114 



i in thb country are thoe in St Bartholomew's, 

 New York, by J. H. & C. 8. Odcll ; and TV,,,,,!,- 

 Kmanuel, New York. I--. Hull & Labagh. Mention 

 should abo be made of the large organ in the Roman 

 C .uli,, lie Cathedral at Montreal, tin- work of Samuel 

 RiuMll Warren of that city, who formerly 



W.,rkcl ill Boston. 



A in olher art*, so too in that of organ building, 

 America baa made great strides in advance, ami in the 

 production of MI--!, > v,-llcnt instruments as those 

 mentioned, our native builders have .-hon their 

 ability to compete successfully with the h< >t foreign 

 manufacturers, (f. I- w.) 



OlSii \N i;i-'.l-'.|). It appears that instruments in 

 which "free reeds" were used were made in this 

 count rv quit4- early in the present century. Aaron 

 Merrill Peaslt-y. in 1818, obtained a patent for reed 

 iMtrunicnis . this patent is now in (he possession of 

 ! .L-HI \ Hamlin Organ and I'iano Co._ J. H. 

 Basin, of Canton, Mass., is also named as an inventor 

 in tin:! connection. The instruments manufactured at 

 this time were, of course, imperfect and defective in 

 construction. The earliest forms of an organ with 

 free reeds and without pipes, the bellows being worked 

 bv the f'.Hit. were the "scraphine" and the "melodeon." 

 Tin- Litter was first introduced about 1840, and two 

 i,l' the IK--I known firms engaged in its manufacture 

 were those- t' t'arhart ifc Needham, and George A. 

 Prince & Co., both of Buffalo, X. V. One form of 

 this instrument, the harmonium, appears to have been 

 invented by Debain of Paris, and improved by Alcx- 

 andrc. whose name it bore in this country. Until 

 the introduetion of the perfected reed organ, in isr.i. 

 the uielodeon was very popular in this country, despite 

 its faults, and, amongst others, the firm of Ueo. 

 Prince &, Co., which dissolved in 187.~>. manufactured 

 many thousands of these instruments. Jeremiah Car- 

 hart, about 1836, made several improvements, notably 

 the plan of acting on the reeds by suction instead of 

 blowing, which IVasley had spoken of in his patent. 

 This is a characteristic feature of the American organ. 

 the foreign instruments being still worked by force 

 liellows. Carhart's partner, K. P. Needham, also 

 made some improvements. But the most important 

 improvement, and the one which has contributed greatly 

 to the present perfection of these instruments, a,,,) 

 their consequent popularity, was the discovery that by 

 twisting and bending the reeds in various ways the 

 quality of tone was greatly mollified and improved 

 This discover} 1 was made in 1848 by Kmmons llainlin. 

 then a workman in the factory of Prince & Co. In 

 1854 he anil Henry 1 Mason, a son of Lowell Mason, 

 began the business of tin: firm which in 1868 took the 

 name of the M.,-,,,, & Hanilin Organ Co. Under the 

 inventor's eye this newry-diaeovered art of "voicing 

 reeds" was carried to great perfection. In 1861 the 

 firm first introduced the American cabinet or parlrtr 

 organ in its present form. The excellent instruments 

 produced by tin- firm have placed it in the foremast 

 rank of American reed organ manufactures. The 

 factorial of the firm are located at Cambridgeport, 

 Mam., and the home office in Boston, with branch 

 offices in other cities, and agencies all over the world. 

 The name in 1882 was changed to the M.i-,,n A: 

 Hamlin Piano and Organ Co. Another well known 

 firm is that of Jacob En(cy & Co., Bnttleboro, Vt. 

 The liii-iness was begun in 1846. by two gentlemen. 

 in a building owned by Jacob Kst'cy. In Is.vj the 

 concern passed into die hands of Mr. K-tcy. The in- 

 xtnimcntt of this firm are also well known in this 

 country and abroad, and rank among the best. The 

 firm of \Vilcox k White. ,,(' Meriden. Conn., was 

 formed in 1*7',. The liM.-ineso grew rapidly, and their 

 organs are now favorahly known the world over. 

 Numerous other manufacturer* an- al-.i engaged in 

 this business in the United States. The many im- 

 nu which have been applied by American 

 have resulted iu producing an instrument 



\\ OKU. 



which is extensively used in foreign count ri. .- a- well 

 as in the I'nited States. These organs are made in 

 all styles and sizes, some of them even with two or 

 three manuals, being then almost equal to small nipc 

 organs in power and resource. The popularity which 

 the instrument has attained tli,"iuh the improvement* 

 introduced is very great, and it has Keen estimated 

 that there are now more than 80,000 cabinet or parlor 

 under various names, made and sold yearly in 

 tin- I'nitcd States alone, by about 250 makers. 



(K. u w.) 



ORIOLE. The so-called orioles of America are, as 

 is agreed by all systeinatists, of a faui- 

 Se *44 > ' < XV filK *' V - (I cterl ' t ' u ') quite distinct from the 

 Am Re ) orioles of the Eastern Hemisphere. 



Our orioles are briefly noticed in the 

 Kv MI.OP.SDIA BRITANNICA under the name / 

 The important family /,//,/,< is strictly American, 

 and is pretty closely allied to the starlings (Sturnida) 

 of the Old World. Among the Icterids, or American 

 orioles, are grouped our blackbirds, bobolinks (q. v.\ 

 meadow-larks, cow-birds (q. r.), troopials, and grack- 

 les. The family is separated from the /'//// >/<W,/ir 

 (finches, sparrows, buntings, etc.) by very obscure, if 

 not intangible, distinctions; some of them, like the 

 bobolink, or reed-bird, might almost as well be classed 

 with the finches as with the Icteriiltr. On the other 

 hand, some of the family approach pretty closely to 

 the crows in many of their characters. The sub- 

 family, 7c/mW, contains those species more properly 

 called orioles. 



The most common North American oriole is Ictenu 

 s/iin-iii.1. the orchard oriole, or "bastard Baltimore 

 bird,' as it is sometimes unjustly called. This rather 

 plain bird is found in ail parts of this country and is 

 well known for its beautifully-woven and somewhat 

 pensile nest. The splendid Baltimore oriole (/. </<il- 

 Lnlci) takes its name from the black-and-orange jivery 

 of the. Culvert family, to which the Lords Baltimore 

 belonged. The male is, as usual among birds, far 

 more showy than his modest spoii-e. There is much 

 difference, however, among the males of this species, 

 some of which have a very gorgeous coloration, while 

 others arc comparatively plain. Among the popular 

 names for this favorite are golden roKin. firebird, fire 

 hangbird, and hangnest. the last names bestowed from 

 its well known habit of constructing a bag like, pen- 

 dent, and well woven nest at the extremity of some 

 swaying branch. It is a persistent and noisy singer, 

 with a monotonous tune. 



Farther west this species is replaced by L. bnllock!, 

 Bullock's oriole, a larger but not dissimilar s]>ecie8. 

 In the extreme South-west and on the Mexican 

 frontier we find the hooded oriole (L. cxctillitttut) whose 

 general coloring is orange of -varying but showy tints, 

 mixed with black. In the same region are found /. 

 li<iri.*iruin. the " Paris brothers' oriole," and the very 

 large and handsome /. nubBMMB&aMM, the black- 

 headed or Auduhon's oriole. In Mexico it is highly 

 prized as a cage-bird, and its singing is said to be re- 

 markably fine. (c. \V. Q.) 



OKU," JAMES LAWRKNCK (1822-1873), statesman, 

 was born at Cnivlonville. S C . .May ll!. ls:!2. He 

 graduated at the Uni\crsity of Virginia in 1SIJ. 

 studied law, and was admitted to the liar in 1843. He 

 entered on practice at Anderson. S. C., where he 

 edited a newspaper. In 1 s 1 1 he was elected to the 

 State Ix'L-islature, and in 1849 to Congress. With- 

 holding the abstract right of secession on the part of 

 each State he long opposed its exercise as inexpedient. 

 This position he maintained in the Southern Rights 

 Convention at Charleston in May. |s.",|. lie was 

 Speaker ,il the House of I Jepresentat ives in 

 1857. After the election of Lincoln to^lie presidency 

 he became an advocate of immediate secession, ami as 

 such took pan in the South Carolina Convention in 

 December, ISHO. He was thru appointed one of 

 three commissioners to Washington to treat with the 



