The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-10
THEFESTIvAL
 OF WHITSUNTIDE

ance of the Whitsuntide festival on | this side of the Atlantic, Whit Sun day, which falls this year on the elev- enth of June, ushers in a great ce1e- bration in several European coun- l tries. In Germany Whit Monday or | Pfingst Montag, is one of the most i important holidays of the year. In Berlin and other German cities busi- | ness will be almost entirely suspended l on Monday, and the whole empire will join in denonstrat tions of thanksgiving. i The scarcity of food will necessitate l a considerable restriction of the most | prominent feature of Pfingst Montag, l which is eating. In peaceful times i Whitsuntide was a sort of Teuten ] Thanksgiving Day, when all of the ed | were consumed in large quantities. l There will be no 'fstuHing' in. Ger | many this year; and most Teutens will sit down to Whit Monday feast lack 1 ing in all those dishes which made the l Pfingst Montag dinner of the past the 1! ''bfg feed'' of the year
 At Whit Monday last year Empe- TOT Wilhelm issued an imperial prec- I lamation in which he expressed his gratitude to God and to the millions of Germans in foreign lands for their moral and financial assistance to the fatherland. Many officers of the army were promoted on that day, and thou sands of soldiers were permitted to pay Whitsuntide visits to their homes. Since then, however the German loss es have been so great that it is un- likely that many men can be spared from the various fronts, and 1t is inn probable that leaves of absence for the holiday will be granted.
 In England the Whitsuntf1e observ- ance of to-day has little in common with the glorious celebration of oIden time, which centered at Greenwich Fair, which was abolished as a 'Snuf- sance' in 1857. In the days of it's glory the Whitsuntide fair at Green wicl1s a few miles out of London, was one of the big events of the year. If weather, hundreds of thousands of people poured out of the city along the roads and the rivers. At Green
 wich the chief street was lined from
 end to end with booths and stalls, where all kinds of shows were on ex- hibitfen.. In the beautiful old park all sorts of sports and games were play ed by the lads and lasses. Here were to be found the germs of many of the devices now popular in modern amuse-
 ment parks. One of the favorite ::stunts'' was to run your partner down the slope between the high and
 low levels of the park. A few agile girls might succeed in making the de- scent their feet, but the great ma jority rolled and tumbled down the 1nCllL1Sz WILL d IcSOlCAIlI SAPOSuT0 O4 lingerie and limbs which brought whoops of nerri1ment from the assem-
 b1ed spectators. tKiss-in-the-ring,'' Interchangeable and various other popular games of the period were played by other lads and 1asses, and there was a great deal of promiscuous oscuIation, which was very much en- joyed by all. It was a very hornely girl, indeed, who could go to Green wich Fair and not be kissed by at least one amorous stranger. The ma jority of the beaux looked upon this treatment of their lady loves a part of the game, but here and there a jealoJis lover would protest against such advances to his sweetheart, and a free-for-aI fight would usually fol- low.
 For a penny the visitor might throw
 which he knocked down becoming his property. Halfpence secured the privilege of gazing through a telescope at the pirates hanging in chains along
 the river. The rows of booths along the main street of Greenwich offered l a multitude of marve1s, which were ornately if not altogether truthfully described and illustrated on the ban-
 ners hung in front. On the plat.
 forms in front of the booths scantily-
 clad dancers appeared at intervals and
 loud-voiced 'tspielers'' expatiated on Their charms. 7 Me1odraHnas were stag 1 ed in some of the temporary theatres,
 and the crowd applauded Iustily when l the villain-usually 8 wicked baron
 who sought to seduce a beautiful but poor girl-at length was baffled and given his just deserts
 At night everybody danced, and the booths of the freaks and the theatres
 found their patronage greatly reduced.
 The dancing booths were boarded structures from 200 to 300 feet in 6
 of seats for spectators. Sixpense was the customary price of admission, and for that sum a youth could dance as l long as he pleased, either with his own particular charmer or with fem
 mine partner selected from, the crowd.
 For many years the dancing was car ried on in simple and innocent way,
 but in the first half of the last cen 1 tury the fair began to attract multi tudes of women of prey, and the gies on Whit Monday night became so open and into1erable that the fair was
 suppressed
 1 Before the era of railroads most of the hundreds of thousands who visit ed the fair made the journey to and
 from Greenwich on foot, only the we'll
 to-day being able to afford to travel by boat, stage or hackney. The public houses along the roads did rushing
 business all day and much of the night,
 and many a lad and lass returned to their homes much the worse for wear and decidedly under the influence of alcoholic stimulation.
 l For centuries Whit Sunday, or Pen tecost, the f1ftieth day after Easter,
 has been one of the principal feasts of the Christian Church. The origin of the Ang1o-Saxon name of White or Whit Sunday is obscure In the Roman Catholic calendar White Sun day, so called from the white robes then worn by candidates for baptism, has always been the Sunday imme- diately following Easter.