The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-24
RAFTING TIE ZONES A LOST ART.

It Was One of the Accomplishments Of the
Smart Boy Twenty Years AGO.
Some unusual demand on the part OF regular
patron set tho proprietor OF the little old variety
store and news stand 10 rumaging among the
accumulations Of the years since he had FIRST
started his humble business. II brought to light
various kinds Of odds and ends, but not the article
sought
That's dead stock for fair" no said, without
any thought Of pun as he threw q small parcel
on the counter. for It was pair Of bonea" These
bones were OF rosewood. neatly finished. and each
wrapped carefully In soft paper They were Just
as good as any that ever ornamented the north
east end OF tho semi circle OF Tho San Francisco
Minstrels In the days when negro minstrels had
not dfeamed Of putting on frills and becoming
dark face comedians
THAT pair Of bones must have been on my
hands these twenty years. the dealer continued
Il haven't had call for anything OF the sort In a
dozen years that can remember. Yet II used TO
be that had not only to carry full line Of bones
but had TO put them In tho showcase TO attract
custom. How long Is IL since you heard boy
going along the street with pair OF bones In each
hand and making all the sorts Of noise that the
weapons arc capable Of? l don't know
boy now that would know how TO hold the things
In his fingers. much less play them.
Just as soon as a boy got through with baby
Is
until he could play them. l remember the FIRST
ones had were real bones, the kind that como
in rib roasts OF beef must have traded of some
thing for them with the butcher boy. OF course l
could have had the bones out OF Sunday dinner,
but cooked bones Wero no good; they had 70 DO
dried In the sun to make them night Some boys
could white out wooden bones II they had the
luck 70 get hold Of the right kind Of hard wood and
had good knife, for II was no good TO make your
bones out OF an old broomstick there was no ring
10 them. That's how you learned 70 play on the
things. and you sort Of boy until you
could play with both hands at once. The crowd
wouldn't have anything 10 do with you until you
could, and even quite small girls had no hesitation
about asking you 10 keep pin stores with them
and made you feel like baby. You bet you lost
no time in learning TO rattle the bones. That's
the phrase I've been trying TO think Of and now it's
Just come to me; playing the bones didn't seem
right 70 me: we rated them
There two pair OF bones, such as that
you have there. in a set and the more costly ones
were always sold in sets 4 set like that must
have sold for as much as a dollar and half for
you see is fine rosewood with real piano finish.
Mahogany bones were little bit cheaper, say
about dollar a set, From that down you could
get them for almost any price. ! know what
killed the trade in bones II was ingenuity.
When everybody was rafting the bones there
were some people who never could learn the way.
guess their early Quotations must have been
neglected So an inventive genius made patent
bone that anybody could play, II had metal
tongue and bob that hit the bone itself and
made the noise that way. That killed the bones
Who was going 10 work hard 10 learn the Train
Coming into the Station on the real bone when
any baby could do II Just - we'll on the patent
bonsf-