The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-11-14
[San Francisco Chronicle.J

fortably t. the person, that allows the head
and limbs 20 maintain their natural position
and gives freedom of movement during
sleep TO all the internal organe. Il is not to
be denio1 that these conditions are best
supplied in America. As q nation, the
Americans the most comfortable in the
world. They alone have the true IDEA Of
comfort, and their theories find legitimate
application in more comfortable and better
ventilated houses, better appointed hotels,
mora luxurious means of travel, and in beds
that, while they allow free Transportation OF
the organs. afford the needed requisite of ease
an1 warmth As a result of this the
Americans are an exceedingly well Informed
people. considered en- masse; they are freer
from the disease, that afIlict tho masses Of
Europe, and there is among thom an mcom-
parably smaller percentage of detOrmlty.
This last result may, perhaps, in part be at
tributed to the superior care which AnlerI-
mothers give their children, which has
he'd q telling effect on the last two or three
generations.
The Japanese who have not yet yielded to
modern civilization sleep on platforms soft
ene1 only by thin mating, the head rest
ing on pillow sh.ned like a fatirOn, the
point of support being the handle, which is
slightly padded. The physiology of the ma
ton, after many hundred years of this mode
of repose, presents few peculiarities de5erv-
ing admiration. japanese beds, neverthe-
less, are like the houses, remarkable Tor
their neatness.
CHINA'S BAMBOO BEDS.
All classes of the Chinese, except the man
darins and merchant, sleep even more
roughly. 1t would be very small estimate
for the populous province of Kwangtung, in
which Canton Is situated, that 1000, 900 of
its inhabitants sleep, pass their lives even,
in boat5-father, mother, and six or seven
children. sometimes three generations,
CIV u
ID 900 or 20, 900 of the Hongkong Chinese
pass their lives in the same manner. The
bed in Chinese houses is platform having
mat like those of tho Japanese The pill
low is often of bamboo The mandarins
provide themselves with six quilts or
covereus, filled with cotton or down,
with MATTRESSES similarly made which they
multiply till they have received the desired
degree of comfort With the common peo-
pie Of China, as with those of all other ma
tons from the Pacific to the north of Africa,
the bel presents the Same features Some
times it il the ground, sometimes a platform
of bamboo or stone, softened with a mat
ting, cloth or carpet, and almost always
presenting similar pecuiarities of hardness,
dust and dirt
The East Indian and the Arab, while pre-
senting the greatest pretonsions to neatness,
are the least cleaniy. Tho general resern-
blanco of the bed found throughout Asia,
I
turai implements, mills, boats, and ships,
diffused with equal Wilderness, offers al
most virgin field OF research to the writer's
on race and antiquities.
RUSSIA AND ITALY.
The Russian sleeps on his stove in the
droS' lie has worn during the day, or posi-
bly, has not removed for years, unconscious
of its harIness by reason of the liquor with
which he has stuPef himself.
Tho Neapolitan sleeps the pavement
not much Us formerly, for the useful oc-
cugatipn, have to certain extent absorbed
tie !.,sZ no ii since Italy entered its
career of unity and free iom. SILL in this
great city OF 80 % inhabitants the number
of poor people who, even If they have a
roof to cover them, have no easier bed than
this yavement-to whose hardness stone
has elsewhere never attained-is incon-
ceivable. As a Consequence the finest
specimens of humanity are not to he found
among the common people in Maple. As q
class, they small in stature, not well
formed, ana deformity is common among
them; while the Italians who nave been
moro delicately and comfortably reared,
those who have had some education, the
middle and higher classes, are without
question the handsomest people in the
world.
THE FRENCH BED.
The French leIsteads and beds, with the
exception of some that have been modified
along tbs principal highways of travel at
the yearly demand of indignant tourists
are a hereditary piece of furniture which
respect for ancestral bequest and an utter
ignorance of the elem3nts of comfort inner
ent in the French character have but
slightly modified since the time of the Gauls.
The first article o. Indictment of the French
bel begins with the mattress. 1t is of WOOL
Il mean ami stuffy substance for such use
linh nJrpt IF ala r,,iy,
preparation seems ever to remove the oil
give the requisite degree of buoy
ancy. The French mattress spreads
out like pancake, projecting in a
slippery fashion over the bedstead both
sides. To accomplish some object that the
traveller can never divine, several of these
mattresses are sometimes piled on one an
other. AS they are never OF the same SIZE
"a sort of pyramid or terrace is formed, on
wnoso summit the sleepy guest, tortured
equally by the desire to sleep and the fear
OF falling, passes a night of brief intervals
"f slumber, blonde; with reckless pro-
family.
Che vilest o. all the appurtenances Of the
t'reach bel is tho round bolster The pillow,
taou n ordinarily narl, may be passed by
~;h 4 few muttered curses; the bolster
VIII admit OF no such compromising of a
feloly Il Is utterly and irredeemably bad,
>onsses~, aud lneNcusable.
SERIOUS PHYSICAL RESULTS.
Regarding the matter from n moro serious
>tandpont, there can be no doubt that the
lecullaritie, of the French bed have had
uucu 20 do with the imperfect physical de-
veiopaent of the French common people.
Any who has ever seen them in masses
ha surely remarked, that they arc almost
to a man round -sh0u!dere1. Atall, straight
policeman, such as are often seen in Eng
land or America, Is scarcely = he seen at all
y
through twenty regiment - s".i.ers made
up Of young men from cha cpurtry and not
find hundred not having this ie.ect. 1t is
most undoubtedly caused by the peculiari-
ties Of the French bel and more directly by
the b lster, which raises the head above It'll