The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1877-09-15


SOS Hsusslsll 1Asnisatisns.
"A elsver correspondent oftis Spring
field Republicans writes: Your editorial
ON the sanitary arrangement of country
homes is.timely odd Sssy good. What
You say of beds may be carried q step
farther with equal force. The original
unfitness of that determination, the
feather-bed, IS made still more repug-
nant to restful and healthful enjoyment
by the paradoxical fact, that the better
it is the worse it il, {. G., if it is;the best,
or "spare bed, !" it is also for that reason
the bed always given to the sick Of the
family for their ease and comfort. It is
on this bed that children languish,
suffer and die; and here the aged and
infirm sigh away the last hours of their,
weary pilgrimage; and after each such
event and q few days of exposure to sun
and air, it is again made. mp for the
coming guest or the next invalid, as the
case may happen, and the room closed
and darkened lest the color of the carpet
or wallpaper should be faded by the
blessed light of heaven, or its sweet
pure air should carry with 1t speck of
dust. Horrible as this proceeding is
when analysed, it is nevertheless the
method of our people.
And what is true of the best bed, is true
in another direction of those in every
day use, and equally and emphatically
true. all theirs clothing aud draping
except the sheets. The quilts and COM
forters of our grandmOthers are still
our quilts and comforters, and in many
cases-indeed in most cases-unUashed
for generation; for their construction
and material hardly admit of the slight
est washing, to say nothing of thorough
and frequent cleansing, and these beds
with this clothing are made up almost
invariably in the morning, still warm
and foul with the nights perspirations
and excrements from the skin during
sleep. This is so true that the matron
caught with unmade beds in the after
noon would be voted awful shiftless.
What wonder then that one or the 9TH
er of those tripartite New England exc
cutioners, dyspepsia, typhoid and con-
sumption, lurk in nearly every dwelling,
between those poisoned sheets, supple
mented as they are in almost every case
by a WOODEN carpet on the floor, sodden
and rank with the Stops of years, and
garnished with cheap paper in poison
Gus colors, and hung with sour -four
paste! In wide wanderings and sojourn-
ings in nearly every State in the Union
when this country was younger and
wilder, have suffered more in best beds
than ever did from the hardships of
wilderness and forest. Many and many
a night have lain awake fancying that
1 could detect in the i'll ventilated room
the odor of disease, or feel Tin the crawl
ing sensation conveyed by feather bed
to healthy and sensitive skin) still
lurking the damp of deaths cold sweat,
and so suffered untold agonies.
Now, there is no excuse for all this,
not even the excuse of economy; a
spring bed covered with a nice light
mattress of husks or straw, easily and
cheaply refilled, offers refreshing and
delightful couch from which one springs
in the morning rested, strengthened and
buoyant, instead of tired, 1anguid and
depressed; and it costs no more than
the other. Any one of the hundred diff
ferent patterns of springs in use, almost
all of them excellent and durable, makes
the foundation, the. rest is found in any
of the fields of corn or grain that grace
and beautify every hill and valley; and
for clothing every country store offers
good durable wool blankets, light, warm
and easily washed, and cheap. Such
hoI %, nd srr1 <,ff In
"a hours will furnish sleep that will
give its occupant strength and vitality
that his days labor can not exhaust.
Next to feather-beds and old, foul
hair-mattresses, rank that twin abom-
ination the wool-carpet as breeder of
disease and death. My wife and daugh-
tiers have actually carpeted me out of
my own house. l have made good
stand and determined fight on every
floor, but to no purpose. l am driven
at last beyond the kitchen and have en-
trenched myself in one small bedroom
the worst of the lot-and an old shop
in which to smoke and read the Repu6-
licdn here propose to be victorious
or die. 1t must be said, however, in
extenuation of the sswomen folks" that
Mrs. Grundy has taken up her abode in
this village and demands for her altar
daily and heroic sacrifices of-health and
comfort which are rendered with an
alacrity and enthusiasm truly touching.
A Railroad Brakeman's Daring Feat.
81 have often heard of the brave and
daring deeds of engineers, firemen, and
brakemen," said well known cattle
dealer yesterday in the hearing of Bee
reporter, F" but 1 never witnessed a more
daring feat than that performed by Pat
O'Keefe, brakeman on the Grand ISL
and division of the Union Pacific Rail-
road. 1t was on Durfee & Gasman's
cattle train, ON Thursday afternoon.
Conductor Jennings had charge of the