Old Furniture. 113 



tions, it seems to possess a distinct personality of its 

 own. A liistoiy grows up round about it ; memories 

 of the past accumulate, and are handed down fresh 

 and green, linking to-da}' and seventy years ago as 

 if hardly any lapse of time had intervened. The in- 

 mates talk familiarl}' of the ' comet 3'ear,' as if it was 

 but just over ; of the days when a load of wheat was 

 worth a little fortnne ; of the great snows and floods 

 of the previous century. They date events from the 

 year when the Foremeads were purchased and added 

 to the patrimony, as if that transaction, which took 

 place ninety years before, was of such importance 

 that it must necessarily be still known to all the 

 world. 



The house has somehow shaped and fitted itself to 

 the character of the dwellers within it : hidden and 

 retired among trees, fresh and green with cherry and 

 pear against the wall, j'et the brown thatch and the 

 old bricks subdued in tone by the weather. This 

 individuality extends to the furniture ; it is a little 

 stiff and angular, but solid, and there are nooks and 

 corners — as the window-seat — suggestive of placid 

 I'epose : a strange opposite mixture throughout of 

 flowery peace and silence, with an almost total lack 

 of modern conveniences and appliances of comfort — 

 as though the sinewy vigor of the residents disdained 

 artificial ease. 



In the oaken cupboards — not black, but a deep 

 tawn}' color with age and frequent polishing — may 

 be found a few pieces of old china, and on the table 

 at tea-tinie, perhaps, other pieces, which a connois- 

 seur would tremble to see in use, lest a clumsy arm 

 should shatter their fragile antiquity. Though ap- 



