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Cassell’s Book of In-door Amusements

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Æolian Harp

This interesting little toy is best if made on a long box of very thin deal wood, about four or six inches deep, a circle an inch and a half in diameter, in which some small holes are to be drilled, being marked on the upper side of the box. Bridges, like the bridge of an ordinary violin or fiddle, are to be fastened on to each end of the upper side, and over these bridges are to be passed a number of strings of very fine cat-gut. The strings at one end are to be secured in the framework of the box, and at the other on screw pins, which are themselves fastened to the box. The strings can then be relaxed or tightened, as desired, by turning these pins, and the notes emitted by the different strings altered and arranged according to fancy. The instrument so made should be blown upon or placed in a current of air where the wind can pass freely over it, and then, according to the degrees of strength with which the strings are blown upon, different sounds will be produced.

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