Could not the child be spared to run out to try and get some?
She is a better hand at that than at her cooking.

I will finish her pastry if thou wilt spare her to get the reeds.

I love not a floor like you, and methinks father will chide an he sees." Mistress Susan cast a quick glance at the rush-strewn floor, and could not but agree with her niece.

She had all the true housewife's instinct of neatness and cleanliness in every detail.
The filthy habit of letting rushes rot on the floor, and only piling fresh ones on the top as occasion demanded, found no favour in this house.

It was part of Cherry's work and delight to cut them fresh as often as there was need, but a spell of wet weather had hindered her from her river-side rambles of late, with the consequence that the supply was unwontedly low.
"Oh, any one can do Keren Happuch's work and feel nothing added to her toil," was the sharp response.