Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-01-29
Familiar Music.

The Boston Globe diseourses as fol-
lows on the subject Of popular tunes and
street organs. We cordially endorse its
remarks concerning the much abused
instrument. 1t is far from being the
nuisance that fussy and thoughtless peo-
pie proclaim it;
When and how tunes become popular
is a somewhat curious theme for rehec-
ton. We wake up some fine morning
and hear almost everybody whistling a
melody We have never heard before. We
wonder whence it has come, and think
how pretty it is, and while we are pom
dering on the subject we find ourselves
taking up the strain, and adding our
mite toward increasing its circulation.
Before the day is over the streets resem-
BILE groves Of bricks and mortar echoing
to the shrill pipings Of the u~nfeathered
sougsters. In a week what had been a
new thing of beauty, promising to be a
joy forever, becomes an unbelievable
bore, and we wonder how we could have
ever seen anything to admire in the
dreary, commonplace thing.
At length il leases as suddenly as it
began, and earth knows it no more. Now,
the mystery is, who began to whistle it
first. n must have had a beginning,
and yet it comes upon US so suddenly
from a thousand lips at once, and APP.
pears in full bloom without having
budded. But this, though strange
enough, is less strange than the sudden
ness with which it ceases TO be heard.
Who is the last man that whistles a pop,
nlar melody? The same mystery en-
shrouds him as attaches to dead dom
keys, the which, it is popularity believed,
have never been seen by man. And yet
there must exist such a being. But when
he, too, has deserted the neglected air,
1t breaks forth again in a new form, and
acquires a fresh lease Of life through the
agency Of the barrel organ, and is lis.
tened to with a pleasure akin to that
which hailed its first appearance; and
through this agency it long remains a
welcome friend.
1t would doubtless be a matter Of great
surprise if we could possibly know the
amount of good that is performed by
these abused and much maligned instru-
ments. No one can have failed to OBJ
serve the attention they attract whenever
they pour forth their strains in the hum
BILE quarters of the city. Children crowd
| about them with wonder and delight,
windows are thrown up and women's
toil-worn faces are moved to pleasure;
while rugged men stop on their way and
for a moment forget the cares of life.
The best points Of our common nature
are brought out. too, in connection with
these humble ministers of music-chil-
dren learn to sympathize with poverty,
and it is touching to observe with what
eager satisfaction the offspring of the
poor bestow their mite upon an organ
grinder il a child accompany him IN his
way. The poor feel for the poor; and it
is from those on whom fortune has re-
fused to smile that the street musician
reaps his largest harvest.
There is much complaint against the
barrel organ, and every now and then an
effort is made to put them down, but it
would leave a gap in the e%nioyments of
the poor, and they have but few enough,
that could not be easily filed. If they
really be the annoyance they are charged
to be, yet it would be kindly to bear with
them, fof through them a spirit Of charity,
of sympathy end tender feeling is per
petuated that would lie dormant were
they not to bring it inte active play.