A mile or two south of Dublin is Donnybrook, the place where a famous
annual fair is held. We happened to be in the city at the time of
this, and one pleasant afternoon we drove out to see this great
gathering of the Irish peasantry. The fair-ground presented a busy,
gay, and curious scene. A large enclosed space was covered with booths
and tents--horse-markets--cattle-markets--buyers, sellers, and crowds
of spectators. There was almost every thing one could think of, for
sale; there were all sorts of games, and sports and shows going on;
there were Ethiopian concerts, plays, exhibitions of Punch and Judy,
little circuses and menageries, jugglers, tumblers, hurdy-gurdy
players, ballad singers, pipers, fiddlers, and dancers.
In nearly all the tents were gay young couples, dancing away as though
for dear life--dancing not alone with their feet, but with their arms,
their heads, and their merry, twinkling eyes. They were not all well
dressed, or even clean, but they seemed happy and healthy, and merrily
snapped their fingers at care. Everywhere there was laughter, and
chatter, and feasting, and frolic; but, I am glad to say, we saw little
tippling, and no quarrelling. It was very different in old times, when
the wild fun of Donnybrook Fair always ended in confusion, drunkenness,
and fighting. This happy change has been effected partly by the
Temperance reform, and partly by the establishment of a strong and
active government police.
Now for a short story of Donnybrook Fair.