| OCR Text |
Show A PIANO TUNER TALKS, Strange Things Encountered j in his Trade. RATS PU KAVGJ V. i i H iii FtLTS Finding a Lon Pocketbook. A Mau' Carelessness. "Iyxk out for that rat!" wrs the exclamation excla-mation of a piano tuner to a reporter, o few days ago, as ho stood watching him take a piano to pieces. The words had barely been said when a large, lean rat jumped out of tho instrument and scampered scam-pered across tho iroom and out of an open 1 door. While be was dexterously removing remov-ing the rat's nest from inside the piano the reporter aoked if rats were usually part and parcel of pianos. The tuner remarked re-marked that while probably two-thirds of tho instruments in residences were free from the rodents, the other third were infested in-fested with them, at ieast that had been his experience during twenty years of his life. Those in tho country, especially in well to do farmers' houses, were fjener-ally fjener-ally inhabited by rats, and in dozens of cuaes fully half a bushel of small scraps of paper that had been earned there by tho pests had been discovered. The paper and the nests were not so bad, but rats very frequently did the instrument much damage. Hats play havoc with the felts in the action, and he had repaired pianos where the felts had all been eaten away. Occasionally a hungry rat Is discovered that shows fight, and the wielding of a broomstick, with the accompanying screaming by the women folk, Is necessary neces-sary to get rid of the animal. Children oftentimes cause pianos to get out of order, but while tho trouble caused by them is usually quickly repaired there are times when they do more damage than , rats. Left alone In the room with an open -rnmrumeui tne spirit of mischief comes -over thorn, and a cane or a book is poked in under or among the strings. The owner returns to play on the piano, and then finds it at sixes and sevens. As everything was all right but a few minutes min-utes before tho cause of the trouble cannot can-not bo understood, and then there is bluster abont the house. Should the piano be a new one tho maker is blamed, tho instrument is condemned, and a sharp letter is forwarded to tho seller. The repairer re-pairer with fear and trembling hastens to the Bcene, the trouble is found, and after apologies, the whipping of the Bmall boy who did the mischief, and the payment of the bill for repairs, the piano is left to its fate. WHERE THE MONEY GOES. Picking up a five cent piece lying on the action, the tuner said: "Here is something, too, I find as woll as rats' nests and the work of children. To bo Biire money is not found frequently, especially in any considerable amount, but the finding of two fat pocketbooks and a ten dollar gold piece I will never forget. The gold had been placed in the piano for safe keeping by a young lady, and its hiding place forgotten, for-gotten, and my finding it, of ourso, made the owner happy. The bringing to light of one of the pocketbooks made me $00 richer, that being a present from Us loser. It had been missing for a year, and contained $(i00. Detectives had been hunting for thieves who, it was supposed, had stolen the money. The discovery of the pocketbook brought back the recollection recol-lection that it had been laid on the top lid of an upright piano, and that it had no doubt fallen in tho inside, where I had found it. "Instead of getting a reward I came near being arrested, and perhaps sentenced sen-tenced to a term of im pvisonment for finding the purse. Its contents were over $200, uud like tho othor one. having been carelessly left on top of the instrument, it ft 11 inside. Being missed while I was in the house, and tho owner of the money, a country justice, remembering where ho had laid It, suspicion rested on me as the ono who had talton it. When I remarked the mysterious actions of the justice, his wife and two daughters, he told me of his loss and what ho suspected, and threatened my arrest unless tho monoy was immediately immedi-ately produced. It was a bad predicament to bo In, and what to do puzzled me. The finding of the other pocketbook flashed across my mind. I suggested a search in tho interior of tho piano, and there It was found to my joy. Tho old man took it without as much as saying 'Thank you,' and to this day 1 think ho holds the opinion that I hid it away hi the piano." Chicago Journal. |
