Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-11-05
A NEW CRAZE.
The "Fir Pillow, Takes the Place of
the CraZy-quIlt i'm the Minds of
Maine Ladies.

! the CraZy-quIlt In the Minds of
Maine Ladies.
Boston Globe.
The reign of the crazy silk quilt was
over. The log cabin had died nat :
ural death long since. The Afghan,
like the Dutch repnblic, had its rise
and fall. Scrim aprons had passed
the meridian OF holiday life Ken
sington of all sorts had been buried
with the change of fashion. All en-
thusiasm for the minor articles of
fancy work had been laid away in Ice
for winter use. There had come lull
In the life of woman. The non-ac
complished felt void in her life that
no duties to lover, husband Or child-
rem could fill.
A foreigner from the region of New
! York Or New Haven came to the
shores of Maine. A few magic words
are whispered, and all are on the
alert The idea assumes a substan-
tlal form and is a grand success.
Linen, canvas, pOngee, satin. and
plushes are in great demand. En-
broidery fosses of every conceivable
| shade are brought out. Our woods
are devastated. Our frs, and even pines
and spruces, by mistake, are shorn of
their beauty. The tWigs of the fir are
greedlly torn from their mother tree
by tender fingers unused to scratches
and pitch. Men and women who for
merly knew not pine from a birch
search for the tender. green spill.
Languid youth glory in the title of
knights of the Fir, won by their ar
duOus labors IN the cause of the fair.
Never a day passes that one sees not
some lady or middle>aged gentleman
climbing up the hill, like Sinbad the
sailor with the Old Man of the Sea,
bent under the weight of load of fir.
No regard for appearances prevents
women, young and old, from walk
ing through the streets with whole fir
forests
STRAPPED TO THEIR BACKS
Dried in the sunlight the branches
of the fir fill the air with the sweetest
of perfumes. The spills falling from
their stems form a brown, fragrant
carpet. Now the embroidered case
appears. An inner case of unbleached
cotton is filled with the fir, the pillow
case is slipped on, sewed, a neat rib
bon bow tackled on one corner and
VOLTA! we have the pillow. Various
are the devices on the pillow>case.
Perhaps there is a branch, a symbol
of the fir tree or forest on a small
scale. More often it IS d quotation,
as: Give me of your balm, 0 fir
tree!" 'The murmuring pines and
the hemlocks, Dreams of the for
1 O1tt II Il, 6 L.
we have always with u.s." Besides
their intrinsic worth, which is from
S. to SIS, they are valuable for gifts
and are far superior to the ordinary
sofa pillow.
If the sweet, soporfic influence Iulls
us right within the shade of the pines
to pleasant sleep, it must, indeed, be a
bonanza to those within the city's
gates. Oft has the INITIATED, a scoffer
Of the virtues Of the fir pillow, thrown
himself upon q sofa and buried his
head in an MISUNDERSTANDING pill
low. Slowly but surely the sweet
influence steals over his senses;
HE YIELDS TO THE MAGIC
OF it's charm, and sees the Maine coast
perhaps old Castine which first gave
birth to the pillow of fir. There he
sees colony of young and old, each
pulling" fir, the mother to send to
her boy in tAe city; the young girl to
place beneath the aching head of her
troubled father, the old man for
sweet restorer for the tired nerves of
his invalid wife.
The dreams of hasheesh smoker
must bs vague and underlined cons
pared TO those enticed from dream
land by the soothing balm of the fir.
In contrast with the heat, the dust,
the cares of business, and the crowd
are the ripple and sparkle Of the
waves, the fragrance laden zephyrs,
the quiet aisles of the woods, the
lightness Of a brain free from care
Beautiful memories brought from
home of the fir.
From Maine to California are these
redolent pillows sent. A welcome
gift are they among the luxuries of
Paris home. They dispel the fog from
the London air. They are borne to
the land of ice by the Artic explorer.
They are pillow for the heads Of
Names sailor sons upon the swelling
ocean, and in the beat of the tropics
they watt homeward thoughts Of her
exiled children.