72 



OLD WEST SURREY 



An odd-looking contrivance, generally in use in farms 

 in the olden days, was the bed-waggon. It is for warming 

 a large bed, and must have done its work most efficiently. 

 The one shown is three feet long, but they were generally 

 larger. The woodwork is all of oak, the bent hoops passing 

 through the straight rails, which are tied together with round 

 rods. The whole thing is light and strong. A pan of hot 

 embers drops into the trivet, which stands on a sheet-iron 



Bed-Waggon 



tray. Another sheet of iron is fixed under the woodwork 

 above the fire, so that there is no danger of burning the bed. 



This was probably a thing of earlier use than the copper 

 warming-pan, whose well-proportioned hard-wood handle has 

 a look of eighteenth-century design. The hinged lid, prettily 

 pierced and engraved, opened back to the handle. There 

 was an iron liner inside that held the hot embers, for these 

 old warming-pans were always for charcoal or wood-embers, 

 whereas the modern warming-pan, safer to use in all ways, 



