The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-10-12
C6e
Red Flannel Patch.
IT CONCEALED THE TRAGEDY OF A
HUMBLE LIFE.
HUMBLE LIFE.

In the wee short hours ayont the
fwal'" one morning recently half a
dozen newspaper men gathered, as
was their custom, in one of Broad
ways restaurants to do justice, at
what would be called an unseemly
hour by the New York day worker, to
a square" meal. After dining wisely
one of them remarked that Eugene
Field had stirred more latent SYM
pathy in the hearts of the reading
public with his Little Boy Blue" than
any newspaper man he knew, and this
led to the telling of an incident that
had occurred the day before to ]. The
story was told to ]. by friend, who
had hastily jotted down the facts:
'Tonio 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 roll
ting through my brain a confused and
confusing tumble of sounds, very un-
musical at times, from The Little
Widow Dunn to distorted creation
Of Les Rameaux' by some hand-organ
builder who sought sound rather than
truth of composition. You night work
ers, who even in sleep have teeth on
edge and blue pencil poised ready to
attack the wealSling reporters contri-
button to the daily paper, have per-
haps heard and cursed Tonic Saliva
tore for grinding out his discordant
organ notes, have turned restlessly on
your pillows, or made feint to grasp
anything within reach and hurl 1t at
the unsuspecting disturber of your
rest, and then calmly pulled your bed
clothes over your heads, to sink again
into your restless sleep, with beats
and city editors and news editors chas-
ing one another through your ever act
i've brains. Hear my story of Tonic,
and perhaps you will say, Such a
thing as that organ grinder carrying
the faded photograph of dead daugh-
ter ON the cover of his organ never
entered my head
"Tonio Salvatore and his wife are
Sicilians of the better class, with a son
and daughter religieuses in Italy. Ton
10 is ~ years old. and his wife is 70.
Misfortunes occur under the Italian
blue dome as under the American gray
dome, and so Tonic, with his wife and
daughter of 16 years, chose to seek a
new life here. For an old Italian, with
the artist sense of music, sculpture
and carving, there are few oppcrtuni-
ties in New York, and menial posi-
tions are not always open TO an ltal-
fan patriarchal in appearance and with
no knowledge of English. The organ,
the organ his new found friends sug-
gested as a means to earn his liveli-
hood, meagre though the income be
from the daily trudging up and down
and across New Yorks busy streets,
and, so that little Battista and her
mother might retain the shelter pro-
Vided for them with the money
brought from home and now exhausted,
Tonic procured, by paying small dai-
fy rental for 1t, an old time organ,
husky, hoarse and discordant Of tone,
and, with Battista assisting him in
drawing the barrow on which the or
gan rested, he started on the path from
which Victory was sidetracked, and
the end of which was the Grave OF
Baftista.
81 saw the shivering Tonic and Bat
fista 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 new looking up at the windows
for the chance contributions of lovers
of his music, or of haters of it, who
with wave of one hand and the close
ly wrapped penny thrown by the other
hand circling in the air, demanded
that he move to another house or an
other street, and then looking loving
IL at Battista as she ran to pick the
penny from the street and hand 1t to
him. At times Tonic gave searching
glance at his daughter and dropped
mis- head until the stubby gray beard
rested on his breast, then quietly lifted
the hand which held the organ up
right, allowing the instrument to rest
on his body, and placed 1t on the girls
shoulder, smoothing the plaid shawl
and beaming on her with his dark
Italian eyes.
Yesterday, on Broome street, west OF
the Bowery, saw Tonic. Battista was
not with him. and he was trudging
along, pulling his barrow and organ
the cover Of the organ next to him
having q red patch over 1t to cover
q rent in the cloth, I thought Organ
and barrow seemed to me to have
doubled In weight. judging by his ben,
back and tense muscles. He stopped
70 grind his instrument. but gave nc
sign Of being interested in anything
going on around him. His head was
osnt anA his chin rested on hi