OLD FURNITURE 



45 



or beauty, but that is got up for rapid sale with a showy 

 exterior in imitation of a class of appointment used in houses 

 of an entirely different class. 



The painful result is that the labourer's cottage and the 

 farmer's house, that formerly had their right and suitable 

 furnishing, and therefore each its own respective beauty and 

 dignity, have now lost both these qualities, and for the most 

 part only show an absurd and sordid vulgarity. 



Here and there one still meets with people who have 





Oak Table. Seven Feet Long 



the wisdom to honour their own station in life, and whose 

 good sense and good taste has led them to treasure their 

 fine old furniture, and to resist the flood of pretentious 

 frivolity that has in so many cases debased the homely 

 dignity and comfort of the farmhouse parlour into an 

 absurd burlesque of a third-rate drawing-room. 



Here one may still find in the kitchen the long oak 

 table, measuring seven, nine, or even twelve feet, with one 

 long bench or form fixed against the wall, and another, 

 loose, on the other side. Four legs of solid turned work 



