The National tribune., 1883-08-23
and sanctuary in which every storm
beaten comrade may find a refuge.
Post Fife and Drum Corps.

Post Fife and Drum Corps.
The TRIBUNE has, on several occasions,
pointed out the advantages accruing TO
Post from the possession of good glee club,
and music, indeed, whether vocal or instTu-
mental, is always useful auxiliary to Post
work. Some of our most thriving Posts
have even gone so far as to establish and
maintain bands of their own, and one Grand
Army band at least-that of Wilson Post,
No. l. of Baltimore-has become famous for
the numbers and skill of It's musicians. But
band is, of course, an expensive luxury, and
none but the most thrifty Post could afford
TO maintain one of its own. Almost any
Post, on the other hand, could afford to
equip fife and drum corps, and while
there is no music more execrable than that
of badly-drilled fife and drum corps, it is
at the same time true that there is none
that sooner kiudles the enthusiasm of the vet
eran than that of well. drilled and proficient
corps. The instruments and uniforms re-
CURED by the corps would be the only item Of
expense, and the total cost, as will be seen,
would be inconsiderable. Suitable material
for these corps could readily be found, if not
among the members OF the Posts themselves,
at least among the Sons OF Veterans, who
would be pretty sure to take an active inter-
est IN their organization and personal pride
in bringing them to a high degree of prof.
cheney. The fife and drum corps, indeed,
would prove additional links of attachment
between the generation of the war and that
which is now growing up, and afford fresh
opportunity to the latter to show their ap-
probation of the soldier. Furthermore,
these corps would be Of service to the Posts
in the work of recruiting. In the smaller
towns and villages there are many public
occasions when they might be employed
with advantage, and on Post meeting nights
they might well be used to summon the
comrades to the Post room and drum up
the stragglers, of which every Post is sure
to have some incorrigibIe ones. 1t is not
to be expected, of course, in corps of this
description, that the members should attain
the proficiency of professional musicians,
but almost any lad with q good ear for
music can soon learn to play the old familiar
army airs on the fife, and there is probably
not a boy in the country who does not be-
Geve that he is born drummer! The mu-
sic of the fife and drum, as we have said, is
apt to sound harsh to the educated ear, but
that was the music which inspired the
soldier in battle rather than the blare Of
trumpets. 1t recalls much more wildly
than do the brassy notes of the band, the
pageant OF war and all the grim realities Of
army life. It speaks of the battlefield rather
than the parade ground; of the toilsome
march rather than inspection; of the wild
and desperate charge rather than the holiday
splendor of the grand review, and thousands
OF comrades who have no ear for instru-
mental music are quickly affected by its ex.
hilarating influence. a drum and fife corps
is indeed a stirring institution, well cal
culated to rouse the energies of the slothful
and quicken the pulses of the sluggish, and
one which every Grand Army Post would
do well to establish as an auxiliary.