Born in tacky Tacoma? Yikes! I didn't know that awful secret about our famous SeattleFriend, but I will keep it under wraps!
Meanwhile .....YAAY! How soon do you think you can get down to Tacoma on Friday?
I asked Mr.P about the piano-tuning quote (that was from his grandpa Ted). Mr.P said he didn't think it was about a particular person and couldn't remember where it came from. Ted was from a newspaper family and though he was a teacher & principal, he came naturally to write a lot of philosophical essays and speeches. I think it was from one of those. I looked through the some of the family papers and while I was looking I found a poem by Ted's mother which I'm going to copy for you. I thought you might like it or know somebody who would.
Wherefore? (published March 1897)
There are times, when the violin playing,
With a master's trained hand on the bow,
Or it may be an organ is sounding,
In soft cadences solemn and slow,
Or, perchance, 'tis the voice of a singer,
In a melody gay, light and free,
There will come, in the midst of the music,
A note that is only for me.
Then my soul stands alert on the instant,
'Tis as though by an angel's wing fanned,
Or as one who, exiled in his childhood,
Hears the speech of his own native land.
Tho' all breathless I listen and listen
But to learn what the message may be
It is only a vanishing echo
That is wafted in sweetness to me.
LGK