OLD FURNITURE 



67 



The old oak-panelled cradle of solid build must have 

 served as the sleeping-place of many generations of children. 

 It is of the seventeenth century, and was probably in use 

 for two hundred years. It tells the same tale as the closely- 

 curtained beds — of protection from searching draughts and 

 bitter winter cold. 



When the baby had grown beyond the crawling stage. 



Oak Cradle, Seventeenth Centdey 



it was exercised and encouraged to find its feet, and at 

 the same time kept safe from the lire, in the baby-runner. 

 The upright rod fitted at the bottom into a hole in 

 the floor, and at the top into a beam, or one of the thick 

 beam-like oak joists that carried the bedroom floor. The 

 child was put into the wooden ring, and the rack was 

 arranged to suit its height. The child could then move 



