, 1888-09-15
A PIANO TUNER TALKS.
SOME OF THE STRANGE THINGS EN-
cOUHTERED IN HIS TRADE.

Rats Play Havoc with the Felts-Children
Poke Canes Under the strings-FindinG
CareIessncss.
Look out for that ratl" was the excla.
nation of q piano tuner to a reporter, a
few days ago, as he stood watching him
take a piano to pieces. The words had
barely been said when a large. lean rat
jumped out of the instrument and scam.
pered across the room and out of an open
door. While he was dexterously remov
ing the rats nest from inside the piano
the reporter asked If rats were usually
part and parcel of pianos. The tuner re,
marked that while probably two-thirds of
the instruments in residences were free
from the rodents, the other third were in
Tested with them. at least that had been
his experience during twenty years of his
life. Those in the country, especially in
well to do farmers houses, were gener.
ally inhabited by rats, and in dozens of
cases fully half a bushel of small scraps
Of paper that had been carried there by
the pests had been discovered. The paper
and the nests were not so bad, but rats
very frequently did the instrument much
damage. Rats play havoc with the felts
in the action, and he had repaired pianos
whore the felts had all been eaten away.
Occasionally a hungry rat is discovered
that shows fight, and the welding of a
broomstick, with the accompanying
screaming by the women folk, is neces-
sIry to get rid of the animal.
Children oftentimes cause pianos to get
out of order, but while the trouble caused
by them is usually quickly repaired there
are times when they do more damage than
rats. Left alone in the room with an open
instrument the spirit of mischief comes
over them, and a zane or a book is poled
in under or among the strings. The
owner returns to play on the piano, and
then finds it at skies and sevens. AS
everything was all right but n few min
utes before the cause of the trouble can
not be understood, and then there is
buster about the house. Should the
piano be n new one the maker is blamed,
the instrument is condemned, and a sharp
letter is forwarded to the seller. The re-
pairer with fear and trembling hastens to
the scene. the trouble is found, and after
apologies, the whipping of the small boy
who did the mischief. and the payment of
the bill for repairs, the piano is left to it's
fate.
WHERE TIT ..oNEY GOES.
Picking up a five cent piece lying on the
action, the tuner said: Here is something,
w. L III Us wei do rats Acobo anu LlG
work of children. To be sure money is
not found frequently, especially in any
considerable amount, but the finding of
Gwo fat pocketbooks and a ten dollar gold
piece l will never forget. The gold had
been placed in the piano for safe keeping
by a young lady, and it's hiding place for
gotten, and my finding it, of course,
made the owner happy. The bringing to
light of one of the pocketbooks made mt
$50 richer, that being a present from it's
loser. 1t had been missing for a year,
and contained 5000. Detectives had been
hunting for thieves who, it was supposed,
had stolen the money. The discovery of
the pocketbook brought back the recol-
lection that it had been laid on the top
lid of an upright piano. and that it had
no doubt fallen in the inside, where / had
found it.
Instead of getting a reward l came
near being arrested, and perhaps SEN
fenced to a term of Imprisonment for
finding the purse. It's contents were over
5000, and like the other one, having been
carelessly left on top of the instrument,
it fell inside. Being missed while / was
in the house, and the owner of the money,
a country justice, remembering where he
had laid 1t, suspicion rested on me as the
one who had taken it. When l remarked
the mysterious actions of the justice, his
wife and two daughters, he told me of his
loss and what he suspected, and threatened
my arrest unless the money was immedi-
ately produced. 1t was a bad predicament
to be in, and what to do puzzled me. The
finding of the other pocketbook flashed
across my mind. suggested a search in
the interior of the piano, and there it was
found to my Joy. The old man took it
without as much as saying Thank you,'
and to this day l think he holds the
opinion that 1 hid it away in the piano"
Chicago Journal.