The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-09-07
BOOM TIMES FOR
The ORGAN GRINDER
Old Days of Jocko and the Lit
tile Red Cap Things of
the Past.
NOW IT'S "CRANk" PIANO
Expensive Instruments That Furnish =
Fairly Good Brand of Music Now
the RuIe-Make Good
Money.
NOW IT'S "CRANk" PIANO
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
IT'S a lottery in these days what
you are going to get said the hand or
gan man. but not so much of a lot
terry as you might think; we don't often
draw five dollar gold pieces.
The ways of living are different
now, in the city, in these days of high
buildings and you never Knew Just
what you are going TO get, and with
this uncertainty about 1t there's always
u chance. and we are all hoping it will
turn out big. We never get a range
letter, you know, without wondering
whether somebody has not sent us a
fortune in it. You know also how It
generally turns out.
"You see, it used to be that all hand
organs We're small and a man carried
n around by n strap over his shoulder
and supported 1t on a stick in front Of
him when he played. Then the hand
organ man earned a monkey, which
besides being a great attraction, was
his collector as we'll.
A he ground The crank the organ
man sent the monkey around at the
end of a rope to collect. The little
monk carried a tin cup in which those
who gave dropped their coins. In those
days the nrgan man always knew what
the monkey woul bring back. Whether
they We're given his children standing
right around him or by somebody on
The steps or down in a basement to
whom the monkey had held out the
cup the coins dropped in it were alway.
cents.
Everything Changed.
Now everything has changed. The
monkey has gone completely from the
hand organs. The hand organ OF to-
day is the big piano organ carried
about on wheels, and it may be drawn
about by a horse. and it is always oper-
a.eu ny TWO men, one acting as the or
ganist and the other as collector.
III takes some money to go into the
hand organ business now, and the re-
turns must be larger, and they are.
People earn more money now, and
spend more; everything is on a bigger
scale, everything, including the houses.
ana 1t is here that we come to thed DIFF.
lerent ways in which the money that
Ihe hand organ man gets is given to
him. N ~
Much of it now is thrown down to
nm from the high windows of tall
TINS some is thrown down to the watch-
1ul collector, who stands in the street
and With hat politely extended sweeps
with his eyes the fronts of the tan
buildings. Sometimes the coin SO
common for givers high up to wran
their Gift in a piece of paper before
throwing it.
Just here comes in the lottery. We
DO not know when we see it fall what
inc package may contain that comes by
man; there is a mystery about it. and
Vt least until we open it we may hone
rms mystery. this possibility as to
what the package may hold, appeals to
ai organ collectors alike, though not
All may plainly reveal their interest;
MI i will wv
man one collector show it frankly, too
frankly.
Examining Packages.
When the collector has gathered I'D
a package thus thrown, what he should
10 is to bow politely in acknowledge
ment to the giver, and hen before
opening the package turn away and
open it leisurely, so as not to evince
undue haste or curiosity, with the
doubt that it might imply Of the giyer's
generosity. This. I say, is what he
should do, and it is what the polite and
ghllosophlea ana experienced collector
hoes do; but on the other hand YOU
nay see some collectors who cannot
curb their curiosity to wait, or who
having the gift are now thoughtless OF
The giver, who will pick up the pack i
age and. stu standing facing toward
shame him If the gift was small, to
anger him If 1t was large.
In whatever manner this package
may be picked up the though of hat
It may contain interests us all; for. be-
cause we cannot see within it there ia
a chance that it may contain anything:
there is the element OF a lottery about
It. But, alas! it is a lottery that yields
few prizes.
II have known dimes to be drawn
In 1T, and sometimes quarters; but for
the most part the prizes in these pack
ages are cents, or two, and the biggest
bundle ma contain but a single Cent:
but that may be thrown down by a
child to whom it was a treasure, and
should be received accordingly.
Still, While it's mostly cents. we get
more of them than we once did
and We get sometimes two or three of
them in a paper package, and some
nickels. Altogether we get more
we once did; and yet with all this
II you will take. as you must, the or
ganist's greater expense, there is but
If any, improvement in his net
In these days, though. in the
little closed packets that come flying
down, there is always-the chance!"
She Gave Herself Away.
Robert Watchorn, the we'll known COM
"a 10y - ~ or