THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



51 



teeth chattered and his limbs shivered until the 

 very bed shook under him — when, in almost 

 speechlees affright, the honest son of Erin broke 

 away in affright and came running down stairs, 

 as if pursued by "Gorgonsdire" — crying as he 

 ran, " Oh ! Mr. Boons is about to depart ! Mr. 

 Boons is about to depart /" It was my business 

 on these occasions to go to the neighbor with 

 whom the knight of the birch boarded, for the 

 time, to ascertain if he had yet u missed his 

 chills," and was ready to resume the tripod and 

 the ferrule ; and never shall I forget how my 

 heart rejoiced when I was told that he was yet 

 in the gripe of Esculapius — and how, when 

 there came a nipping frost, it sunk within me, 

 on being answered that " school will begin again 

 on Monday morning /" 



Oh ! miserable hours and days spent per force 

 in the company of those odious sages, Bilworth, 

 and Erasmus, and Ovid, and Virgil, and Sallust, 

 and Casar! Oh halcyon days of hare and 

 coon hunting, and snare and trap setting, and 

 sleighing and snow-balling ! compound of bitter 

 and of sweets ! who would not go back to the 

 days and the play-grounds of his childhood, 

 were it possible — 



"And, as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue 

 Pants to the place, from which at first she flew, 

 I still had hopes, my long vexations past, 

 There to return— and die at home at last." 



I doubt not, Mr. Editor, that both you and 

 your readers will be well pleased that I have 

 not time to pursue my hasty commentaries on 

 your January number. 



Calvert. 



From those who are conversant with the 

 style of " Calvert," the veil of an anonymous 

 signature is too thin to conceal the features of 

 one of the most elegant and experienced contri- 

 butors to the agricultural literature of America. 

 We hope he will find time not only " to pursue 

 his commentaries on the January number," but 

 to review every other number of the Planter as 

 it is hereafter issued. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 BEDS— COMFORTERS— MINCE-PIES. 



Mr. Printer, — I don't often spend a night from 

 home, but last July I went to see a neighbor, 

 richer than John and I. A rain kept me there 

 all night. They put me to sleep in a room right 

 well aired, but in a feather bed ? The night was 

 very hot, and you may be sure I suffered ! 



Isn't it wonderful that people should know so 

 little about comfort, as to sleep in feather beds 

 in summer? In all the houses I go to, some 

 richer and some poorer than ours, I see none but 



feather beds. Now, I have been sleeping, win- 

 ter and summer, upon a matress made of corn- 

 shucks, with layers of wool, and upon my word, 

 I would not give it up, and sleep on a feather 

 bed, for fifty dollars a year. The feathers heat 

 you too much in warm weather, and at all 

 times, they let the body bend so in their mushy 

 hollows, that it is filled with aches and cramps. 

 Dr. Mason says, (and John calls him my ora- 

 cle,) that in bilious fever neighborhoods, people 

 who sleep on matresses like mine, or hair ma- 

 tresses either, or nice straw beds, are a great 

 deal less apt to have the fever, than people who 

 sleep in feather beds. He says the feathers re- 

 lax the system, make the sweat excessive and 

 irregular, and disorder the digestive organs. — 

 (You see I've learn't some of the Doctor's hard 

 words.) 



John went to Middlesex last summer, and 

 says they almost sweated him to death in their 

 feather beds. They have a fever harvest there 

 every September. Such a matress as mine, any 

 woman can make, with a little help from her 

 husband. I made mine. One can be bought 

 for six or eight dollars. I hear that at the Ex- 

 change Hotel, and all the most fashionable 

 houses, they sleep only upon matresses. 



Now, about comforters. There are many Vir- 

 ginia people, quite -well off in the world, who 

 won't buy blankets, through " economy," as they 

 call it. There are others who can't afford to 

 buy them ; some, through real poverty, and 

 some because they can't spare the money from 

 their grog-shop allowance. Most of these peo- 

 ple cover their beds with guilts. I would almost 

 as lieve have a sheet of iron spread over me, as 

 one of these quilts — it is so cold and heavy. — 

 There's a philosophy about this, as there is about 

 ripe bread. Quilting the bats of cotton in the 

 quilts, with such close rows of stitches, makes 

 it solid and compact, so that it conducts away 

 the heat of the .body. For things close-grained, 

 or compact, are conductors of heat ; while things 

 that are spongy, or open, like locks of wool or 

 cotton, are wow-conductors of heat. Now, I can 

 tell these frugal people how they may have co- 

 verlets for their beds, a great deal warmer, and 

 cheaper too, than bedquilts. 



Take three pounds of cotton, carded in bats. 

 Lay them smoothly and regularly over a sheet 

 of cotton or cheap calico ; spread over them 

 another sheet, and stitch the two sheets to- 

 gether by long, easy stitches, in rows at least 

 eight or ten inches apart. The stitching is only 

 to keep the bats in place. Bind the edges with 

 any thing you please. You will find such a 

 comforter warmer than three blankets. And 

 five pounds of cotton, carded into light, loose 

 bats, will make it too warm to sleep under, ex- 

 cept in the coldest weather. 



All clothing warms us, not by any warmth 

 of its own, but by confining to our bodies the 



