BRASS BANDS WANTED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2419, 26 March 1915, Page 8

BRASS BANDS WANTED

THE GREATEST RECRUITING AGENT SPEECH BY RUDYARD KIPLING. Of the many movements that have sought the influence of the Mansion Uouso for their introduction to tlio public during the present war, few have met with a warmer response than that inaugurated recently for the provision ol' bands for the encouragement of recruiting and marching in London. The Lord Mayor, who was accompanied by the Lady Mayoress, presided. There was a large attendance oi' persons interested in the proposal. Rudyard Kipliuy. who was received with loud cheers, said: "I am greatly honoured by the Lord Mayor's request to speak before you. The ruost 'useful thing that a civilian can do in these busy days is to speak as little as .possible, and, if he feels moved to write, to confine his eil'or. to his cheque book. (Laughter.) But this is an exception to that vory good rule. We do not know the present strength of our new armies. They were quite rightly born in silence, but thai ia no reason why they should walk iu silence for the rest of their lives.

"From the lowest point of view, a few drums and fifes in a battalion are worth live extra miles 011 a route march, quilu apart from the fact that they swing the battalion.back to quarters composed and happy in its mind, 110 matter how wet and tired its body may be. And even wuere there is no route marching, the mere come and go, the roll and (flourish, of.the drums and fifes round barracks is as warming and cheering as the sight of a fire in' a room. "Or a band—not necessarily a full band —but a band of a few brasses and woodwinds, is immensely valuable in districts where troops are billeted. It revives memories, it quickens associations, it opens and unites the hearts of men more 'surely than any other appeal. In that respect it assists recruiting perhaps more than any other agency. "More than that. No one —not even the adjutant—can say for certain where the soul of a battalion lives; but the expression of that soul is most often found in the band. It stands to reason that a body of -1200 men,' whose lives are pledged to each other's keeping, must have some common means of expressing their thoughts and moods to themselves and to their world. The band can feel the mood and interpret the thought. A wise and sympathetic bandmaster —and most that I have known have been that—can lift a battalion out of depression, cheer it in sickness, and steady and recall it to itself in times of almost unendurable strahi. You will remember a beautiful_ poem by Sir Henry Newbolt describing how a squadron of 'weary big dragoons' were led on to renewed effort by the strains of a penny whistle and a child's drum taken from a toy-shop ill a wrecked French town.

"And I remember in cholera camp in India, whore the men were suffering very badly, the band of the Tenth Lincqlns started a 1 regimental singsong one night with that queer, defiant tune, 'The Lincolnshire Poacher.' You know the words. "It was merely . ' their regimental march which, the men had heard a thousand times. There was nothing in it except—except all England—all the east coast —all the fun and daring and horseplay of young men bucketing about the big pastures by moonlight. But, as it was given, very softly, at that bad time in that terrible camp of death, it was the one thing in the world which could have restored —which it did—shaken men to pride, humour and self-control. This is, perhaps, an extreme case, but by no means an exceptional one. A man who has had any experience of the service can testify that a battalion is better for music at every turn—happier, easier to handle, and with greatest zest for».its daily routine if that routine is 'Bweetened by melody and rhythm—melody for the mind and rhythm for the body. "Our new armies, as we know, have not been well served in this essential. Of all the admirable qualities they have shown none is more wonderful than the spirit which has carried them through the laborious and • distasteful ground-work of their calling without a noto of music except what that same indomitable spirit supplied—out of its own head. We have all seen them marching through the country or through Loudon streets in absolute silence,' and the crowd through which they pass as silent _ as themselves for lack of the one medium that could convey and glorify the thoughts which are in all men's minds to-day. "We are a tongue-tied breed at the best. 'The band can declare on our behalf, _ without shame or shyness, something of what wo feel, and so help us to reach a hand toward the men who have risen up to save us. "From time immemorial the man who offers is life for his land has been compassed at every turn of his service by elaborate ceremonial and observance, of which music is no small part—carefully designed to prepare and uphold him. It is not .expedient nor seemly that any portion of that ritual should be slurred or omitted now." (Cheers.) Colonel Lord Denman, speaking as an officer of a territorial regiment, thanked Mr. Kipling for his speech. Some talented person would have to write another' verse of a well-known song, and say: "It's thank you, Mr. Kipling, when the band begins to play."