The herald., 1898-04-03

was no foolish idea to thus separate the
| women from the men and guard them as
carefully as women in Turkey are guarded
Thieves, murderers and cuuthroats, whose
only escape from justice was TO take serv-
ice under the banner of some of the power
ful barons, made up the bulk of the re-
| tanners. So tsrictly were the women shut
off from the men that the food which the
| women cooked was passed from the room
in which it was prepared to the room in
which the men dined by means of a drum
revolving in the wall between the two
rooms.
Thus the women acquired habit of liv-
| ing to themselves, and today no Roman
lady will show herself at a street window
This seclusion of the women interfered
with the innocent art of love-making, and
accounts for some of the strange and to us
almost improbable, stories which find their
birth in that most romantic country.
THE interior of the medieval castles is
extremely rough. The furnishings were
simple, the bedroom containing nothing
but a bed. Later chest was introduced.
The beds We're raised on trestles some four
| or five feet from the floor. This was done
! for safety, as it kept mice, rats and other
| things out of the bed. Still later table
was added to the furnishing of the bed
room, but carpets were practically un-
known in the sleeping apartments.
LAS for their dress, 1t was anything but
what we might see in the paintings and
frescoes of that period. They had costly
clothing, but it was handed down from
generation to generation, and worn only
on state occasions. This heirloom clothing
did not always fit the wearer. In everyday
life the baronS wore rough leather jer-
kns, while the clothing of the women con-
| sisted of two garments, the under one
loose and long, without attempt at fitting
the figure. The outer garment was made
to fit close, and had long sleeves. 1t was
cut square in the neck. There were no
short sleeves, as the exposure of the wrist
and arm was considered extremely i'm
modest.
1.-The distinction between the classes in
the middle ages was most noticeable. in
the fact that the retainers of barons We're
were blackguards, wore armor and car
ried swords and torches, while the retain
ers of middle class gentlemen were re-
spectacle working men, armed only with
staffs.
Even the dmuSementS OF the people
were rough. One of the principal delights
of the Romans was to meet at what was
then known as the cattle market on Satur-
day afternoon and fight, one faction
against another, with stones thrown from
the Roman sling. At given signal the
fight began, and it was not an uncommon
sight to see half a dozen dead men of either
side left on the field when their sport was
over.
Bull fighting was another favorite
sport. A short street in the city was
closed up at each end, i'll which was turned
the enraged animal, and while ladies look
ed on from the balconies above, the bull
fighter, sngle-handed, fought and killed or
I was killed by it. Within doors they had
recourse to quiet amusements, such as
chess, story telling and music"
Mr.. Crawford then gave a most enjoyable
description of how the day was spent in
one of these grand medieval castles, and
characterized the life during the middle
ages as the dullest and most stupid that
could be imagined.
After the lecture, Mr.. Crawford re-