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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
3 o8
THE LAST MAN.
[From the Mining and Engineering Journal.]
To eight, six, four, two, none.
Sometimes I wish it had not been
Quite so completely done!
I am the famed New Zealander
Of whom Macaulay wrote,
And I have cruised around the world
In my own private boat,
A-visiting of London Bridge
And other things remote.
" Our last great strike the continent
O'erspread from side to side;
We had to Boycott everything
To gain the point denied ;
And just as we were going to win,
All parties up and died ! "
'Twas after I had finished with
The ruins of St. Paul's,
I turned to cross the Atlantic Sea,
In spite of waves and squalls,
To study the traces of vanished races
And see Niagara Falls.
" But you survived," I said. " What power
So safely brought you through ?
When no one more did anything,
What could you find to do ?
When all support for others failed,
Pray, what supported you ? "
This is the land, you understand,
That once was owned in fee
By folks who worked and never shirked,
And worshiped Liberty—
A nation that became extinct
In the twentieth century.
Oh, but he grinned a ghastly grin !
"What did I live upon?
Why I'm a Walking Delegate,
And no mere myrmidon !
Though all the world besides should stop,
My salary goes on ! "
From time to time strange rumois came
About their wondrous doom,
Until at last we heard no more,
So I resolved to come,
And with mine own eyes see the truth,
And tell the same at home.
I steered my vessel up the Bay,
Once famous, and still fair;
A prostrate statue barred the way
That erst a torch did bear.
Its torch was in the water
And its heels were in the air.
I floated slowly up beside
A long-deserted pier,
When at the gangway I descried
A sign, as I drew near,
Upon a signboard old and dried,
" Boycott! No landing here ! "
" Boycott! " Methought I knew the word ;
It was some sort of pest
That in the past, as I had heard,
Went sweeping through the West,
Scaring one-half its victims dead,
And starving all the rest.
No matter! Time will disinfect
The most contagious airs;
I put my respirator on,
And washed, and said my prayers,
And, boldly stepping to the pier,
Went up the rotten stairs.
An empty town, whose dreary wastes
At human grandeur scoff!
But stay ! an aged figure hastes
With many a wheezy cough,
Waving his lean and withered arms,
And wildly warns me off.
My nerves are strong, yet I confess
It was a grewsome sight,
That visage gaunt, that tattered dress,
That fiercely brandished right,
Holding a can of some strange mess
That looked like dynamite.
"Art thou the sad survivor, then,
Of all thy nation's fate ?
And how didst thou escape it, when
The rest fell desolate ? "
" I am," quote he, (and coughed again)
" The Walking Delegate."
" My duty is to walk about
And see that things stand still;
I snap my fingers—men go out
From road and mine and mill.
At least they did ; but now I've none
On whom to work my will.
" Gone are the days when tyrants shrank
And trembled at my talk.
The Boycott took them all away ;
And now I sadly stalk,
A lonesome Walking Delegate,
With naught to do but walk!
" It was a glorious fight, I ween,
We Knights of Labor won !
We cut the hours of labor down
PIANOS.
soon warp and crack ; the finish is common and soon
gives way ; all the inside work is of poor material,
made by cheap labor. The first year it may do well,
the second, everybody is tired of hearing its sound,
and soon after it is a nuisance in the house, always
out of tune. Will it pay anybody to buy such a piano?
You may say I bought my piano of s .ch a sensible
firm, their name is in front of my piano. This is very
well, but this house did not manufacture your piano.
If you paid $250,00 for the same you cannot expect any
more. Any reliable piano costs the dealer $225.00 and
$250.00 in New York for the cheapest reliable piano,
the cost that is cash or perhaps sixty days time, after
he pays the freight expense, gives a stool, book and
cover, he cannot sell it on time for less than $3r>0 00
and make an honest living. But now how do we know
the piano is a reliable one or not, there are so many
different makes? Whenever an honest dealer sells a
piano he gives the customer a guarantee from the
factory where it is made. You don't want the dealers,
but the factories, that is a sure proof to you that you
possess a good instrument.—Wilson, Kansas, Wil-
son Wonder.
W H A T A PROMINENT PASTOR SAYS OF
THE BEHR PIANO.
BY PROFESSOR H. KAUFMAN.
HEN the young ladies come to the age of ten
years, then the question arises with th«
parents, "what kind of a piano shall we buy
for our darling?" There are so many different kinds,
and such different prices on instruments that it is
really hard to select. To these people I shall write
to-day, and should feel very much gratified should
any of the readers be benefited thereby.
There are two points with the first you have to give
your attention, from whom you buy, and from what
factory you select. Now I have so often done and do
it again, to advise everybody to buy through the
dealer in your town; don't be afraid you pay him
more than you pay any other, for I can easily con-
vince you it is not so, should it be the case, you have
somebody in town who is responsible for your piano,
who takes an interest in the same as if it were his
own, who patronizes his town people, who helps to
increase the business. I most surely think that par-
tins who desire to buy a piano ought to give the first
show to their home dealer. If you cannot get satis-
faction at home there Is time enough to buy of some
other dealer. Why do I write about this? There are
some readers no doubt will say that I do this in
favor of Messrs. Kellar & Williams or any other
dealer in Wilson. To these parties I will frankly say,
I was very glad to make the acquaintance of the edi-
tor of this paper and others, but this is all I write to
the reader's interest, and well may do so, for l a m a
most independent piano tuner, and have nothing to
do with selling whatever, but have had eighteen
years experience in tuning and repairing all the dif-
ferent pianos in this county. Well, this settles the
dealer, but now comes the main point, what make
piano do we buy? It is strange to say, but most
people bought their pianos at a bargain. I wonder
sometimes that the agent or dealer did not pay them
extra so as to get them to take the piano; but the
worst is that these parties in most cases, pay more
money for the instrument than it is really worth.
Don't try to buy a bargain, always remember that
the probabilities are that you will only buy one piano
in all your life time. If you get a good one.your family,
your friends, everybody will enjoy it; it is a nice
piece of furniture in the house and a pleasure to hear
the music, it gives satisfaction to the player and list-
ener, but most to the tuner. There are so many first-
class pianos made in tho United States, there are so
many real good ones at very reasonable prices that
no person intending to buy, could excuse himself say-
ing I can't afford it. There is Steinway, Weber, Decker
Bros., Steck, Hallet & Davis. If you buy any of these,
there is no use to ask the question, is it a good one?
They are all A No. 1, and average in price from $400, up >
but there are many good pianos you may buy from
$350.00 up. The Emerson, Shoninger, Newby & Evans,
etc. All these will give you satisfaction ; they arenot
made for fifty years, but for twenty-five years to
come. But now comes a piano which I warn all
people not to buy; it may look nice, it may sound
nice, but it is only for a very short time. It is the so-
called Bogus piano. Nobody knows where it is made.
They are made by the thousands in this country, and
sold for about $200.00 or $300.00. The lumber of
these instruments is not seasoned, therefore will
W
QOINCY, I I I . , May 1, 1887.
MESSBS. BEHR BBOS. & Co.:
GENTLEMEN : We enclose you a recommendation
s«nt us by one of our leading and brightest pastors.
This is the way they growl when they get a Behr in
their house.
Yours truly,
EVERETT & GILES.
QUINCY, I I I . , May 2d.
1887.
MESSRS. EVERETT & GILES :
GENTLEMEN : The Behr Bros. & Co. piano, which I
purchased from you a few months ago, is pronounced
by all who have played on it to be a perfect instru-
ment. The quality of the tone being marvellously
beautiful and in fact in every particular the instru-
ment is matchless, lam,
Yours truly,
R. M. HARRISON.
CLUETT & SONS, TROY, N. Y.
HILE passing through Troy a day or two ago,
we dropped into Cluett & Sons' immense
palatial warerooms and were pleased to hear
from the gentlemen composing the firm that their
spring trade had been good. This firm as now exist-
ing is composed of Mr. Fred Cluett and Mr. Edmund
Cluett. Their warerooms are probably among the
largest and best furnished in the country. The main
floor has a depth of 225 feet, with a width of about
50 feet. The ground or main floor is partitioned off
by elegant glass partitions into two equal rooms.
The front room is used for sheet music, of which this
concern carries probably the largest stock of any
house in New York State, outside of New York city.
In the back or wareroom can be found pianos and or-
gans of the finest workmanship from the factories of
Steinway & Bon, Chickering & Sons, Weber, Linde-
man, Ernest Gabler & Bro., and Fisher; the Estey
Organ Co., Wilcox & White, and Kimball organs.
The firm also has fine warerooms at Pittsfield, Mass.,
Hudson, N. Y., and Albany, N. Y.
The Messrs. Cluett are gentlemen of high social
and financial standing and rank among the most suc-
cessful dealers in the country.
W
DECISION IN A DRUMMER'S T A X CASE.
JUDGE MERRICK, in the District Supreme
Court, Washington, May 0, announced the
judgment of that court in the case of the Dis-
trict against Henneck, a Baltimore drummer charg-
ed with being an unlicensed commercial agent. The
act imposing a license tax was passed by the old Dis-
trict Legislature, under authority, it was claimed,
of Congress. The Court dismissed Henneck, holding
that a tax on drummers from other States is a regu-
lation of commerce between such states and the Dis-
trict, and that such a tax can be imposed by Congress
alone. This decision is a boomerang to the framers
of the law, inasmuch as they intended that It should
have just the opposite effect.
J