The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1903-08-25
THE FIRST PIANO IN CAMP


such an instrument should te &c -.
One knew where the "off hind leg"
should go, and another was posted on
the front piece"
Scores of men came to the place
every day to assist.
"Ill put the bones in order"
"If you want the wires tuned up. I'm
the boy"
I've got the music to feed it for a
month"
Another bropght a pair Of blankets
for a cover, and all took the liveliest
interest in it. 1t was at last in a con-
d'tio1 To- business.
"It's beer showin' it's teeth all the
week. We'd like to have it spit out
something"
Alas! there wasn't a man to be
found who could play upon the instru-
ment. Goskin began to realize that he
lad a losing speculation on his hands
He had a fiddler and a Mexican who
thrummed a guitar. A pianist would
nave uldut lis OTCItSlId COfIlp eve.
One day a three-card monte player
told a friend conidential'y that he
could knock any amount of music
out of the piano If he only had il
alone a few hours to get his hand IN"
This report spread about the camp,
u on being questioned he vowed
that he didn't know a note of mrslc.
1t was noted. however, as a suspicious
circumstance that he often hung about
the instrument and looked upon OF
lnoginglv. like hungry man gloa'ing
over a beefsteak in a restaurant win
dew. There was no doubt but that
this man had music in his soul, per-
haps in his fingers ends. but did not
dare to make a trail of his strength
after the rules of harmony had suf-
fered so many years of neglect. So
the fiddler kept on with his jigs,
and the greasy Mexican paved his
discordant guitar, but no man had the
nerve to touch that piano. There
were, doubtless. scores of men in TIE
camp who would have given ten
ounces of gold-dust to have been half
an hour alone with it, but every mans
nerve shrank from the jeers which TIE
crowd would shower upon him should
his first attempt prove a failure. II
got to be generally understood that
the hand which first assayed to draw
mItci0 frnro tha bon, o,,+ -. 1z..I
its work.
1t was Christmas eve, and Goskin
according to his custom, had deco-at-
ed his gambling he'll with sprays of
mountain cedar and a shrub whose
crimson berries did not seem a bad
imitation of English holly. The piano
was covered with evergreens, and all
that was wanting to completely fill the
cup of Goskin's contentment was a
man to play the instrument.
Christmas night, inc not piano
, FOUNDER" he said. This is a nice
country for a Christian to live in"
Getting a piece of paper, he scrawled
the words:
$40 REWARD
TO A COMPLAINT PLANO PLAYER.
This he stuck up on the music rack,
: and, though the inscription CARED al
the freQuenters of the room until mid
might, it failed to draw any musician
: from his shell.
: So the merry-making went on; the
| hi4ality grew apace. Men danced and
sang to the music OF the squeaky id-
ole and WORKOUT guitar, as the jolly
: how'd within tried to drown the howl
ing of the storm without. Suddenly
they became aware of the presence OF
: a white-haired man, crouching neal
the fireplace. His garments-such as
: were left-were wet with melting
snow, and he had a half-starved, half
'crazed expression. He held his thin
trembling hands toward the fire, and
, the light of the blazing wood made
> them almost transparent. He looked
: about him once in awhile. as If in
i search of something. and his presence
cast such a chill over the place
= gradually tie sound Of the revelry was
pushed, and it seemed that this wait
of the storm had brought in with il
all of the gloom and GOODNESS of the
warning elements. Goskin, mixing uI
a cup of hot egg-nogg advanced and
= remarked cheerily:
Here, stranger, brace up, This Is
the real stuff"
y The MAJ drained the cup, smacked
d his lips and seemed al home.
D Been prospecting, Ell? Out in the
mountains-caught in the storm,
u Lively night, this,'
: Pretty bad" said the man.
Must feel pretty dry?"
I The man looked at his steamins
clothes and laughed. as If Goskln's