random thoughts. terry parris
“Penny for the Guy?”
Even now, so many years since I was a little girl, anyone only has to say 'November' to me, and this poem spills out:
Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and plot; I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes, a Catholic, was foiled in his attempt on November 5 1605 to blow up the Houses of Parliament. I see myself, aged six, helping my brother, aged eight, to push along a stuffed figure meant to be Guy Fawkes, in my doll's pram, and asking passers-by: “Penny for the Guy?” If my mother didn't stop our begging, which she hated, we would join our friends to make a bonfire and burn the effigy. But, if our more indulgent father was there, he would buy fireworks and let them off with neighbours, giving my brother and I 'Sparklers'.
So,. why is this childhood memory worth recalling? Because, remembering this, I see something positive that has happened in our present turbulent world. I see how the 19th century Victorian prejudices have faded away in the 21st century. The Victorian prejudices included non-whites, Irish labourers, women, Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and others. Queen Victoria didn't even believe women could be lesbian! Prejudice still exists but we've come a very, very long way from Victorian times.