CO ATE FARM. 3 



former place. It has now lost its old picturesque- 

 ness, because the great heavy thatch which 

 formerly served for roof has been removed and 

 replaced by slates. I know not whether any 

 gain in comfort has been achieved by this 

 change, but the effect to outward view has 

 been to reduce what was once a beautiful old 

 house to meanness. 



It consists of two rooms on the ground- 

 floor, four on the first floor, and two large 

 garrets in the roof, one of which, as we shall see, 

 has memorable associations. The keeping- 

 room of the family is remarkable for its large 

 square window, built out so as to afford a 

 delightful retreat for reading or working in 

 the summer, or whenever it is not too cold to 

 sit away from the fireplace. The other room, 

 called, I believe, the best parlour, is larger, 

 but it lacks the square window. In the days 

 when the Jefferies family lived here it seems 

 to have been used as a kind of store-room or 

 lumber-room. At the back of the house is a 

 kitchen belonging to a much older house ; it 

 is a low room built solidly of stone with 

 timber rafters. 



12 



