Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 101
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[Page 101]
50
a big community bonfire was lighted on the open slope of the reservoir hill, and there was a great expenditure of all sorts of crackers and fireworks. But Ikey's star turn was to throw the detonators into the fire occasionally, and on one of these gay nights, he sneaked farther up the hill into the darkness, and exploded a plug of dynamite with a detonation that shook some of the plates off the kitchen dresser in the Rectory, fully three hundred yards away. The letting-off of crackers in the main street was prohibited, but where it was badly lighted, Ikey and I would surreptitiously drop small cubes of sodium (taken from the mine's laboratory) in water lying in the gutter, without pausing in our stride: the sodium would fizz around for a few seconds, and then break into a series of rapid bangs and bright flashes. The rather officious policeman on the beat would come running up to see who was lighting crackers in the street in defiance of the Law but by the time he arrived on the scene, Ikey and I were well away, and undetected.
It was the custom of the town's citizens to welcome-in the New Year very riotously and noisily. Nearly the whole able-bodied population of the town, young and old, crowded into the main street, milling up and down its length blowing toy trumpets and wearing fancy paper caps, or throwing confetti at passers-by. The town band played popular music in the central square, to which the more vociferous revellers sang lustily, if not very tunefully. The pubs were open, legally, until 11 p.m. but, unofficially, they were open until well after midnight, via the back door, and did a roaring trade; many usually abstemious and respected citizens became a little drunk and frivolous.
When midnight, and the New Year, finally arrived, the noise of junketing reached a crescendo, and despite the protests of the Captain of the volunteer fire brigade, the fire bell, on a post in the middle of the street was rung furiously, fizzing big "bungers" and crackers were thrown around carelessly, and accompanied by the Band, the assembled crowd bellowed "Auld Lang Syne", as they gripped each other's hands and danced around in crazy circles. Even the most sober-sided elderly fathers