The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-03
ORGAN GRINDEFS LOTTERY.
Receipts Bigger Thar In the Monkeys Nay
Expenses Also Larger.

-ENDthsr5 HtH haA SCI.
TITS a lottery, In these days, what you
are going to get" said the hand organ
man, but not SO much Of a lottery as you
might think; we don't often draw five
dollar gold pieces.
The ways Of giving are different now, in
the city, in these days Of high buildings
and you never know just what you are
going to get, and with this uncertainty
about 1t there's always a chance, and we
are all hoping it will turn out big. We
never get a strange letter, you know, with
out wondering whether somebody has not
sent US a fortune in It. You know also
how 1t generally turns out.
You see it used to be that all hand organs
were small, and a man carried one around
by a strap over his shoulder and supported
1t on a stick, in front OF him, when he played.
Then the hand organ mar carried a monkey,
which, besides being a great attraction, was
his collector as well.
As he ground the rank 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 organ man
always knew what the monkey would
bring back. Whether they were given by
children standing right around him or by
somebody on the steps or down in a base
ment to whom the monkey had held out
the cup the coins dropped in it were always
cents.
"Now everything has changed. The
monkey has zone completely from the city
and 30 have most OF the little hand organs.
The hand organ Of to-day is the big piano
organ carried about IN wheels, and it may
be drawn about by a horse, and it Is always
operated by two men, one acting as the
organist and the other as collector. ..
| organ business now, and the returns must
be larger, and they are. People earn more
money now, and spend more; everything is
on a bigger scale, everything, including
the houses, and it is here that we come to
the Inherent ways in which the money
that the hand organ man gets is given to
him. =,
from the high windows OF tall tenements,
is thrown down to the watohful col
lector, who stands in the street and with
hat politely extended sweeps with his eyes
the fronts Of the tall buildings: Some
times the coin so thrown may be lost, and
now it is common for givers high UP to
wrap their gift in a piece Of paper before
throwing 1t.
do not know when we see 1t fall h
the package may contain that comes
and at least until we have opened 1t
we may hope. This mystery, this posi-
bility as to what the package may hold,
appeals to all organ collectors alike, though
not all may plainly reveal their interest;
than one collector show it frankly, too
when the collector has gathered up a
| package thus thrown, what he should do is
to bow politely in acknowledgment to the
river. and then before opening the package
turn away and open it leisurely, so as not
to eyince undue haste or curiosity, with
the doubt that might imply Of the giver's
generosity. This, say. is what he should
do, andit is What the polite 2 phlos9phcal
the other hand you may see some collectors
who cannot curb their curiosity to wait,
or who, having the gift, are now thought
less Of the giyer, who will pick up the pack
one open a i in IL the eiver'e face, 70 shame him
II the gift was small, to anger him IL 1t was
large. n.nn.- tb,s naoks o. NAV
be picked up the thought OF what it may
cannot see within it there Is a chance
that it may contain anything; there Is the
element Of a lottery about It. But, alasl
It is a lottery that yields few prizes.
Il have known dimes to be drawn In IL,
and sometimes quarters; but for the
are cents. or two, and the biggest bundle
may 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.
aStiil. while it's mostly cents, we get
now more Of them than we once. did-and
we get sometimes two or three Of them
in a paper package, and sometimes nickels.
Altogether, we get more now than we once
as you must, the organist's greater expense,
there is but scant, II any,. improvement
in his net reward. In these days, though,
in the little closed packets that come flying
down, there is always-the chance!'