20

19.

and while I can't preach you no sermon, I do go to church and pay
my dues. Sure enough now, I believe I've told you about all I
know that could be of interest. Let me give this baby to my deaf
son to hold so I can show you our garden before you go."

I followed him through a bedroom to the kitchen. In the
bedroom I saw a golden oak suite, several chairs, some trunks and
a large woolen rug. There was an atmosphere of long deferred clean-
ing and habitual disorder about this room, but one noticeable feature
was that no pictures, calendars, or other of the customary wall
decorations were to be seen. The pink flowered wall paper was clean-
looking and bright, no matter how dingy the furnishings of the rooms
might be.

In the kitchen, the ceiling was smoked almost black. Soiled
pots and pans were strewn over the wood-burning stove and the table
was laden with unwashed dishes and cutlery. While Fred seemed em-
barrassed when he realized that he had led me through the house and
its untidiness seem to mortify him, he failed to close the door and when
he went into another bedroom to change his house slippers for shoes
suitable for walking in the garden. This second bedroom was much
like the other part of the house. A fresh coverlid would have helped
the appearance of the battered iron bed. A general litter of various
small articles was scattered over the dressed, tables, and about the
room. The deaf boy, the baby in his arms, was rocking to and fro
in a chair by the window. I did not enter this room but observed it
in a swift glance from the further side of the kitchen. To my sur-
prise, a plank seemed to be missing from the kitchen floor, and on the

1877