Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/316

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296
DOMESTIC DIFFICULTIES

have got a cold, that they want shoeing, that the rain does them hurt and rots the harness."

Addressing them generally, he suggests to them: "Quarrel with each other as much as you please, only always bear in mind that you have a common enemy, which is your master and lady."

"Never come till you have been called three or four times, for none but dogs will come at the first whistle."

"There are several ways of putting out a candle, and you ought to be instructed in them all: you may run the candle end against the wainscot, which puts the snuff out immediately; you may lay it on the ground and tread the snuff out with your foot; you may hold it upside down until it is choked in its own grease, or cram it into the socket of the candlestick; you may whirl it round in your hand till it goes out."

Such suggestions as these only emphasise the fact that the domestic difficulties of to-day were the domestic difficulties of our forefathers in the eighteenth century.