186 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS INFLUENCED BY PAKT III. 



and at the Leeds winter fair they would purchase an ox, 

 which, having divided, they salted and hung- the pieces 

 for their winter's food. 1 There was also the winter's 

 stock of firewood to be provided, and the rushes with 

 which to strew the floors carpets being a comparatively 

 modern invention ; besides, there was the store of wheat 

 and barley for bread, the malt for ale, the honey for 

 sweetening (then used for sugar), the salt, the spiceries, 

 and the savoury herbs so much employed in the ancient 

 cookery. When the stores were laid in, the housewife 

 was in a position to bid defiance to bad roads for six 

 months to come. This was the case of the well-to-do ; 

 but the poorer classes, who could not lay in a store for 

 winter, were often very badly off both for food and 

 firing, and in many hard seasons they literally starved. 

 But charity was active in those days, and many a poor 

 man's store was eked out by his wealthier neighbour. 



When the household stores were thus laid in, the 

 mistress, with her daughters and servants, sat down to 

 their distaffs and spinning-wheels ; for the manufacture 

 of the family clothing was usually the work of the 

 winter months. The fabrics then worn were almost 

 entirely of wool, silk and cotton being scarcely known. 

 The wool, when not grown on the farm, was purchased 

 in a raw state, and was carded, spun, dyed, and in many 

 cases woven at home : so also with the linen clothing, 

 which, until quite a recent date, was entirely the produce 

 of female fingers and household spinning-wheels. This 

 kind of work occupied the winter months, occasionally 

 alternated with knitting, embroidery, and tapestry work. 

 Many of our old country houses to this day bear witness 

 to the steady industry of the ladies of even the highest 

 ranks in those times, in the fine tapestry hangings with 

 which the walls of many of the older rooms in such 

 mansions are covered. Amongst the humbler classes 

 the same winter's work went on. The women sat round 



1 Scateherd, ' History of Morloy.' 



