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Speakers Corner. Hyde Park London England.
Folder:
Bern's Prose.
Speakers Corner.
It is difficult to say what impressed me the most, the man’s ability to talk non-stop without repeating himself or the nonsense that was coming from his mouth. I must admit I likened the man to a Parrot that I had once known. What the parrot said did not make sense and what was pouring from the throat of this man made even less sense.
I tried to edge my way away from this gathering of people at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park. I must admit I sometimes came here to pass a few hours away. Some of the speakers were quite fluent and generally made sense. I had learned that one must add a pinch of salt to most of what was being said. Political Speakers I walked away from. I had heard too many ideas that did not make sense. One speaker I often stopped to listen to, his main subject was Herbs and the use of herbs for curing all manner of ailments.
Most of the speakers brought along their own Soap Box to stand on so that they could he seen as well as be heard. One amusing thing that happened was when one man started by insulting his neighbours. Standing near by was a Police Officer, he too listened for a few minutes then he walked over to the man and told him that he could speak about the world in general but to insult people that was not allowed and if he insisted with his remarks he would be escorted from Speakers Corner. The man walked away and I am sure he felt that he was hard done by. Sending him away from Freedom of speech was an even bigger injury than that what he was saying about his neighbour.
Many were the meetings of the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army in their uniforms and their musical instruments were always a welcome party of guests at Speakers Corner. Many people joined in singing the hymns some of the younger people myself too at that young age would pick out one of the young Salvationists and pull faces at them as they spoke out in the name of religion another time a small group of boys had brought along with them some lemons. I must hand it to the Musicians of the Salvation Army they did not even notice the boys sucking lemons or the faces they pulled as they did so.
I always met up with a small group that sang French songs; one of the most Popular was Frere Jacque I soon learned most of the songs sung and enjoyed my time at Speakers Corner.
