306 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



discover the secret of a thrilling " fire-scene," and no 

 one said him nay ; he even in some mysterious manner 

 invaded the sacred precincts of the Speaker's Gallery in 

 the House of Commons, without the usual formality 

 of obtaining an order. And so well known was this 

 enviable faculty among us that we always used to say 

 that he would succeed even in getting presented at 

 Court if he wished, without any preliminaries or intro- 

 ductions whatever. 



Of my father's indoor amusements, music was the 

 chief ; and this, indeed, was almost a passion with him. 

 He was no vocalist, for his voice, good enough when a 

 boy, was irretrievably damaged by the common mistake 

 of continuing to use it after it had " broken," and, 

 though he could take his part in a chorus, it was quite 

 useless for solo work. Nor was he a pianist. The only 

 instrument, indeed, which he played at all was the 

 euphonium ; admirable, perhaps, as a constituent in a 

 concert orchestra or a brass band, but scarcely suited to 

 the narrow limits of a drawing-room. No doubt his 

 performances must sometimes have been a sore trial to 

 the neighbours, more especially as in those days when 

 I was about ten years old I used to play the cornet 

 after a fashion, so that we might practise duets 

 together. We both belonged for some time, also, to 

 an amateur brass band at Erith, which met for a weekly 

 practice under the leadership of a band-master from 

 Woolwich. But my father's chief reason for taking up 

 his noisy but somewhat unwieldy instrument, and also 

 for inducing me to take up mine, was that we might 



