FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



himself into the task of showing how they used 

 to dance in his parts " a-many years ago." 



The revival of late of such old-time relics of 

 the country-side, as the Morris and other country 

 dances, the singing games and folk-songs, performed 

 by children, is an excellent sign of the times, 

 provided it is practised in moderation and does 

 not usurp the place of more important matters. 

 It is not only artistic and healthful, but it stimulates 

 a sense of rhythm, always worth cultivating in 

 the young, and an innocent joyousness which we 

 all desire to associate with childhood. It is so 

 full of happy possibilities that it deserves all the 

 encouragement we can bestow upon it, if it be 

 regarded as a recreation pure and simple and not 

 allowed to usurp the place of more serious studies. 



It is remarkable how much of the dramatic 

 instinct is to be found among those living very 

 much out of the hurly-burly of life on the hill- 

 sides and among the hedgerows. Those who 

 have looked for it have found it, as has been 

 shown by the success of the Dorset and other 

 country plays of recent times. A most striking 

 example was furnished a few years since in 

 Somerset by the " Butleigh Revel." Here you 

 had a whole village, with the Squire at its head, 

 giving itself up, heart and soul, for a long period 

 for it involved months of preparation and 

 rehearsal to what the old-fashioned term de- 

 scribes as " play-acting." Those who were for- 

 tunate enough to witness it and it attracted 

 some thousands of people went away deeply 

 impressed with the extraordinary spirit and 

 evident enjoyment with which the villagers carried 



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