Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/179

Rh the accounts thereof to her husband. These were the days in which the yeoman farmer could sing:

Picture the small farmer's wife going to the nearest market to sell her wares. Sometimes she would walk beside a heavily packed horse or mule, sometimes she would ride the animal harnessed into the most elementary farm cart. The distances were long, the roads were very bad, there were no umbrellas to shield her from the rain or sun. But once arrived at the market or fair, she would not hasten home, for there was a deal of gossip, when social intercourse was difficult to obtain and women's tongues as loose as they are to-day. The market prices were fixed by law. Thus in the year 1541 a large fat hen cost 7d. ; 100 eggs in summer 1s. 2d., in winter is. 8d.; butter was 3d., but