Family Of Four: 23 - Burglars
...Among my fears was one of burglars! There was sound reason for this, for several times in the mystery of the night, a bell would ring, and Daddy would be persuaded to go with a neighbour to his home as the neighbour was sure someone was in the house! Daddy always obliged but first said, "Wait till I get my trusty stick," which was an outsize walking-stick, thick and heavy, kept hanging on one end of his wardrobe for these eventualities...
Mrs Vivien Hirst tells of her childhood apprehensions.
Mrs Hirst's childhood memories were gathered into a book, Family Of Four, by her nephew Raymond Prior.
I was an imaginative child, living the lives of people in the books which were read to us, believing happily in fairy stories, and less happily in the warnings of gypsies and kidnappers which were given to us from time to time.
In those days gypsies came to the house very frequently, selling brooms and clothes pegs, boot laces and other articles, carried in great, flat baskets. They filled me with awe, being different, and foreign, with their swarthy skin, long black plaits, wide skirts and shawls and, especially, the round gold ear-rings hanging from their ears. Often we sang a ditty which went:
My mother said I never should
Play with the gypsies in the wood,
If I did, she would say,
"Naughty girl to disobey."
Among my fears was one of burglars! There was sound reason for this, for several times in the mystery of the night, a bell would ring, and Daddy would be persuaded to go with a neighbour to his home as the neighbour was sure someone was in the house! Daddy always obliged but first said, "Wait till I get my trusty stick," which was an outsize walking-stick, thick and heavy, kept hanging on one end of his wardrobe for these eventualities. Then, usually in his slippers to save time, he joined the man and together they faced the unknown.
It was astonishing that it was always Daddy who was asked for help, for he was very small, only five feet two inches or five feet three inches tall, and not young; but he was eager, full of initiative, strong and agile, and I am sure as brave as a lion. He had a great sense of responsibility and we were always told that if ever we saw a policeman in difficulty we were to go his aid, find his whistle and blow it, or run for help.
I think burglars must have been very often about for our ground-floor windows were made with burglar-proof catches, and it was quite a ritual locking up at night. The shutters over the kitchen window must be drawn across and barred, the outer back and side doors were locked and bolted, top and bottom, and the key of each downstairs room was carefully turned before Mummy and Daddy retired.
I would have frequent nightmares that a burglar was in the bedroom which I shared with Doreen; wakening, trembling, I begged to be allowed to go into her bed. Doreen, never having this experience, grew more than a little impatient after a few early disturbances and would say snappily, "Oh, come along then." I would fearfully walk over the two chairs between the beds, containing our neatly folded clothes, explaining to Doreen in a tense whisper that the burglar was under my bed, so I had to walk in this way or he would grab me by the ankles!
All of which was quite lost on the older girl who must have found her small sister a great trial. I would snuggle down beside her keeping us both awake until my trembling ceased, then with the comfort of Doreen's presence I dropped off to sleep.
The most exciting time we experienced was one Sunday evening in the summer, when the Miss Porritts, two elderly maiden ladies who lived in the house attached to ours, returned from Church, and found to their dismay that their front door, which they assured one another was definitely closed and latched when they left it, was ajar. They spoke in whispers, and the most natural thing in the world was to turn to Daddy. Breathlessly they explained the situation, Daddy fetched his stick and said to the two, "You go in at the front and I'll go round to the side, and we will then trap him."
Nervously the two protested, and insisted that they should all go in together, by the front door. As Daddy entered he heard a noise and a figure slid out of the dining-room, along the passage and out of the side door. Daddy flew after him, jumped down the steps and along the lawn, handicapped by his flapping slippers. The burglar was dressed formally in morning coat and top hat, so that he made a surprising sight as he climbed, like a monkey, over the high wall at the bottom of the garden, too quick for Daddy after all.
Daddy returned to telephone the Police, and we crowded at the top of the stairs hearing all about it, for it had been too hot to go to sleep. The burglar was eventually caught and some jewellery returned to the Miss Porritts, but they never again saw the money and silver which had been stolen.
