200 WAR MUSIC 



Half a thousand dead men marching on to fight, 

 With a Httle penny drum to hft their feet." 



This song ought to be especially interesting to our 

 Society, because the effect of a small drum and a 

 penny whistle is roughly the same as that of the 

 pipe and tabor, and these are the traditional 

 instruments for English Folk Dances. It is per- 

 haps worth noting that they must in old days have 

 been used in war, for there is an illustration in an 

 ancient manuscript of a taborer piping at the head 

 of a body of troops marching out from a town. 



Man is a social animal, and his natural strength 

 lies in community of action with his fellows. It is 

 this which gives music its power over masses of 

 men, the pulsation of the drum, the blare of the 

 answering trumpets, or the strident voice of the 

 bagpipe cry to them in tones which cannot be mis- 

 understood, binding them into a brotherhood of 

 courage and obedience. But a society of Morris 

 Dancers does not need to be reminded of the noble 

 effect of human movement controlled by music. 

 The word 'caper' has somewhat ridiculous associa- 

 tions, but we have learned to respect it for what i^- 

 implies : the finely ordered strenuous movement of 

 strong bodies leaping in rhythmic dance. It 

 suggests something pagan and prehistoric, a physical 

 religion of astonishing beauty. Some of our 

 Morris men are now giving all the vigour of their 

 young bodies to a great and just cause. Let us 

 wish them a victorious home-coming. 



