Joe the Organ-Grinder Admits Superior Eleemosynary Spirit in Girls--His Horse's Left Hind Foot Once a Target

"Da college girls givva more da mon' den da boys? Well, mebby, sometime. Nobody givva much in da cold weather. I maka most my mon' in spring, when it's warm an' da folks hang outta da window". Thus did Joe the hurdy-gurdy man, whose rickety cart, boney horse and barking dog are familiar figures in Cambridge, sum up his business prospects, without realizing that he was undergoing an interview with a CRIMSON reporter.

"Too cold ta be out now. I no lika dis weather. I stay home mosta da time, but today, she be warm, so I go out. Mosta da time stay home three months in cold weather smokka ma pipe. No mon' in da winter. Well, just lettle, mebbery," and Joe chuckled as he stooped on all fours to pick up a penny tossed under his wagon by a Mt. Auburn Street resident.

"How of'en I changa ma music? Every year. I keepa all new pieces in ma machine. She goodda machine, too. Buy her in New York long time ago. Try crank her. See, very easy," but the CRIMSON man disliked the task, and released his grip thus abruptly ending the syncopated tune of "Yes Sir, that's my Baby", one of Joe's latest "hits".

Joe likes the college groups, for usually they are free with their money. He enjoys nothing better than to have a crowd gathered about his machine, or students leaning out of a dormitory window shouting encouragement to his hurdy-gurdy, and occasionally expressing their approval with a handful of coins. Joe was once seen to pick up over 50 coins in less than five minutes when a group of students on the third floor of a dormitory held a competition to see who could drop the coins nearest to the horse's left hind foot. Another time Joe did a prosperous business when two rival gatherings in a dormitory tossed him coins, one paying him to "take the money and get the H--out," the other, "to play another tune." In spite of the apparent prosperity of his business, however, Joe denies that he is like other organ grinders who are reputed to own vast tracts of real estate. No, Joe is not a rich man,--so he says.