William H. PALEN

                   From a news clipping The Dulcimer Still Lives On
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The dulcimer, musical instrument frequently mentioned in the Old Testamen
t, is well-known in the Okemos and Mason area.
The dulcimer players, Mrs. Elizabeth Palen, formerly of Alaiedon, now a
Ma son resident, and Arch Barnes, also of Mason, are the recognized artis
ts on the instrument which takes its name from "dulce" (sweet) andthe
Gre ek "meles" (song).
The two are favorite entertainers at neighborhood gatherings especial ly
at the meetings of the Okemos Pioneer Society whereconversation relat es
to days gone by, when papers of old-time customs are read and former re
sidents of the community return for the day. Mr. Barnes alsoplays the
vio lin - he calls it a "fiddle" - a name used when the father ofthe two
play ed for barn-raising parties and country sociables. Arch Barnes is of
the B arnes family who came to Meridian township in 1842 settling a
wilderne ss to the south. Many a time, he remembers, newly-laid barn
floors resound ed to "Turkey in the Straw" and "The Irish Washerwoman."
The Barnes family, he says, was a dulcimer-playing clan and the present
wi elder of the little hammers now has his own, an authentic antique. The
mo st recent appearanceof Mrs. Palen and Mr. Barnes was at the Walter
Heathm an home in Okemos, whenthe Pioneer group invited the two as guest
enterta iners as well for their "memory" contribututions.
Young people playing in school orchestras compare thedulcimer or the
mode rn zyolophone; yet they learn in their music studies that it is a
great-gr eat ancestor of the piano with its strings attached to pegs for
tension a nd two flat pieces of wood formed into a resonance box. Clever
craftsmen o nce made the dulcimer, then played their own "sweet song"
music. The Barne s-palen players have made recordings.
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Alexander Graham Bell on March 10, 1876 invented the telephone. Bell taug
ht people who were deaf, so he was acutely sensitive to sound vibrations
a nd how they travelled. Bell realized that the vibrations in human
speech c ould  be turned into variations in electrical current that could
be transm itted through wires from oneplace to another. His invention
not only ma de it possible for us to chat with friends miles away, but
opened the do or for intercoms, walkie-talkies, radio, fax transmission
and even the Int ernet. Wonder what he would have thought of VoiceMail
and answering machin es....