Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1915-04-22
Tho Old Piano.
From the Kansas City Star.

From the Kansas City Star
A piano dealer of this city hauled loaa
Of old WORKOUT square pianos to vacant
lot last week and made q bonnre OF tneln.
He had got tired of having them around;
uselessly filling space. and so ne purheu
them. ,oa
And as tho flames crackled and leaped
no one In the crowd that gathered gave we,
thought to the tender r,d n
amos. 1t was just bonfire. nothing more.
But surely many a wrath of bysone
days might have been seen s .akhs + soe
one there had been blessed with sentiment
enough to look for them. The unfeellng
crowd said 1t was the heat thae mace thte ana diG
when the flames reacned them. b a' ~
was not so. 1t was the spirit that dwell
In the old piano-the spirit OF oaner Gays lys
upon the ivory keys. yellow with age. ana
worn thin as paper by the pressure !, OF OF
dainty fingers that have turned 10 asiies
No one knew the story OF any piano IN
the blazing pile. In what homes t tfe
stood who owned them +h how ve old 1 they
very old. They were pioneers of music
and culture. They came, out into TINS
western country with the first White White, foiK.
before the railroads. when this region was
wild and sparsely settled. when the own
ership of a plano meant wealth and posi-
tion. and a refinement rare upon eiie ifoi-
tier
The getting of plano in those days
was an eventful undertaking; It would
probably be bought in New YORK. would
come by rail to Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.
and from there by boat to st. Louis and
up the Missouri on one of the old stern.
wheeled packets that grasshoppered
over the sandbars and made slow progress
ngainst the muddy current in the deeper
There was sure to be at least one young
woman in each of the homes where those
PIANOS went That much of the story we
do know The rest of it must be left to the
Imagination
of the pile. the varnish of It's mahogany
case black with age. Can not you see the
girl waiting there at the gate OF the farm
her face her hand shielding her eyes from
the setting sun as she watches: and how
she claps her hands as the OK team turns
the bend in the river road and she gets
the. first glimpse of the big pine packing
box in the wagon
You can see the new plano later in Z
corner of the pig front g par.o1 t Inc e,r
and bending over her a young man of the
countryside who listens with look upor
his face that only lovers wear.
Wild rowing Indian maid. sweet Alferetta
Where flows the waters OF the Dlue jun
alta
heard That song, hasn't it? Maybe. II 70,
are one of the younger generation, yo,
never heard it.. But it was prime favor
lite with loy d niano mas IN the
The old piano was member of tn
family and Its spirit was In tune witt
every emotion that ruled the household
whether OF JOY or sorrow. And 1t knew
much OF both: 1t vlbrated tenderly witt
love: 1t pealed grandly the weddinl
march: 1t crooned many a lullaby In tn
long evenings when the smell Of will
honeysuckle hoated in through the opene'
windows; 1t sobbed mournfully the ok
funeral hymn: ASLEEP In Jesus Blesse,
Sleep" 1t was proud to do that last mel
ancholy service for its dead mistress. al
though Its spirit was almost breaking as
sang.
friends went, and with them went tn
sweet old tunes. and the sweet old ways
The square piano BECAME "old i;t;
ways. 1t still retained It's pride. but pov
erty came to 1t. 1t sank lower and lowe
in the social scale until 1t became an out
cast, shabby relic of better days. wit
rheumatic joints and keys that ratified
and the spirit of JOY. was dead within i
It was time to mingle its ashes with tn
Acct 49, I,a aortI