Well, Let Him Out!

Noel Laflin

10-29-20

Sir Walter Raleigh, adventurer, fancy dresser, flirt, and one-time favorite of the queen, was beheaded on this day in 1618 for conspiring to overthrow King James.

Now, I hate to brag, but as a kid I like to think that I actually knew something about both historical figures.

I knew, for example, that King James must have written the Bible, as I saw his name stamped on them all the time. And the passages within were pretty flowery in verse – filled with thees and thou’s – definitely written by a king.

And boy was I an expert on Raleigh as this was a very popular pipe tobacco found in every store  way back when, as well as the only brand of cigarettes preferred by a favorite aunt.  She smoked them because of the coupons.  My folks only collected Blue Chip and S&H stamps from local markets – thus, I never learned much history from those.

But speaking of markets, we would sometimes call one on a dare and enquire whether they had Sir Walter Raleigh in a can. When a new clerk – one who had not experienced the prank as yet – would reply, “Why, yes we do,” we would screech with delight and yell back, “Well, let him out!”

Ah, childhood history.  I was an expert.