Old English Sports by P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield
page 58 of 120 (48%)
page 58 of 120 (48%)
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layer became filthy, and one writer attributes the frequent
pestilences which often broke out to the dirtiness of their floors and the masses of filthy rushes lying upon them. Perhaps some of the wise folks in Lancashire discovered this, for we find the following entry in the account books of Kirkham Church, 1631--"Paid for carrying the rushes out of the Church in the sickness time, 5._s_. 0_d_." Straw was used in winter: it would seem very strange to us to have our floors covered with straw, like a stable! In this matter of cleanliness we have certainly improved upon the habits of our forefathers: dirty cottages are the exception, and not the rule, as they were in the days of "good Queen Bess"; and the absence of those terrible plagues which used to devastate our land in former times is due in a great measure to the improved cleanliness and more careful regard for sanitation by the people of England. CHAPTER VIII. AUGUST. "Crowned with the ears of corn, now come, And to the pipe sing harvest home. Come forth, my lord, and see the cart Dressed up with all the country art: The horses, mares, and frisking fillies Clad all in linen white as lilies. |
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