Collecting pictures and autographs of famous people is a hobby that takes time and tact.

One man has made a hobby of collecting old telegrams. Through this interesting pastime he has traced several valuable historical facts. There are in existence thousands of telegrams, many of them comical and others dramatic. For example, note the following telegram sent from Needles, California, to General Grierson at Ash Fork, Arizona Territory, dated June 15, 1866: indians very threatening. freight conductor reports that indians have driven pump men at truxton (a. t.) into houses there for protection. I am all alone and unarmed.

Wouldn't you like to have a few original telegrams like that in your collection?

We cannot leave the subject of collecting old things without mentioning wallpaper. In the past, real artists designed this product and relatively few pieces of their work are left. It takes patience and skill to rescue paper from old walls and it should be done with great care lest it be destroyed.

Then there is the fascinating hunt for old phonograph records that have music history behind them. Searching through second-hand stores and other places, you can often find records long out of date. See Chapter 19 for more suggestions in this connection.

Musical instruments, too, have a history connected with them. Those interested in music can gain satisfaction from collecting pictures of old instruments. They may even be able to get an actual instrument once in a while. One collector who found it impossible to get real instruments found miniatures of the real thing and from this built up an educational hobby. A woman interested in instruments from other countries gathered together a group of instruments from the various countries of South America and found her hobby to be most worth while from a financial point of view, for she was invited to play the instruments over the radio many times.

If you ever visit Middletown, New York, go to see the famous clock collection in the Mitchell Inn.