Newspapers / Shelby Daily Star (Shelby, … / Sept. 12, 1932, edition 1 / Page 2
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The Very C ery curious o rigm of M an s M any How Human Heads, Hose, Tin % Cans, Stones and Fence Pickets Are Made to Pro duce Harmonious Notes. NEARLY every child display* an interest in the production of music by means of the most primitive methods, such as tapping; dishes with a spoon or running a stick along the pickets of a fence, or the spokes of a wheel. When a boy, Pro fessor Charles G. Weidemann, of the University of Nebraska, was no ex eeption in this respect. Unlike others, however, this primitive music fascinated him so greatly that its study and the' invention of novel devices to loosen the voice of "sticks and stones” have be come his life’s hobby. Professor Weidemann has devised more than 200 home-made musical in struments which now are in his pos session. Over forty of these are not included in the collection of more than A,000 musical instruments to be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. All of his instruments are simple affairs which could be made without cost and mastered in a few hours’ time by the average boy or girl. They are constructed of stones, pieces of kindling wood, broken bits of glass, short lengths of hose and bamboo, tin cans, nails, rope, fruit jars and similar materials, and they bear such titles as the "ldndletone", “mop-o-phone", “stonario”, “spikano”, “bugfetone”, "woodario”, "kachaphone” and “musi cal cans.” When Professor Weidemann was eight years old he devised his first mu sical Instrument which consisted of a length of plank into which a row of spikes and another of screws had been driven. A hole was bored in the top of each screw and a length of wire fastened in the hole, then stretched across to the corresponding spike. By turning the screws with a screw-driver, the young musical genius tuned the wires to certain tones on the piano. The ten strings on the quasi-piano were tuned to the scale of G on the piano, then the young musician spent da^s in finding pickets on the fence which surrounded the house that cor responded to the tones of his ten Odd . Vy ays of Making Music Above: Tin* Music-Making Trio of h Hum Diim r 1’layltig h Jrwi harp, liddle anil Harmonica, VII Instrument* of (.rent Antiquity. Right: An Indian Horn Made of the Shell of the t limit Snail. stringed instrument He finniiy found .seven pickets whose sounds were in the .scale and these he marked with white cloth so he would be able to find them easily. Thlp was the first home-made. musical instrument of his own construction and lie called it the “picketario.” To play a tune on it, ho had to run from one end of the yard to the other. 1 no pirketano was the tort' mmm runer of a number of iiis tiiusical inventions including tic kmdletonc, which is really a primitive beginning of tho modern xylophone and marimba ghtme. It is made hy securing different lengths of kindling, turned to form a musical scale, upon a resilient support, A home-made, mallet-like hammer is used to strike the slabs of wood. Professor Weidomann ha > perfected a system of “number music" which en ables anyone to play his home-made percussion instruments without haying had previous musical training. The music consists of numbers and all the beginning player has to do to produn a tune is to strike, pluck or blow tho parts of tho musical instrument, which previously have been numbered, to cor respond with the numbers in the music. One of Professor Weidemami’s mu cal feats is to produce music on the human head. To do this he adjust , the throat and head cavities to accommo date the many tones of the singing voice. Immediately after'the muM'les of his throat are mi!justed to accommo date a tone, he taps the top of his head. The mouth must he hold open at all times while playing any piece of A Pocket Cigarette-Roller THE cigarette amoktr who prefer* , to roll hi* own but refrain* from doing *o because he lack* the necessary skill, now easily a can overcome thta difficulty 1 by the aid of a newly patented device. It i* a pocket-size / cigarette-roller and, ac- f cording to the makers, enable* any smoker to j? : turn out cigarettes that 4 nmv* mo appear ance of being machine-made. The cigarette roller easily fits into a smoker’s pocket, aa it is only three inches wide, three and three - f ou rths inches Ion* and half an inch thick and weighs only three-quar ters of an ounce. It works on the principle of roll ing up a window curtain, the to bacco being fed into the paper during the proc , ess of rolling N The curtain part of the device is made of a non stretching water proof fabric. The exterior of * the cigarette-rol ler is made of stainless steel. A New Design of Cigarette-Maker Mhioh \<M» on the I’rinript* of Rolling h Curtain, \l liirli, It Is Claimed, KiuMm tli« Smoker to Turn Chit Cigarettes Hun Have the Apiiearanre of Being Maehine-Maile. How Engineers Signal With Whistles AS often >3 million* of passenger* have heard the engineer of • locomotive signal with the whistle, very few person* outside of railroad men understand the meaning of such messages. The blasts of a railroad engine often carry a vital mes sage for public as well ;w for railroad men. For example, aa his train approaches a grade crossing the engineer mus* signal a warning consisting of two Ion; blaeta, a short blast and a long blast Another locomotive signal of prime importance to everybody consists of a succession of short blasts. This ia a warning to pedestrians and wandering live stock to get off the tracks. An engineer's salute consist* of two *hort whistles, meaning “Thank you" or “I get you,*’ etc. One long blast followed by three abort ones signals the rear f gmah to walk back along the track to protect the stalled train from any which may be following. Pour or five blasts of medium duration recall the flagman. One whistle of medium duration fol lowed by two short blasts calls atten tion to signals displayed for a follow ing section. One short ami one long blast has been recently adopted. It signals to trainmen that the airbrakes arc stick ing. This signal until recently con sisted of two short blasts given three timea v music on the bead in this mann<; Another feat is playing a tunc on an ■>nljnary pencil. He holds the pencil tiehtiy at one end by the hand'and tap.', t against the edge of a table or de.-h Whet) the distance between the point ■>f contact of the pencil with the tab!■ and the hand which grasps the pencil ' increased. the tone is raised. \Vh«. n (lie distance, is decreased, the tone is lowered. One of Piofe or Weidcmann’ ■ favorite m. '.rumen!' is the ‘‘musical box.” It 1 • about an inch and a quai ter by an inch and a half in size, of white pine about the thickness of cigar-box wood arid open at. one end. Tile prof.- or opens and doses hi. Imnd over the open end while thump ing the box with the othe hand nnd t produces topes of remarkable fidelity. .Musical instruments are as old as the human race and many of those are of the most curious origin. A double oboe, for example, has !»■ n f ind .in . an .Egyptian tomb where it had been placed .‘>,500 years, ago. The harp is one of the oldest of musical instruments, its origin being prehistoric. From it. through a seric of modifications, has been developed the piano, Among..the musical instruments used by the Sap Bias Indians.->v etraago aboriginal tribe which has among its numbers morn than a thousand milk white people, who actually represent a new variety of the human race, pro duced by nature as a ‘‘sport,” are I’an pipes, such as were known in very ancient times in tho Mediterranean region. They did not come from the Old World, hut from aborigines of the basm of the Orinoco. Another. instrument of their* is a conch shell, the shell, of the largest of all sea snails, on which the per former manages to n r o (1 u e e musical no!<in harmony with the rest of a native orchestra. At a ‘ harri dance" n the United States there are common '. mice instrumentalists, a fiddler, a player on the harmonica and. a per iortner on the jewsharp. All of the e •ire presumably of ancient origin. Nero played the fidtll* . which even then was probably ancient in nme form... A < for the Jowrdiarp, it i a most courkni.. invent on, and most in tefe ting-would it 1 :■ to know how, , when and where it originated Brudder Bones, at one end of the minstrel line, vet - hi--, name of eour « train the', carta note he so <•'.<}>< rtly too The Modish IF VOl were a ked to name what the young lady in the accom panying illustration is displaying, doubtless, you would not hesitate, in saying, ‘jjjoopskirts. ” Your answer Would be as far wrong as it could possibly, be. hook again and, perhaps, when you see the fair subject is uoarlngya bathing-suit you may discover a clue. Although there is no connection between hoopskirts and bathing-saits, you would lie on the trail of the right answer, for pictured here is the new ost form o(f life-preserver. Startling. as it may be in design, the inventor claims that its hoopskirt form gives ft certain advantages over the familiar type of life-preserver An inner, belt, which is strapped to Some Weatherwise Animals A"DYTNG DUCK in a thunder storm,” according to E. G. lioulenger. of the British Zoological Society, is by no means an uncommon phenomenon, for when a storm is imminent the thinness of a duck’s skull causes it to feel approach mg thunder with painful acuteness. Nearly every animal to some extent is weatherwise. Even today many peo ple still put their trust in a hundred and-one signs of the countryside as much as they do in the ' official weather reports. For example, wet weather may also be expected if rat; and mice make much noise, and it is a bad sign if a dog eats grass in the morning. If the bull goes first to pasture it will rain, as it also will if the cat happens to wash her head behind the ear. Bairn weather may he expected if a dog digs a deep hole in the ground, howls when it leaves the house, or whan >t refuses meat. Also if u cat sneezes, it is regarded as a sign of rain or if the goat utters a peculiar cry. The hair of a horse becomes rough before rain, and the animal is also restless and uneasy, while rain will follow if cattle lie down early in the day. lick their forefeet. Be' on the right side, scratch against posts, refuse to go to pasture in the morning, and low and look at the sky, Storms are said to be indicated by foxes barking at night, or cats rubbing against an object. When cows stop and shake tneir feet, stormy or cold weather is indicated. Figs are restless and squeal loudly before a storm. The donkey’s raucous voice upraised in announcing an approaching .depres sion is probably a hereditary trait, and dates from the time when the animal was a stranger to man Many amphibians, notably tree Irogs, are regarded «» invaluable fore tellers of rain. In Germany the com mon green European tree frog is fre quently kept rn a glass jar furnished with a ladder, which the frog is sup posed to ascend or descend according to the prevalent atmospheric condi Lions. AN OYSTER forms on the inner surface of its -he.il a "blister” pcav| as a means of protection against boring enemies. Such pearls are usually fiat on one side. \ pearl is really a method of pro tection against injury, all natural pearls being formed primarily a* a preventive again;! damage from in trusion. whether from an active live enemy or front some inorganic or dead particle. Taking advantage of the known fact that extraneous objects inside the shells were naturally cov ered with nacre, an industry arose in which natural pearls were made by introducing particles into pearl-form ing shells. Also various small articles were similarly introduced, and after being left for some time in the shells were taken out covered with near!. Imitation pearls are those which are actually manufactured without the aid of any shell For this purpose it was discovered that certain fish scales were composed of a substance which could be used for coating beads, the •result being a pearl almost indis tingu.shable at first'sight from a true one, but easily recognized by experts. The lustre of some of these imitation pearls is really wonderfully like that of the genuine article. This substance used for the coating of beads u known as “Pearl Essence.” \boir: l'ipts-o' P*n. a Musi rnl Instrument of \nrieni <Irene Whieh I» Also l ~rd hi the. San ilia* Indian* ol Panama. Left: A ^Double Oboe Discovered in an Igyp linn Tomb Where It Was Placed 3.300 Years Ago, Shown in Contrast with a Modern Instrument. nipuiates. They are cal led ."bones” because originally, they wfire made from- the itb bones of the beef animal. Indeed, even nowadays such bones are often made by . ooys from the same ma .enal Foe the minstrels’ uFe, how mer, hones of obonv wood are pre ferred. At tlm other end of the line |« I amho, with his appropriate instru ment, a ring of wood that is pierced •■•.eth openings in which are set disks of metal; that tinkle,, and across which sheepskin is tightly stretched. It give? torlh a drumlike resonance when Tam bo -strikes it with his fist, or on hi? head or with his foot. 1 arnborinc .is a French word, mean Utg “little drum." But a much earlier name for it was “timbrel,’’ One, finds m the Bible frequent mention of tim brels. Accomplished young ladies who danced before King Solomon waved in their hands the tinkling timbrels. Particularly associated with negro minstrelsy is the banjo. In its printi five form, it is found in use today by savage tribes in Equatorial Africa. It is a' calabash, or half a one, with Strings across it and is perhaps the most important instrument of music at nuinihal feasts and oh other joyous oc casions' Negroes shipped to. America as slaves, brought the idea with them and a century ago gourds cut in half lor the purpose 'were used far making music by the blacks of the South. Food Value of Watercress WATERCRESS is a healthful energizing food, valued by the ancient Greeks for its beneficial effect on mind and body, and now recommended by modern m«d icai men as being full of vitamins. Much labor has been expended be fore the watercress finds its way to the table. It is propagated both by seeds and cuttings. Cuttings three inches long are dibbled thickly into a moist ditch in the Spring. Root fibres develop rapidly, and then the cuttings are taken up and dropped at intervals of about nine inches into a slightly flooded ditch where they establish themselves. As the plants grow, more water i« passed in. Growth is prolific and fre ‘luent crops are taken. 'The shoots, a few inches long, are skilfully packed into baskets and then dispatched to the various markets. After a time the crop deteriorates, for the plants are making an effort to flower. They are now useless for salad purposes and are pulled up to make way for a fresh growth. The origtiial Anglo-Saxon name of the piant is coerse, which was written ‘kers” by Chaucer. Many have possibly been shocked by the vulgarity of the’saying, “He isn’t worth a curse,” without realizing that “curse” is a corruption of the word cross, and that the original meaning referred to something of no value. Heavy Sleep AFTER a tong sleep some persons often complain that their heads feel heavj. Physicians explain that, as a matter of fact, the heads of such sleepers really are much lighter ami their feet just as much heaviei «hcn they get up than when they went to bed. Experiment? have shown that if a man goes to sleep on a bed balanced exactly at the middle of his weight, hi* head begins to tip slowly up and hi? feet to go down. Thia’is due to the fact that when one sleeps the blood in the brain goes off to other parts of the body. The moment the brain wake? to life again it draws the blood back A curious fact brought to light by the scientists, who are fond of trying to olve the mystery of sleep, is that ulren one is fast asleep some part of the brain, or several parts of it, may at the same time be awake. A man may walk. talk, or sing, and yet at the same time be safely in the land of nod. 'Hoop-Skirt* Life-Preserver th<* body, i? suspended , from a large outer rim by a number of cords, like the spoke? of a wheel, which connect the, hub and the felloe. This arrange ment. according to the inventor, greatly increases the buoyancy of th* life-preserver and enables the vyearer easily to keep afloat indefinitely. Tills Young Lady la Not Demonstrating the Latest Style in Hoop-skirts, Bui Is Showing How the Newest Design of Life Preserver Is Worn. A Large Outer Rim Is At tached to the Inner-Belt to Insure Greater Buoyancy. K.-n* Fe:* u. iar . li&l
Shelby Daily Star (Shelby, N.C.)
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Sept. 12, 1932, edition 1
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