Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-05-04
a PrANO-TUNER'S TALK.
He Talks About the Strange Things
Encounters in His Trade.

Encounters III Ills Erate.
I" Look out for that rat ~ was the cxcla-
nation of piano-tuncr of this city TO il re-
porter few days ago as he stood watching
him take piano to pieces, says the Ncw
York Graph c. The words had hardly been
said when large, lean rat jumped ont of
the instrument and scampered across the
room and out of an open door While he
was dezterously removing the rats nest
from inside the piano the reporter asked if
rats were usually part and parcel of pianos.
The tuner remarked that while probably
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 years of
his life Those in the country, especially in
well-to-do farmers houses, were generally
inhabited by rats, and in dozens of cases
fully half 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 fire.
quently did the instrument much damage.
Rats play havoc with the felt5 in the ac-
ton, and he had repaired pianos where the
felss had all been eaten away. Occasion
ally a hungry rat is discovered that shows
fight, and the welding of broomstick,
with the accompanying screaming by the
women folk, is necessary to get rid of the
animal.
Children oftcntimes 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 q cane or book is pokcd 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 q new one the maker
is blamed, the instrument is condemned
and Il sharp letter is forwarded to the
seller. The repaircr with fear and trcm-
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 Il five-cent piece lying on the
action, the tuner sand: "Hcrc is something,
too, l 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-boolls and $40 gold piece will
never forget. The gold had been placed in
the piano for safe keeping by Il 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 a
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 pockct-book brought back the
recollection that it had been laid on the top
lid of an upright piano, and that it had 10
doubt fallen in the inside, where l had
found it.
"Instead of getting reward came near
being arrested and perhaps sentenced to
a term of Imprisonment for finding the
other purse. Its contents were over two
hundred dollars, and, like the other one,
having been carclessly left on top of the
instrument, it fell inside Being missed
while was in the house, and the owner of
the money, country justice, remembering
where he had LAID it, suspicion rested on me
as the one who had taken 1t. When l re-
marked 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
Immediately produced. 1t was bad predic-
amcnt 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 with
out so much as saying Thank you,' and to
this day think he holds the opinion that l
hid it away in the piano.