The Cassowary; What Chanced in the Cleft MountainsWaterloo, Stanley
General
The Cassowary; What Chanced in the Cleft Mountains
Waterloo, Stanley
Love stories; Railroad travel -- Fiction; Storytelling -- Fiction
And so, until the fog lifted, continued the interesting programme of the
Siren. The people were delighted. No more was the name of the "Siren" a
misnomer. The newspapers were full of praise of Hannibal Perkins, the
inventor, and a dream, for once, was realized. Improvements were made by
the elated genius. People in the city soon perceived that certain airs
were played only at certain hours, so that one could tell what time of
night it was while lying comfortably in bed. The invention was
recognized as a boon to the community. The Board of Trade voted a neat
lump sum to Hannibal Perkins, he was elected member of numerous
scientific and musical societies, and negotiations were begun with the
government looking to the introduction of the Siren in harbors
everywhere.
Now comes reference to the action of a law of nature which has always
been accounted curious, that law which is in direct contradiction of the
old and popular saying that one cannot have too much of a good thing.
The months passed, months of triumph and elation for Hannibal Perkins,
and, at first, of enjoyment for those on land. Then in the city came a
gradual change, though Hannibal, in the light-house, was not aware of
it. There arose an anti-Siren party, and a clamorous one! It was the old
story--they were "tired" of the same old tunes. They were all antiquated
things it was declared. It was the result of that quality in the human
ear and human nerves which enables them to endure the continual passing
of a railroad train, but not the too frequent repetition of a musical
air. Even an effort to remedy this fault did not avail. There came two
dread November weeks of almost continual fog, day and night, and, as
the Siren gave four tunes an hour for variety's sake, it necessarily
played ninety-six tunes a day, and there weren't enough popular airs in
existence to keep this up without constant duplication, or worse! A new
form of nervousness was seizing upon the multitude. Even the mayor, who
had grown fat, was getting thin again.
On the other hand the Siren had a powerful supporting force in the
officers and crews of every vessel entering the harbor. Most delightful
was it to those gallant seamen, when the fog lay dense and sinister, to
hear, at a greater distance from land than ever before, the sounds which
guided them to safety and, at the same time, to recognize and be cheered
by the notes of some familiar air. They heard the Siren only
occasionally and to them there was no monotony. The whole shipping
interest arose figuratively in arms against those who objected to the
new order of things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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