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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
he therefore got behind it to push it out
into the middle of the floor., He was heav-
ing away with his shoulder against the
case when his foot slipped on the carpet
and he went down and rolled over with
the weight of an elephant. He fetched up
against a chair and knocked that over, and
he was still lying on his back when Mrs.
Bowser came half-way down the stairs to
call out:—
"I thought the walls were falling in!
What are you doing on your back on the
floor?"
"I wanted to see the underside of the
piano," he replied as he got up. "Should
I find myself in need of your assistance I
will call you."
As tools for piano tuning Mr. Bowser
had a hammer, hatchet, a tack puller, a
corkscrew, a screwdriver and a monkey
wrench. As he folded back the cover he
saw the inside of a piano for the first time
in his life. He had taken only one glance
when he walked to the foot of. the stairs
and called to Mrs. Bowser:—
"No wonder there was an ur-ur-ur when
you hit some of the keys! What d'you
s'pose your first-class piano tuner left
among the wires?"
"He couldn't have left any of his tools?"
she queried.
"No tools, but half a dozen strips of red
flannel. He even wove them in among
the strings. That's probably where my
missing flannel shirt went to. He was
probably some man from a woolen mill."
"Why, those strips are always put in,"
protested Mrs. Bowser. "I think the idea
is to soften the sound."
"Well, I don't. I think the idea is to
attract rats and mice, and out they come."
When Mr. Bowser had finished pulling
out the "rags" he very quickly discovered
the method of tightening up the strings.
With one hand he fitted the monkey
wrench to turn the keys and with the other
he started a tum-tum-tum on the keys, as
he had once or twice seen a regular tuner
do. He couldn't exactly decide whether
all the strings ought to be tightened or
loosened, and so he took a middle course
and tightened half and loosened half. The
effect wasn't exactly magical; it was worse.
Some of the keys piped and sobbed, and
there were others which produced sounds
as of a saw trying to eat its way into a
crowbar.
"For the land's sake, but what are you
doing now?" called Mrs. Bowser, after
three or four minutes.
"Saving a piano from wreck and ruin,"
replied Mr. Bowser as two chills tried to
gallop up and down his spine at the same
time.
He hadn't quite hit it. He grudgingly
admitted the fact to himself and then
began anew. In a dim, uncertain way
he seemed to remember something about
a "pitch" in connection with tuning. He
couldn't possibly recall whether it was
high pitch, low pitch, or half and half
pitch, but he wasn't the man to hesi-
tate. He began humming the air of "The
Girl I Left Behind Me" and keeping
up the turn-turn on the keys. After
awhile he found a sound to agree with
his hum, and he took that for a rally-
ing point. It was what he called a so-so
pitch, and after half an hour of keying
up and keying down he got three keys
which appeared to agree that some sort
of a girl had been left behind some-
body. The other strings were obstinate.
They wanted to play "Sally Waters,"
" T h e Sweet By and By" or "Yankee
Doodle," and every five minutes Mrs.
Bowser kept calling down to know if a
strange cat had got into the house, or if
Mr. Bowser had got an attack of colic. He
finally refused to answer her, but with
teeth shut hard and a glare in his eyes he
started out to bring those strings into har-
mony or bust the box. He tightened ten,
one after another, until they set up a hum-
ming, and then he mopped his brow and
started in to tum-tum the keys.
There were ten sounds to bring out the
gooseflesh, but scarcely had the first shud-
der passed over Mr. Bowser when the
wires began to snap. The end of the first
one ticked his ear, the second one curled
his hair and the third just brushed his chin.
He was moving away when four went at
once, and one of them had business with
his nose. Mrs. Bowser heard a yell and a
sit down, and she came flying down stairs
to find Mr. Bowser sitting against the wall
with his nose in his hand. It was bleed-
ing like a cider barrel with the bung out,
and the skin had been peeled from end to
base. His eyes were also weeping large
tears, and his bald head had a welt across it.
"Well, you've tuned the piano!" said
Mrs. Bowser, as she looked down upon
him.
."Who—who threw a cat in my face?" he
asked, as he realized her presence.
"It's a wonder you didn't say I did,"
she answered, "and then go and threaten a
divorce and all that. It was one of the
wires that struck you, and you'll want
court plaster on that nose for a month."
" Wo-man—wo"—he began, but she
stopped him with a gesture and said:—
"It will cost $25 or $30 to have that
piano fixed, but it shall be done to-mor-
row! You've got to the end of your tune,
and now go up stairs and let me see how
nearly killed you are!"
Mr. Bowser obeyed without a protest.
More than that, he never said a word
while she was crisscrossing his nose with
six strips of plaster. It was only after he
was in bed that he growled under his
breath:—
"It was a put-up job to assassinate me,
and you bet your life I'll make it cost
somebody mighty dear!"
Jesse French Co. Offer Medals.
The Jesse French Piano & Organ Co.,
of Nashville, Tenn., have decided to offer
twelve handsome gold medals as a stimu-
lus to the study of piano music. The
medals are to be given to the students who
make the greatest progress in their studies
during the next school year in each of the
twelve leading schools in Nashville. This
is an excellent plan for stimulating a love
for music and redounds to the credit of
this great Southern music house,
From the City by the Lake.
[Special to The Review.]
Chicago, 111., June 20, 1900.
The unusually agreeable weather and
gratifying trade conditions in both whole-
sale and retail departments has resulted in
the members of the industry in this busy
burg being in a complacent frame of mind
these June days. Even the building
trades' unions are coming to their senses
and there is some prospect ahead that the
long-drawn-out war between labor and
capital, which has resulted in the idleness
of thousands and the non-circulation of
capital, will soon come to an end.
The Smith & Barnes Piano Co., at their
recent meeting, elected W. H. Rattray
secretary, to succeed Mr. Van Matre,
whose retirement was chronicled last
week; the other officers of the company
are: President, C. A. Smith; treasurer,
Chas. Smith. The latter is the son of the
president of the institution. He has had
a thorough experience in both wholesale
and retail departments, and has been care-
fully schooled in the piano field. He
should succeed in making a record for
himself in his new sphere of activity. E.
M. Eastman has been selected to take
charge of the wholesale desk. A good
selection, for Mr. Eastman is well and
favorably known to dealers everywhere.
The new Hamilton factory is fast ap-
proaching completion, and it seems now as
if the contractor will be able to turn over
the structure to the Hamilton Organ Co.
around the early part of July. Business is
excellent, domestic and foreign trade being
large.
There have been quite a number of
trade visitors this week. The genial
Major Howes, the McPhail ambassador,
has been exchanging hearty handshakes
with a host of friends. Calvin Whitney,
president of the A. B. Chase Co., Mr.
Leonard, of the American Felt Co., Geo.
H. Campbell, of the Knight-Campbell Co.,
Denver, R. S. Howard, the D. H. Baldwin
traveler, E. S. Payson, of the Emerson
Piano Co., were also in the city, each and
all apparently well satisfied with trade con-
ditions. Mr. Whitney is especially enthu-
siastic over the gratifying demand for the
A. B. Chase products, and he expresses
himself as confident of the re-election to
the Presidency of his friend and fellow
Ohioan, William McKinley.
The new self-player recently purchased
by the Schaeffer Piano Co. will be manu-
factured in their factory under the super-
intendence of J. T. Smith, a thoroughly
experienced man, who for many years was
with the Lyon & Healy factory.
Geo. P. Bent is enthusiastic over the ex-
cellent demand for the new style ' 'Crowns."
They are certainly worthy of the apprecia-
tion bestowed. Whether in appearance,
careful manufacture or tonal qualities,
they are instruments that are bound to in-
crease the "Crown" reputation. That the
new "Crown" styles will continue to in-
crease their already large roster of ad-
mirers is inevitable.
At the headquarters of the Cable Co.
qheering reports regarding the business