344 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



surroundings was dulness incarnate. Because they 

 could not obtain fodder to keep the sheej) and 

 cattle in good condition through the winter, the 

 farmers and graziers of that time killed them 

 before that season set in, and the villagers lived 

 uj)on salted meat. Every house had its salt-beef 

 tul) and its bacon-cratch under the kitchen ceiling, 

 Avell stocked with hams and sides ; but vegetables 

 were so scarce as to be practically unobtainable. 



Every household brewed its own beer and kept 

 a stock of cider, and most housewives were cunning 

 in the preparation of metheglin, a sickly-sweet 

 and heavy drink that revolts the modern j^alate, 

 but was then greatly appreciated. Evenings were 

 not long, even though it grew dark before four 

 o'clock, for folks went to bed by seven or eight. 

 There was little inducement to sit up late, because 

 only the feeblest illumination Avas possible to any 

 but the very rich, and the yeomen, the farmers 

 and the cottagers had to rest content with the dim 

 sputtering glimmer of the tallow dips that every 

 eight or ten minutes required the attentions of the 

 snufPers. "When the night cometh," we read in 

 the Bible, "no man can work"; but that is a 

 statement which, literally true at the time when 

 the Bible Avas done into English, can noAV only 

 be read and understood figuratively. No one 

 could Avork by the artificial illumination then 

 possible. 



ConceiA'c*, then, the joy Avith Avhicli returning 

 spring Avas greeted — spring, that brought l)ack 

 light and fresh food and intercourse Avith the 



