STIRRING UP THE ARDOUR OF WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 35

STIRRING UP THE ARDOUR OF WAR

WITH DRUM AND FIFE (By. S.L.H., in the "Daily-News.") ... I am- glad ,to see. that: something is being done to provide military, bands not pnly to' encpurage recruiting, but also to cheer, to inspire, yes, arid to reinvigorate and" refresh riien on the march. When any one of them hears the rum-tum-tum of the military drum and the piercing appeal of the fifes he instinctively expands his chest, raises chin and nose, and steps out as well as he can. It is useless to argue as* to whether this should bo so —for it is so. I believe there is no man who is not impressed, nay, more than impressed, who is not thrilled, when he sees a drum-major who knows his business coming along at the head of the band. There was at one time au officer in the King's Household styled the Drum Major General of England, and without his licence no one except the King's troops was permitted to beat a drum in this island. There are few prouder titles in our history than that of Drum ijVtajor General of England. I consider it more impressive than Aldermannus totius 'Angliae, .or Alderman of all England, the nature of whose office and duties even the learned Spelman confessed he could riot divine. the Drummer. In Franoe. Only a few years ago there was an attempt to suppress the drum in the French Army— but; the attempt failed, and the drum was reinstated. It is all very well .for philosophers to smile at these thingß.. Let them smile, .and let them remember that worthy people have smiled at them. The other day I read somewhere a remark made by that good woman, - the glazier's wife, who acted as the faithful foster-mother of D'Aleinbert. When, the famous mathematician 'and scholar told her of some new work he had produced, or some_new discovery he had made, she generally replied: "You will never be anything but a philosopher—and what is that but an ass who plagues himself all his life that he may be talked about after he is dead."

In an old record of the household expenses of Henry. VII there is an Interesting entry to this effect: "Item, to one that played upon the Droome six shillings and eightpence." That is a sum that has been paid to other people for less meritorious services —but I will not pursue that line of thought. According to a diary of the siege of Boulogne by Henry VIII in 1544, published by Thomas Rymer, it is noted that "drummers and viffleurs" marched at the head.of the army. Very likely all my readers know what "vif-. fleurs" were, but I do not. I may eave trouble, however, by saying at once that they, were not filers, for in Francis Grose's Military Antiquities it is distinctly said that at' St. Quihtin a drum and fife were allowed to each oompany of 100 foot, and the Captain-General of Infantry had' attached to him "six wyfflers, one drummer, and one fifer." Ye Ancient "Drome." There is evidonce, too, that drummers were at one time called on to carry out duties even more important than beating their drums—and the same may bo eaid about lifers also. " Here is another passage from Grose's work already mentioned: "All captains must have Dromes and phiphes-, and men to use-the same, who should be faithfull, secret, yngenious, of able personages' to use their instruments and office, of sundrie languages, for oftentimes they are' sent to parlie with- their enomies, to summon their forts and towns, to redeme and conducte prisoners and diverse other messages, of which necessitie require languages.'' . . - • Thus it appears that the drummer or fifer had to carry on quite delicate negotiations at times, and had to understand and to speak different languages. Possibly the confident bearing that distinguishes the drum-major to-day may be a relic or survival of the time when his predecessors used to "parlw" with enemies and summon their forts and towns. ' ■ And of course such men had to bo riot only skilful with their instruments and able to carry on these negotiations, but they had to be absolutely trustworthy and fearless, for Grose addfj "if such Dromes or phiphers should for' tune to fall into the hands of theid ■enemies, no gifts or-force should-.cause t'hem to disclose any secrete that they know." I can imagine that if the enemy ever sought to extract by force or gift any secrets from a captured drummer or lifter tliey would 6oon discover that the drummer or fifer had a perfect command of sundrie languages—including plain English. And in addition to the duties already mentioned the drummer had to teach the company "the sound of the march, alarme, approche, assalte, battell, retreat, skirmish, or any other calling to necessity should be known."