Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-09-07
FEATHER BEDS DOWN SOUTH.
It's Turning Time Now from Maryland
to North Carnlina

Now Is the time when the people living
south of Mason and Dixon's line from
Maryland clean down to North Carolina
turn their feather beds They do not turn
them inside out or even upside down. but
the feather bed is put next the Stats or
sackng bottom or spring and hard mat
tress OF hair or felt is placed on top.
Some folks like TO sleep directly on the
feather bed all summer long and there
are hotels in the region where the guest
IS asked in July whether he will have
feathers or not. But most people turn
them.
The feather bed is the southern sign of
responsibility and ancient lineage. Every
family OF old respecta bility had half
dozen feather beds a generation ago, and
a good many are still in use. They are
handed down as heirl0oms, cherished
with pride and care and in the best fam
lilies cleansed and reticked from time to
time, summed thoroughly at least once
week and treated as articles of the high
est considera ton.
whenever there is a country vendue in
the belt from Mason and DixOn's line 300
miles southwark half the community is
ON the lookout for a chance to buy feath-
er beds cheap. They are regularly sold
by the pound, and even the Oldest, if in
good condition, fetch pretty good prices.
Really old fashioned folks still save
their goose feathers t0A make beds of,
though the fetch of the feather bed is
not what it used to be, and the doctors
are against it as an article OF unwhole-
some luxury. Nevertheless. when south
erners come nOrSh to live they are apt
to fetch along their feather beds. There
are old ladies' VINO would sooner leave be
hind the family Bible than their feather
beds. and this very night there will be
nf in, M cln
| ing on feathers.
There is no possession that colOred
family in the south takes greater pride
in than a feather bed. 1t usually comes
into the possession of such a family sec
ond hand, but sometimes it is the result
of patient years given to the treasuring
of goose feathers.
An old colored woman who came to
New York from Virginia leaving n hus-
band behind was vastly disturbed when
she learned that he was ill. The family
| in which she was employed condoled with
her and tried to cheer her up. but aban-
doned the attempt when the old woman
said:
4 feared eff he dies dey'n sell my
| feather bed
He, did not die, but the old woman had
| the bed sent north before he had a
chance to fall i'll again.
| The value of the feather bed lies in the
fact that it is practically indestructible
and is always an available asset. If the
feathers are properly cured and the bed is
properly cared for it is as good Mt the
end of hundred years as on the day it
was made
There is already somebody south of
Mason and Dixon's line who is ready to
| pay fair price for a feather bed and
| if by any accident it has lost part of it's
contents so that it is too thin to serve its
original purpose the dealers are always
ready to buy it and make the feathers
up into pillows. In this form the feather
bed has a new and long lease of life.
| People the country over are pillowing
their heads upon feathers that once
soothed the slumbers of Virginia's first
! families.-New York Sun.