[Richard W. Morris lived in the colliery village of Newfield as a boy]

One [memory of boyhood] which I recall very vividly, is the men with “The travelling Bear”. How well I remember these four men travelling round the pit villages with a large brown bear. There was only one fish-tailed gas lamp midway between our two streets, and whenever they came into our street this was where they used to stand with the bear. One man carried a drum on his back, with a drumstick attached to each elbow so that he could strike the drum with either arm. He carried a melodian which he played with his hands, and on top of the drum were a pair of clappers which he operated with strings attached to the heels of his boots. He was the first one-man-band I ever saw. His companions played other instruments, and in turn either held the bear by a chain attached to a muzzle around his snout, or came round the doors with a collecting box.