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Show Valentine Day in Ireland. In Ireland the great feature of St. Valentine's day is the breakdown dance. All the boys and all the girls engaged in it, the couple dancing the longest winning the coveted applause. The victorious couple is looked upon as well mated, and not infrequently a wedding follows during Eastertide. The dance itself is Indeed a spectacle. spec-tacle. With much ceremony the door of the barn is lifted from its hinges and the dance commenced as soon as the fiddler or the player of the bagpipe orders the couples out. The floor of the barn is of mud; hence the door Is laid on the ground to form a suitable suit-able surface for the dancers. Goldsmith Gold-smith describes the dancers In his "Deserted Village:" "The dancing pair that simply sought renown. re-nown. By holding out to tire each other down." The absolute whoIe-heartedneBs of the dance and the fierceness of these tests of endurance must be seen to be appreciated. Though the occasion occa-sion is one of the utmost jollity and good will, the contestants are in dead earnest in the! rendeavors to win. A Failure. "Dear me, I think I'm the moBl miserable creature in the world." "What's the matter?" "I'm trying to follow this magazine advice on how to be happy." |