A CHRISTMAS MARKET

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 32, 14 December 1945, Page 15 (Supplement)

A CHRISTMAS MARKET

IN GOOD OLD ENGLAND OLD-TIME PICTURE Bellowing of bullocks j squealing of pig® roaring of thwacking of sticks, and jangling of salesu. mcn's bells; lumbering bolt of u beast at your side t and screaming scurry; of pigs yonder; mud and abundant good humour. So in hours of hullabaloo the Christmas market is held, one, might say waged, on the stones of the old square. Every inn-yard is choked with cars } gigs and dog carts. Every inn kitchen is preparing an "ordinary" of more than usual sumptuousness. And as the hands of the Corn Hall clock approach the hour l'or eating every inn parlour fills with farmers completing their giving "Good health," and writing cheques. Men of a gay mind wear a sprig of mistletoe in their buttonholes. Youths fasten the frivolous berries in their and here and there a merry-eyed wench displays a like symbol. The spirit of Yule is on the market. Fat beeves and porkers in the square have their Christmas complement in the fat turkeys,, geese and fowls in a range of pens along its side, the bartering of which proceeds in a clamour of its own. By narrow ways through the old town the livestock began to gather in the early morning 011 foot and .in tumbrils and waggons. About noon, the backward stream becomes continuous, and it is slow going for anyone on wheels. The streets are full of pedestrians. Bullocks break away and scatter the crowd. Pigs dash from the stick and scamper back over their tracks pursued by voluble drovers.