I could
not prevent him from relating at the "George" one of his early
reminiscences, which fairly "brought down the house," as there were some
musicians in the company.
His band had been formed in 1863, and consisted of about a dozen
performers. Christmas time was coming on, when the bandsmen resolved to
show off a little and at the same time collect some money from their
friends to spend in the New Year. They therefore decided that the band
should go out "busking" each evening during Christmas week. They had
only learned to play five tunes--two of them belonging to well-known
hymns, a third "God Save the Queen," while the remaining two were
quicksteps, one of which was not quite perfectly learned.
They were well received in the village, and almost every house had been
visited with the exception of the Hall, which was some distance away,
and had been left till the last probably owing to the fact that the
squire was not particularly noted for his liberality. If, however, he
had been at home that week, and had any sense of music, he would have
learned all their tunes off by heart, as the band must have been heard
clearly enough when playing at the farms surrounding the mansion.
Pages:
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670