Page:Meda - a tale of the future.djvu/93

Rh The first we went through was that of music. I was charmed by hearing the various classes of students singing part songs; their voices were not strong, or possibly my hearing was defective, but the tune and harmony were so good and the melodies so lovely, that I stood enchanted. There was no separation of sexes; they seemed to be mixed in all the classes. Indeed, now that I remember it, in all the classes this was the rule. The musical instruments used were mostly wind instruments, but quite unlike anything I had seen before. While they had a certain resemblance to those I had been used to, sufficient, indeed, to show that ancient man had something to do with their invention, yet modern man had a much larger share of credit due to him for his great improvements. The violin was used also. In this there was little alteration. It had held to its good old world fashion—strings, bridge, finger-board and all. I will ever respect this instrument for this lasting proof of the genius of the poor despised ancients.