The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-09-20
Mss Nilsson,s Mattress.

guished, only realized So each.
To these exhibitions of folly the
public has become Injured. Men,
being men, will always experience
the relic madness. Not that there
Is anything especially harmful in
the disease. 1t generally attacks
those who can afford it, and SO is
less reprehensible than drinking
or gambling. One rarely hears of
man pawning his wife's wedding
ring and taking the bread out OF
his children's mouths to satisfy
an unhallowed thirst for the nap
kin with which Nilsson removed
the traces of her third plate of
pork and beans from her tuneful
lips. 1t is more a lunacy than a
madness in these inferior NANTES
tations, and occasionally rises to
a real sublimity in it's higher de-
grGes, as when a single tattered
book, like the famous HDecamer-
on sets two noble lords by the
ears and produces a bid of more
than thirteen thousand dollars.
There is madness and madness
and it is difficult to say with pre-
clsion where the line is to be
drawn and relic-hunting be declar-
ed ridiculous and not legitimate.
A single tooth of the first Napol-
con has caused lively competi-
ton; so has the axe with which a
particularly atrocious murder was
committed, or the rope by which
it was avenged. These relics may
be considered legitimate; Of their
authenticity there can be no doubt,
and a certain interest, whether his
torical or morbid, attaches to
them. But when it comes to dis
putting for the cherry stones which
fall from the Grand Dukes des-
ert-plate, or the mattress on which
a prima donna was offered as Il
victim to the South Carolina cimec
tect~IGrtuS, the limit of good taste
Is exceeded, the relic is ridiculous,
and the relie-hunter is an ass.
For let US reason together.
What proof is there that Nilsson
did sleep on that mattress at all?
None but the assurance OF the
auctIoneer, proverbially poor
warranty in all matters where the
sale OF horse, picture, a sub
urban lot or relic is concerned.
The fair Christine may have sat at
the window all night, gazing at the
moon, and inditing woful ballads
to the eyebrow OF Rouzand, the
beau. Even if she did occupy the
bed, she may, in fit of jealousy,
inspired by the-rehection that Miss
Cary had been applauded or had
looked well, have thrown herself
on the outside of the coverlet (as
girls do in novels, and passed the
night in tears, ana with her hair
up. Or, conceding everything, if
she did occupy that bed, as beds
are usually occupied, what ca, THY
interest did the mattress possess!
There, doubtless, are such things
as sheets in South Carolina hotels,
whose existence would materially
reduce the value of the mattress
as relic. The mattress which
was toucked by the sheets, which
came in contact with the wrapper
which was worn by Nilsson, is
hardly more valuable as u relic
than the fork belonging to the
knife with which Peg Nicholson
wanted to kill King George. 1t
is earth from the garden, but very
far from the rose.
If people of the sort of that
monopolizer of mattresses abound
in Charleston, the proprietor of
the Mills house has a gold mine
at hand. If virtue be found in the
mattress on which was laid the
sheet which was touched by the
night-drcss which snveloped Nils
son, some must pertain to the
springs that supported the mat
tress, to the frame from whence
assembled the springs, to the cas-
tors, which bore the frame, to the
carpet which was touched by the
castors, to the floor under the car
pet, to the walls supporting the
floor, and SO on, till we run into
the ground under the foundation
that upbore the walls. Nasir-ed-
Deems duck soup, made by dip
ping crust into aduck-pond, was
not more thin.
But having the mattress, what
will the purchaser do with it? To
sleep on it would be to profane it;
to sleep on it might be impossible,
being, as it is, a hotel mattress.
It would not make a good chimney
ornament, nor, even if framed,
adorn a wall. The only hope that
can now be seen for his utilizing
it is found in the prevailing fash
ion in jewelry. The time may
come-and judging from the jew
elers' windows will come soon
when he can wear the mattress for
breastpin and the pillows as
sleeve buttons.-Missouri Demo.
Graf