28o IN THE GREEN LEAF 



a Spartan-like simplicity. You could, as they 

 say, have eaten a meal from those bare floors 

 as well as from a well-scoured wooden trencher. 

 Wood-ash lye was used for the scouring of 

 them. There stood the large four-post beds, 

 with their spotless hangings and lavender- 

 scented sheets ; one chair and a chest for 

 clothes completed the fittings of each chamber ; 

 only in that of the mistress were the refined 

 luxuries of a washstand and swing looking- 

 glass. The master and myself were satisfied 

 with a sluice-down over the kitchen sink, and 

 a polish up with the clean but coarse jack- 

 towel, putting the finishing strokes to our toilet 

 in front of a bit of broken looking-glass fixed 

 up to the wall with nails. 



There was a bacon-loft in the great living- 

 room chimney, with its wide hearth, and the 

 snug settles on either side of the fire. At 

 certain times the embers were cleared off the 

 hearth-stone, and the bacon-loft was inspected 

 to see how the flitches, chines, hams, and 

 cheeks were getting on ; and last, but not least, 

 those long, delicious farm-made and smoked 

 sausages. Oh, the hearty fun of it all, going 

 up the short chimney-ladder, with a round cow- 

 gown on, into the drying-room ! The acrid 



