Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1914 — CAREFUL OF HIS OLD DRUM [ARTICLE]

CAREFUL OF HIS OLD DRUM

Head of Instrument Wai Made Front the Skin of L«mb Given to Him by HlsKather. A G. A. R. man who drummed through the Civil war made the iirurr he carried, and has it still? The head of the drum was made from the skis of a sheep which, was given to hiir by his father when it was a sickly lamb. He cured the skin himself stretching it on pegs, and while it was drying, he went into the woods, cut down a rock maplejjf the proper size and from the trunk cut the hoops,which he carefully seasoned and adjusted The drumsticks were made of hickory, polished to a satin smoothness bjf means of sandpaper and oil. No ancient violin maker ever fashioned his beloved instrument with greater care and pride-thin the backwoods boy did his drum. ' But before he was ready to go to the front he found that.the deadly “borer” had attacked the hoops and honeycombed them, and his work had to be done all .over again. This time he selected sound hickory with better luck, and the rattle of the home-made drum was heard in many, of the .big battles, add is still heard when the aged drummer boy turns out with his few remaining comrades.