Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1890-09-13
A GOOD BED.
Feather Beds and Cotton Comfortables
Gone Out of Favor.


A good mattress is the first essen.
tial of comfort, writes Mary f. Van
dyne. There was time when feath-
ers were considered indispensable,
but these expensive, troublesome and
not altogether healthful articles have
long been out of favor. A firm, we'll
made spring mattress should form
the foundation of our couch, and up.
on this should be placed a light tufted
hair mattress, the hair being of the
best quality, well curled, and not
mixed with any cheaper substances.
There is no poorer economy than to
buy a cheap mattress. Consider eX-
pense in purchasing the bedstead it's
elf, if it be necessary, but let the two
mattresses be the best of their kind.
Springs that are not of good material
and well secured by the hand of a
thorough workman, have a disagree
able way of collapsing, turning over
and poking their ends into daylight,
while a mattress of poor material will
soon become a hard, uneven, lumpy
affair, offering anything but repose to
weary limbs. A blanket of average
thickness is all that should intervene
between the hair mattress and the
sheets.
When we come to holsters and pill
lows, feathers are clearly necessity.
Barbarous as the thought seems, it is
Give geese" feathers that we want,
and even these cannot be too care
fully selected. A light, downy pill
low is great luxury, and a pillow
filled with the proper feathers will
last long time, while one of a cheap
er kind soon becomes a heavy, soggy
mass. In making the bed each day,
bolster and pillows should be well
beaten so as to loose them thorough
ly from the packed condition induced
by the pressure of the head. The
ticking used throughout our bed
should be of the strongest, thickest
kind, otherwise the housekeeper will
be astonished at the ingenuity feath-
ers can show in thrusting their quill
end through weak places.
Cotton is much more generally
used for sheets than linen, though
the time is not far back when good
housewives who spun their own flax
and used their own household looms
would have been indignant had any
one suggested that bit of cotton
cloth was to be found upon their beds
or in their lavender-scented clothes
presses. But there is a chill about
linen that cotton does not have, anC
many physicians do not hesitate t.
condemn linen sheets altogether. Lee
us then compromise with the physi
clan by using cotton sheets; and ther
honor our grandmothers by covering
holsters and pillows with linen, thus
securing the freshness, GOODNESS anC
sense of extra cleanliness that liner
always seems to possess over cotton
and wool. AS the average length 0
all bedsteads is six feet, the sheet
should be at least two and three
quarters yards in length. If shorter
they cannot be tucked in properly
and an equally liberal allowance @
material should be left at the sides
The upper part of the sheet shoult
have broad hem, and the lower
narrow, in order to avoid careless re
versing on the part of the person VIII
makes the bed. Wide sheeting
better than narrow, as it does ava
with the rough central seam. B
} careful that bolster and pillow case
fit nicely, as nothing is more unsigh
| ly than ill~fitting bed linen. TIL
"comfortables," or calico cases file
) with cotton, quilted and tufted, al
now quite generally discarded. Con
mon sense shows clearly that sue
l masses Of tightly packed cotton Cal
: not be clearly or healthy. Our be
l coverings should be as light and air
as is consistent with warmth. Flar
mel blankets are not very eXpensiv,
: aud if a comfortable" Of any kin
must be used, let it be filled wit
wool.-New England Farmer.
, What steam is to the engin,
Hoods Sarsaparilla is to the body
producing bodily power and furnish