This illustration comes from a March 1876 edition of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, showing a scene outside a home in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. It came with the following description of what is taking place:

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It is not all hard work and gloom in that black country of Pennsylvania where yawning carbon pits and tall chimneys all aflame mark the omnipresent mineral and its attendant industry.

There is even a bright side to a miner’s life, and the terrible “Molly Maguire” nature—a term which by an involuntary mental process is associated with rapine, murder and violence generally—is susceptible of social softening.

When our artist was in the coal country recently, he had the opportunity of seeing the knight of the pit, the slave of the lamp, at play. The first sketch shows what is known in the euphemism of the locality as ‘A Horse-fiddle Serenade.’

The scene is the yard in front of the little cottage where reside a newly married pair. The streaming light from the window shows the domestic warmth and comfort within. Outside it is clear and cold—glittering stars above and crispy snow beneath.

The horse-fiddle, which is a combination of rosined beam and drygoods-box, is carefully arranged, willing hands spring to the work, and speedily the sweet strains grate upon the air, scare the chickens and the cattle, and penetrate with discordant din to the happy couple in whose honor the concert is given.

He knows what it is, for in times agone he has assisted in just such larks. And so he opens the door and bids the lads welcome, while the wife draws upon the cupboard and pantry for some homely refreshment.

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I posted this to Facebook in 2024 and historian Mark Bulik brought some interesting context to this illustration:

The Molly reference is interesting, because this horse-fiddle concert corresponds with the practices of the rowdy Strawboys in Ireland, who would crash weddings, demanding a drink and a dance with the bride. Horse-fiddle concerts in the anthracite region were not always as innocuous as Frank Leslie’s makes this one sound, often signaling community opposition to a marriage.

In 1864, Bridget Munks of Ashland had five young Irish-Americans charged with and convicted of riot for a horse-fiddle concert.

Bulik is the author of The Sons of Molly Maguire: The Irish Roots of America’s First Labor War.

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