Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

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Sophomores we became; we then got to work; Our lessons were learned with most scrupulous care; We speut no time in napping, in boasting, or scrapping— The rewards, thus, of industry fell to our share. The Value of Music. EVA MIHILLS. It is surprising to note what extensive use was made of music by primitive races. Wild tribes find music a great stimulus to work. The narratives of explorers abound in allusions to this function of music. Collingwood, in describing one of his trips says; “The boatmen as usual enlivened the way with their songs, some of which were wild and musical. They all joined in the chorus, keeping time with their paddles. The song was cheerful and inspiring and seemed to help them along.” Grant preferred his boatmen to sing for it made them pull better. Thus in all parts of the world, and at all times, the value of music as an aid and stimulus to work has been abundantly attested. The usefulness of musical signals in war suggested itself at a very early date, and to the present day musical war-signals have always been considered not only useful but absolutely necessary. The Spartans, the most warlike of all the Greeks, were remarkable for their devotion to music. In the Bible there are frequent references to the encouragement given to warriors by music; as for instance,

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28 THE MILESTONE. rushed into these regions, lured on by tales of untold wealth. The mining camps of Lead, Deadwood, and Custer Cities sprang into existence. In 1877, over a million and a half dollars were taken from these new mines. Scarcely had the Black Hills excitement died out when gold was discovered in South Africa by a trader named Tom McLaughlin who was traveling across the plains of the De Kapp river in Transvaal. These plains are covered with boulders in fantastic shapes and their weird appearance caused the natives to name them the Devil’s Counter. McLaughlin picked up in these regions some bright crystals which proved to be gold quartz. This was the beginning of the boom in South Africa. Its whole history has been a series of surprises to scientists as well as to prospectors. In the heart of South Africa, formerly regarded as uninhabitable, sprang up in 1886 the city of Johannesburg, the industrial centre of South Africa. When in 1867 Alaska was purchased from Russia by the efforts of Secretary of State Seward, the general cry was that the purchase was a waste of money and that the territory would never be anything but a barren, frozen land. This land that was commonly known as Seward’s Folly, is now proving to be one of the richest possessions of the United States. The most pathetic part in the history of gold discover-eries relates to the fate of the men who first discovered the gold. Seldom have any become rich, and most ot them died in abject poverty. Joseph Ladue is an exception to the rule. He is now one of the wealthiest men of the Klondike. Yet many of the original prospectors of the Klondike gold-fields have returned home with scarcely enough money to pay their expenses, and others have returned with gold, but wrecked physically because of hardships endured in a country where the winter lasts ten months of the year. “Quid non mortalia peetora cogis, Anri sacra fames.

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THE MILESTONE. 30 in Chronicles, where the victory over Jeroboam is attributed to the encouragement derived from the sounding of the trumpet by the priests. It would be superfluous to add anything concerning the miracles of patriotic and fanatic valor wrought by such modern tunes as the “Marseillaise” or “Die Wacht am Rhein.” Another important function of music is the religious. It is significant that music receives much more attention in the Bible than any other art. We find the Hebrews singing triumphal songs on the banks of the Red Sea, after their deliverance from the Egyptians. The Prophetess Miriam led a procession of women chanting in chorus— “Sing ye to the Lord for He hath triumphed gloriously; The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. ” Music is the most powerful of all emotional safety-valves, and this function alone entitles it to the claim of being one of the most useful things in the world. St. Augustine confessed that it was the chants of the Monks at Milau that converted him to Christianity. Even the austere Calvin admitted that “music possesses a mysterious power of moving the heart;” and he said that “of all gifts with which the Creator has blessed man to serve him as a recreation and comfort, music may be regarded as the first, or at least one of the most elevated.” That Luther ranked music next to theology is well known, and in language more forcible than elegant he declares that those who do not love song are “blockheads who ought to be treated to the bawling of donkey, the barking of dogs and the squealing of pigs,” which is about as strong as the declaration of Shakespeare, that he who loves not music is “fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.” Music is also a potent moral agency. No boy who loves music will ever torture animals or be a rowdy in