The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-08
PASSING OF THE DRUM.

American salvationists, those who
acknowledge Ballington Booth as
commander-in-ch chief of the salvation
army, have just decided to abolish the
use of the drum as an emblem of
courageous piety. While this action was
brought about by the numerous com
plants of nervous people in some of
the larger cities, leading frequently to
arrests and prosecution-hated as it
was, the sound of the big bass drum
viii be sadly missed There was al
ways something so hearty about the
drum and the singing, so suggestive of
out door religion, and withal so ap-
pealing to the boisterous element in
which the Booth organization has eff
fected its chief reformation, that it
will seem as if the vigor, the life Of
the street crusade had departed from
it.
The drum has a peculiar facination
for men of unrestrained passions and
uncultivated emotions 1t appeals to
every one when blended properly with
other instruments. There is nothing
more inspiriting, more thrilling to the
patriot than martial music played with
fife and drum. 1t makes one want to
march and take off his hat to the flag
of his country. 1t arouses the slumber-
ing fire in the hearts of busy and
burdened men and brings back d glow
of enthusiasm, desire for action, such
as primitive man must have felt when
preparing for war.
There is something in the beat of a
drum that vibrates in the soul. 1t is
like the sound of thunder, the boom of
cannon, the roar of the sea 1t pro-
duces the most perfect imitation of
these awful sounds of solitude and
danger that man has yet invented. The
drum is the Oldest of musical instru-
ments. 1t is the first discovery of
savage tribes, the effect of percussion,
and drums are found among the lowest
of humanity. They are used to call
the tribes together, to arouse the war
spirit, to create enthusiasm and make
men brave and earnest. The Dahomey
savages of South Africa with their dried
skin bags, the, Sandwich islanders with
their inverted bowls, the Fiji canni-
balls with followed logs, the Indians
with tom-toms, and the Laplanders
with their whalebone buckets. all
march and dance to the native music
of their peculiar drums. The drum has
been thumped by nimble fingered celes-
tails from time immenforial in Africa
it is not only the chief musical instru-
ment but an object of great veneration.
In some Asiatic countries it is credited
with divine origin, while in the interior
of South America it is worshipped as
a god.
The medicine man of North American
tribes works upon the superstition of
his patients with the mystic power of
the drum; the Esquimau sorcerer Sc
cures his prestige and influence by its
skillful handling; he sends the soul of
his believers sailing in fur-lined boats
through seas of blubber with the
seductive beat of the drum, while in
fact they may be poor and cold and
hungry. 1t speaks the voice of nature
to the children of nature. To the south
sea islanders, it is the roar of the
tempest; TO the tribes of the tropics
it is the rumble of thunder, the fury of
the storm; it is the only thing that
can stir the sluggish passions of the
frozen north.
No wonder it has been a power in
the slurns. How can it help being
missed by the children of ignorance
and poverty? Instead of the hearty,
invigorating, inspiriting call to action,
the whine of the concertina viii be
heard 1t seems that nervous people
should be willing to put up with little
noise for a little while every evening
when it calls to the path of light men
and women who have been neglected
by nervous people who would leave
them to grope their ways in the alleys
of darkness forever.