Cape Smoky 
in potatoes. This was a language the people 
understood, and the cent was always honoured 
by enough potatoes for a meal, — the only busi- 
ness transaction we had with these canny Scotch 
in which we felt perfectly sure they were not 
getting the better of us. 
The houses contained four or five rooms 
generally, though some had an attic as well. 
In the best of them was always a sitting-room 
or parlour, its floor covered with home-made 
rugs, and on the table were a few books of a 
theological nature. Opening from the sitting- 
room there was often a tiny guest-chamber 
elaborately furnished with rugs and tidies. 
There was one ornament in several of these 
houses which we never had seen anywhere else. 
This was a chocolate-coloured card, whereon 
were set forth the virtues of a deceased mem- 
ber of the family in gilt letters. These cards 
were lying on the centre-table in the parlour ; 
and though they did not add to its cheerfulness 
we liked them better than the silver coffin- 
plates framed in black velvet which we had 
seen hanging on the walls of a Massachusetts 
farmhouse. 
Every house has its rugs, sometimes beauti- 
219 
