nium, me "vlna" to the violin? One
cannot but feel that such a result
would be a distinct loss to tho must
( a I ail.
lichue ns, tor instance, aro two
harps of quaint const ruction, with-
oi.i me upnuai piuar which Is so
characteristic a feature of the Kuro
pean Instrument. They are repro
dm tiers of two Cgvptian harps, over
the (U ik-iiials of which, now pre
served In the Umvre museum, thir
ty tii' ci Murics have passed. Not
tar off are two small metal pipes,
also Kgyptlan. of which tho orlglnnls
lire in l lie Oxford museum. In these
four specimen we have the direct
am-stors of the two chief divisions
of Kuropciiu instruments the
stringed ami the wind. Moving on-
wind, we pass in review the ihlef
f.milles of the former division; first,
those which are played by plucking
-the harps, the lutes ami nrchllutcs,
the cithers, the guitars, die mando
lins; then those which are played by
striking, like the dub liner; finally,
the viols, violins am' the rest, in
which the tone Is produced by the
bow. Then, we pass In succession
the chief families of wind Instru
ments - the flutcH and whistles, tho
reeds, single and double, and the bag
pipes, which combine both princi
ples. '1 he lad great group of wind
instruments, those played with cup-
moiitli pieccs. till almost tho whole
of on of the Kuropean galleries.
African Marimba Wooden Harmon
ica wiin neionant uouraa.
leaving the drums, bells, gongs, and
other sonorous Instruments to bring
up the rear.
SEA WALL AT GALVESTON.
Three and a Half Million Dollars Will
Be Spent in Its Construction.
The rcMirl of the board of engineers
on plans for the sea wall to protect
ilalveston i nils for three miles of con
crete breakwater, seventeen feet above
mean low tide. The estimated cost of
the sea wall Is $.2'.M.7f.r.. and that of
filling in the cut ire city so as to bring
Its grade up to the proper level is
'Jin.L's.-i additional, making a total of
$:i.r.iu;.M4ii. After tho hurricane that
almost wiped out the city it was evl
dent that steps should be taken to pro
tect (Inhesion from another like ca
lamity. A sea wall was the means de
cided upon, the plan which calls for
the most pretentious piece of engineer
ing of the sort ever attempted In ths
I'nlted States.
The money needed for the enter
prise will be raised under a constitu
tional provision granting coast coun
ties the privilege tn issue bonds for
protect lou against the encroachment of
the gulf, provided tho proposition is
ratified by a two-thirds vote of the
taxpayers of the county. The propo
sition was submitted to the taxpayers
of lialvestou county to Issue $l,.riUil.(inO
sea wall bonds and was carried, only
twenty-six votes being cast against it.
The people of (ialveston bought the
bonds, with the exception of a very
small amount. Still the money for the
tilling in was yet to be provided for.
The eighth bill Introduced In the pres
ent legislature provides funds to prose-
iiite the work by allowing the city of
( Ialveston to divert for fifteen years
its slate taxcB from the treasury Into
a fund to be used solely for grading
the city.
Immense Postoffice Business.
The postofllce money order depart
ment handles about s:iii,noo,uiio a
year. The loss by tho dishonesty and
carelessness of clerks has been only
$.'.'.1 In the last two years, but this
Is partly explained by the fact that
th.e clerks are made responsible for
the money they handle, and any loss
is considered theirs.
The Construction of Windows.
Kxperlmeiils in the double glazing
of windows with a view of reducing
the loss of heat through them idiow
that the two sheets of glass should
have a space of two and a half to
four and a half Inches between them
to produce the minimum radiation.
Chinese Idea of Beauty.
The li roue n and distorted foot of a
Chinese lady Is called a "golden lily"
by Chinese admirers of such distor
tions.
Immense Downpour o? Rain.
Turing the forty minutes' duration
of a cyc-.une at Drookville, In Queens
land, five inches of rain fell
Those legislators who have recently
proposed laws about kissing and cell-Athat sumptuary laws wore universally
bary and taxing real or bogus lord A
might try their luck at a few sump
tuary laws. They would bo quite as
well-timed as tho others and mora
useful, and perhaps Just as little
herded, especially If they should aim
to "restrain tho expense of citizens In
apparel," for It Is sadly recorded that
never were such laws made but to be
Shall the Curse Be Ktstr4f
Ignored, even when defiance might
mean a trifling matter of hanging or
burning alive.
In the good old once-upon-a-tlme.
when Kdward III. was king of Eng
land, furs of ermine and lettlce were
strictly forbidden to any but tho
royal family or nobles having l,0n
a year or more the millionaires oi
the time. Cloth of gold and silver and
habits embroidered with Jewels, lined
with pure minever and other expen
sive furs, were permitted only to
knights and ladles whose income ex
ceeded uu marks yearly.
Tho fain I Ilea of knights whose' W
rome was more than 200 marks and of
squires possessing .C200 In lands or
tenements, were allowed to wear cloth
of silver, with their ribands, girdles,
and other accessories reasonably orna
mented wiih silver. They were al
lowed also to wear woolen cloth of the
value of six marks for the whole piece,
while all the unfortunates of less prop
erty or lower rank were forbidden to
wear silk or embroidered garments of
any sort or such ornaments as rings.
buckles, ouches, girdles and ribands.
In the reign of Henry IV. not only
was "cloth of crimson, cloth oi velvet
or motley velvet" forbidden to any
save persons of high estate, but tho
cut of garments was regulated so that
no person, be his condition what It
might, was permitted to wear a gown
cut or slashed Into the form of letters,
rose leaves, posies of other kinds, or
any curious devices, under the penalty
of forfeiting the same, and the tailor
who undertook the order was to be
Imprisoned during the king's pleasure.
Likewise In the time of Edward IV.
no one under the rank of a lord was
permitted to wear the indiscreetly
short Jacket or "pike or poulaine" to
his shoes more than two inches In
length, and no yeoman or person of
less degree was permitted to have
bolsters or stuffing of wood, cotton or
cadis In his purpoint or doublet under
a penalty of six shilling and eight
pence fine and forfeiture, and every
tailor or shoemaker guilty of making
such apparel for unprivileged persous
suffered the pain of cursing by the
clergy, as well as a forfeiture of 20
shillings.
Tho wives of esquires and gentle
men and knights under the rank of a
lord were forbidden to wear any kind
of corses, which means the body of
tho gown and not a corset, worked
with gold, and the wives of persons
not having 40 pounds yearly and
widows and their daughters of smaller
possessions were forblddon to wear,
girdles ornamented with gold, silver
or gilt work or any corse of silk or
coverchlef made out of the realm.
tiut it is not necessary to give any
more examples of the well-laid plans
of kings tn order to lead up to the
fact tt.it they went the same way that
those of mice and ordinary men do.
The lamentations of the clergy and
the tnatlre of the poets quaintly prove
disregarded.
The complaint of Chaucer'a Parson
"concerning the sinful, costly array of
clothing" la to the effect, with the
spelling modernized, that "the tin In
superfluity of clothing which maketh
It so dear to the harm of the people. Is
not only to the cost of embrouding,
the disguising, Indenting or barring,
minding, paling, winding, or bendlns
and semblable waste of cloth in vanity,
but there Is also the costly furring In
their gowns, so much pouneening of
chisel to make holes, so much dagglng
of shears with the superfluity in length
of the aforesaid gowns trailing in the
mire, etc." This would not come so
much amiss by the way In describing
a very smart 1003 frock.
So it appears that these happy folk
of leng ago went gayly on in their
vain ways of spending very much
more on gorgeous raiment than they
could well afford or than the law al
lowed and bravely defied fines and
forfeiture tn order to present a gallant
appearance.
Hut this is a utilitarian age, and If
some strenuous soul were to introduce
sumptuary laws to-day they might
prove unexpectedly popular as offering
a very decent means of escape from
the ruinous elegance of modern dress.
For instance, It would be satisfying to
say with conscious virtue "Harry
wanted dreadfully to give me an er
mine stole and muff this year, but I
felt that we must obey the law, which
forbids It to auy but billionaires, you
know."
Or: s .
"Mme. Branagan wished fairly to
cover my new frock with open-stltch-Ing,
but I wouldn't put myself in a
position to be cursed by the dear
bishop for all the frocks In Christen
dom."
Or, with a sigh:
"Irish point would have been a love
ly thing to trim this dress with, but
we aim to be law-abiding citizens and
lace is forbidden to those with less
than $.'0.00ti a year." t
It would bo much pleassnter to say
such things than to acknowledge open
ly or tacitly that you couldn't afford
the article or to strain every nerve
to get them and pay the consequence.
There are plenty of level-headed wom
en to-day who could extract a degree
of restfulness out Of the conscientious
Forbidden
observance of a sumptuary law which
could hardly be given by any sanator
ium In existence. New York Sun.
A HERO OF THE SHIPYARDS.
Triumph of Clear Grit. Cool Judgment
and Quick Action.
On Friday last a big boiler, weigh
ing sixty-four tons, was about to be
lowered Into the hold of a steamship
at the New York Shipyards. The
hundred-ton crane, so called because
It will lift a weight of 100 tons as
easily as a college girl lifts a wooden
dumbbell, was swinging Its great
arms toward tho monster boiler,
eighteen feet in circumference.
Mist They Plead That It Was Only
Bargain T
Perched on the top of It was a work,
man a poor Norwegian who scarce
ly apeaka English. His back was to
ward the crane, and he never saw It,
nor did any one else until It was with
in two feet; of him. If the arm of
the giant crane struck him it would
crush him as it would an egg shell.
Twenty feet below was the ground
strewn with jagged pieces of Iron, to
fall on which was Instant death. The
workmen below saw his danger and
shouted to him. The man turned
half way round and felt the crane
coming. It was death either way,
and, paralyzed With fear, he collapsed.
At this critical moment when every
one else had lost his head, one man
was thero who knew what to do, and
did It. Twenty feet away when the
impending doom over the man was
first seen, in less thnn two seconds he
cleared the space and stood among
the jagged iron.
"Jump for your life! It's your only
chance!" ho cried, and he braced
himself to catch the falling man,
while tho crowd held Its breath. The
two men came together with an Im
pact so great that both were picked
up senseless. It was a caso of clear
grit, cool Judgment and prompt
action.
Danger In Nightmares.
"I believe that dreams sometimes
kill," said a prominent specialist on
nervous diseases the other day. "Of
course I don't know that they aro fa
tal, but I have every reason to think
so. I had a woman patient whom I
was treating for a number of compli
cations, Including a weak heart. She
could not bear any excitement and I
Finery Long Ago.
often warned against exposing hersell
to sudden fright She complained of
having nightmare and said she often
woke up In a state of terrible flight,
so weak that she could not call for
help. One morning she was found
dead In bed with an expression of ab
Ject terror on her face. I have no
doubt that she died from fright pro
duced by a nightmare.
"Persons subject to nightmare who
have weak hearts should avoid sleep
ing on the back. They should lie on
the right side and have the right arm
extended so they will wake up If they
turn over. Most nightmares are the
result of Bleeping on the back or the
left side, where the heart Is so com
pressed that It baa little room for free
action."
When She Is Heard Of.
"Chunka Kunk," remarked the
Dowager i-.mpress oi China, "come
here!"
The keeper of the royal embrold
ery scissors approached.
"It baa been reported to me," con
tlnued the empress, sternly, "that you
have referred to me as an old cat
Is this so?"
"It is. O Sister of the Green Cheese
Moon," replied Chunka Lunk, brave
ly, "but only in tho most compliment
ary way. The newspapers have you
killed so often, you know, that you
must have as many lives as a feline!
"Urn!" remarked the empress, less
sternly, "that's all right, then.
thought perhaps my finger nails were
beginning to wear off."
Gazing proudly at that badge of
no-work royalty, she relapsed Into
the innocuous desuetude from which
the last cable news had brought her.
Colonisation Not a Success.
France spends annually for her col
onies a little more than $25,000,000
while the aggregate of Its business
with them, export and Import, Is but
162.000,000, and but 4.000 a year eral
grate to French colonies. But France
has not been the least successful
country In building a colonial em
plre. for Germany's geographically
large possessions cost more than th
aggregate of the sports and Imports
trosn them.
VP1
An Eight-Ten Pincushion.
The biggest pincushion in the world
Is a strange species of cactus growing
down on the hot desert sands of Art
sona between Prescott and Phoenix.
People In that part of the territory
know the freak as "nlggerhead" cac
tus. Its counterpart Is not known
elsewhere In arid regions of America,
and scientists say It Is equally scarce
on other continents. This marvelous
growth of cactus is supposed to be
over a century old, and possibly sev
eral centuries old. It stands thirty
one feet above the sands of the desert.
It Is more than fifty feet in diameter,
and its weight la estimated at eight
tons. The Wallopal Indians say they
have been told that the strange growth
was there, as large as It is now, when
their ancestors ranged unhindered
across the deserts from Mexico to the
Columbia river.
The Bud of a Tree.
Among the curious things recently
discovered by the students of plant
life Is the fact that a bud taken from
one tree and grafted on another, car
ries the age of the original tree with
It. It has always been believed that
Ihe bud so transferred began a
wholly new life, but this new theory
it may, after all, be more theory
than fact, as yet shows the matter
In an entirely different light.
For example, If a bud be taken
from a tree that Is twenty-five years
old with a natural life of fifty years
and grafted on another tree, It will
not live as long as Its parent tree le
entitled to live, the full fifty years,
but only for the period oi life then
left to the tree twenty-five years.
Oldest Elevator Man.
Another claimant to distinction as
the oldest elevator man In Chicago
has appeared. He is Charlie Anderson
of Field's, who. when a boy about 18.
In the year 1873, was given charge of
the first passenger elevator In that
establishment, near the Washington
street entraace. Mr. Anderson con
tinued to operate it for twenty-nine
years, until It was recently removed.
"They had to tear it down to get rid
of me," he says. lie now acts as
"starter" for a group of elevators In
the new annex.
Diet of Mahometans.
It Is a rule with Mahometans to be
gin a meal with salt and finish with
vinegar. It they begin with salt they
will escape the contagion of 70 dis
eases. It they finish with vinegar
their worldly prosperity will continue
to increase. The host is in etiquette
bound to be the first to start eating
and the last to stop.
Two Drinks, One Glass.
It seems Incredible, yet it is a fact.
that one can drink water and beer at
the same time out of one glass. Any
ordinary glass will suffice, and the
first thing to be done Is to pour beer
into it until it Is half full. Then over
the beer Is to be carefully placed a
piece of smooth linen, and as soon as
this Is In position the water may be
poured Into the glass, drop by drop.
As the specific gravity of water Is
quite different from that of beer It is
Impossible, under these circumstances,
for the two liquids to mingle. Either
water or beer can now be drunk out
of tho glass, though the manner of
drinking Is different In each case. The
water can be drunk in the ordinary
fashion, hut the beer must be taken
through a straw. Though this Is really
an easy trick, great care la necessary
in pouring the beer and water into
the glass and In placing the piece of
linen in proper position.
Strange Freak of Nature.
A woman named Dlondel, living at
Honfleur, France, recently gave birth
to a female child with extremities like
those of a monkey. The hands and
feet have only four fingers and toes
respectively, but Instead of nails they
have long claws, while the skin hangs
like a bag. It Is not expected that the
child will live.
