56 DANVIS FARM LIFE 



In such pursuits the day passes till foddering- 

 time comes, when the sheep-racks are cleared of 

 "orts" which are thrown outside the yard for 

 Dobbin to glean from, and the sheep foddered 

 afresh from the mow. The cows are stabled and 

 fed. The clamor of the pigs ceases as then* troughs 

 are filled with swill. The horses are cared for, the 

 night's wood carried in, and then with supper 

 begins the long winter evening. 



The bustling hired girl clears the table and 

 washes the dishes with tremendous clatter, gives 

 the kitchen its last sweeping for the day, and then, 

 if she has not dough to knead for the morrow's 

 baking, makes herself tidy and settles herself com- 

 fortably to her sewing. The goodwife knits or 

 sews while she chats with her maid or listens to 

 the items her goodman reads from the local paper; 

 the youngsters puzzle with knitted brows over 

 the sums of to-morrow's 'rithmetic lesson; the 

 hired man munches apples and smokes his pipe 

 while he toasts his stockinged feet at the great 

 cook-stove, beneath which Tray and Tubby snore 

 and purr in peaceful unison. 



Though every farmhouse now has its sitting- 

 room and parlor, and most a dining-room, the 

 kitchen continues to be a favorite with farming 

 folk a liking probably inherited from our grand- 

 fathers. In many of their houses this was the only 

 large room, in which the family lived, and where 



