Roamin’ in the gloamin’ (1928)

CHAPTER SIX FIVE SHILLINGS TO A POUND Although I was a very enthusiastic lover and spent several evenings every week with my bonnie wee Nance I did not neglect my singing. As a matter of fact I was always in great demand for local concerts all round the district. Generally there was a prize to compete for. It seems strange to think that this form of entertainment was once so popular in the towns and villages of Scotland. Nowadays it is as dead as the dodo — whatever that may mean. But in my time as a boy and young miner in the West of Scotland these singing competitions were all the rage. Remember that this was long before the days of cinemas in little mining towns and villages. An occasional concert in the local hall, or drama in the "geggie" (provided by touring companies) was all the entertainment the people had to keep them from absolute boredom. Even the cheap-jacks that toured the industrial centres and sold their wares by public auction in the squares and at the street corners carried their own singers with them as a special attraction. Generally the vocalist was a low comedian. Whenever trade was dull the auctioneer stepped down from his "rostrum" and announced that his place would now be taken by "the famous London comedian So-and-So who would entertain the public free of all cost whatever !" Of course the people came trooping up to take advantage of this generous invitation. One of the first comedians I heard perform from a travelling cheap-jack's van was a little man calling himself "Wee Harris." He was certainly very small and very comical in his costume and antics. He had a Glasgow accent that could have been cut with a knife. His songs did not err on the 73