The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-09-20
THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN.
Recalling an Old Joke, He is Remind
ell Of HIS Own Increasing
Years.

ears.
"No i'ttle thing that has happened
to me recentlv.' said the middle-aged
man to New York Sun reporter,
'ha> brought to my mind so striking
ly as this light incident did the diff
ference between the old times and the
new, nor has any little thing so vivid
ly reminded me Of my increasing
years.
"One Of the standard jokes that
had point in the times when I was a
boy and that went the rounds in print
then, besides being often brought in
to play "A jocular conversation, relat-
ed to ones having left his pocketbook
at home on the piano. Here, say, is
man buying something in store and
when he comes to pay for it he reach
es in his pocket in which he always
carries his purse. And it isn't there!
"Au1 then. surprised at not finding
it there. he pats all his other pockets
in succession. and then reaches IN
each and every one Of them in search
Of it. to discover he hasn't got it
about him anywhere. And then he
looksup and says:
"Well, by gracious! haven't got
any money. I must have left my
pocketbook on the piano!''
"This joke in its day was consider
ed a good one, easy and plain and yet
not without some sublety, a joke ap-
pealing to many, because originally it
was put out not as a joke at all, but
as bluff. as something that was SER
iously propounded and perhaps SER
iously accepted.
"Its original utterer. is supposed
to have been man who had put up a
fair front. but who when the pinch
came proved to have no money and
who then accounted for its absence IN
a way to imply that while he had no
money with him he was, nevertheless,
a man Of resources, as this incidental
remark, casually made, was intended
to show. And, perhaps, it went. He
had left his money on the piano. 1t
he had piano it was a reasonable IN
ference that he was a man Of at least
some means, for in those day pianos
were, comparatively speaking, rare'
and so this man who had left his
pocketbook home on the piano might
be man who could be trusted.
$50 as to it's origin and perhaps as
to it's occasional early use; but later
it was regarded as a joke only, In
which manner of acceptance it obtain
ed its widest currency, with its hui
morous subtlety Of meaning. In this
latter use the man to whom it was up
to pay something and who found, as
perhaps he knew and as others had
shrewdly guessed, that he had no
money said jokingly:
"Well, I guess [ must have LETT my
money home on the. piano.
"But times have changed. and the
old Joke. with whatever significance,
no longer goes.
"Recently when I went to pay for
in store where I trade l
found that I had actually lett my
pocketbook at home, and the old joke
coming back to me, I said to the young
men who kept the store, smilingly:
s''I guess I must have left my
pocketbook on the piano.
"But the old joke awakened in them
no response whatever. And why
should it? They have piano, [ have
a piano, everybody in these days has
a piano; and so my remark as joke
had no special significance for them.
It was simply a statement by me that
had left my money on the piano.
$50 I was brought to realize that,
except for those old enough to recall
it, this once honorable and generally
enioyed Joke had now lost its hu-
mor.'