Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1871-12-02
ChaFs orqad OnFO FOphR

There can be no doubt that origin
ally chairs were not chairs, but stools.
IN Eli had lived in our time he would
have sal i'm chair and could have not
fallen backwards wien the cad news
come that the ark Was taken.
King Alfred the Create throne is
said to have been thTee-legged stool
a great step was taken when stools
advanced from three legs to four. But
chairs ought to make progress, f0r We
notice that they always put their hest
feet foremost. OF .cOurse, even from
the first, the Tudest seats might have
their nakedness covered by rich tapes
try aud cushions.
Anancient French throne which Ma
poleon /. used at BOulOgne. when he
thought he could conquer England, l.
made Of bronze and gildell Its sides
are formed OF two strange animals,
and it has a canopy above. Its ma
ker, from simple workman, rose 10
be such great gun that he was can
onized. 1t is usually safe from intru-
sion, having no seat, hut 1t il provided
with seat Of cloth or satin, when it
is used. rra
We really know very little about an
cfent chairs so chary have historians
been Of information on this head. 1t
seems that benches OF wood and stone
were formerly used even by royal per-
sonaSes, sOthAt kings and 'qneeris7
stood, or rather sat, on the same foot
ing as the commOnest people now do.
Some ancient specimens Of chairs are
by no means comfortable. ..f .. "a.
They are perfectly straight in the
hack and 50 high that ones feet do
not touch the floor. They are also
very hard, not even being made of
soft wood. Those that had arms used
them az. weapons OF offence, to poke
into their sisters ribs or raise his el-
bows as high as his shoulders. It il
said that a priest invented them, and
it must have been by way of inficting
penance, or else ofkfeping his hearers
still while he lectured them.
To take chairn was fOrmely
very serious business, especially II O
king or queen was present. At the
court of Edward VI, of England, the
kings sister might not take a chair at
all, but must sit on a bench, and the
FlOrentine ambassador said he saw
the Princess Elizabeth d-op on ont
knee five times before her brother, ere
she took her place, which by thae
time she must have needed So the
Prince Of Wales had to squat on
camp-stool when he visited the Queen
of France, 50 determined was she tobe
looked up to-
The Archduke Charles once went to
visit Catherine of Braganze, the widow
OF Charles H., in Lisbon. He sent
word that he was coming, and though
she was confined to her Ded with an
attack of erysipelas, she replied that
she was "dying to see him.n In this
interview the duke, with all his arch
ness made a breach of Portuguese
etiquette in leaving the room before
his chair was taken out, and the court
was very much shocked at his bad
manners. ar
Louis NV, Of France, wished his
daughter-in-law to visit ex Q,Ieen
Mary, wife of James H., of England.
The dauphness, however, would not
go because she could not sit in all arm
chair in the queens presence, but In
stead went to bed, and staid there sew
eral days. The French Kings brother
complained that the Queen neither
kissed him nor gave him an arm chair.
The Queen at last gave way as far as
the kissing went Then the duchesses
demanded that King James should
kiss them. They would have his
arms if they could not have those of
his chair. ...-
In those days if little boys happen
ed to lie princes, they were perched on
lofty arm chairs, and if tall ladies
CHANGED to be only duchesses, they
were compelled to cramp themselves
on low stools. King James, though
an exile, had to confer empty titles
on his attendants, in order that they
might sit down at all at the French
court. A struggle was sometimes
caused when there was only one arm
chair in room. \ single cane Chair
would thus rouse the spirit Of a CAIN
Youths COmpdnjOn.