1914 was a peak year of sorts locally during the golden age of band music. There was probably no year that saw more active musical groups in town; certainly there was no other year in which the newspaper covered music in such great detail. It was perhaps the last typical year of the golden age of bands, so we pause here for a chapter to look at just that year in detail.             In 1914 the world was changing rapidly and irrevocably. August would see a series of small events drag the nations of Europe over the brink of war. America would resist being dragged in with them, determined perhaps to keep the golden remnants of the now-passing age alive. Instead we concentrated on problems with Mexico, which seemed somehow simpler and perhaps more reminiscent of the successful Spanish-American War.             The world grew smaller; travel through the Panama Canal was routine, and the last passenger pigeon died. ASCAP was formed to help protect writers of music in an age bursting with new technologies that could wrench a composer’s work from his control. W. C. Handy wrote “St. Louis Blues,” and Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote his first Tarzan novel. 16 million people daily were going to the movies.             No one knew yet how serious conditions had become, but the bloom was definitely off the rose in the professional band world. It was becoming harder to mount a financially successful tour.             Locally, the Franklin Italian Band was already becoming a bit shaky, but the Franklin Band and the Rocky Grove Band were still eminently successful. The Boy Scout Band, rehearsing in the YMCA, was also doing well.             The Elks presented another successful show in May, including as usual Alonzo Nichols, this time billed as the leading character comedian hereabouts.             Summer came and Ackley’s Orchestra was now the single house band at Monarch Park, featuring C. L. Stickle as trumpet soloist. This group must have had lips of steel; they performed two or three times daily with an afternoon concert from three to five followed by an evening concert from 7:45 to 9:45, excepting three nights a week when they ended at 8:45 in order to play for the 9 o’clock dance. And this was their schedule seven days a week.             The concert programs, printed regularly for the Sunday performance, show a fairly varied fare (and include, at least on one occasion, Ackley’s “Cedar Point” march). It is unlikely that these boys were getting rich, but they definitely earned whatever they were paid....