Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-11-18
A PIANo-TuNER's TALK
He Talks About the Strange rhInp. n.
Encounters in His Tra,Ia

He Talks About the Stranp, Tb,,u. u.
Encounters in His Trade.
I" Look out for that ratp, was tho exo,o-
nation OF piano-tuner of this citv IN a re-
porter few days ago as he stood watching
him take piano to pieces, saws the New
York Graphic. The words had hardly heen
said when large, lean rat jumped out of
the instrument and scampered across the
room and out OF an open door While he
was dexterously removing the rats nest
from inside the piano the reporter asked ~
rats were usually part and parcel of pianos
The tuner remarked that while probablv
two-thirds OF the instruments in residences
were free from the rodents the other third
were infested with them; at least that has
been his experience during twenty wears of
his life. Those in the country, especially in
well-to-do farmers houses were generally
inhabited by rats, and in dozens of cases
iully naii pushei OF small scraps Of paper
that nad peen carried there by the pests
had been discovered. The paper and the
nests were not SO bad, but rats very fire.
quently did the instrument much DAMAGE
Rats play havoc with the felts in the ac-
ton, and he had repaired pianos where the
felts had all been eaten away. Occasion
ally hungry rat is discovered that shows
fight and the welding of broomstick.
with the accompanying screaming bv the
women folk, is necessary to get rid of the
animal.
Chlldren o1tentimes 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 wi. !. an omen
instrument the spirit of mischief comes
over them and cane or book is poked in |
under or among the strings. The owner
returns to play on the piano and then finds |
it at skies and sevens. As every thing was |
all right but few minutes before, the |
cause OF the trouble can not be understood, |
and then there is buster about the house. |
Should the piano be new one the maker |
Is blamed, the instrument is condemned |
and sharp letter is forwarded to the
seller. The repairer with fear and trem-
bling 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 its fate.
Picking up a f1ve-cent piece lying on the
action, the tuner said: "Here is something,
too, find, as well as rats nests and the
work Of children. To be sure, money Is not
found frequently, especially in any con-
siderable amount, but the finding of two
fat pocket-books and SO gold piece will
never forget. The gold had been placed in
the piano for safe keeping by young lady
and its hiding place forgotten, and MY find
ing it, of course, made the owner happy
The bringing to light of one of the pocket
books made me $50 richer, that being O
present from its loser 1t had been missing
for year, and contained 5000. Detectives
had been hunting for thieves who, it was
supposed, had stolen the money. The dis
covery of the pocket-bo brought back the
recollection that it had been laid on the top
lid Of an upright piano, and that it had no
doubt fallen in the inside, where I had
found it.
"Instead Of getting areward came near
being arrested and perhaps sentenced to
q term Of imprisonment tor finding the
other purse Its contents were over two
hundred dollars, and, like the other one,
having been carelessly left on top of the
it fell inside Being missed
while I was in the house, and the owner Of
The money, a country justice, remembering
where he had laid it, suspicion rested on me
Is the one who had taken it. When I re-
marked the mysterious actions of the
ustice, his wife and two daughters, he told
ne of his loss and what he suspected, and
threatened my arrest unless the money was
produced. It was bad predic-
lment to be in, and what to do puzzled me.
The finding Of the other pocketbook flashed
lcross my mind. suggested a search in
he interior Of the piano, and there it was
'ound, to my JOY The old man took it with
,ut so much as saying Thank you,' and to
his day think he holds the opinion that I
lid it away in the piano."