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INTRODUCTION. |
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" To-day a rude brief recitative, Of ships sailing the seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal, Of unnamed heroes in the ships—of waves spreading and spreading far as the eye can reach, Of dashing spray, and the winds piping and blowing, And out of these a chant for the sailors of all nations, Fitful, like a surge." Walt Whitman.
"May not the agreeable impression produced by the rhythmical flow of the waves, and the soothing murmur of running water, have led various nations, independently of each other, to the wide-spread conception that they obtained their favourite instrument of music originally from the water ? Or is this notion traceable to a common source, dating from a prehistoric age ; perhaps from the early period when the Aryan race is surmised to have diffused its lore through various countries ? Or did it originate in the old belief of the world with all its charms and delights having arisen from a chaos in which water constituted the predominant element?"—EngePs "Musical Myths and Facts P
In these days, when, like everything else, shipping has made such rapid strides that journeys which formerly were looked upon with awe, and undertaken only in extreme necessity, are now made with positive indifference, we are too apt to look upon the sea as a liquid railway ; to think that, with the piracy and the lubberly vessels that sailed the main in the olden days, the romance of ocean has |
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