AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
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On May Day the streets would be festive and colourful as `Jack in the Green' paraded the streets.
The name `Jack' occurs in many traditional settings:
Jack and Jill.
Jack the giant killer.
Jack and the beanstalk.
Jack Horner.
Jack Sprat.
Jack in the Green was a public holiday, also called `Chimney Sweepers' Day'. It appears to have been a remnant
of the many sports and pastimes with which old London was enlivened, and brought a touch of carnival into the
lives of some that were as dingy as the chimney sweeps'.
The sweeps coloured their faces for a change with brickdust, trimmed their hats with gilt paper, and one of their
number danced and capered inside a cone of evergreen.