Last night we fired up the old magic lantern for the first time since I pulled it out from under a pile of decayed soap boxes and laundry brikabrak 20 years ago. I'd cleaned it up soon after finding it amongst the remains of the old laundry; sanded the rust back, oiled the shutters, adjusted knobs and cleaned the lenses, but then it had sat packed carefully along with the collection of glass 'story slides' that I'd found with it, inside an old leather doctor's bag waiting for that magic night ... which was last night!
We lit a candle, placed it on the body of the lantern, focuses the lenses to throw light onto the wall and slid in the first slide.
Magic! (of course!).
Crazy stuff they watched back in the day - wrestling matches between gnarly characters wearing what seemed to be nappies, cautionary tales for boys involving apple trees and severe beatings with a stick, nursery rhymes we almost recognised, the wonders of the African Plains: tigers, lions and ostrich, all hunted by men with blunderbusses.
It was a great night's entertainment and a long time coming.
I must drag out more of my old stuff for the family's entertainment.
They loved it!
And so did I.
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