The Pig Show at Keighley. 293 



walk them out if it is fine ; and they seldom throw 

 away the soap-suds on Saturday night till they have 

 been put to do double duty. The Society keeps a 

 special van, which it lets out at a shilling a ride for 

 conveyance to and from the show-ground, &c., and 

 the best rug or blanket in the house is freely given up 

 for the candidate pig, if the day happens to be cold. 

 A Court of Error, quite as learned as the bench in 

 swine points, watch all round the ring ; and it is a 

 fearful moment when the cup entries have been called 

 out, and all save two or three " toppers" are put 

 back. The white, blue, pink, or green (for " extra") 

 rosettes are placed that night with as much pride over 

 the mantelpiece, as a Knight of the Garter's banner 

 above his Windsor stall. 



" Drunken Barnaby," in his Northern Tour, spoke 

 of the inhabitants of Keighley as 



" Jovial, jocund, jolly bowlers, 

 As if they were the world's controllers ;" 



and they certainly keep up the character right 

 royally on their August show-day. There are two 

 grand stands, and three thousand people in them, or 

 looking on below, when the pigs come out for the 

 Challenge Cup, and 5OO/. has been taken at the gates. 

 Carriage loads of visitors are driven off to lunch in 

 the town, like tallies of voters going up to poll. 

 There is venison from Bolton Park, ling-fed Lonk 

 nearly equal to it in shade and flavour, and grouse 

 from every moor in the West Riding. Regalias serve 

 as toothpicks, and Roederer and Clicquot don't spoil 

 in ice. The volunteer tent was used on one occasion 

 for a bazaar, and, as a wind-up, pug-dogs and " chintz- 

 cats" were raffled for. Among the most curious com- 

 ponents of that throng are the " Cowan Headers," 

 who for many years bore the name of " the moon- 

 rakers," owing to a rooted belief that one of them 

 mistook the moon's reflection for a cheese, and tried 



