Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1918-06-06
Letter From Sergeant Snyder.
At Home, France,

Dearest Dad-Things have been NOV
ing along smoothly this week, and |
have sure been busy, for the clerk is IN
the hospital with the grippe and have
his work to keep up along with my own,
and that means that am busy nearly
every minute. There is so little going
on that there is hardly anything to write
about. We had mighty pleasant even
ing at the Y. M. G. A. the other nlgnt.
Judge Galloway, Of Columbus, ONO;
was down for talk on "Folk Songs,
and because there was nothing else 10
do wandered over TO the ~ 10 near
him. He had his audience right from
the start, and every now and then ne
would sit down at the piano and DEM
onstrate what he meant by folk song,
and he had a mighty pleasing voice ana
could sure play a piano. In personal
appearance he was not very prepossesS-
ing, being rather understood and not al
ali handsome, but he sure made MT
with the bunch. Toward the end OF the
talk he said that he had recently set
patriotic poem to music and that he
would sing it for us. 1t was called
"Your Flag and My Flag" 1t was sure
some song, and said that the man must
certainly be genius to write music like
that. Then he said he would sing for
us one of his beSt-known songs-"lhe
Gipsy Trail" Well, right at that point
| saw the light, for here in front OF us
was Tod B. Galloway, one OF our noted
song writer's. and one OF the best
authorities on music in the country.
You could have brought me for half
franc. found out later that he was a
volunteer in the Y. M. c. A. work and
that he takes no pay for what he does,
but just goes around the camps enter
tanning the boys, and he can sure en-
terrain them.
He told us how his first songs came to
be published. Once long way back,
when he was Judge of some court or
other, case came up before him IN
which there was some doubt as to the
sanity of young girl, and it was up to
him to decide whether she 60 to prison
or an asylum. One woman that he
questioned in regard to the case was
a musician of rare talent, and in one
way or another she found out that in a
small way the judge was a composer,
so she asked him for some of his songs,
and without his knowledge sent them
TO publishing house. After bit he
began to get royalties, and he said that
he was never more surprised at any
thing in his life, for he had only been
setting the poems to music for his own
amusement and had never thought of
having them published. He also told
us the history of the "Gipsy Trail" and
think it is interesting enough TO pass
along to you all. In looking through
some old Century Magazines he had
come across the poem, which was writ
ten by Kipling, and published in 1886.
There were twenty-four verses, so he
Just used the ones he wanted and set
them to music. and had them published.
Some time afterward he got curt let
ter from Mr. Kipling, asking by what
right he had used that poem of his with
out permission, and demanding an ex-
PLANTATION. The judge told us that he
wrote nice letter to Mr.. Kipling, tell
ing him that he had found the poem in
an old magazine and that he had never
given infringement thought when he
had set it to music, and that since the
poem had been published in newSpa-
per also he saw no reason why he
should not have used it. Right back
came a letter demanding more royalty
than the Judge was getting himself, and
a rather nasty letter, and the oftener
he read il the sorer he got. So he sat
down and wrote to Mr.. Kipling and told
him that if he could show him that the
poem had ever been published in any
of his authorized editions he would be
willing to pay him royalty. The judge
added quietly that he never heard from
him again, for the reason that the
poem was not in any Of the volumes Of
Kipling's poems.
After the lecture the Y man intro
duced me to the judge, and told him
that had often sung his songs and en-
joyed them very much, and during the
course of the conversation told him
that had studied under Sydney Lloyd
Wrightson, in Washington. Right away
he became interested, for he said that
while he did not know Mr. Wrightson,
yet he knew lot about his work and
told me that | was lucky to have been
able to study under him. 1t was GER
tainly pleasing experience and one
that will never forget.
Last night at the "Y''. they had
quartet of women from Paris-two
violinists, soprano and pianist, and
you have never heard such music as
they put out The singer was particu-
larly good, and also one Of the violin
lists was away above the average, and
they entertained us royalty for several
hours. We certainly have to hand it to
that "Y" for making life in the even
ingS worth living over here, for were it
not for them we would spend some
mighty dull evenings.
saw a peculiar thing in the bird
line the other day. Down the road from
us there is piece of swampy land, and
as was walking along | noticed bird
lowering in the air. stopped to watch
it, and after a minute or two wonder
ed if was seeing things, or what. 1t
was bird about the size of our hawks,
and there he stood in the air slowly
moving his wings, absolutely stationary,
when all of sudden he dropped like
shot to the earth and flew up with some
thing in his mouth. After a few min
utes he came to the same place and
hung there in the air again. This time
he stayed there for at least five minutes.
Then he dropped again and got his prey.
have seen hawks hover for few
seconds, but this bird stays right in the
same spot for ten minutes, and you
can't imagine what fascinating sight
it is. would like to know what its
name is. There are not a great many
birds around here yet, but the natives
say that when the summer sets in that
there will be lots of them around.
The French people here are fine to
us. They do everything they can for us,
even to taking our money. The French
money does not look good to me, and
even when | have pocket full of it |
don't feel that have got anything, and
it takes a double handful of it to buy
anything at all. Fortunately it is easy
TO count, and you should see me change
and counting in French. They can't
slip anything over on me now, and the
best thing do is to drive bargains with
the Shop-keeperS.