The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-07-22
II PLAYED ONE TUNE.
LIMITED REPERTORY OF THE ST. JOE
tCRNET BAND.

First Piece 1t Learned and the Solemn
Occasion on Which 1t Was Rendered.
"Music by the BAND at the School Ex-
hibition Old Timers Look Back.
Two men We're at a table overlooking
Michigan avenue. They We're unmistak-
ably from some place i'll the west. They
had tie coed old time manners which
"rr lccoming scarce i'll every section.
They wcrt, 90 or maybe 20 years each.
One of them was reading the news to
the other one.
The one who was reading stopped and
said: IN be doggoned if Sam Stone
ain dead. 1t says here that he died in
IGpcky. Kan. You remember Sam
Stone. He wrote that old song, Wait
i'nr the Wagon and Well All Take a
Ride ~
'Hain't thought of it 80 year, Cy,'
replied the old man opposite him.
liz IS see, how did it gO:-something
Ike this"-thc old man puckercd his
lips and tried to whistle the air, but the
~s.und from his mouth Tesemblrd that
If a hungry wind through a keyhole.
Jim, you're getting wind wasted.
Getting old, Fellows like you and me
c;u. whistle. Better hum it, Jim.
-lnd Jim hummcd it while Cy beat
time with his fingers Oh the table.
Il had forgot, Cy, who it was that
wrote it. -
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 i'll Tcpcky, where he'd lived
about 2S years. That was great old
song i'll 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 / armed to play. And just then
there WAS Il man died il st. Joe who
Wa; IA high roller in the Masonic lodge
i'll the town, and mighty popular man
he was. OF course he was buried with
Masonic rites, and the lodge committee
called Oh the leader of the band to en-
gage the band service 1t was the first
job the band had, and as it was in debt
for the snare drum and the big horn
here was Il chance to get even.
80 the leader got retainer, and
then he told the committee that the
band couldn't play only one piece, and
that was Wait For the Wagon The
leader said it was not built on dead
march time. but by playing it low and
muffling 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
Noriah cemetery. Some of the boys
about town had q hard time looking sad,
especially Ben Ullman, the big butcher,
who was one Of the pallbcarers. Ben
was the funny man of the town, any
how,
II remember Ben, Cy."
Il knowed you did. AS was saying,
it was hard to keep straight faces, the
band playing that tune, going out to
the grave. Coming back there was near
ly Il row The high muck a muck Of the
lodge told the leader of the band he had
better change the music, and then the
leader said the band couldn't play any
thing else, and that he had told him So
The procession marched down Frederick
avenue coming back and it commenced
to rain, so that the lodge-it was the
Zerolathah chapter, as Iremember-had
to quicken their steps, and that put the
band out.
"Of course, Cy. You cant march
double quick on slow music But go on 2"
"Woll, the only thing for the band to
do was to Iven up the tune, and that
was what raised Old Ned The newspa-
per came out next week with piece in
1t as hong as your arm saying it was
disgrace. and that if the band expected
the citizens to help pay its debts it had
better learn some music that would be
appropriate at funerals, as people We're
liable to die any time. OF course that
made the band mad "
''Of course. Cy. But what did they
do:"
stopped their papers. Then when
Ncely's academy gave the school cxhi-
bltlon i'll the Presbyterian church on the
hill, the band was engaged and put in
the gallery, which was in one end of
the church, The band opened the eKer-
clscS with Wait For the Wagon Then
the pastor Of the church prayed, and
the band played Wait For the Wagon
again. The programme consisted of es-
Says-c0npositiOns they called them
characterization and some dialogues,
and scattered along through the pro-
Gra1nme WAS music 10y the band, and
every time it played Wait For the
Wagon. 1t got to be as good as a cir
Gus. | remember the leader of the band
died good many years ago, and the
piece III tn" paper about him said he
wrote Wait Fer tn" Wagon. but the
paper was wrong. 1t was sam Stone
who wrote it. him that has Just died in
Iopeky.'
1t all comes back to me now, CIV.
But all l can remember is the tune and
the first two lines:
Wait for the wagon
And Wen all take a ride -