New-York tribune., 1902-02-16
THE RED FLANNEL PATCH.

HUMBLE LIFE.

/
/ day worker, to a square" meal. After dining
| wisely one of them remarked that Eugene Field
had stirred more latent sympathy in the hearts,
| OF the reading public with his Little Boy Blue'
/ than any newspaper man he knew, and this led
! 10 the telling of an incident that had occurred
/ the day before to J. The story was told to J. bv
a friend who had hastily jotted down the facts:i
Tonic Salvatore organ grinder. This is the
name and occupation of him who has disturbed
my daytime sleep, has tortured my overstrung
nerves when awake, and has sent rolling
through my brain confused and confusing
Jumhlc OF sounds, very unmusical at times from
The Little Widow Dunn to a distorted crea-
/ tion Of Les Rameaux' by some hand organ
builder who sought sound rather than truth of
composition. You night workers. who even in
sleep have teeth on edge and blue pencil poised
ready 10 attack the weakling reporters contribu-
tion TO the daily paper, have perhaps heard and
cursed Tonic Salvatore for grinding out his dis
cordant organ notes, have turned restlessly on :
your pillows, made feint to grasp anything
within reach and hurl it at the unsuspecting dis
| turber of your rest and then calmly pulled your
bedclothes over your heads to sink again into
! your restless sleep, with beats and city edi-
tors and news editors chasing one another
! through your active brains. Hear my story
Of Tonic and perhaps you will say Such a thing
as that organ grinder carrying the faded photo-
graph Of a dead daughter on the cover Of his
organ never entered my head
Tonic Salvatore and his wife are Siclians Of
the better class, with son and daughter religi-
| euscs in Italy Tonic is seventy-two years old
and his wife is seventy three. Misfortunes oc-
cur under the Italian blue dome as under the
American gray dome, and Tonic with his
wife ana daughter of sixteen years. chose to
seek new life here. For an old Italian with
the artist sense in music, sculpture and carving
there are few opportunities in New-York, and
menial positions are not always open to an
Italian patriarchal in appearance and with no
knowledge of English. The organ, the organ
his new found friends suggested as a means to
earn his livelihood. meagre though the income
be from the daily trudging up and down and
across New-York's busy streets and, so that
little Battis,a and her mother might retain the
shelter provided for them with the money
brought from home and now exhausted, Tonic
procured. by paying a small daily rental for it.
an old time organ, husky, hoarse and discordant
Of tone and with Battista assisting him in
drawing the barrow on which the organ rested.
he started on the path from which Victory. for
him. was sidetracked, and the end of which was
the Grave for Battista.
Il The shivering Tonic and Battista last
November in the street in which live she with
a thin plaid shawl drawn around her attenuated
figure, and Tonic grinding away. with eyes now
looking up at the windows for the chance con-
tributons Of lovers Of his music of haters
of it. who. with a of hand and the
closely wrapped penny thrown by the other
hand circling in the air, demanded that he move
to another house another street, and then
looking lovingly at Battista she to pick
the penny from the street and hand it to him.
At times Tonic gave searching Glance at his
daughter and dropped his head until the stubby
gray beard rested on his breast, then quietly
lifted the hand which held the organ upright,
allowing the instrument to rest on his body, and
placed it the girls shoulder smoothing the
plaid shawl and beaming her with his dark
Italian eyes.
saw Tonic. Battista not with him, and
he trudging along, pulling his barrow and
organ. the cover of the organ next to him having
a red patch over it to cover rent in the cloth,
thought. Organ ana barrow seemed to
have doubled in weight. Judging 10y his bent back
and tense muscles, He stopped to grind his in
strumcEt. but gave sign of being interested i'll
anything going around him. His head was bent
and his chin rested on his breast. He was alive,
that all. AS 1 interested in Rattista
ana him when l them in the beginning
Of the winter l made bold to stand near him,
and noted the change in his appearance. He re-
mcmhercd, | suppose, having
where his daily travels especially as [ had
always contributed to Battista q coin of soma
denomination, and n lifted his old cap to me.
He ceased churEIrg out his music, and 1 stepped