Reminiscences of Children's Fair (Page 36 - 38)
A promise of the perpetuity of the fair
Records and Reminiscences of Children’s Fair
“Seeking to make idle hours useful hours, I have written it in my old age Please accept my old RECORDS AND REMINISCENCES.” - C. H. Obear - July 8, 1911
Pages 36 - 38
A promise of the perpetuity of the fair
It was this, with the consciousness of meeting on this one. day of the year, free from the restraint of the Sunday meeting, and getting acquainted with each other as separated school districts; and the pleasure of being on an equality with their fathers and mothers and the rest of the "grown folks."
Should we wonder that the aged people of this century should sometimes sigh for the days when the old code of laws prevailed, viz.: "Children should be seen, not heard" and "Spare the rod and spoil the child?" I have said men and women used to be more apart in social life, and it was certainly true of the old folks and young folks.
Besides these two attractions of this day in harvest time there was the satisfaction that always accompanies doing good, unselfish deeds. They were having a good time, and at the end of the day there would be means to send to others more destitute of resources for happiness than themselves; and they had their part in earning these means during the year.
These were the reasons, or some of them, that so entrenched their affections, that the fair has not grown monotonous nor tame, even if there has been few changes in its management. I say no change in management. That is, in any important respect. We follow the fashions of the times we live in.
These demand greater variety of refreshments for our tables. Children eat more sweets than were allowed them fifty years ago. We have a table where confectionery is sold. The Plain dinner is no longer "plain" since we indulge so increased appetite for sweet things. People who do not live on farms do not come to the fair to lay in choice vegetables for winter consumption as they used to do, now that they can order them of their grocer; and consequently there is not so much inducement to raise vegetables to offer where they do not bring the old competition in bidding at auction.
Our children as a whole are less acquainted with the various objects of charity than a former generation who were church goers and often heard the eloquent pleas of "Agents" presenting the claims of different benevolent institutions. But we have gone on amid all the changes of the times with remark able regularity, and see at the end of the fifty years in the coming October, no material failure or decrease in vigor in the Children's Fair of New Ipswich accompanying its large decrease of population.
It is creditable to the town that its people amid the multiplication of "organizations," still so well sustain this institution planted by a generation who are passed or are passing away.
Not long after the inauguration of the fair, the day was made a more general holiday by closing the academy in time to have the students take their dinner at the church, and having no recitations for the remainder of the day.
The common schools having various lengths of terms, if not having a vacation at the time, closed for the day. The farms out on the hills have in the last twenty-five years passed into the hands of foreigners. Their products do not, of course, as in the old days swell the receipts of our fair for benevolent purposes, but our proceeds have not materially diminished.
This is owing to the fact that in so many of the minds of former residents and old contributors there linger memories, tender and pleasant, of their participation in these annual gatherings, and with increased facilities for traveling and increased indulgence of desire to celebrate the close of their own spring and summer labors on their farms, they take "New Ipswich Children's Fair" as an objective point; and our receipts are increased by the dinner tickets they buy and payment at the door. On account of these same pleasant memories, there comes to us often gifts for our tables, of dainty articles of needlework, or attractive fancy articles; curiosities from distant parts of our country; or checks of small amount, coming from parents on the birth of their children, or grand children, to associate their names with the old harvest feast, so fondly remembered.
In these tenacious clingings of the heart to the vanished past, there seems to me a promise of the perpetuity of our fair. I pass on to the reminiscences and records of our Quarter Centennial in 1887.
August 19, 2011
James Roger diary entry
4th August 1913
Dull and showery with some thunder; wind north. David clearing up the wood at incubator house and cleaning brooder house in afternoon. Also went to tennis court and met young Ely. I cleaned and put brooder lamps into incubator house; also washed the chickens’ drinking fountains; also cleaned some of the incubator trays, and Alice, Margaret and I packed up the wood in coal cellar. Got postcard from Hamish, and David got postcard from Mrs. Spofford from the Hague. Got Prescotts’ account.
Upcoming Event
163rd Children’s Fair - August 17, 2024
New Ipswich Congregational Church
150 Main Street, New Ipswich, NH
10 AM - 3 PM
The author indicated concern that by 1911 children were consuming far more sweets than in previous generations. Adults too apparently as the plain dinners were no longer so austere. What would these folks think of the current diet many people in our country continue to eat and its devastating effects upon our collective health?