Stones must be found which, when freely suspended, are sonorous when struck, and those giving out the notes and half-notes of the diatonic and chromatic gamut are to be hung in a frame in proper order.
They are played upon with blows of a little hammer.
Hard wood can be also employed, mounted on a frame, and struck at one end, being the “bones” of the African under another phase.
THE LYRE WITH A GOOD MEMORY.
A proverb assures us that a teller of untruths should be skilled in mnemonics.
We exclaim, quite apropos of this remark, that we have a mystic harp which retains for our pleasure the airs which it has heard or played.
Amidst the murmur of incredulity, take the lyre and hang it to a wire luckily pendent from the ceiling.
On the unbeliever placing his ear close to it, the air is heard as of a whole band, at a distance, brilliant in its minuteness.
Explanation.—In the upper room is a piano, a square or grand being preferable: a wire runs directly from its sounding-board to the room below where the lyre is suspended. For convenience, the wire can be bent or formed of several portions overlapping where the join occurs.
