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THE MUSIC TRADE
CONWAY'S VIEWS UPON ATHLETICS.
REVIEW
A FINE PRICE & TEEPLE PIANO FOR COMPETITIVE WORK.
Well Known Member of the Music Trade Con-
demns Football—Says We Should be More
Careful of Our Sons Than of Dumb Beasts.
Colonel E. S. Conway's views upon trade mat-
ters are always forceful and to the point, and
when he talks upon national subjects his utter-
ances are clean cut and to the point, showing the
keen analysis which he makes of everything bear-
ing upon national development. He has recently
been interviewed by a local reporter in Oak Park,
where he resides, and having a paper at hand con-
taining his utterances, we reproduce them. The
expressions are original, and will interest readers
whose sons are devotees at the bootball shrine.
"What do you think of football?" he was asked
by the reporter.
"I dislike to be interviewed on the subject of
football," he replied, "fearing some of my good
friends may think me radical in my views; but
since that awful event of last week in our village
of homes I may be pardoned, and certainly will
by some, when I say (and I never claimed to
be oversensitive) that it would be impossible for
me to sit and witness a football game. The bru-
tality is too much for me. Coarseness, roughness
and in many cases uncouthness, seem to be the
stock in trade with many, with apparently no
premiums or encomiums offered as a reward for
manliness and gentleness.
"In the old days it was the Utopian dream of
many that the time would come when, through
education, refinement and gentleness would take
the place of brute force. It would seem, how-
ever, that it was but a dream, for to-day the
brutal or brute side of our animal natures seems
to thrive best when in the environment of our
educational institutions.
•'Ten years ago, or more, one of my sons was
elected captain of a football team in our village,
and it was his misfortune, or, in all human prob-
ability, good fortune, because he is alive to-day,
to ask his mother and I to drive to the ball-
ground and witness the game. We went, and
after twenty minutes of torture, wife and I drove
home, each of us heart-sick. That evening I had
a talk with my son, called his attention to the
fact that while under age it was my duty, as well
as my privilege, to look after his welfare, and on
account of my love for him and my hope for his
future, it was my desire that he never again play
football. He promptly complied with my request
and resigned from the team, to the great satisfac-
tion of his mother and myself.
"The game, in my judgment, should be stopped
absolutely. If in no other way, then by invoking
the power of our civil authorities by the use of
the police, as would be done in the case of a
bull fight or a prize fight, either one of which I
am constrained to believe would be as popular
as the football game had we been raised in that
environment, for they are as humane.'
"Do you object to any other form or forms of
school athletics, colonel?" he was asked.
"No, and yes," he replied. "I look on as harm-
ful any athletic training of boys between the ages
of 12 and 21, the final object of which is to enter
a public contest of physical strength, be that
jumping, running, throwing weights, wrestling,
or whatever form it might take. The child or
young person in one of these contests, with its
friends and associates witnessing the same would
about as soon die as fail, and violent exercises of
that character for lads of that age are not only
likely, but are sure to injure and retard their
physical development.
"If we were raising horses we would not put
an unmatured colt to a strain of that kind, and
we should certainly be as mindful of our sons as
a horse-raiser would be of a dumb animal. 1
have for years held that athletic training as above
outlined should be, to be more exact, called
athletic straining. The training is not harmful,
but it is the object for which they are trained.
"The school authorities may look on it as a
gratifying thing to have one of their pupils de-
velop abnormally along one of these given lines,
but I fear that they forget the price that is paid
One of the most popular of the present styles
being placed on the market by the Price & Teeple
Piano Co., of Chicago, is their style 44, cabinet
grand, of which an illustration appears herewith.
It is 4 feet 9 1 /-. inches high; 5 feet 4 inches wide,
and 2 feet 3 ^ inches deep. It is made in ma-
hogany and oak, double veneered case, the inside
with birdseye maple. Empire or grand top. All
carvings hand work. Hardwood, compounded
back, and posts veneered with high figured maple.
Rock maple tuning pin block of five thicknesses.
High-grade ivory keys. Fourteen pound ham-
mers, best quality. Very finest German blued
steel tuning pins. Copper wound bass strings.
Price & Teeple French repeating action, muffler
attachment for practice use. Exceptional scale
for singing quality of tone, power and resonance.
Dealers will find this instrument one of the most
satisfactory viewed either from architectural or
tone standpoints turned out by this enterprising
house. It is an instrument that is bound to add
to the Price & Teeple reputation wherever sold.
for the momentary gratification. Our boys, and
when I say that I mean all the boys in our great
country, should be taught in the home and in the
schoolroom that the manly boy is the gentle boy,
and the manly man is always the gentleman.
"The taking off of a pure young life last week
in our village is too great a price to pay such
sports as our young men are allowed to indulge
in, yet in this case the price is paid' and the
book closed.
"Shall it be repeated? Let the parents, the
school authorities, and, if necessary, our public
officials answer."
They could tell as they vanish in air,
Where do all the pianos go?
Sewing machines mid cot Ion gins.
After having performed their share
Of work, are moved to the scrap-iron bins,
Soon to melt in the furnace flare.
But the pianos say, ladies fair,
Hovelling in the shimmering glow
Of the virtuoso's ambrosial hair—
Where do all the pianos go'.'
"A BALLADE OF PIANOS."
Eugene Geary's Clever Poem in the Herald
Will Interest His Old Friends in the Trade.
1/HNVOI.
Rosewood, mahogany, walnut rare,
Still pour forth in the factory's glare,
Reckless of Lethe's undertow
Where do all the pianos go?
Mr. Geary is now doing distinguished work
on the editorial department of the Gaelic-Ameri-
can, and his many friends will be very glad to
learn of his progress.
A VISITOK FROM SAN FRANCISCO.
Eugene Geary, who is not only a clever poet
and writer, but a former piano man of practical
experience, has been contributing some very
clever poems to the Sun and Herald. One in
the latter paper last Sunday, entitled "A Ballade
of Pianos," ran as follows:
What becomes of the needles and pins
Out of commission or worse for wear,
Fashioned, they say, to punish our sins?
Nobody knows nor seems to care.
Another puzzle that hits us where
We hunt in vain for some light to throw
On its mysteries, for they're deep, I swear,
Where do all the pianos go?
Sad is our lot when discord grins
Prom some upright or rusty square,
And the amateur's clumsy "fins"
Waken the demon from his lair.
Shadows of maestros hover there.
Voiceless in their o'erpowering woe—
Mr. Son, of Son Bros. & Co., dealers in toys
and notions, of San Francisco, Cal., is sojourning
in this city, and while here is calling on the
various members of the small goods trade. He
is making his headquarters at the offices of their
eastern representatives, at 101 Duane street.
M. Steinert & Sons Co. have opened a branch
store in the new Stoddard Block, New London,
Conn., where they are showing a full line of the
instruments which they handle.
M. E. Kirby, the well-known piano dealer of
Woonsocket, R. I., has removed his store to the
ground floor in the Commercial Building, where
he is showing a fine line of instruments.