OCR Text |
Show AsefeKt Musical lastraaents. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art rn New York city there i3 an interesting collection of musical instruments of all nations, many of which belong to past oenturies. They lie 6ilently in the glass oasea The strings of mandolins and lutes that made sweet musio iniaj gone by are broken and twisted, and the fingers that once swept them havt passed away, but still the air seeni? trembling with melody. Imagination pictures the banquet hall, the summer nights when the troubadour sang songa wider his ladylove's window, or the fjedouin camp in the desert, where tbt flute and guitar were played during the evening hour of repose. There are in rtruments here of all characters rude violins and banjos fashioned by savage hands, and dainty lyres inlaid with gold and mother of pearl, instruments which have played their part in ancient ceremonies cere-monies in faraway India and China, in the castles of the middle ages and in the African wilderness. It is interesting to note that all nations have tried to make instruments to please the eye as well as to produce sweet sounds. The stringed instruments and flutes of savage races are often grotesque and even ugly civilized eyes, but the poor savage did his best. Ho carved his instruments a well as he could and also adorned it with whatever precious trinkets he had tn his possession. H. S. Conant in St Nicholas |