212 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



the bed, which happened twice or we might have thought it put there 

 by accident. It was subsequently explained to us that some persons 

 thought it lucky for the fowls to lay there : the abundance of fleas was no 

 longer a mystery. The bed in the parlour before mentioned serves, 

 besides its ostensible use, as a secret cupboard, where delicacies may be 

 secured from the junior members of the family. I have been informed 

 by an acquaintance whose veracity I can rely on (and indeed I should 

 otherwise find no difficulty in believing it) that one day, being asked to 

 take some bread and cheese in a respectable farmhouse, the wheat bread 

 (a luxury) was procured from some mysterious part of the bed, either 

 between the blankets or under the mattress, which my informant could 

 not exactly ascertain. The only assistants in the labours of the farm, 

 besides the sons and daughters, is generally a female servant, whose 

 duties are multifarious and laborious, including driving the horses while 

 ploughing and in haytime, and much other out-of-door work. If you 

 enter the house in the morning, you will probably see a huge brass pan 

 on the fire filled with curdled milk for making cheese. Into this the 

 mistress dips her red and not particularly clean arm up to the elbow, 

 stirring it round most vigorously. Meals seem to be prepared solely for 

 the men, as you seldom see the women sit down to table with them. 

 They will either wait till the others have done or take their dinner on 

 their laps by the fire. The breakfast consists of hasty-pudding or 

 oatmeal porridge, or cheese with thin oatmeal cakes or barley bread, 

 which are plentifully supplied at all meals, and a basin of milk for each 

 person ; for dinner there is perhaps the same, with the addition of a huge 

 dish of potatoes, which they frequently break into their basin of milk 

 or eat with their cheese ; and for supper, often milk with flummery or 

 "siccan" (pronounced shiccait). As this is a peculiar and favourite 

 Welsh dish, I will describe its composition. The oat bran with some of 

 the meal left in it is soaked for several days in water till the acetous 

 fermentation commences ; it is then strained ofl", producing a thin, 

 starchy liquid. When wanted for use this is boiled, and soon becomes 

 nearly of the consistence and texture of blancmange, of a fine light brown 

 colour and a peculiar acid taste which, though at first disagreeable to 

 most persons, becomes quite pleasant with use. This is a dish in high 

 repute with all real Welshman. Each person is provided with a basin 

 of new milk, cold, and a spoon, and a large dish of hot flummery is set on 

 the table, each person helping himself to as much as he likes (and that 

 is often a great deal), putting it in his basin of milk ; and it is, I have no 

 doubt, very wholesome and nourishing food. I must mention that the 

 women, both in the morning and evening (and frequently at dinner too), 

 treat themselves to a cup of tea, which is as universal a necessary among 

 the fair sex here as in other parts of the kingdom. They prefer it, too, 

 without milk, which they say takes away the taste, and as it is generally 

 made very weak, that may be the case. Once or twice a week a piece of 

 bacon or dry beef is added at dinner or supper, more as a relish to 

 get down the potatoes than as being any food in itself. The beef in 



