Their small corner

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

93

text excerpt

Home entertainment was simple, telling stories, gossip, singing, playing cards or whist or draughts which we played for hours.

The gramophone was considered a poor substitute of which most older folk did not approve. A young man living close by had a His Master’s Voice with a big horn. Children sat on the bank outside his cottage to listen to the records. I was quite obsessed by it and one day in the school holidays he told me that I could borrow it. It took me some time to collect the gramophone, the horn and the records but at last I had it all set up. 

Mother warned me how angry Father would be if I did not get it all back before he came home. As he enjoyed music, and he played the flutes […]  I was sure that he would like the gramophone. 

I sat spellbound as the old songs, Harvest Moon, Poor old Joe and the twanging banjo was wonderfully filling the air when Father walked in. Before he shut the door he said, “Shut that thing off! I will not have that canned rubbish in here! Get that thing out of here. You can sing and play, better than that tanging [sic] rubbish.” So there was nothing for it but to trudge back with all the records and the big horn and the gramophone.  I did not think that they were heavy to bring home but they were terribly heavy to carry back. 

When the radio came the older folk said, “Taint natural” and they hated that too for a while. The first folk to have one would have not only a room full to listen but more listened outside as well. 

 Music on the radio was described as caterwalling and one man said he would far rather listen to his old tom cat on the roof than that horrible row. Like all new things there was suspicion that it would bring harm. 

excerpt from 'Their small corner' pp. 93 (333 words)

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