Page:Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since.djvu/156

 disk perpendicularly, evinced that it was more for show than use.

Its surface displayed a commendable lustre, protected by a penal statute from the fingers of the children. But an unruly kitten used to take delight in viewing, on the lower extremity of that polished orb, a reflection of her own round face, and formidable whiskers. Unhappily mistaking the appearance of these for an adversary, she imprinted thereon the marks of her claws, too deeply for all the efforts of the good housewife to efface, and soon after expiated her crime upon the scaffold. A looking-glass, much smaller than the broad expansion of the Farmer's face, hung against the roughly plastered, yet unsullied wall. A few high, strait-back'd chairs, and a pair of small andirons nicely black'd, whose heads bore a rude resemblance to the "human form divine," completed the inventory of goods and chattels. Over the low, wide fireplace, hung in a black frame, without the superfluity of a glass, the family record, legibly penned, with a space very considerately left for future additions. The apartment had an air of neatness, beyond what was then generally observed in the houses of those who made the dairy, and spinning-wheel, their prime objects of attention. The white floor was carefully sanded, and at each door a broad mat, made of the husks of the Indian corn, claimed tribute from the feet of those who entered. Where Madam L was seated, she had a full view of the family, surrounding their peaceful board, and so cordially en-