Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1899 — REMARKABLE PIANO. [ARTICLE]

REMARKABLE PIANO.

Oaljr Instance \\ her* the Action Was “.»n the Hoc »» One who fcompiied a history of Acqultalne, describes a remarkable! pianoforte built for Louis XI. by the Abbe de Balgne. The King one day hearing a drove of hogs tuning up preparatory to a general rush for and promiscuous scramble at the slop pail, laughingly ordered the priest to contrive means by which these seemingly discordant sounds might produce harmony. Tradition does not affirm that the reverend gentleman scratched his head thereat, but owing to the prevalence of the tonsure it is safe to assert that he did not. Notwithstanding which, however, be managed to nicely grade the drove, from the thin treble of. the Bhoat to the bassoon grunt of the tusked boar, and having arranged them in stalls under a pavilion announced to his astonished majesty, who had not thought of the matter slace, that the piano was In tune. The King, incredulous, attended, and when the Abbe struck the keys there poured forth to the delight of the entire eourt a burst of music such as Orpheus never conceived. The explanation, when the crafty prelate chose to expose his plan, was most simple. The keys being struck, a prong set In motion by the action was stuck Into the pig, grazing or piercing, according to the force and temperament of the player, the resulting squeal, howl or groan producing harmony.