308 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



choral society, which met at private houses, hut 

 occasionally gave public concerts. 



His method of conducting was peculiarly his own. 

 For an occasional false note he cared very little ; but 

 false time, or false accent, used to trouble him 

 exceedingly. I have often known him to come down- 

 stairs from the top of the house in order to set right a 

 bar that was not quite correctly played in one of these 

 respects. In the same way, when practising his choir, 

 he would have a single line, or even a single bar, of a 

 hymn repeated again and again until it quite suited his 

 fastidious requirements. But in this way he got his 

 choirs to sing with a precision and " swing " seldom 

 attained by those not under professional tuition, and his 

 own choir of Erith was famous for miles round for the 

 high state of excellence to which it attained under his 

 rule. 



Of course there were occasional objections, on the 

 part of some of the choristers, to a system in which so 

 much attention was paid to detail ; and now and then, 

 very amusing little scenes would result. .. Of one in par- 

 ticular my father was never tired of telling. Certain 

 malcontents were greatly dissatisfied with the manner 

 in which a particular piece of music was taken. Each 

 had suggestions to make, and of course these different 

 suggestions were altogether contradictory. At last one 

 of the members rose and said that, as there was clearly 

 much dissatisfaction, he had a proposal to make which 

 he thought would solve every difficulty ; and that was y 

 that the members of the choir should conduct and 



