Evening journal., 1897-04-02
TT PLAYED ONE TUNE.
LIMITED REeERToRY Or The ST. JOE.
coRNET BAND.

IiTsA AttNt ~ lt-tAitN naiN JIG RoANhAh
Occasion on which II was Rendered.
"aIunic by the Band, Ct the school Ex-
hibition-Old Timers Look Back.
Two men were at table overlooking
Michigan avenue. They were unmistak-
ably from some place in the west. They
had the good old time manners which
are becoming scarce in every section.
They were 60 OF maybe 20 years each.
One Of them was reading the news to
4 the other one.
The one who was reading stopped and |
said: "I'll be doggoned if Sam Stone
s amt dead. 1t says here that he died in
s TOpeky, Kan. You remember Sam
< Stone. He wrote that old song, Wait
For the Wagon and Wen All Take a
s Ride. "
''lIaint thought Of it 30 year, Cy,
zreplied the old man opposite him.
& Let's see, how did it go?-somethmg
like this''-the old man puckered his
lips and tried to whistle the air, but the
sound from his mouth resembled that
of a hungry wind through a keyhole
"Jim, you're getting wind wasted.
N Getting old. Fellows like you and me
can't whistle Better hum it, Jim. -
And Jim hummed it while Cy beat
time with his fingers on the table.
81 had forgot, Cy, who it was that
wrote it. Z"
"Yes, it was Sam Stone. I'd bout
forgot it myself till 1 see it in that
morning paper
''Sam Stone was 81, so the paper says.
He died in Topely, where he'd lived
about 28 years. That was a great old
+ song in its day.
''That and Pop Goes the Weasel "
But Wait For the Wagon was the
most catching remember it was the
first piece that the st. Joe (Mo. cornet
band learned TO play. And just then
there was a man died in st. Joe who
was high roller in the Masonic lodge
in the town, and a mighty popular man
he was OF course he was buried with
Masonic rites, and the lodge committee
called on the leader Of the band to en-
gage the bands service. 1t was the first
job the band had, and as it was in debt
for the snare drum and the Dig horn
here was a chance to get even.
$50 the leader got q retainer, and
then he told the committee that the
band couldn't play only one piece, and
hat was Wait For the Wagon. Tho
leader said it was not built on dead
march time, but by playing it low and
mufliing the big drum he could make it
sound solemn. So the band turned out
at the funeral and it played Wait For
The Wagon all the way out to Mount
- 81. 20
about town had hard time looking sad,
especially Ben Ullman, the big butcher,
who was one of the pallbearers. Ben
was the funny man of the town, any
how.
''I remember Ben, Cy. :"
II knowed you did. AS was saying,
it was hard to keep straight faces, tho
band playing that tune going out to
he grave. Coming back there was near
" row The high muck muck of the
lodge told the leader of the band he had
better change the music, and then tho
eader said the band couldn't play any
hing else, and that he had told him so.
rhe procession marched down Frederick
avenue coming back and it commenced
% rain, so that the lodge-it was the
zeredathah chapter, as Iremember-had
o quicken their steps, and that put the
oand out"
"Of course, Cy. You can't march
louble quick on slow music. But 90 on. !"
"Well, the only thing for the band to
10 was to hven up the tune, and that
was what raised Old Ned. The newspa-
Der came ont next week with piece in
as long as your arm saying it was a
lisgrace, and that if the band expected
he citizens to help pay its debts it had
better learn some music that would be
appropriate at funerals, as people were
liable to die any time. OF course that
made the band mad. "
"Of course, Cy. But what did they
io?"
stopped their papers. Then when
Neely's academy gave the school exhi-
1ition in the Presbyterian church on the
iill, the band was engaged and put in
he gallery, which was in one end OF
he church. The band opened the exer-
Uses with Wait For the Wagon. Tler
he pastor of the church prayed, an0
he band played Wait For the Wagon
gain. The programme consisted of es
ays-compositions they called then
hen-declamations and some dialogues
md scattered along through the pro
ramme was music by the band, ant
very time it played Wait For tn,
Wagon 1t got to be as good as a cir
us. 1 remember the leader of the banC
lied a good many years ago, and tn,
piece in the paper about him said h,
wrote Wait For the Wagon, but tn,
paper was wrong. It was Sam Ston,
Who wrote it, him that has just died il
ropeky."
1T all comes back to me now, Cy
But all can remember is the tune an,
he first two lines:
"Wait for the wagon,
And wen all take a ride"
Chicago Chronicle
They Never Sleep.