Tea at Trianon: Grange Fair

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Grange Fair

One of the main social events where we live is the Centre County Grange Fair. We went last Sunday and as usual I enjoyed it immensely. It is a great place for people-watching and experiencing a slice of America. Having grown up in a rural community, I feel very much at home at the Grange Fair. And it makes me proud to be an American when I see the hard work and creativity that went into raising the livestock and the produce that feed the people of Centre County and beyond.

There are hundreds of tents where people stay for the duration of the fair. The grange fair tents are greatly coveted and hard to come by; I even understand that in some cases they are hereditary and passed down from generation to generation. As we strolled around, people were relaxing outside their tents, listening to the various bands, while the children played. It is like going to another world. The fair food is quite good and there is even Italian ice cream.