Cylinder Lists: Columbia Brown Wax, Columbia XP, Columbia 20th Century, and Indestructible (2000)

11 THROUGH THE NEEDLE'S POINT. ing, and the talking is real talking, as if the speaker were there before you. When you hear a street fakir selling his corn cure, through the gramophone, you are almost in doubt whether the man is not actually in the room, and a person blind- folded, who knew nothing of the gramo- phone, would be quite sure he was in the 100m. So perfect is the method of repro- duction that the human voice comes out of the receiver, whether in speech or song, practically as it went in, and thousands of people may listen to it at one time, for there is no need here of bending anxiously over an ear-trumpet; you hear what is going on whether you will or not. A cor- net solo played in the Metropolitan Opera House from the gramophone fills the whole auditorium. And now let us see what this wonderful little instrument is going to do for people who live in the towns and smaller cities all over this country. In the first place, take the young ladies, for instance, who, after four years at Vassar College or Smith College, or some other institution, return to their little homes with many graces and accomplishments, particularly an apprecia- tion of the best classical music. They find themselves suddenly in uncongenial sur- roundings, where most of the pianos are out of tune, and most of those who play on them play badly. The gramophone gives them a breath of art life in the rendering of the great compositions they love by the finest performers. With this they have masters to imitate in their own parlors, sources of inspiration ever present. Then take the boys. What one of them does not love to hear the banjo played, a lively strumming of the strings by a cun- ning hand ? The gramophone gives them what they want, and the best banjo-play- ing—gives it to them whenever they choose to listen. And if they tire of the banjo they can turn on a crashing brass band,, with marches and songs of the regiment until their hearts beat with valor. And the old folks themselves, with hearts ever fresh for the old emotions, will find themselves won over by the gramo- phone on many a winter’s evening, other- wise lonely, when they will gather about fires of crackling logs, in farmhouse and country home, and listen to the dear old songs, 44 Annie Laurie” and 44 Down on the Suwanee River,” and 44 The Last Rose of Summer,” and the old glees from years ago, sung to them, not by amateurs from the village choir, but by the greatest artists of the day — sung through the needle. And then the comic songs—every one likes these now and then, but few who live away from the cities ever hear them sung in the best style; they must content them- selves with the whistlings of the village lads, who pick the airs up as best they may a year or so late. But now the gramophone, with its disks kept closely up to date, gives the country the best that the city has—those much advertised enter- tainers from the music halls of London and Paris, whose enormous salaries are told of in the newspapers. All these the coun- try may have now almost as soon as the city has them, and at nothing like the price. One of the most remarkable uses to which the gramophone will eventually be put is in the teaching of modern languages. There will be no reason why American boys and girls should not hereafter learn French, German, and Spanish, as well as other European languages, without jour- neying to distant lands or taking expen- sive courses under professors who often teach them little. The difficulty with the present system of language instruction is that the pupils do not get an opportunity, at least not sufficient opportunity, to hear the sounds of the language they are learn- ing often enough and distinctly enough to acquire them by imitation, which is nature’s method and the only efficient method of acquiring languages. He or she who does not learn French or German or Spanish as a little child would learn them, never learns them well. Tiiis matter of language acquirement is entirely a trick of the tongue, and no amount of theoretical study or delving in musty grammars will be sufficient for excellence if there is want- ing constant and daily practice in imitating the actual sounds. Take the French 41 u,” for instance. How can any one possibly learn to pronounce it, or the German 44 oe,” unless he have unceasing opportu- nity to hear these difficult sounds spoken as the natives speak them ? Nor is it suffi- cient that the professor or teacher be an expert linguist, for with large classes and a limited number of hours’ instruction per week, not even the aptest pupil will be able to seize in memory, and reproduce in speech, sounds that have no equivalent in his own tongue. It is a matter of com- mon knowledge that children who have grown up under the care of French or Ger- man governesses acquire .French and German without study and without effort, McClure's magazine advertiser.