A few months ago I decided to learn something about a subject that had always interested me but remained unexplored. I say unexplored because in some ways this can be compared, I think, with traveling to a part of the world you’ve always wanted to see but couldn’t afford. Believe it or not, there is an advantage to be found studying the near-at-hand that isn’t just pecuniary, there is the thrill experienced from seeing something for the first time, something that’s always been there, underfoot, but unrecognized and unappreciated. Such is the pleasure I took from realizing that the inexpensive rug next to my dinning room chair had a name and a history as old as this country.