The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-06-16
THE RAo CARPET.
IBm Sse. ia pe,roa Free rrss..

IBiii Ssc. ia petsos Free press. With the threatened eruption of the rag carpet as kind of venerable sue. eesser so the genuine Bosson-made Turk lSh rug. there comes wall on the part of the male portion of humanity and pro- test on the part of all heaih-losing hu- manity.
 rise as this moment as the seif- appointed representative of poor. down. ,rodden and tong-snfserng man. AL ready lady friends are locking wi,h averi- cioas and covetous eyes on my spring sui and, n hncy, constructing stripe of navy blue. while some other mans spring clothes are already spotted for the hit-os-miss stripe ot the tlme-hcnored hnmbug.
 lt does seem to me that there is enough souow,ng toil going ihr nssh,ng already. enough of hAck-ache and dci,fiam. with. out tearing the shirts of mans back to scw into big ball. and then weave into rag carpet made to breed death and disease, with ,sx prehistoric perspirA ration and its modern drug store dyes
 The rug nov commonly known as the Turkish prayer rug has a sad. wo,n look. but it does not come up to the rag car pet of the dear old homo. Around it there clusterx, perhaps. tradition or an ouen,al faisehocd, but the rag caspc. of the dear old home. and rich Tn associa- ton. Is an heit-loom ,ha, passss down from generation to generation, like the horse blanket of forgotten years CT tho rae bag ot the dear dead past. Here Is found the stripe of all-wool dclainc sha, was wotn by one who Is now in the gol- den hence, or, stricken with the Dakota i fever. hving m the squatsers home. and there Is the fragment of underelothes pre-. maiurely lefked from the back of the husband and father before the silver of century had orers into his hais. There IS nc question but the dear old rag car pet. wi,h poisonous greens and s,ckly yclo~s and bstndlc browns and doubtful black IS a big thing l, looks kind of modest and anprctcnd,ng. and yet speaks oi the dead pas, and smells oi the antique and the garrett.
 It teptesen,s the long mon,hs when aching hngcfs fn, se~ed the garments. then the first dash of gravy on the Iron, breadth. the maddening cp, the wild effort to etiaee t with henane. the sor- (to~fui defeat, the iusfy grease spot ls.and,ng like pork gravy plaque upon the face ot ths past. the glad selinquish- men, of the garmes,. the attack of the fag carpet hsnd upon II. the hurried crash as ii was torn into shrcds and sewn together then the mad plunge of the dast-powtercd mass ,nto the feeking hath oi pafls green or coppctas. then the wesser's gentle racket, and a, las, the i pale eonsamptise. f.eekled. ,.ekly panof. anna oi outrageous ooloring offending the eye the nose. the thoraN and the lasyns, ia bc uodden under feet oi men. and to yield up t. ptes ,oua dose ot destroying poisons from genct a,ion even unto genet 1 stion
 l, is not a thing of beauty for Ii looks like the colored engfavtng ot a nottlhed lung. IL s not economical. fof the same tune devoted to knocking ou. the brains oi frogs and aIlcctsng their hams for the metropolitan market would yield .nhn- itely more, and II is not worth much as aa i hestloom, for within the Asmc tune a mortgage may he placed upon the old ] homestead which will pass down rom father to son. even .o nations yet unborn. and attract more attention ,n the courts than all the fag carpets that Il would re- quus t9 span the broad, spansied dome 1 of heaven.
 often wonder ,ha, Oscar Wilde, the l pale patron ot the good. the true and the beautiful, did not rise m his might and knock the essential warp and filling ou, of the rag carpet. Oscar d.d n0, do righ, or he would have stood up in his funny clothes and tough, for reform at SO much per hgh,. While he made fun of the Chi ago water works. a grateful pub lic would have buried him m eu, ho~ers fl instead. he had warped !, b the rag carpet and the approaching dude.