THE GLENKENS IN THE OLDEN TIMEs. 145 
sufficient sum was raised, a bridge was built under the superin- 
tendence of the clergy. The present bridge near the place was 
built in 1811. 
STATE OF THE GLENKENS 200 YEARS AGO. 
At the time of the Revolution of 1688 the country was in a 
deplorable condition, after thirty years of cruel tyranny and 
oppression. The houses in general were miserable hovels, built of 
stone and turf, or stone with clay for mortar. The fire was on 
the floor, and the house had a small window on each side opposite 
the fire-place to let out the smoke as well as to give a little light. 
On whatever side the wind blew the window on that side was 
stuffed with straw or old rags. The inhabitants kept their cows 
in winter tied to stakes in the end of their dwelling-houses, and all 
entered at the same door, and very often there was no partition 
between the inmates. Many families had no bedsteads, but slept 
on mattresses of plaited straw, or a bunch of heather laid down on 
the floor around the fire. The best farm houses had a living place 
similar to the above, and in addition another house built parallel, 
with a paved court between, and which house was called ‘‘ The 
Chaumer,” and was kept as a parlour and bedroom for guests. 
It had a fire-place at each end, with sometimes a small grate and 
sometimes none, I have frequently been in one of those old houses 
about 1832, The common living house was dark, dirty, and un- 
comfortable in the extreme. Very often the wall on one side of 
the house could not be seen from the other side because of smoke 
and darkness, The earthen floor was always damp and clammy, 
and on a wet day was especially miserable. 
Wooden dishes were used, and at meals they all ate out of 
one dish. Hach person had his own spoon, which was made from 
avam’s horn, They had neither knives nor forks, but used their 
fingers instead. The food of the common people was of the 
meanest and coarsest kind. Those were reckoned well off who 
got a sufficient quantity of porridge, brose, and sowens, made of 
very poor grain, dried on the fire in pots, and ground in querns, 
with greens or kail boiled in salt and water. They seldom tasted 
animal food, except the carcases of beasts that died of starvation 
or disease. It was rare to slaughter any animal for provision in 
winter. Many sheep died in late autumn and early winter from 
braxy, or inflammation, and these they salted up, and hung pieces 
