HSA 2009 English Item 18

Read this excerpt from the first chapter of The Sea of Grass, a novel set in New Mexico in the late 1800s. Then answer the following item.

Which of these details from the description of the ranch house best suggests that the ranch house is plain?

1. massive ranch house
2. huge parlor, without rugs or furniture
3. fancy horsehair bridle and ropes on the wall
4. wooden buttes of boxed tobacco, dried fruits, and canned tomatoes