ey wanted. Clothing was made by hand and it took
a long time to make it. Even the cloth was spun at home after the day's
work was finished, and there was nothing else to do. When you traveled,
roads were poor and the stage-coaches obliged to halt at intervals for
fresh horses. In the meantime you stopped at an inn and hung about,
waiting not only for your own dinner but until the drivers and horses
had had theirs. Afterward more precious moments were consumed in
harnessing up the new steeds and getting once more under way. Then if no
wheels came off, or reins broke, or horses stumbled, not to mention
possible onslaughts of highwaymen who beset unfrequented districts, you
eventually arrived at your destination."

"At that rate I should never expect to get anywhere," announced
Christopher.

"All living proceeded at that ratio or even a slower one, for if you
could not afford coach fare you _walked_ to where you were going.
Nevertheless, in spite of the defects of the period, it was considered a
very comfortable era, and people were well content with it. Fortunately
nobody wished to travel very extensively, for as knowledge of geography
was scant they did not know there was anywhere to go. Hence they
cheerfully remained in the spot where they happened to be born or within
a short radius of it.

"About the great estates hung swarms of retainers who in times of peace
had little to do. Some of these helped dress the venison brought in from
the hunt, some dragged in logs for the fires, some cared for the horses;
and with all that there were several times as many retainers as there
were duties. Therefore it was unavoidable that many men were idle the
greater part of the day. Indeed they had not resources enough to be
anything else, for scarce a one of them had any education. They could
neither read nor write, and in many cases, their masters could do no
better. The bare fact that a nobleman sent his servant to the public
square to find out what time it was proves that such little things as
quarter or half hours did not concern them much.

"Ladies worked tapestries, danced and sang their days away; gossiped
with one another or quarreled with their maids, while the gentlemen of
the household hunted, hung about the court, loitered at the inn or rowed
on the river. For such an existence as that one did not need to slice
his time up into very fine pieces. An idle, leisurely life it was, with
little cause for haste. What wonder t