86 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



Everybody knows that live geese-feathers are the 

 best. Every one does not think of the reason ; which, 

 as it is the key to the art of having good feathers, we 

 shall propound. 



So long as a bird is alive, the feathers are as much an 

 object of nutrition as the flesh, the bones, or any other 

 part of the body. 



When dead, put them into hot water to make the feathers 

 come easy. In pulling, take out large handfuls at a time, 

 so as to have scraps of meat and shreds of skin adhere 

 to the quill; let them lie for several days in wet heaps 

 to ferment a little. Then dry them suddenly by violent 

 heat, cram them into the bed-tick, and jump on, and if you 

 have not an odorous bed, and, in a month or two, a bedful 

 of visitors seeking food, then there is no truth in the laws 

 of nature. 



The care of beds is not understood, often, by even good 

 housewives. When a bed is freshly made it often smells 

 strong. Constant airing, will, if the feathers are good, and 

 only new, remove the scent. 



A bed in constant use should be invariably beaten and 

 shaken up daily, to enable the feathers to retain their elasti 

 city. 



It should lie after it is shaken up, for two or three hours 

 a day, in a well ventilated room. The human body is con 

 stantly giving off a perspiration ; and at night more than 

 usual, from the relaxed condition of the skin. The bed 

 will become foul from this cause if not well aired. If the 

 bed is in a room which cannot be spared for such a length 

 of time, it should be put out to air two full days in the 

 week. 



In airing beds, the sun should never shine directly upon 

 them. It is air, not heat, that they need. We have seen 

 beds lying on a roof where the direct and reflected rays of 

 the sun had full power, and the feathers, without doubt, 

 were stewing, and the oil in the quill becoming rancid ; so 



