Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/161

 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. 125 the second article, " a fine old fellow " of 81, and his portrait is given in it. He still had his flute — though he hadn't enough breath to blow it ! but the bass viol, being a cumber- some thing to have in a small house, was " stood out in the yard," where, needless to say, it soon fell a prey to the elements — an ignominious ending for an old servant, nearly as bad as that of another bass viol that the " guid wife " put behind the fire, "as it was lumbering up the chimney- corner ! " The Newton Poppleford band terminated its existence about forty-eight years ago. The body of the church, according to Mr. Anderson, is comparatively modern, but in the old church there was a gallery over the entrance door, and the band used to sit in this gallery, as also did the choir, which was small, numbering only seven or eight singers, and composed of members of both sexes. A certain J^Ir. Bastin, a shoemaker, who was famous in those days as a tenor, and who " could go higher than any girl " (?), was in 1 91 3 still living in Newton Poppleford. At Christmas the band went round the parish as the " Waits," and collected money for its upkeep. At Harpford the church music, both vocal and instru- mental, seems to have been supplied by a family named Carter. A member of the family, named Sydenham Carter, aged 76, was still living at Otterton, where he owned a delightful farm. He was " one of sixteen, all musicers " (!). In the church band he played a violin which he made himself, and on which his daughter then performed ; his father played the bass viol. His brother Joel also played the violin, and his uncle the clarinet. The rest of the family formed the choir, " and they sang fine, not like they do it nowadays." At this church also there was a gallery for the choir and band, and at Christmas they went round as the " Waits," and apparently had a " rare old time." They often "didn't get home till morning," but visited the farm- houses of the neighbourhood, where they were received with open arms and immediately put on the " free list." Mr. Anderson writes, that in addition to these two bands, he has since ascertained some details of one at Denbury. Here the church still retains the old west gallery, in which the "singers and minstrels" used to sit. The music was in the hands of a family named Rowe. " Old Rowe "