St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-02-07
The Piano.

The old idea was that piano was
bought and brought to the house with
much bruising of its beautiful legs and
much muffied pro 'anity on the part OF
the draymen, to be played on. What
superlative nonsense! What stale and
preposterous suggestioni What relic
of barbaric ignorance! A piano to be
played on! Go to.
Thank the stars the days OF such stu
pidity are over, and the true, sole and
natural use of piano is becoming
generally understood. A piano is put
into a house for these simple pur-
poses and none Other. It's top is de-
signed as a place for a photograph al
bum. brilliant lamp mat and vase OF
flowers. Its rack is intended as rest
for an open book-an open book COW
cred with pictures OF farm, and fences,
upon which are perched innumerable
black birds. Its stool is paced there
for the nervous young man in company
to sit on and VIII ri, and writhe and
wriggle. Its richly carved legs are
sprawl d out for near sighted and aWk-
ward peo lie to run against, and upon
being sol citouslv asked by the hostess
if they are hurt, to reply. with the hot
tears OF anguish gushing into their
eyes: '.Not ia the least; only just grazed
Such are the legitimate uses of an
able boiled and Well-lrmbed piano IN
its various parts and proportions. AS Q
whole the . ano serves two other and
nobler pur} o ses. The one is it imparts
character. stateliness and an air OF
affiuence to household establishment.
The proud-sp.rtea host points to the
rosewood instr ment and seems to say
to his assembled guests: "You behold
that majestic IN trument. 1t is grand,
square and upright. Is it not symbolic
of its owner-is he not grand. square
and uprtght?' Uf course nobody can
play on it-not one of his quartet of
daughters-but it is to be remembered
that it was not put there to play on, and
who would ask its owner to put it to per-
verse usea
But after a1 the real mission OF q
piano in the house is this-a place for
young lady to sit and idly turn the
leaves of blackbird book, and a some-
thing for a young gentleman to hang
over and now and then breathe softly
in the Young lady's ear to let her know
that he is growing weak, but he still
lives. tits an affecting sight to observe
a young man hang over piano. Few
young men know how to hang over a
piano in good form. One must not
bend too low, rs if he were looking for q
lost sleeve button or nickel, nor yet
be too rigid and iniexib e, like a wood
en- soldier on a weather vane. A COM
prom Sc of these attitudes with alittle OBJ
lique leaning toward the stool and its
occupant is about the correct thing in
piano hanging.
Now and then by way of novelty an
attempt is made on a grand social occa-
sion to actually play tie piano. A dis
NAL Young nan leads an exhaustive
| young lady to the piano. An awful
Silence pelyades the drawing room.
The somher young man slowly lifts the
lid, as if he was about to view the re-
mains of the last relative he had on
earth. The young lady wildly runs her
! fingers over the keys-there is sob, O
wall, d vociferation of violent grief, Q
crv of confortIess despair and all is
over 1he yoetnS iaay slnAs upon ,'lN ~
nearest SOFA The Young man lowers
the lid, turns away his head and is seen
no more. :.
Verify. the day of superstition and
mistaken ideas is over, and piano play
ing has passed away with the many fol.
lies and 'foibles of our purblind and un'
cultured ancestry.