VIIL] AND HUSKING. 



to this very hour^ performing their office in an 

 easy chair. In short, all the poorer classes of 

 people in corn countries have scarcely ativ 

 beds but those made of these husks ; and I saw 

 the time in my life when I should never have 

 thought it a hardship to lie in a bed made 

 of the same materials. Only think of the im- 

 mense advantage of having such bedding-mate- 

 rial for mattresses, for the stuffing of cushions, 

 for coaches, and the like, which, being stuffed 

 with hay or straw, soon become nearly as hard 

 as the boards upon which they are placed, with 

 the positive disadvantage of being in lumps, in- 

 stead of being level and smooth. I have not 

 very often ridden in stage-coaches, but if I were 

 a constant traveller in them, J would certainly 

 join in an humble petition to the coach- masters, 

 to remove the grievance of cushions stuffed with 

 hay or straw. Think of the great convenience 

 of children's beds ; think of the application of 

 these things to schools; but, above all things, 

 think of the ease and of the rest to the weary 

 bones of the labourer, obtained from the outsides 

 of the ears of the corn, which have grown in 

 his own garden, and which will largely contri- 

 bute to his food for the year ! 



140. But, now for the " march of mind J' now 

 for something to enchant Doctor Black ; now 

 for the Edinburgh Reviewers, who, by-the-bye. 



