e a few days, Fitzgerald and
Daley invited me to accompany them to the fair at Mullyspeleen, where
they wished to dispose of some horses they had bred on my father's
property. Larry begged that he might come, just to see the fun. I
observed, as he mounted, that he had strapped his fiddle-case on his
back. My journey had made me as much at home as ever on horseback, so
that I was enabled to keep up with my brothers. The distance we had to
go was about fifteen miles, through beautiful country, with a range of
hills in the distance, below which is situated the old castle of
Tullinhoe, once the seat of a powerful family, many of the descendants
of whom were now probably selling pigs at the fair. We met people
wending their way towards the place of meeting, some on foot, some on
horseback, others in cars and carts of primitive construction, all
grinning and shouting in high glee at the thoughts of the fun to be
enjoyed. What that fun was we were soon to witness. Not only were
there men, but women and children, down to small babies in arms,--the
men with frieze coats, with shillelahs in hands, the women in cloaks and
hoods, and caps under them. Others had gaily-coloured handkerchiefs
tied over their heads. As we got near the fair the crowd increased,
till we sometimes had a difficulty in making our way among the people.
As we pushed them aside, however, they were in no way offended, but
good-humouredly saluted us with jokes of all sorts. There were tents
and booths of various descriptions, the most common among them being
formed of wattles,--that is, young saplings cut from some neighbouring
estate, the thick ends stuck in the ground some distance apart, and the
thin ends bent down till they met, when they were fastened together with
haybands. Some twenty or thirty of such arches having been formed, and
further secured by a long pole at the top, were covered over with
blankets, sheets, and quilts, borrowed from the nearest cottages,
occasionally eked out with petticoats and cloaks of varied hue; the
quilts, being of every variety of pattern, and of all the colours of the
rainbow, had a very gay appearance. The tables were composed of doors
carried off from farm buildings and cottages, elevated on hillocks of
clay dug from underneath. The benches on either side generally
consisted of doors cut longitudinally in two or three parts, and to be
nailed together again when done with. Outside several of the tents were
hu