The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-09-24
WAY OF THE oaoAN-oRlNOE7.
1T In Weary One, bat Has Much Turn-
iug-Sotne Facts aud Fipuros.


organ-griHding-seems to be growing
less and less every year. In this respect
the Scriptural precepts, as famed in Ec-
clcsiastes xii, 3,4, seem to be working to
a fulfilment, for there one reads: I'm
the day when the keepers Of the house
shall trembc and the strong men shall
bow themselves and the grinders cease
because they are few Sc - and the.
doors shall be shut in the streets when
the sound OF tho grinding is low
There are probably very few people
who have any conception of what a.
considerable number OF these busy
grinders there are, aud how and where
they live or anything oil about them.
Their interest ends when they have
paid the conventional copper for the.
privilege Of hearing ona of Dave
Braham's latest successes, or possibly a
nocturne from Chopin.
In little shop in Elizabeth street.
Just around the corner from Grand and
in the very heart of the Italian quarter
may be found the headquarters in this
country for the manufacture of barrel
organs, street pianos and carousal or
gans. Ranged on either side of the
room are Instruments Of all patterns
and values brought in for tuning or re-
pairing, while their owners stand lazily
about smoking cigarettes, nibbling raw
onions and iabbaring in their fascinGt-
ing tongue with each other. Against
the wall at the end of the room hangs
card which declares in the Italian
that Organs are tuned while you
wait" and this is impressed on the Wis
itor by the active movements of the two
young men who do the work and the
monotonous sounds they make in do
ing it,
There you are. Dollar and a half.
Thank you. Good day" and one of the
proprietors Of this primitive little organ
factory helped fat, sleepy-loolsing Ne
apolitan hoist sixty-pound barrel or
gan on his little round-shouldered back
with remarkable ease and facility.
"What does an instrument like that
cost?"
"That one cost 500 when new, and it
is a good one for made it. We have
them, though, for SS5, and from that up
to 5000. The latter price will buy pi-
ano organ of the finest pattern.
When the Italian walks down the
steerage gangplank of an ocean liner
just arrived from his sunny home over
the sea, his first idea is to secure a posi-
ton as street worker, for he has
learned before he left home that his
countrymen who have preceded him
here are employed in great numbers in
that capacity.
When he fails at this and his small
savings are exhausted he will borrow
from an uncle, bro other or cousin,
and they are all related in some man
ner, his organ and start out with it to
make his fortune in the great new
country. Probably that same organ
was brought over from the native land
q score of years before, an d has served
to lay the foundation for the fortune of
many later arrival. With 1t he may
make hirty cents a day and he may
make a dollar. The amount depends
on the quality Of the organ, the age of
the music and the liberality of the
audience. That is one reason why they
prefer to secure employment as street
cleaners at seventy-fve cents day; the
other is because they fancy the latter
more elevating, and an Italian has
pride and hates to beg.
The first warm day of spring will see
those who have wintered in the city
pack their ponderous organs on their
backs and make for the provinces
They scatter all over the country, going
as far west as Denver and all through
the New England states. They work
their way, as rule, tramping often
times from town to town, Juggling their
ffty-pound instruments through the
hot, dusty country for a score of miles
to make probably few dollars, and
then on to the next. The monkey long
since made his exit from the cities, and
it is only rarely that they are now seen
in the small towns. A man in Brooklyn
made fortune in raising and training
them, and he received often as much as
$50 Tor well-trained monk.
The hand organ has figured conspicu-
ously many times in high social life in
this city. Not long since it was one OF
the forms of entertainment at swell
dinner in fashionable home in West
Fifty-seventh street, while many times
are recalled when it has been used at
masquerade parties when played by one
of the smart set got up as an Italian.
The weakness OF some well-kuown men
for barrel-organ music is an established
fact. Chauncey Depew has been seen
to stop on the side walk and wait for
five minutes TO hear out stirring air
which particularly pleased him. Edwin
Booth has kept many an organ-grinder
playing away for him in front of the
Players club, dealing out small silver
every few minutes, much to the musi
cian's delight. Gen, Sherman woulC
willingly patronize any organ, prbvid
ing it didn't play Marching Through
Georgia" 1t is said that President
Harrison had grinder dealing out
Italian opera by the yard in front o,
the steps to the executive mansion fol
the amusement of Baby Mckee.
Many of the piano organs are sup
piled with miniat ure figures behind
glass fronts, which work as the organ
plays. They are an expensive luxury
however, and only those who happcr
to be unusually well off in a money way
afford them. N. Y. World.
low to Peel Tomatoes.
1t is so customary in prepar ing toms
toes for the table to peel or skin then
that we hmm In the combustion tha