MISSED ONE BEAT.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2083, 9 March 1908, Page 2

MISSED ONE BEAT.

What is the most imposing in a brass band ? “The bass drummci undoubtedly,’' will say nine persons out of ten. See how he strides along arrayed in full panoply, and hammer ing with might and main on the hugt structure in front of him ! It is said of a certain bass drummer that he lias never been known tc be a fraction of a second out of time —except once ; that he never lose? his dignity, and that the whole bone is proud of him. The story of how hi lost the beat in question runs as fol lows :

He was marching—an awc-inspirin| and fear-compelling spectacle—at th( head of a political procession, wher a dog. belonging probably to som< man of the opposite party, rushec out, barking furiously, and singling out the man with the big drum a.* being the heavy villain, so to speak made a dash for him. The drummer, without removin' Ijis eyes from the far-off depths o space into which he was gazing straight ahead, missed just one boat With his heavy drumstick he hit tin dog one blow that knocked it en tirely out of action, and went aheae drumming as befo e. "Yes, si'’,” said the trombone play er to an interviewer afterwards, "i‘ was magnificent ! He knocked tha dog senseless and came on in tinn for the next beat ! There isn’t, an other drummer in the world thacould have done It !' a