The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-11-04
A@N@ Observation-Disclosures
IT CONCEALED THE TRAGEDY OF A
HUMBLE LIFE.

%V%VVW%@%V T%VGWy%
In the wee short hours ayont the
twaP one morning recently half a
dozen newspaper men gathered, as
was their custom, in one of Bread
ways restaurants to do justice, at
what would be called an unseemly
hour by the New York day worker, to
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 J. The
story was told to j. by friend, who
had hastily iotted down the facts:
Tonic Salvatore, organ grinder.
This is the name and occupation OF
him who has disturbed my daytime
sleep, has tortured my oyerstrung
nerves when awake, and has sent roll
ing through my brain q confused and
confusing tumble of sounds, very I'M
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 weakling reporters contri-
button to the daily paper, have per-
haps heard. and cursed Tonic Saliva
tore fer grinding out his discordant
organ notes, have turned restlessly on
your pillows, or made a feint to grasp
anything within reach and hurl it 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
"Tcnio Salvatore and his wife are
Sicilians Of the better class, with a son
and daughter religieuses in Italy. Ton
10 is r. 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 Is 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 mental posi-
tons are not always open to an Ital
ian 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
frcm 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 dali
ly rental for it, an old time organ,
husky, hoarse and descendant 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 |
Battista.
81 saw the shivering Tonic and Bat
tista last Move sr in the street in
which / live, 81 { with thin plaid
shawl drawn arc md her attenuated
figure, and Tonic grinding away, with
eyes now 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
1y at Battista as she ran to pick the
penny from the street and hand it to
him. At times Tonic gave a 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 up
right, allowing the instrument to rest
on his body, and placed it on the girls
shoulder, smoothing the plaid shawl
and beaming on her with his dark
Italian eyes.