The Portland daily press., 1900-02-03

so rich that few tnousand dollars worth
OF furniture scattered here and there
don't cut much Of o figure with him.
I'VE rarely ssll any Of the stun on stor-
age AZ pubic auction unlsss at the re-
quest OF the owner of the property, who,
perhaps, finding himself without fund so
coaffonaf1y ssks us TO 10 this, su btraoting
tbs amount of the storage charges from
or 10 him
The persistency with which peo pls
bang on 20 old pianos IL q queer thing.
There ars hundreds Of pianos n this
building, ana some of them have BEEN
here for two decades. These old pianos
must have cot a good deal Of money
when they were new, but they are now
out-of.date tin pans, 1t IL liksIy that
many Of the pianos that have been tors
for such long periods are valuable on
account Of the association. In the IN inds
OF the persons placing them here. with
decreased relatives.
"Tbsrs Is a grand piano here that was
put In storage "a years ago by q literary
man ef former fame who spent most Of
hie life In New York. It was an old In.
strument even when he placed It here,
but although he had no room for 1t In his
house, he couldn't bear the Idea OF dispos-
ius VI W. fof ~ WuH tue pihuu upou Wulou
bis only daughter had performed almost
up TO the day Of her death. 10 he had
trueksd IL own here. and here 1t IL likely
TO remaiL good many years after we've
all passed out.
"Thsn, too. people store comparatively
cheap olanos, and, after allowing them
TO remain hero for years, WHEN ths bill
for storage has ceaWled into heavy
figures. they turn up, pay the storage bill
-Rhfah QnmaffnrRa IN
the value of the instrumsnt-taks the
thing away, and make room FOR another
piano. There was en- odd chap In here
the other day. / hadn't seen him before
for three years. when he placed an old
SQUARE plano In storage here
after that piano Of mine. How much ara
tbs charessf All right. Here's the
money. Nov, III tell you something
abous that piano. IL cost ms $500 in is6s.
was figuring ths thing out the other
day, and discovered shat. aside from this
yearly $7,ooo since bought it. How?
Well. I've moved that piano all over the
United Suites any mum Der Of tin Is, from
Maine to California and from Michigan
TO the gulf, and that cost me over 81 600
Tseu I've had IL In storage pretty nearly
as often, and that cost me lot Of money.
In hard times. before learned how to
10 full value doxsns of times and had
to pay for the interest for several years
ct . clip. But the big Item Of expense
In connection with thas plano h that I've
raised three crops OF children on 10. Ben
married three times. and each of my
girls. yen, I've given every last one OF
those children plano lessons, and thet's
the piano they banged on In learning
how to play. Cost somsthjng pretty close
to 81. coo I'm not taking it away now
becauss need 1t, for I'm dead certain
that none Of my girls wonld play on Il
with golf sticks. but l.waut to have 10
around the house and look at IL, for the
history Of thas piano IN practically tho
history OF my Hfa You've get 10 for the
last time, for I'm going to turn IL loose
to Craze and finish its old aae in COM
fort on the second floor Of my no use. Got
TO put it In my own den, for the girls
wouldn't have II in any other part Of
the house.
"Psopfs bring lot of things here to
be kept In storage because they deem
them too unlucky 70 be kept around the
house. There's an exceedingly fine
marble bust Of Clytie here that has an
odd hi story. 1t was done BY famous
SCULPTOR. now dead. The soulptor's Oldest
son was exceedingly dissipated, and 10
the course Of tims his exossses effe cted
his mind. He suffered from mela non ola,
and one of his halluoinatioDs was that
the eyes Of this bust OF Ciytis, which
rested on q pedestal In the hall Of the
house In which the seulptor's family
lived, were constantly regarding him re-
proaohfully. The fancy grew upon him
until he began to rave over it, and ons
day he got hammer and WAS Oh the
point OF destroying ths beautiful work
Of art when his sister took IL out OF his
reach, and the family brought 1t here for
safe keeping. They did not care to take
1t away after the young mans death. on
account OF its gloomy association with
his insanity, and so here 1t remains.
'rhere 10 an exceedingly beautiful and
ornate gold -hilted Damascus so.mitar In
this dead room that has been here for
many years. 1t was brought here by a
gentleman who had been United States
minister to Turkey. He told me that he
had never had a days luck since he
became possessed of the scimitar. which
had had q pretty ssnguinary history be-
fore 1t passed into his hands; that death
and misfortune had been rife In his
family ever since the blade had teen
given to him. He put 1t In our charge,
with the remark that he might call for
1t some day after the comm onplace exor-
oisJu of storage warehouse had deprived
/. Of Its curse, but have never seen him
SINCE"