Only on
the occasion of the fair shall you hear a drum discreetly in a wine-
shop or perhaps one of the company singing the measure while the
others dance. I am sorry at the change, and marvel once more at the
complicated scheme of things upon this earth, and how a turn of
fashion in England can silence so much mountain merriment in France.
The lace-makers themselves have not entirely forgiven our country-
women; and I think they take a special pleasure in the legend of the
northern quarter of the town, called L'Anglade, because there the
English free-lances were arrested and driven back by the potency of a
little Virgin Mary on the wall.
From time to time a market is held, and the town has a season of
revival; cattle and pigs are stabled in the streets; and pickpockets
have been known to come all the way from Lyons for the occasion.
Every Sunday the country folk throng in with daylight to buy apples,
to attend mass, and to visit one of the wine-shops, of which there
are no fewer than fifty in this little town. Sunday wear for the men
is a green tailcoat of some coarse sort of drugget, and usually a
complete suit to match.
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