Читать книгу Lost Voices of the Edwardians: 1901–1910 in Their Own Words - Max Arthur, Max Arthur - Страница 183

My uncle, Jack Cameron, knew that I had a sailor doll and nigger minstrel doll – when nigger wasn't a dirty word. The nigger minstrel stayed on the wall but I was allowed to play with the sailor doll. My father taught me how to spell nigger in letters. I wouldn't have been able to write those things but I had them memorised. Uncle Jack said, ‘Spell nigger minstrel.’ I said, ‘N.I.G.G.E.R … nigger minstrel.’ That was association of ideas.

Sometimes we used to get a pig's bladder and blow it up as a ball, and then smuggle that from one lad to another. That's all it was, it wasn't really running with it. We used to smuggle it from one to another and we either had to get it to the top of the schoolyard or the bottom of the schoolyard to score points. I was in my element if I was in the bottom of the scrum wrestling to get that bladder. And it didn't matter how you got it, you could push it up your jersey or put it inside your jacket pocket or under your arm. There was too much tackling, you were underneath a score of boys often, scratching around to get it. I was in my element doing that. That was probably why I went on to take up rugby.