Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-08-16


all respectable people Except sOldiers) aP-
proach nightly, at certain hours. We make
the following extracts fH..'i
ORIENTAL BEDS. -
Early history shows US the bed as an orr
entail institution. There are beds among
the star worshippers of Babel, and the
strange polytheists of hoary Egypt. Nor,
SO far as we know, was there the slightest |
difference between the couch of Pharaoh |
and that Of Solomon. Change is hateful to |
the Asatie mind This bed, the bed con |
stantly alluded to in the Bible, exists to the |
present hour. Wemeet with it in the sela- |
mix of Turkish mansion, in the wooden
house Of a Syrian Christian, in the tent OF
a rich sheik, always virtualythe same, 1t
is but long cushion, that is laid sometimes
on a wooden divan, sometimes on crazy
frame work of timber or cane; and there are
pillows, and quilted counterpane, to which
IA sheet is occasionally stitched. But this Is
rarely the case, because Easterns do not un-
dress to sleep they only undress for the
bath. Usually the divan runs round the
walls of large octagonal apartment; the
slaves hastily arrangethe cushions and quilts,
themale members of the family untwist their
turbans, kick off their slippers and sleep as
best thev may. AT dawn the rugs are fold
ed I'D. the pillows swept off to recondite
cupDOarus, anu THIS bud-rVUIn b1UUrrIO5 70
ception chamber, banquet hall, and sitting
room. Of course, such couchis light and
portable. The palsy-stricken man was, as
we all remember, commanded to ttake up
his bed and walk" The former injunction
appeared in itself to imply a miraculous
exertion of strength to thousands of Euro
pean congregations, whereas its execution
was strictly in accordance with CUSTOM
| Auv adult, with the free use Of his limbs
can csrry an oriental bed, and the healed
man was simply once more on a par with
his healthy neighbors.
ANCIENT EUROPEAN BEDS.
It's exsggeration to say that, in medie-
1 val England Scandinavia, and that vast
region where the Low German language
| prevailed, to say nothing of France north
| Of the l. oire, beds were by far the most inn
portanr Of property. Our ancestors had no
fashionable upholstery to tempt ttem with
! beehive chairs and lounging seats. Even
an oaken chair, with straight educational
back to it, rigid and as hard as poker, was
| only to he found at the manor house, or in
my lord the abhot's parlor. A few settees,
half dozen three legged stools possibly
covered with stuffed leather, and bench
or two, with heavy tables, and canopy OF
dais, made up the inventory Of a comforta-
BILE apartment. There were no looking
glasses, except, perhaps, some little round
mirror from Venice, bought a high price
from the travelling Lombard. Bat the bed;
-
lavender scented sheets, damask curtains
counterpanes of wadded silk or scarlet
cloth, downy pillows, and polished oaken
pillars, whose smooth streeth seemed to de
fy time. a bed was no ephsmeral affair, il
went down from generation to generation
the pride and palladium Of q faulty h.
I!sr MODERN. BEDS. ,..T
Nowadays, the Hon Alfred Truiuping-
ton, or my Lord Frederick Carfax, very
likely sleeps in a little brass bed no finer OF
bigger than that which served the purpose
of -thelate Duke of Wellington ;and Jeames,
who obeys the behests of the Hon. Alfred
or John Lhomas, who wears the Carfax
livery, has Il little brass bed, too But a
hundred years ago the gentleman would
have slept in huge machine as pompous
as the chariot in which the good fairy
'cones on in a pantomime Brocade
would have dnngled around him, lace weuld
have fringod his pillow of down, gnasuy
ostrich faathars Wnnla have nodded on the
bedp6sts, and on the tester would have been
painted the most highly tinted Cupids and
Venuses that ever snirked through golden
Clouds Down pillowsl how honest Trum-
pington, who likes bolster as hard as the
sofa squdD At q DriShuVH iU1glng-house
would swear at such smothering Injuries
Painted mythology Carfax would give il
coat of tar, if not of feathers, and bolt il
out efsight forever, We are in some thing
more manly than our great-grandfhthers
BED FOR THE CAMP.
The.Arabs introduced into Spain a bed
of peculiar character, well adapted fol
camp use. This consisted of four strong
pillars, with iron-tipped and sharpened
ends, which could be thrust into the ground
with trifing effort, and an oblong piece Of
leather or cloth, which was hooked to these
pillars and stretched as tight as the canvas
of a drum. a saddle or valise supplied the
pillow, cloak the counterpane, and what
could soldier want more? 1t was de-
sire to escape from the dangerous damps OF
the earth which frst caused the invention
of the ''tent-bed" in brass or iron. Metal,
it was discovered, was lighter more durable,
and cleanly, and better fitted for the rough
work of campaigning than wood of equal
Istrength. But to supply soldiers with a
raised bedstead in camp and bivouac is a
philanthropic prudence that must be re-
served fer some Secretary of War in the
far future.
I
| .-.. A SAILORS BED. a-3I.t
The hammock is an American invention.
Not that Brother Jonathan has any right
to insert its discovery in the catalogue OF
the Washington Patent Office; it was found
ont neither by Old Englander nor New,
but by the copper-skinned aborigines of
Spanish America. Nativehammocks were
made sometimes of cotton, sometimes of
plated grass they were suspended from
the boughs of tail tree, by ropes of the
I 4lo,- ~