2io MY LIFE 



Domestic Life, Customs, etc. 



The house is a tiled, white-washed edifice, in the crevices of which 

 wall rue, common spleenwort, and yarrow manage generally to vege- 

 tate, notwithstanding their (at the very least) annual coat of lime. It 

 consists on the ground floor of a rather large and very dark room, 

 which serves as kitchen and dining-room for the family, and a rather 

 better one used as a parlour on high days or when visitors call; this 

 latter frequently serves as the bedroom of the master and mistress. 

 The kitchen, which is the theatre of the Welsh farmer's domestic life, 

 has either a clay floor or one of very uneven stone paving, and the 

 ceiling is in many cases composed of merely the floor boards of the 

 room above, through the chinks of which everything going on aloft 

 can be very conveniently heard and much seen. The single window is 

 a small and low one, and this is rendered almost useless by the dirti- 

 ness of the glass, some window drapery, a Bible, hymn book and some 

 old newspapers on the sill, and a sickly-looking geranium or myrtle, 

 which seems a miracle of vital ■ tenacity in that dark and smoky 

 atmosphere. On one side may be discerned an oak sideboard bril- 

 liantly polished, on the upper part of which are rows of willow pattern 

 plates and dishes, in one corner an open cupboard filled with common 

 gaudily-coloured china, and in the other a tall clock with a handsome 

 oak case. Suspended from the ceiling is a serious impediment to up- 

 right walking in the shape of a bacon rack, on which is, perhaps, a 

 small supply of that article and some dried beef, also some dried herbs 

 in paper, a large collection of walking sticks, and an old gun. In the 

 chimney opening a coal fire in an iron grate takes the place of the open 

 hearth and smoky peat of Radnorshire and other parts. A long sub- 

 stantial oak table, extending along the room under the window, an 

 old armchair or two, a form or bench and two or three stools, com- 

 plete the furniture of the apartment. From the rack before mentioned 

 is generally suspended a piece of rennet for making cheese, and over 

 the mantelpiece is probably a toasting-fork, one brass and two tin can- 

 dlesticks, and a milk strainer with a hole in the bottom of it; on the 

 dresser, too, will be perceived a brush and comb which serve for the 

 use of the whole family, and which you may apply to your own head 

 (if you feel so inclined) without any fear of giving offence. 



Upstairs the furniture is simple enough : two or three plain beds in 

 each room with straw mattresses and home-made blankets, sheets 

 being entirely unknown or despised ; a huge oak chest full of oatmeal, 

 dried beef, etc., with perhaps a chest of drawers to contain the ward- 

 robe; a small looking-glass which distorts the gazer's face into a 

 mockery of humanity; and a plentiful supply of fleas, are all worth 

 noticing. Though the pigs are not introduced into the family quite so 



