Wales

Last week up and down the furze-patched hills of Wales there reverberated peal after peal, echo on echo, of human voices singing in unison, as well as the shrill shrieks. of excursion trains freighting patrons in to the great Welsh singing contest, the Eisteddfod. From the U. S., from China even, and from the pits of the Cornish mines and the backbush of the mountains came the lusty contenders. They thundered for a week in Celtic conflict.

The first great Eisteddfod was held in the sixth century to prove the superiority of vocal song over instrumental music. By annual repetitions it has developed into a national bardic congress with many contests, prizes, poetic addresses, trumpets, elaborate ceremonies.