Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-03-17
"DeMEsFIC sHAMS.s
Appleton s JOurnal.I


dwells accurately as we'll as amusingly
upon certain domestic shams with
which the reader, no doubt, 10 &C.
Quainted: fahrs
Don't lie down on those pillow
shams" 5
Don't put your feet on the counter
paneP
a Don't lean your head against that
white knit.tidy" i.'s weto1a a
That is the way darling wife talks to
her precious husband, when he comes
home at night tired out with the public
shams, and seeking for domestic reali-
| ties; while she, poor thing, tired out with
the domestic realities, seeks TO beguile
her mind With social and conventional
shams.
"Pillow.shamsn Do you know what
they areP Did you ever try to lie down
on them2 They are hard, starchy
things, with beautiful monograms EN-.
broidered all over them. They won't
fold mp. butrustle and clip of of the bed
on the door; they are always ready for
launch ont into some place where they
ought not to be. Back Of them, as they
are pinned on to the pillows, you can
see the Sing-Sing stripe of the vulgar
ticking in which the imaginary goose
feathers are inclosed. az
Then, too, there is a broad, white,
hard piece of embroidered linen, which
goes across the bed, with stiff, large
monogram on it. This is also sham"
and is always put on when strangers are
coming into the room. 1t looks like q
piece Of fancy pie crust, and the people
who sleep in these beds are supposed 10
be like the feur-and.twenty blackbirds Of
nursery history, who we're baked in pie;
that is, they we're not in the pie because
of any natural fitness, but simply be-
cause Of the conventional decree Of the
king before who@ this pretty dish was
placed. Ao
Oh, how q man hates thebe shams;
how he Aiugs them away when he Is
alone in the house, and tells the cham
bermaid never to bring them out while
the wife and family are away
How be remembers the days when he
was at college, and piled up the pillows
under him, and put his feet, at all times
and,ati all places, on every cubic inch Of
the bed be called his own, and moved
the bed under the light and read himself
to sleep over Henry Esmond" and
Poor PendennislF FE
But now the night lamp" for the baby
! and the pillows BY night for forti6ca
ton around his precious armS and legs
aud the "pilloy shsms" BY day for the
sake Of admiring feminine critics, take
the Injurious aroma of life away from
the once idsalized domesticities; aRd
the man sabmits, wondering why or
earth the Creator put such queer wayI
into woman's nature, and then made
man 90 miserable without her that, By
contrast With this negative misery, he
! nuts up silently With quantities Of misery
which ia positive. Domestic shams
That is what these wretehed pillow-caseI
make US men think about. =.
Whv do women take such comfort il
themf Why is the white counterpart
40 religiously guarded from the tire
man when be wants to lie dowa, bu
don't want to fold up this thick articl
into its lawful creases, and then take OIL
.he uumansgeable "shRps" and sto'
them away, and then unbutton his shoe
ana lie down but mot on the baby
( side Of the bedT
Then there are the tides. They ar
always coming of on your head an
lshonIders. "Pick up the tidy, desrl
n This is always thel word from madar
!. as you leave the roop. Z
Don't put your head on the tidyl
This is the booming minute gun OF de
mestic danger when the cigar is lightet
1 and the newspaper is opened and th
home circlefor the evening is begun. =
Then there are the white dresses 70
the children. Of course, they will pla
or their hands aud knees, and will e
aoIed aud marred with nnrguty warfare
Z Of csurse the servants Will ooEpIaiu 9
. the Bio wash, and the quantity of stsrcl
\ cd Globes required for the demands
: the family wstdrobe. 49,.
"Why not dresS the children in colo
ed clottes2 Why not put wooden article
. on them such as Mrs. Avis childTs
Z Wearf" a 1ewa ae aa goig.i el
( aHoW queer you men talk Don'tyO
4 know that. MFsSA,---- doesn't live1O
- street, and doesn't 90 With our g
1 at all2, How mortified ! shouldtfeely
= Mrs. b. should call and see the chill
I, rem dressed in 3 different way from b.
=. own" -fss +, otsdl
" " Id That is the way the talk goes on B
tween the public realities OF bills and U
70 domestic shsms Of embroidered VIII
M dresses. .TUgFH HAu
lo "Itis worse than Wicked my dear
!: said Punch the other day, Representing
1e mother pea kibRt 10 her little Fda0ehl.
II Il is worse fkau Fieksd--Il 10 Belaqgt
iel y SIX dresses form danosl,,.. depsftma
IL -. -tia raha,,,s III Iast - [