GUY FAWKES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 5 November 1926, Page 10

GUY FAWKES.

THE BOYS’ DAY. ITS ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE. To-day is November s—“ Guy Fawkes Day.” On the night of November 4, 321 years ago, Guy Fawkes wrapped his "long coat around his head and' slunk down towards the British House of Parliament, alongside old Father Thames. His mantle just Hid the grim smile which played upon a face set with determination. His eyes were bright with eagerness* yet careful withal, as he sped along to the house near the mother of Parliaments, avoiding the soldiers and the watch which the unsettled times had made alert. Once m a house near Westminster all seemed well. A secret sign or two. and the underlings of the daring tool of more orominent men soon gave Fawkes entrance to a subterranean passage leading to the callars under the House of Parliament. There he stood all ready to give effect to the Great Gunpowder Plot, the effect of which was so strikingly imposed upon the imagination of that time that'its anniversary has been observed to this day. The small boys burn in effigy the most courageous of the conspirators, who was captured at his post, tortured to-extract a confession of the details of the plot, and finally executed with the rest on January 31. 1606. At the time of his death Guy Fawkes was still a comparatively young man, full of action and daring. He was born in York on April 16, 1570. Having been a soldier of fortune in the Spanish army in Flanders since the age of 23, he returned to England, and in 1604 joined up with a small group of Roman Catholic zealots, who, finding that they had nothing to hope from the accession of James 1., formed a plot to overthrow the Government by blowing up King, Ministers and Parliament together. They intended, in the chaos which was expected to follow, to seize the reins of office. The secret or the plot, imparted to a few—Catesby, Percy, Digby, Rookwood and Tresham aTe the most familiar names—was for a long time well kept. The design was to be carried out on the day of the assembling of Parliament in February, 1605. The meeting was adjourned till October, and finally till November 5. The conspirators procured an adjoining building, whence gunpowder was conveyed to the chambers under the House and stored.

With the indomitable Fawkes ready to carry th© terrible deed into execution, one of the conspirators sold his party at the last moment at the call of friendship. Francis Tresham warned Lord Monteagle to absent himself from the meeting of Parliament that day, saying “this Parliament shall receive a terrible blow and shall not know who hurts them.” A search was made of Westminster and the plot revealed. Fawkes’s resistance was in keeping with the desperate nature of the man.

The effect of so virile a plot, carried almost, to execution on so grand a scale, lias left an indelible impression on the Brifisli mind. Many old customs die out. Especially in the colonies is seen a weakening of the observation of feast days which once held the nation’s ready and complete observation. Guy Fawkes Bay increases in popularity. Its early significance has now been completely lost. It is now an occasion for displays which appeal essentially to the mint! of the youthful male. It is the occasion when even the best-trained youngsters are likely to forget family rules and sneak out to sell old bones or bottles in desperate attempts to furbish up the finances available to make their display a. better one than the rivals of the next street. Especially in the large towns of New Zealand is this the one occasion when alms may be asked and are readily given. The lads commence the rounds early in the morning, and suffer a most unwelcome break through the school hours before getting down to the real work of the evening. John Chinaman finds in the occasion a- happy divergence from the usual fruit or vegetable business, and no race finds itself closer to our boyhood on Noveml>er 5 than that nation of fireworks enthusiasts—the Chinese. With their explosives purchased, the lads drag their effigy to the nearest section, and then all goes merrily while the fire brigade sits read} 7 in case of accident. In Hawera the boys’ day has been given even greater significance on this occasion by the Rotary Club, which has organised a fireworks display on the A. and P. ground in the interest of local public institutions.