Paul Israel's new tome, "Edison: A Life of Invention" (John Wiley
& Sons, Inc., l998), on page 32, recalled young Tom Edison's seeing
a Union civil war veteran grinding an organ on the streets of New
Orleans in 1866.

Having faithfully read the bulletins of the Musical Box Society since
l967 (!), I was under the impression that organ grinding began in the
late 1880s.  I now know better.  I'll spare you the grisly details of
the veteran's numerous handicaps which left him no other employment
options.

I found this particular literary reference to automatic musical
instruments interesting because it did not describe the usual maudlin
orphan waif of extreme poverty.

On the other hand, this reference does, once more, juxtapose the grind
organ with extreme circumstances.  So, I'm still waiting for a great
writer -- a Pushkin or Dostoyevsky or Pasternak -- to describe a rich,
orotund merchant playing his (or her) Welte Style V Concert Orchestrion
for passers-by on the streets of Moscow.

As Comedienne Judy Tenuta often exclaims after describing an unlikely
situation, "It could happen!"

Happy New Year!
Bob Baker

 [ Sounds like a Hollywood production, for sure!  -- Robbie