Evening journal., 1897-08-21
PASSING OF THE DRUM.
1t VIII soon Disappear in Connection
with Army Life.

IL VIII soon Disappear IN Cohhectoh |
with Army Life.
think few know that Of all the time
honored equipments of war which these
days of military progress have left us,
the drum is the oldest; but, like the
sword and the bayonet, the drumis fast
disappearing. It's companion, the fife,
hallowed by traditions of valor even in
our own history from Lexington to Get
tysburg. is already gone, and another
decade will still forever the inspinting
martial music of the drum.
What boy has not felt his pulses
thrill and his heart swell with patriotic
pride and martial order while gazing
upon the well-lSnown picture of the
revolution, the Minute Men of '76' for
saking the plowshare and flying TO take
down the old fiintlock at the tocsin of
war-the throbbing Of the drum and
the shrill screaming of the fife, sounded
by two SCARED veterans, bare-headed,
white-haired, and in their shirt-sleeves,
marching through fields and along the
roads, calling the patriots to armsl
Every New England schoolboy has
read the story of Abigail and Elizabeth,
the sisters of Newburyport, who during
the revolution repelled alone an attack
of the British by beating furiously an
old drum and blowing a fife. The Brit
ish troops, who were about to land, hur-
ried back TO their ships, thinking the
whole army lay in ambush TO repulse
them.
Thus did fife and drum drive off the
enemy and save whole town from pill
lage and ruin.
The military drum is supposed to
have been introduced in Europe by the
Moors and Saracens, during the middle
ages, and was quickly adopted by
armies. The drum of to-day differs lit
tie, and in appearance only, from the
earliest form. 1t consists, as every boy
knows, of two pieces of parchment, or
batter-heads, stretched over the ends of
ahollow cylinder, and struck with sticks.
For ages this instrument has been
known among savage tribes and bar.
| barrie nations who use its weird music
to accompany their religious rites, as
well as for war purposes.
The tom-tom of the Sioux Indian is a
good example of primitive drum.
In civilized warfare the drum has
ever been connected with deeds of mar.
tial valor, and its voice is dear to the
heart of the soldier who has fired its
pulsing into the deadly fire of battle, OF
even in reviews and military parades
when rank upon rank sweep up a street
keeping perfect alignment and step tC
the drums inspiring beat.
1t has found place through the dar
ing bravery of more than one beardlesi
boy who has sounded at the critical mo
ment the pas de charge or rally" jus
in time TO turn the tide of battle.
Johnny Glenn, the "drummer-boy o
Shiloh" who beat the rally without or
ders when his regiment had broker
panic-stricken, and thus helped to saw
the day, was made an officer for hi
heroism, and is now major in tn
United States army.
In fable, song and story the drum ha
ever kept pace with the most valian
deeds of men. Rudyard Kipling's pl
thetic little story of "The Drums of tn
Fore and Aft" two courageous drum
mer boys who, at the cost of their owi
lives, led the charge and saved tn
honor of their regiment when rout
ed by the Afghans, tells of dee
such as is TO be found in histor
as well as in fiction. More than ono
/ has the drum claimed a place in tn
> front rank of storming battalions, @
led desperate charges in the van of
victorious army.
What wonder, then, that we look sol
rowfully into the future, when battlin
will no longer be inspired by the 'wai
drums throb;" for we know that tn
advance of military science, with all il
death-dealing machine-guns, magazin,
rifles, and its smokeless powder, wi
! surely sound the knell of the drum
r Lieut. Con Marratt Perkins, in ST. Mel
: olas.