During my research, I discovered another old magazine article on street
organ grinders.  It was so entertaining, I just had to share it.  An
excerpt follows:

   "The Street-Organ as a Musical Educator" by Henry C. Lahee.
    Published in "The Etude"  Vol. 17, No. 2, February 1899, page 51.

 "Although the street-organ is the object of much scorn on the part
  of the educated musician, it is none the less a weapon of great
  power, and might be turned to good advantage in cultivating the
  taste of the great majority of people. ...

  The reason why this is an appropriate time for such contemplation
  is that an edict went forth in Boston that all operators of street-
  organs should appear with their instruments before the Music
  Commission and the Board of Police on December 1st and show that
  their instruments were in tune.  Those that were satisfactory
  should have their licenses renewed.  Those that were out of tune
  were to be deprived of their licenses if the instruments were not
  put into satisfactory condition within a certain time.

  It was stated that there were 330 licensed grinders of mechanical
  music instruments in the city of Boston; barrel-organs, piano
  organs, hurdy-gurdies, orguinettes, and the squeezers of
  concertinas and accordions were included.  On the day of trial 146
  instruments were presented for the test, and this means that 184
  organs--no doubt all out of tune--sought refuge elsewhere.  Most of
  them went to New York, where, we may suppose, people have no rooted
  objection to organs out of tune. ..."


Moral of the story:  Keep those street organs in tune!  Otherwise,
you may be forced to flee from the long arm of the law!

Joyce Brite
brite@ksu.edu       http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~brite/