_binge_ of

bingeJW. Did,in fact,_Mummers_ scare children,or were...kids afraid of them,and...? M. Oh yes. JW. Tell us a bit about this. M. Just...lots o' the Mummers[phon. trans] did scare the people, particularly the younger ones. I remember Billy Barrell [sp??] who died last Fall an' who was a good friend of Mr Saintsbury [sp??] in Greenspond,that,oh a long time ago,probably twenty years ago,that he would dress in such a weird costume.And apparently he would only have one binge of mummering [phon. trans.],and he would be preparing for that for quite a while. JW. Just one night? M.One night,yes.And he would prepare for that for quite a while,and would have really weird/costumes. My mother told me about once that he...he wore a barrell. The head an' the bottom were out (o') the barrell,of course,and I don't know how that barr(ell)...how he could do it,but he did wear the barrell! And that was very frightenin' An' on the...his head he had a big cardboard box which was...and horns on each side,which was (a) replica of _the Devil [phon. trans.]_.I suppose! JW.They were real animal horns he had on? M. Yes.Mm-mm.It was really, really something that they..._the Mummers_ [phon. trans.] would do in Greenspond in the years gone by. JW. Now would the adults perhaps be a bit scared as well?Do you...have you heard people say that...in that particular case,for instance? M. Well I don't think that they...the adults would be unless it were in some house that they...the woman was rather weak or sickly or rather timid. But the Greenspond people are not usually like that because they're of the sea and they're, rather,you know...YesSPREE _Mummers._J. WIDDOSON binge?Not usedNot usedWithdrawnPhonetic trans. throughout