adly at the "Elevation" when they had chosen rather
a soft (comparatively) simple melody. The cure preached a very pretty,
short sermon, telling them about Saint Cecile, the delicately nurtured
young Roman who was not afraid to face martyrdom and death for the sake
of her religion. The men listened most attentively and seemed much
interested when he told them how he had seen in Rome the church of St.
Cecile built over the ruin of the saint's house--the sacristy just over
her bath-room. I asked him how he could reconcile it to his conscience
to speak of the melodious sounds that accompanied the prayers of the
faithful, but he said one must look sometimes at the intention more than
at the result.

There was a certain _harmony_ among the men when they were practising
and preparing their music for the church, and as long as they held to
coming and gave up their evenings to practising, instead of spending
them in the wine shops, we must do all we could to encourage them.

The procession went out in the same order--halted at the church door and
then W. made them a nice little speech, saying he was pleased to see how
numerous they were and how much improved--they would certainly take an
honourable place in the concours de fanfares of the department. They
escorted the Mayor back to his house playing their march and wound up
with a copious dejeuner at the "Sauvage." Either the Mayor or the
"Adjoint" always went to the banquet. W. gave the champagne, but
abstained from the feast.

They really did improve as they went on. They were able to get better
instruments and were stimulated by rival fanfares in the neighbourhood.
They were very anxious to come and play at the chateau, and we promised
they should whenever a fitting occasion should present itself.

We had a visit from the Staals one year. The Baron de Staal was Russian
Ambassador in England, and we had been colleagues there for many years.
We asked the Fanfare to come one Sunday afternoon while they were there.
We had a little difficulty over the Russian National Hymn, which they,
naturally, wanted to play. The Chef de Fanfare came to see me one day
and we looked over the music together. I had it only for the piano, but
I explained the tempo and repetitions to him and he arranged it very
well for his men. They made quite an imposing entrance. Half the
population of La Ferte escorted them (all much excited by the idea of
seeing the Russian Ambassador), and they were reinfo