The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-08

selves together to be looked at BY no bash |
fulness does the buyer or the seller spoil his
chance. Durham OK could not stand more
composedly over its handful of hay while the
grazier pinches its aitch-bone and depreciates
its sholt ribs, than the apple-cheeked West
moreland maiden awaits inspection while she
cracks her pocket full of nuts The 'measters
enter the drove, and deliberately survey the
articles offered for public purchase. If the
supply is plentiful, the buyers can be as nice
ID choosing as they please. If demand ex-
ceeds supply the ng-limbed boys and glwRy
8irls soon find it out, and stand up for good
plices.
'Ihe grotesque roughness Of the scene may
be better imagined than described; for the
language of cattle fair, as well rs its bu-
colo morals are all transferred upon the occa-
sion to the bazaar of bipeds. Character is
point about which very few think of speak
ing-why, indeed, should you want to know
the character of gowned and shocked, any
more than of horned or woolled stock
beyond what can be learned from the evil
dence of your own eyes The Kendall
farmers and daesmen 20 up and down the
watchtul groups of men and women with a
critical gaze, till presently they light upon
the strapping wench or sturdy lad calculated
TO meet their requirements. compliment
about as delicate as a cabbage-stalk is passed
| and the would-be employer inquiries what the
lad or lass wants in the way of wage. If
the terms are altogether too high, a snort Of
refusal disposes of the negotiations; if there
! seems any chance of mutual agreement,
long and cunning chatter takes place, after
which the pair adjourn to the large stone in
the centre of the market ground. That por-
| ton of the ceremony has been made necessary
| by immemorial tradition; the bargain must be
ratified upon the stone, and once ratified
there, it binds the high contracting parties.
$50 the market goes on, till all or nearly
all the measters' are suited with servants or
farm hands. Generally, the engagement is so
made as to give the servant holiday before
| he is required to begin the work, and money,
| in the shape of 'handsell, always passes be-
| tween master and man. Consequently the
next scene of the hiring-fair is a sort of rude
carnival, in which the public houses and less
| innocent places manage to secure most of the
| supertluous cash. The young women go to
| the diapers for tinery; the young men to the
drlnklng-bars; and both meet afterwards at
the dancing rooms. They get home-some of
! them-on the same night the others rsreach their
| abodes when their money and credit are gone;
none of them knowing anything about the
persons by whom they have been hired, or
the houses in which they are to live. If, on
coming from the fair, they are sober enough
| to remember the address of their purchaser,
they present themselves on the appointed day,
|
mails, and get their stable-called ''bed-
room'-and their provender-called 'meals"
for a specified time; the law not allowing
them to be exactly tethered by the head or
hobbled by the legs.
"a more questionable mode of establishing
social relations it would be difficult to con-
ceive; but, before visiting it with wholesale
condemnation, we must remember the pecu-
liar circumstances under which it arose
| TI,,-r ~, Ill
land, fleeing markets-are the remnants of
a half barbarous time, during which the
country was sparsely peopled, and the COM
munication between separate districts fit
full and rare, that the inhabitants met only at
the quarterly or half-yearly fairs. AT that
time it was only by means of such markets
that farmers could get servants; and, in
primitive days, before the feudal bond be-
tween the employers and their dependents
had been loosened, there was nothing
degrading or demoralizing in such spectacle
as that which has ust been witnessed at
Kendall. But those primitive times have fol
ever passed away. In Scotland the hiring
fairs are now acknowledged by the farmers tc
be incentives to vice; and for years these in.
telligent agriculturists have been making
strenuous effort to obtain competent servants
by means of registration offices. Strangely
enough, the endeavor has been regarded by
tive disfavor.
''Some rural lords seem to admire the spec
tacle at which we have glanced to think il
natural, convenient, and even picturesque
Persons of otherwise reasonable judgment
actually regard hiring-fairs and statute-fairs
and all the other scenes where English mel
and women stand for sale in droves, as idylit
and pretty-the subject for a charming pic
ture rather than for any dissatisfied comments
In reality, old as it may be, this custom of Bri
tish rural life is open to grave practical objec
tons; and when the Legislature has little
spare time to contemplate the condition of tn,
agricultural population, such places as Kenda
Fair cannot be omitted from the survey. How
much modesty or womanly feeling we won
der, can a country damsel take away from th
market-stone, where she has stood all tn
I morning, to have her personal appearance ap
! praised and her physical advantages can
! vassed The Kendall farmers would probably
say that she carried away as much as sh
brought-which is probably little enough
But these herd-like gatherings of men ant
: women on the same spot, and after the sam
Z manner, like beasts for the plough and tn
SHAMELESS rank among the very causes whic
keep the agricultural race down to 50 low
1 grade"
ROnEINO