and was allowed to enter one to have a look at its interior. The tenant was a widow woman, who lived there with her three sons and two daughters. One son was a labourer, the other worked in a quarry, while the third went to school. Both daughters worked in the fields, one serving as the bondager. The mother complained that working in the fields affected the health of one of the daughters.
The house consisted of one room and a loft ascended by a ladder. Downstairs were two box beds, which I sketched, as they afforded a good example of this essentially Northumbrian practice. In this particular instance they were without sliding doors or even curtains, as is elsewhere frequently the case. They had begun to entertain some ideas of the benefit of ventilation.
Things looked very comfortable, as doubtless they were not badly off, with four grown-up young people earning their living. They kept a cow in winter-time; it had formerly come into the house, but I understood the practice was discontinued. While sketching, in came a strong, good-looking youth, about eighteen or twenty. The labourers have a good long rest in the middle of the day, an hour and a-half, or two hours. They live well, "eat a vast of meat," although it is principally bacon. Their bread is made of barley and pea-meal mixed. This, with a good basin of porridge and milk, forms their breakfast. To judge from the number of dealers in tea and tobacco, no village, however small, is without one. I infer they drink a great deal of tea and coffee, and this is corroborated by the reports, in which medical men continually express their regret at the growth of this practice, since they believe it to have an injurious tendency.
From thence I wandered over the hills, trying to get into the right track, until at last I came on a shepherd's cottage, where I again inquired the way. Here, too, I was heartily welcomed. The shepherd was at home, and while I attempted a sketch of the interior of his house, he told me freely the conditions of his service.
But first of all, let me describe his home. Its exterior looked dreary enough, seen in the rain. I passed through a little stone passage, and then into a larger apartment. Here were two box beds as in the former house. There was no ceiling, but canvas
