Friday, June 15, 2012

Settle bed - found one at long last

#alttext#

"...There was an oak settle standing beside the wall, a little removed from the window. Now a settle (Ah, but it is long since I have seen one!) is a long box-like arrangement with a high back, which opens out to form a bed, but which when closed makes a very comfortable seat or couch, and is, if of black oak as ours was, a handsome piece of furniture...

"Get in there," she said, "an' say yer prayers if iver ye prayed in yer life afore. Pray fur the hoose ye hae brocht intae peril, the lad whose feet are gaun doon tae daith, an' the auld wife whose pittin' her immortal soul in jeopardy fur yer sake. God hae mercy an' protect us a'."

I am sure Savage would sooner have faced the company of soldiers upon the road than that accusing countenance. He did not utter a word in reply, but did her bidding, and in another minute Alison and I had folded up the settle and stood looking at one another silently from either end..."

- from The Pikemen; A Romance of the Ards of Down by S R Keightley (1903)

1 comments:

An Aul Han said...

Now you have somewhere to hide from the red coats. Well done.