, 1884-12-09
BEDS ABROAD.
Summary of a Travellers Experiences
in the Lime of Beds.
The Continental Bcd-DoubIe BEDS
Rare In Europo-Indfa and
Japan-TypicaI Ned OF
tho Orient.


At the very top OF thia clean sheet OF pa
per, before I have dulled my Indignation by
any discussion of side issues, 4 desire b
placard my protest against the European bed
Let 1t DO recorded that a room in IA Euro-
pean hotel does contain n bed. When you
hire a room you have to sot up housekeeping
for housekeeping out and purchasing soap,
candles, comb and brush, letter-paper, etc
lone usually prefers buying them outside OF
the hoteb; but l believe the bed is usually
included as a part OF the furniture Of tas
room. Whatever else there may be deficient,
let 1t be sot down that the bed Is on hand.
! have yet 10 discover a place. also, whore a
certain amount Of water Is not allowed to
each hotel guest. Let Justice DO done though
the heavens fall.
The continental bed is good enough, wha
there Is Of II, and there IS enough Of it, such
as 1t Is. There is not enough OF IL, such as it
ought to be, however. In other words, It
ends too quick. After thoroughly testing SOW
eral score OF them l am convinced that, as q
rule there ought TO be a few more inches
put on tho average bed. To be sure l can
Just manage to wedge myself in between tho
head board and the foot board, but 1 always
think when I commit myself TO the arms OF
Morpheus what II l mould swell up during
the night like n soaked Goldfish under the in
fiuence OF this lachrymal weather. And l
am not a Titan in stature, either.
But the chief feature of the continental
bed against which | wish 20 launch the inveo-
tives OF my outraged manhood is its quilt.
There is a sheet, a thin Counterpart, and
then a slender, puffy quilt allied with feath-
ers, n little larger than a pillow. 1t Is sufi-
GENTLY warm and light, but 80 small that
the least motion may jostle 1t overheard.
You carefully poise this curiosity upon the
a - ..-.- .t-waA.l ..N 49,. lie nArfaAfIwr
quiet for n few moments. The result IL
most gratifying. But presently you tire Of
this iying-stnl process, and discover
thai you are uncomfortable. This is an
alarming discovery, for now you can not
be content until you nave shifted your posi-
ton, aud the moment you do so that dump
ling Of a feather quilt loses its equilibrium
Perhaps you get TO sleep before any such ac-
cident occurs, which Is a remarkable stroke
Of luck; but toward midnight you awake to
find that tho aforesaid quilt has sauntered
of into one corner of the room
There is one remedy. You can got a die
tionary and put 1t on top of the quilt; but
this renders it impossible for you TO breathe,
and though II may be some satisfaction to
you to nave thus circumvented the obstinate
quilt, it is quite ~inconvient to be unable to
breathe. Besides, the doctors say that 1t Ia
not conducive TO longevity 10 be deprived Of
the capacity TO breathe. / believe many
fellow-suiferers Will bear me out in these
statements: many who nave twined their
feet around the lower dashboard, and
clutched in wild desperation at a Elusive
quilt.
But, really, the round-the- World traveller
might I'LL a book with his expeNiences In the
line OF beds, and then AVE said nothing
about the novel tussles with native beds.
A IT, Io.rt,- G.u INrourfsoo L aInpf ~. olandnr
bedsteads of iron or brass until / reached
Vienna n period Of ten months. Never ono
during all this time do I remember having
seen a wooden bedstead. and only once OF
twice n double bedstead, lin missionary
homes.l Tropical climates and tropical in
sects are death on wooden furniture. Even
in the ~frequented parts OF Europe double
beds are rare.
After leaving San Francisco / slept under
mosquito MEETINGS until l reached Athens,
except at Hong Kong and In the Himalnya
and Japanese mountains, where insects do
not thrive. Thus miserable Is d largo part Of
the world made by such commonplace pests
as mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were es-
peciaily virulent In Egypt and Calcutta As
for feas, give the chrome to Palestine with
out a nome. is hesitation. Japan and Asia
Minor aiu bad enough, but In Palestine the
pestife-ous things compel even the hardy
Bedouins to move their camps.
In some parts OF India travellers are ex-
pected TO carry their own sheets, counter
pane, and piIlowcase, just as you must al
ways do in a railway carriage there If you
propose 10 sleep en- route on one OF the
hanging shelves or cunhioned seats This Is
literally taking up your bed and riding. In
Japan l had screens ornamented with
painted storks around my couch while stop
wt,. - 81. ot.ut..A EnroH..u hafaI In fha
interior two hea-infested blankets or "futons"
spread on the floor constituted my bed, while
Iusually rolled up a third to put under my
head rather than use one Of the native wooden
pillows shaped like a double-end hat-lron,
with n apered curve adapted 10 support the
neck. TIE wooden pillow was suggestive Of
the guillotine 10 my mird, and on the whole
scarce preferable TO the guillotine. Beside
this bed was the andon, a square paper Ian
tern on a frame two feet high, with a saucer
Of grease and burning taper inside-the In
evitable all-night companion OF the sleeping
Jap.
The typical bed OF the Orient for European
and American usage is a slender iron appara-
tus, some four feet wide or less, with tall
iron rods at each corner, connected above,
designed to support the mosquito netting.
Most often the netting hangs over this iron
framework, and loops each way ON the side
by which you are wont TO enter. This ar
rangement looks well, but it Is a mockery, q
delusion and a snare. The mosquitoes have
no trouble whatever In e tering where the
front strips overlap, and around the upright
rods at the bottoms where the netting Is
tackled in. The ideal arrangement is a net
ting as fine as cheese-cloth, suspended on the
inside of the frame work, and 30 long that
It can pass completely under the mattress
below.
should not neglect 10 say that l have also
slept on n steam. RS deck In tropic Gains, on
divans in monasteriea, on the floor and even
on the ground in Asia Minor, and l might
almost add on horsebacl: during night rides
in Palestine. In India n native swayed a
punkan over me all night while l slept, and
at Canton, the island OF Shameen, where
l sojourned, was guarded by 500 soldiers
every night, while CHASTITY ruins OF palaces
on every hand attested the fury OF the Can
tonese mob, from which they were supposed
TO give protection.