182 Interior of a Cottier's Cabin. 



see the inside x)f his cabin, to which I received 

 his most courteous assent. On stooping to 

 enter at the door I was stopped, and found that 

 permission from another was necessary before I 

 could be admitted. A pig, which was fastened 

 to a stake driven into the floor with length of 

 rope sufficient to permit him the enjoyment of 

 sun and air, demanded some courtesy, which I 

 showed him, and was suffered to enter. The 

 wife was engaged in boiling thread ; and by her 

 side, near the fire, a lovely infant was sleeping, 

 without any covering, on a bare board. Whether 

 the fire gave additional glow to the countenance 

 of the babe, or that Nature impressed on its 

 unconscious cheek a blush that the lot of man 

 should be exposed to such privations, I will not 

 decide ; but if the cause be referrible to the 

 latter, it was in perfect unison with my own 

 feelings. Two or three other children crowded 

 round the mother : on their rosy countenances 

 health seemed established in spite of filth and 

 ragged garments. The dress of the poor woman 

 was barely sufficient to satisfy decency. Her 

 countenance bore the impression of a set me- 

 lancholy tinctured with an appearance of ill- 

 health. The hovel, which did not exceed twelve 

 or fifteen feet in length, and ten in breadth, was 

 half obscured by smoke chimney or window I 

 saw none ; the door served the various purposes 

 of an inlet to light, and the outlet to smoke. 



