Goucher College - Donnybrook Fair Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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EDNA W. ARNOLD Ever Works Assiduouslie And now I would a slorie Ielle Of one who ever workelh welle, Who, be the day so hot or cold, Delights to delve in classic mould; A faithful friende, a loyal one A David for a Jonathan. 1HHHWMMWWWMW VOLA PRICE BARTON Volais Pretty Bryghie Brave, faithful, Soldier-captain, artfule Scribe, Recorder of our everie deede and move The mysteries of Physicks and its laws Are clearer to thee than the stars above. III!HIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIHIHHIHIHHIH GEORGIA BELT Cigliok Betsinda Cheerfulle from rise to set of sunne, And eke as bryghte as be, She warms the cockles of our hearts, This busy little bee. Twenly-four

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VD Lillie Argmtwn;x QWWQ 1 N the old days. as men tell, it was the want to hold fairs in divers places, and among these none were so Fine or so Well-known as that called Bartholomew's, held in Smithfleid, London, and that one held at Donnybrook in Ireland. Many were the wares of- fered for sale at these times, such as cakes and ale. pears and pigs, trinkets and trumpets, pies and pin- cases. drums and dogs, rattles and ribbands, hobby- horses, gilt gingerbread, and more things than there is space to tell of. Nor was entextain- ment of other sorts lacking for the varied assemblage of ballad-men, fiddlers, mouse-trap-men, cutpurses, costardmongers, gamesters, fools, and honest talk that met together at these fairs. Chief among the entertainments was the show or spectacle . And the name of one such show often enacted at the Donnybrook Fair was The Castle of Maidens. Now i can tell only what I have heard, for i was never there; but men say that this show was so like the life that folk took it for the life itself, and that it was the most sought after of all the shows held there. And the argument of this show, as I had it from one who was there, is as fol- lows: The Knight of the Castle of Maidens is a mighty enchanter. Through his own wiles and the machinations of his servants who are equally skiilful-of the truth of this I know not, for as i told you, I was never there-he lures each year a great number of maidens into his castle. There, under the spell of his power, these maidens are forced to undergo a series of trainings or torments. or what they may be called. for a space of four years; and so subtle is the skill of this magician, that at times he can deceive these maidens into believing that their tortures are seif-imposed. He can put upon them whatever shape it pleases him to do, whether it be man. bird, beast. or fish; and whether these enchantments are pleasing or irksome to the maidens it is all one, both to him and to those in his service, as I understand. From time to time a few damsels succeed in breaking the spell, and escaping the vigilance of the guardsmen at the gate, Hee away; but they are either brought back, as I heard or made to endure a fate that it were too grievous to describe. But every year, also, it is the Knight's custom to set free a certain number of damseis who during the period of imprison- ment have suffered their trainings and torments in a satisfactory manner. The history, there- fore, of a given number of these maidens about to be liberated, and of the trials to which they are being subjected-in short, the action of this old show sometime presented at Donny- brook Fair is now for the first time written down, and printed in this book, for whoever may choose to read it. Twenlthrec

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DOROTHY BELT BERRY Distributes Bunches of Bills This buxom lass is jolly But a worker through and through, She keepeth charge of postal cards And lettershnot a few, And tieth up her tongue in knots Um Deulsch zu sprechen. mo. IIIHHlllHIIHHIHHHIIIHHIHWH BESSIE BRANSKY Bryghte Brains Uprose she slraighIe, with wise and sapient mien, And answered all the Doctor asked to know, In divers tongues she spake, and yet wilhal, With livelie cheeks and darke eyes all aglow. IIHIiIHHHiiIHHHIHHHIHHHHH J. MARION BULLARD lust Music Boss In dayes of yore when fresh we were, yet wise in alle our views, Befel that we together metre, a presidente Io choose, nShe must,n quothe we, nwe have dignilie that's second unto none, Yea, poise loohand abilitie -so we chose Marion. Twmty-five