Munsey's Magazine, August 1924

This August 1924 issue of Munsey's Magazine features "New Harmony" by Donald McGibeny, a serial about a small Indiana town and its silver cornet band. The opening installment provides local history: New Harmony was settled in 1814 by Harmonists on the Wabash River near Evansville. The narrator, marshal of the thirteen-piece silver cornet band, documents a poorly-attended Tuesday rehearsal during an icy night. The band struggles to learn "Lady Gazette March," hindered by inadequate cornets and squabbling musicians. Ben Cunningham, the band's organizer and slip horn player, fails to appear for the first time, puzzling the narrator who knows music is Ben's sole passion since his romantic rejection by Luella Rogers, who left him for Bradley Johnson. Concerned, the narrator drives three miles through ice to check on Cunningham and discovers another automobile at his house.