WAYS AND MEANS 



as is a bill-board with the field of ripp- 

 ling grain whence is proclaimed its blithe 

 cathartic message! 



The stillness of evening fetches the slen- 

 der pipe of a bird from half a mile away; 

 from two miles, the words and music 

 of a song, — measuring the transmissive fac- 

 ulty of untroubled air. It were as well to 

 travel in the company of a brass band as 

 with habitual voices and ways. The tap of 

 a pipe on the gunwale is sure advertisement 

 to all the acute ears that something alien 

 is abroad. The caribou in the water round 

 the bend, the fox at his morning toilet on 

 the bank, mink or otter fishing from the 

 stones, take the hint and depart. Even the 

 tiny click of a camera-shutter is heard by 

 an unsuspicious feeding moose at eighty 

 yards, and brings him instantly to the alert. 

 Carrying power depends upon purity of 

 tone — common knowledge of course, 

 though perhaps little used. 



Among a score of famous singers at the 

 Albert Hall forty years ago there were but 

 two whose lightest note filled the huge 

 building — floated through it like a silver 

 chime. The stressful effort of others could 

 hardly avail, but Patti and Sims Reeves 

 (in their great days) sang with drawing- 

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