-65- some (1840)

“On Wednesday, July 29, 1840 the Souris Fair was held according to plan, when many people attended, some to see the fun, and a few to make it." So a Charlottetown ’ paper of more than 100 years ago commenced its write-up of the grand-daddy of all Exhibitions and Fairs ever held in Kings 00., sponsored by the Souris Farming Club. It was mainly a show of lives.tock, and modelled on Fairs in the Old Counwry, an occasion for horse trading, buying a new cow, or selling some lambs. There were no buildings to house the Fair, no tickets, no prizes. Prices were of course in Pounds, Shillings and Fence; it is difficult to say what a pound in 1840 Prince Edward Island currency would be worth in present

z.day dollars, but our currency at that time was based not on

sterling but on Halifax currency which quoted a pound at 34 either Spanish or American silver, and the shilling at 20¢. No poultry, butter, cheese, flowers, fruit, or fancy work graced this first fair; women seemed to have lit- tle to do with the exhibits. Their one item was homespun cloth. The record states "There were upwards of 100 horses in the fair and A CARTLOAD OF HOMESPUNII, also several pieces of that useful article, some of it solda" A cartload of homespun! Modern fairs will see more than a hundred horses, more than that of cattle, more than thirty sheep, but never in.this or in the next hundred and twenty years will they ever see a cartload of homespun on fair grounds, Big fat, fuzzy webs of undressed homespun, the sturdy home—fashbned product of wheel and loom which clothed the farmer on Sunday and Mhnday in 1840. Some of the webs, from 20 to 40 yards, would be in the popular gray made from gray sheep’s wool; others would be blue dyed with indigo, or Back dyed from 10gwood; still other "pieces" would be various mixtures.

g The price of homespun is not given in the newspaper account.

Let us take a look at Souris as it was 120 years

M ago. Today coming into Souris from the West, the traveller

catches his first glimpse of Souris from the top of the hill

, at Rollo Bay, and there, stretched before him, is one of the § loveliest combinations of green fields, red cliffs, blue j Waters, to be seen in all Canada; so it must have been in