Middletown transcript., 1876-04-01
About Beds.

As we snuggie between the snectS
and lay our heads on soft pillow SOM
cold winters night, it sometimes seem'
as if nothing but luxurious couch o
this sort could be worth calling bed
Yet large part Of the world enjoy nc
such arrangement for sleeping and
could not enjoy it if they had it. Ou'
own ancestors reposed in much less
luxurious fashion. In Eastern ceun.
tries people commonly spread net on
the fat roof of. their house, and make
that their bed. In Russia the top Of
the stove is the bedstead. In both
cases the sleepers do not undress them
selves.
In ancient Egypt-as still in China
aud Japan-wooden pillows we're in
vogue, followed out to fit the shape Of
the head. But the ancient Egyptians,
while, on account of the heat and ver-
min, they preferred hard pillows, are
said to have considered their comfort at
night in the invention of spring mat
resses These we're made of strips Of
bamboo crossed over each other, and
must have been as cool, if not quite as
soft and yielding, as the webbing Of
twiue stretched over frame, on which
the natives of India rest.
The lsraelites used sheep and goat
skins stuffed for pillows. and in early
times same for bedding; but their bed
steads. at later period, at least. must
have been very costly. The prophet
Amos speaks Of couches Of ivory.
Among the Assyrians. and afterwards
among the Romans, couches Of gold and
silver we're possessed by the rich. The
reason for this spleudor was partly that
the beds we're not kept in separate
rooms, but in the same room by day.
and were used for sitting on, and re-
clining at meals. At Roman feasts the
guests all reclined, and sometimes each
person occupied separate couch.
The Anglo Saxon ancestors we're not
at all refined in their sleeping arrange
ments. Their beds consisted Of wood
en- boxes. filled with bag of straw
In an old illustrated manuscript there
is picture Of king going to bed =
He has crown on bis head "a very
uncomfortable night cap) but has no
night dress.
King Henry VIII. of England, is
said to have slept upon straw bed.
while his servants lay upon the rushes
strewn on the floor of the royal kitchen.
The Kings bed was not what we should
call luxurious; but so much ceremony
was used in going to it that seven cham
berlains were employed in undressing
the royal parsonage, turning down the
bed clothes. etc etc. One indispen-
sable practice was to thrust sword
into the straw to see that no person was
concealed in it
When feather beds came into use in
England they were regarded as articles
Of great value, and it seems comical to
US to find them so often mentioned in
wills. The person to whom feather
bed was bequeatbed did not usually re-
ceive anything else; his comfort BY
night was provided for. if not his vel
fare by day.
It may be mentioned in connection
With beds, that strange superstition
was once common in the south of Eng.
land. in belief that person cannot
die while lying on pigeons feathers. A
dying person has often been removed
from feather bed to the bare floor.
under the notion that the death strug.
gle vas. prolonged. owing to the pre-
sence in the bed of few pigeon feath-
ers. In England it is still customary
to surround the bed with curtains. -
Americans have adopted the more SEN
sible French fashion of allowing q free
circulation Of air about the sleeper.
WHAT One CAN Go THRoUaH.-Thc
Worcester Spy tells thi. extraordinary
story: IA Taunton man Of forty-six
has had checkered career. He hes
been rhipwrecked once. narrowly es-
capped baking in railroad accident. has
oeen run away with times innumerable.
was shet in the neck at Gettysburg.
had taste Of the horrors Of Libby pri-
son, fell overheard from a whaler, and
before being picked up left two fingers
10 the mouth of shark; was drafted
twice, had the right arm broken in two
places during the New York riot. stood
on barrel with a halter around bis
neck, in an Alabama town at the out
break of the rebellion. from sunrise to
sunset; in 1868 was crushed under q
falling building during a California
earthquake. and was without food or
drink nearly fifty hours. and when
homeward bound from the mines Of the
White Pine region. narrowly escaped
lynching through mistake in person.
Amid all. be preserves bis equanimity.
and refuses to believe that luck is
against him"