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I
THE INVISIBLE |
CHOIR £
By Broughton Brandenburg fcw
(Copyright.)
She was waiting for me when I
got down to the office that morning.
I remember it was a Monday late in
May, and my stenographer had notar
rived. In her place beside the door
I did not see her immediately, and
only her trembling efforts to rise at
tracted my attention. A whiter or
more ghostly effect than that of her
snowy hair, pallid face and deep-sunk
eyes all in relief from a severe black
drops, it would be difficult to imag
ine, and 1 confess that I started the
merest trifle as she came forward out
of the shadowy anteroom corner, her
thin hands extended toward me.
*‘I hope th'ls is Mr. Lawrence Hand?”
she said, in a low, eager voice.
“No, madam, these are Mr. Land's
offices, and 1 am Mr. Duncan, one of
hiB partners.”
"I am Mrs. Dwight Stokes Coleman,
and it is concerning a most important
and peculiar matter, which has to do
with my husband, tyr. Coleman, the
pastor of the Fifth Avenue Disciples
church, that 1 have come to see Mr.
Hand. I must have help at once or I
shall go mad myself. My family physi
cian, Dr. Bowles, in Seventy-second
street, came to us at our request yes
terday afternoon and recommended me
to Mr. Hand, lie says that it is a mat
ter outside the bounds of any profes
sion except Mr. Hand's, which seems
to he the rendering commonplace of
things apparently most extraordinary.”
"Perhaps if you state the case 1 may
be able to assist you. and 1 can at
least restate it to Mr. Hand on his
return from Boston to-morrow.”
“He will not be here till to morrow?"
The note of disappointment in her
voice was so intense that 1 w 4
touched, for the tears were constantly
welling to her eves, and she could
scarcely steady her voice as she went
on to relate her trouble.
Relieved of her indirection of star
ment and put in the proper proportion,
her story was as follows: A most mys
terious circumstance was weighing so
heavily on her husband's mind that pile
feared he was about to lose his reason,
if it was not already Impaired. He had
obtained a metropolitan parish only
that year, was overcoming some bit
ter opposition among his church mem
bers, and was completing tin* last vol
ume of an important historical work.
Altogether, he was tit the critical point
of his career, and, with two sons and
two daughters not yet out of college,
everything was at stake.
On Sunday, the 14th of April, a few
minutes after he had begun his morn
Ins sermon, he heard distinctly a
choir singing an anthem. He thought
it a trifle unusual, there being no
church in the neighborhood from
which the music could come with such
clearness. The music was very good,
and, after the service, he mentioned
h to the organist, who sat in the organ
loft immediately behind the puipit.
The organist was certain that he had
heard no music, saying there had not
been a sound to interrupt the sermon.
As a matter of curiosity, the organist
and Dr. Coleman together laughingly
questioned the members of the choir.
All were positive that they had heard
no singing. A horrible fear struck a
chill to the old clergyman’s heart.
Was his inind giving way? Were
the anthem and the unseen choir the
first hallucination, the harbinger of
corning mental confusion, and tlie first
sign-of the horrible night of the mind?
On several succeeding Sundays the
same mysterious music was heard by
the doctor, but by no one else, and he
was now on the verge of nervous pros
11 ration.
I assured Mrs. Coleman we would
take ui) the matter immediately, wired
Rand to insure his return, and gavo
him a detailed account of the whole
j affair, when lie came in Tuesday night.
Bright and early on Wednesday
j morning we were at Dr. Coleman’s
j house. In going over the case again,
I however, we found nothing to be in
i any way different from the facts ai
! ready in hand, except that although
the voices were always the same, the
music was different each time. With
a note from the pastor to the sexton,
we went to the church at 11 o’clock,
and, posing as an Interior decorator’s
estimate clerks, we slowly Inspected
every inch of the interior.
It was four o’clock in tin* afternoon
when we left, and all that we had
found can be told in a few words,
'ftte church, more than .‘10 years old,
was deadly commonplace in its de
tails. It had plain old pews, wide and
heavy, an old-fashioned organ and
loft, in front of which extended a
semicircular rostrum with steps at
the right side, a reading desk at the
front edge of the rostrum, and, behind
it, the usual shell-shaped sounding
board. The fittings around the pul
pit were all very plain and simple, al
though rich in their massiveness.
The only really new things were
these: the furnace heating appliances
had been changed to steam heat, and
the gas fixtures to electric wiring and
lights.
i was urea, disgusted, and quite
ready to believe the old clergyman
mentally unbalanced. Rand was bit
terly determined to go on. Said he:
•'Duncan, I am going to fly In the
face of facts in this matter. I pur
pose to hunt for the impossible. Kind
ly arrange to have the Callahan agency
send me 50 men at the studio to
morrow morning to gather data on Oil
the other churches.”
I did not see Rand that evening. It
fact. I did not catch a glimpse of him
till Saturday evening. Then he was
white, worn, tired, and plainly unsuc
cessful as he came into the club din
ing-room. where I was awaiting him.
and sat down opposite me with a
faint, brief smile.
Rand toyed with the table silver a
moment before he spoke, then he
said, curtly: “Will you go with me
to the Disciples church to-morrow
morning? I ask this because 1 have
written Dr. Coleman a note saying
| that it will be necessary for me to
| so into the pulpit with him, and I
want you to sit in the first row.”
I burst into a hearty laugh at the
idea of Rand's posing as a clergyman,
but neither the ethical nor humorous
phases of the situation seemed to
strike him.
The next morning Rand appeared
in church in clerical garb. The strict:
en clergyman, his white head bowed on
his hand as he leaned on the arm of
his chair, never looked up, after pre
senting Rand as Rev. Dr. Carleton
Smith of Chicago, "who wou’d read the
morning lesson."
From my seat in the first pew, per
haps 20 feet from the exact spot where
the speaker was standing. 1 could ob
serve every movement that, both lit
and Rand might make.
It was fully 15 minutes before any
thing unusual occurred.
Suddenly the old clergyman's voice
took on a momentarily rasping note—
an inarticulate cry of agony and des
peration! He went on speaking me
chanically, with his eyes closed. Rand
sat motionless, but with the manner of
a tiger about to spring. He was lis
tening, and I could tell from his face
that lie also was hearing what was
beating in Dr. Coleman's cars—the
rolling anthem of the unseen singers.
As for me, 1 could not catch the
faintest sound beyond a low, confused
murmur. Rand removed the micro
phone, which he always carried for
| magnifying sounds, once or twice
j after a few seconds, then quietly drew
| some sheets, apparently a small set cf
notes, from his pocket, found some
I thing, folded the pages, and instantly
| was lost in the most profound thought.
I Dr. Coleman was staggering, struggling
| through his address. I stood ready to
| rush to catch him should lie reel and
i fall forward fro::; the pulpit. There
j were evident signs of deep concern for
| him in the congregation. Perhaps ii
j was only two minutes, but it
! seemed an hour that this situation
held.
Then Rand, rising unobtrusively,
reached forward and turned off the
desk light. A moment later a look of
relief came over the old clergyman’s
face. He opened his eyes, paused a
moment, as if to steady himself, then
went on again, and waited perhaps
(10 seconds. 1 knew from the hand to
his ear that he was still listening.
Then he turned on the light once more
and again listened. He next said
something in a low voice to Dr. Cole
man, and, settling back comfortably,
folded his arms and listened to the
sermon at his ease. He had solved
the mystery.
How I endured the half-hour till
| Rand and l were walking down the
! avenue, arm in arm, with the happy
| old clergyman, I do not know. Dr.
Coleman and he had already had some
explanatory words together, for the
' first tiling I heard was:
"Hut, toy dear Mr. Rand, how did
you make so wonderful a discovery?
1 can hardly realize it is a mystery
no longer.”
"It was really very simple, after
all, Dr. Coleman," replied Rand.
"Through ihe Callahan men I col
lected in advance, among other things,
I the musical programs from eve-v
church on Manhattan island. By mv
microphone 1 discerned that it was
Pfeister’s ‘Ave Maria' that was being
sung somewhere this morning, its
echoes apparently audible to your ears
alone. From my indexed notes I
found that the only church where this
number was being sung was Un
church of the Revelation, on the
West side, a mile away, a distance far
too great, of course, for the natural
conveyance of sound. Instantly, how
ever, it flashed over me that this was
one of »he old churches in which 1 had
learned the old sounding-boards of the
Teleautic Company had b en placed.
Here were the same music and the
same sounding-boards—but no wiring
had been put in. I looked at the base
of the sounding-board beside me. Xo
wiring was there now! Yet there
must be a connection. There must
be wires—wireless reproduction being
eminently absurd. As I sat absorbed
in thought 1 raised my eyes and
chanced to see that the electric wires
to the desk light ran over the top of
the sounding-board. One chance in a
million of a chance connection by the
electric lighting company! ltising, I
turned off the light, as you may re
member, and the music ceased to be
audible. 1 turned the light on, and
the ‘Ave Maria’ could he heard to a
close. You were alone In hearing the
faint sound-waves so clearly, because
your ears were in the exact focus of
the radii of the sounding-board. 1 no
ticed yesterday that the other church
services began at 11:15, and I will
guarantee, without visiting the audi
torium of the Church of the Revela
tion, that the other board is so placed
that the choir sings directly into It.
If you were in the habit of keeping
your desk light burning all through
the service, and if you stood just
where you preach, you would hear
the other sermon and all the rest of
the nuisic."
We visited the other church after
lunch and found all the detail^ fitted
Rand's theory to a nicety. The mov
ing of a plug in the Edison district
plant one*thirty-second of an Inch
forever hushed the voices of the un
seen singers.
List your property for sale with the
Ilendersou Real Estate Co.
That our American forests abound in
plants which possess the most valuable
medicinal virtues is abundantly attested
tby scores of the most eminent medical
writers and teachers. Even the untu
tored Indians had discovered the useful
ness of many native plants before the
advent of the white race. This informa
ition, imparted freely to the whites, led
the latter to continue investigations until
■to-day we have a rich assortment of most
(Valuable American medicinal roots.
Dt. Pierce holleves that our American for
ests alib^nd in most valuable medicinal roots
iot the cuN^f most obstinate and fatal dis
eases. If wtLwohidproperly investigate them;
•nci la^»«n>faar^n of this conviction, he
©Oliftw'witb prlJl^ik the almost marvelon^
pures effected t.y tp- ■ i,l,ten !M, re
covery." which has proven Itself to |„- the
most eftritm. stomach tonic, liver !
ator. heart p-mlt; regulator, and blood
Cleanser known to medical science.Dyspt p
Cta. or Indigestion, torpid liverTTunctional
and even valvular and other affections of
the heart yield to its curative action. The
reason why tt cures these and many othor
affections. Is clearly shown In a little book
Of extracts from the standard medical works
which Is mailed Jrtt. to any address by Dr. R.
V. Pierce, of Buffalo, N. Y.. to all sending
••Quest for the same.
^ O
Not less marvelous. In the unparalleled
Cure* It Is constantly making of woman's
Both the above mentioned medicines are
wholly made up from the glyceric extracts of
native, medicinal roots. The processes em
ployed in their manufacture were original
with l>r. Pierce, and they are carried on by
skilled chemists and pharmacists with the
•id of apparatus and appliances specially
designed and built for this purpose. Both
medicines are entirely free from alcohol and
all other harmful, haliit-fonutrig drugs. A
full list of their ingredients is printed on
•acb bottle-wrapper.
THE REV. IRL R. HICKS
Almanac and Magazine
Should be in
every home in
the land. His
weather predic
tions canbehad
only in his own
publics ti on s.
No other publisher is permitted to
print them in any form, either with or
without credit. His 1908 Almanac ex
cels all former editions in beauty and
value, and sells for35cents, postpaid.
Elis monthly magazine, Word and
Works, contains his weather fore
casts for each month, together with a
vast amount of the best family reading
and costs $1. a year, one almanac with
each subscription. Every earthquake
and serious storm for 20 years has
been predicted by Prof. Hicks. You
cannot afford to be w ithout these pub
lications.* Address all orders to
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' I' 11
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