Roamin’ in the gloamin’ (1928)

ROAMIN' IN THE GLOAMIN' 85 My pride got a nasty blow one evening in a village near Berwick-on-Tweed. I was leaving the hall after the show and was feeling rather sad because I had not had, to say the least of it, nearly so good a reception as a third-rate juggler who was one of the artistes. Standing at the foot of the lane leading up to the rear entrance of the hall was a group of "locals" discussing the quality of the entertainment they had just listened to. I heard my name mentioned. Pulling my cap down over my eyes I slowed up my pace anxious to hear what the "fans" were saying about me. "He's a droll wee deevil that Hairry Lauder craitur — the comic chap that cam' oot sae often," one of the men was saying. "Tuts, man," sneered a companion, "he's no a real comic at a' — he's the bill-inspector an' he's only thrown into the programme to kill the time ! He was in my shop this mornin' beggin' me to show a bill! The wife turned to me when he gaes oot an' says she, 'What's that half-wittit "under-sized" nyacket onywey, Dauvit ?' " I didn't wait to hear any more. The tears came into my eyes. All the same that first concert trip was really an unending joy to me. We covered hundreds and hundreds of miles of Scottish territory which would otherwise have remained a sealed book so far as I was concerned. My passion for my native land was whetted more than ever. I revelled in its scenery, in its people, its customs and traditions. At every new place we pitched our nightly tent, so to speak, I made it my task to inquire into the local history and what great men or women the town or village had produced. I had every opportunity for doing this sort of thing because, as I have already told you, I had to act in the capacities of a veritable Poo Bah — baggage-man, bill-inspector and distributor, stage-carpenter and front-of-the-house man while the people were assembling for the concert. Immediately on arriving in a new village I had to see the