The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1876-05-25
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About Aads.

and lay onr heads on n soft pillow
some cold winters night, it some.
times seems as IL nothing but a
luxurious couch OF this sort could be
worth calling u bed. Yet large
part Of the world enjoy no such ar.
rangemeuts for sleeping, aud could
not enjoy it il they had il. Our
own ancestors reposed on less lux.
urious fashion. In eastern coun"
tries people commonly spread a net
on the Hat 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 un.
dress themselves.
In ancient Egypt--as still in
China and Japan-wooden pillows
were in vogue, followed out to fit
the shape of the head. But the an-
cient Egyptians, while on account
Of the beat aud vermin, they prefer
rcd hard pillows, are said to have
considered their comfort at night in
the invention Of spring mattresses.
They were made of slips of bamboo
crossed over each other, and must
have been as cool, il not quite as
soft aud yielding, as the webbing of
twine stretched over frame, on
which the natives of India rest.
The Israelites used sheep and
goat skins stuffed for pillows, and in
early times the same for bedding
but their bedsteads, at a late period,
Mt least, must have been very costly.
The prophet Amos speaks ofcouches
OF ivory.
Among the Assyrians, and after
wards among the Roman, couches Of
gold aud silver were possessed by
the rich. The reason for this splen'
dor was partly that tho beds were
not kept in seperate room. but IL
the same room occupied by day, ant
were used for sitting on aud reclin.
ing on at meals. At Roman feasts
the guests all reclined, and some-
times each person occupied a separ
ate couch.
Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors were
not ut all refined in their sleeping
arrangements. Their beds consisted
of wooden boxes, filled with bag o
straw. In an old illustrated manu-
script there is a picture Of king 60
ing to bed. He has crown on his
head "a very comfortable night cap)
but has no night dress.
King Henry the VIII, OF England
is said to have slept on a straw bed
while his servants lay upon rushe'
strewu on the floor of the roya
kitchen. The kings bed was no
what we would call luxurious bu
so much ceremony was used in goinl
to it that seven chamberlains were
employed in undressing the roya
parsonage, turning down the bed
clothes, etc etc. One indispensable
practice was to thrust u sword int
the straw to see that no person wa
concealed in it.
When feather beds came into us,
in England they were regarded "a
articles Of great value, and it seemed
comical to us to find them 80 oftel
mentioned in wills. The person t.
whom feather bed was bequeathet
did not usually receive anything
else; his comfort by night was pro
vided for, if not his welfare by day
1t may be mentioned iuconclusioi
with beds, that strange supersti
ton WAS once common in the soutl
Of England, in n belief that q perso'
cannot die while lying on pigeon
feathers. A dying person has offer
been removed from u feather bed t.
the bare floor, under the notion tina
the death struggle was prolonged
owing to the presence in the bed o
II few pigeon feathers. In EIglan'
it is still customary to surround th'
bed with curtains. Americans have
adopted the more sensible Frencl
fashion of allowing q free circulation
OF air about the sleeper.