ON FRESH AIR, 



153 



if the person becomes restless in his sleep, and 

 rolls over upon them, he runs a fair risk of con- 

 tracting rheumatic pains scarcely ever to be 

 removed. Should a man have the terrible mis- 

 fortune to pass the night in a damp bed, he 

 would be much worse off than if he had been 

 condemned to lie on a pismire's nest. These 

 little tormentors w T ould merely blister him, 

 perhaps even with salutary effect; but the 

 humid bed would cause him damage often 

 beyond the power of art or nature to repair. 



Beds have vast attractions ; beds, to wit, of 

 down and roses. But we are not told who has 

 slumbered there the night before. In fact, we 

 never ask the question. Mine hostess assures 

 us that they have been well-aired, but she does 

 not mean that they have been aired by the 

 noonday's healthy sunbeams. She gives you to 

 understand, by saying that the bed has been 

 well-aired, that in fact it has constantly been 

 slept upon by a succession of travellers, of 

 whose health, or the want of it, not the slightest 

 mention is ever made. The last occupier may 

 have been one whose 



" Form was fresher than the morning rose, 

 When the dew wets its leaves ; " 



