Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-25
By George Bancroft Griffith

4 be made of beds and
| bedsteads. All we know of
| the size and stature of Og,
King of Bashan, is the fact that his bedstead
| was thirteen and half feet long and SIX feet
| wide; but historical critics have intimated that
| in his time warike chiefs had the vanity to
make their bedsteads much larger than was
necessary,-on purpose to give terrible
/ impression of their size, In case their camp
furniture should fall into an enemy's hands.
! 1t is not known that there is any form of bed
| stead, from the four poster to the French, that
| may not be found described by writers or repre-
| sented in works of art. Ulysses manufactured
one for himself of olive wood inlaid with gold
and ivory The bed rested sometimes on
boards laid across the frame, on thongs OF
| oxhide stretched over one another, or on a
netting of cord Plato speaks of bedsteads
made of solid silver; Athen9us describes them
| as made of ivory and embossed with beaut1-
fully wrought figures; and Lucian has them
veneered with Indian tortoise shell, maid
with gold. In Thessaly beds were stui1ed
with fine grass
According to Athenaus, effeminate gentle
men sometimes slept on beds OF sponge.
Fashionable people in Athens slept .;.n under der
feathers on. Clearchus. the author of a treatise
on sleep, describes the bed of Paphian prince
in such way that one can hardly keep ms
eyes open while reading of it.. Over the SOFT
mattresses. supported by silver footed bed
stead was flung a short grained Sandman
carpet of the most expensive kind. A coverlet
| of downy texture succeeded, and upon TINS
was cast costly counterpart OF Amorgin1an
purple Cushions varlegated with the rlchest
purple supported his head while two SOFT
| Dorian pillows of pale pink gently raised his
| feet"
| One of the greatest improvements introduced
| by the Greeks into the art of sleeping was the
practice of undressing before going to bed.-a
| thing unheard of until hit upon by their IN
ventive genius. Bed coverings were often
| perfumed with fragrant essences from the
| East. Counterpanes were not only perfumed;
but embroidered with figures OF animals and
men. The luxury of laziness was celebrated
| by Ephippus:
| How l delight
| To roll upon the dainty coverlets,
Breathing the perfume of the rose and stepped
In tears of myrrh!
Theocritus speaks of:
Carpets of purple. softer far than sleep.
| Woven in Milesian looms"
| One is reminded of the fir pillow fad in read
| ing that, During the Middle Ages beds were
| made of coarse canvas and filled with straw or
leaves These could be opened and the litter
remade daily, as is the custom to-day with
mattresses in the old fashioned inns OF France
and Italy"
In the time of Chaucer we are told that, AS
a general thing in old England the young men
| of the house and the guests slept on tables
and benches in the great hall, where wooden
coverlets and blankets were provided tor
warmth. Servants and attendants slept on the
| floor"
Later on, in the time of the Tudors, the
| four post bedstead, an immense piece of
furniture having a canopy supported at each
corner by the posts. became the fashionable
sleeping couch. On some of the earlier bed
steads the columns terminated with figures
representing the four evangelists In me-
dieval ballad there is mention made of II the
| four gospelers on the four pillars, and heads of
! angels all of one mold" The invocation still
| in use in some of the English country places
| is an echo of this old custom.
| Matthew. Mark, Luke. and John,
/ Bless the bed that l sleep on!
/ Two. angels at my head,
| Four angels round my bed
| Two to watch and two to pray,
And two to carry my soul away"
| Coming down to modern times, it is noted
that the stature of the tallest distinguished
American (for the late General Scott was taller
| than Lincoln) was never beled by his bedstead.
| That article of furniture was more likely to be
too short than too long.
| Everyone has noticed the heroic size at
tributed to General Winfield Scott in his
| statues and portraits. Few of them are exag
gerations of his real proportions. He six
feet four and half inches high, and perfectly
formed. In his full dress uniform he presented
a superb appearance. 1t is said that the
diminutiye Mexicans were awe struck when