to match, these days, in all sorts of
charming colors and designs, if one cares to add a little to the cost.
Over the mattress goes a quilted cotton pad, interlined with one
thickness of cotton batting. Pads can be made at home, or purchased
for $1.25, $1.50, or $1.75, according to the size of the bed. The
unbleached cost 25 cents less. Some housekeepers prefer a flannel pad
as being more porous, and therefore more easily aired. Each bed should
have its own pair of white woolen blankets, an average pair costing
about $5, but a really "worth-while" one is scarcely obtainable under
$12 or $15. A little cotton mixed with the wool is not objectionable,
as it prevents so much of the shrinkage to which wool is liable. Heavy
and uncomfortable "comforts," which supply in weight what they lack in
warmth, are neither desirable nor healthful. Folded across the foot of
the bed should lie the extra covering for cold nights, either an
eiderdown or less costly quilt, daintily covered with cheesecloth,
silkolene, etc.

Two night pillows to a bed are the usual allowance. Good live-goose
feather pillows sell for from $3 to $7, depending on the size, and
should be provided with extra cotton slips, buttoning on, to protect
the tick. The feather bolster has had its day. Its descendant, the
bedroll of hair, paste-board, or _papier mache_, is for ornament only,
and is used as a finish at the head of the bed with fancy draperies or
coverings, which it matches. Shams, too, are going out, with other
things which are not what they seem. The thought of untidiness always
underlies their freshness, and so we prefer to put the night pillows in
the closet during the day and let the bedroll or the day pillows take
their place. If there is a shortage of pillows, the night cases can be
exchanged for pretty ruffled ones of lawn, muslin, dimity, or linen.
If one still clings to shams, corresponding sheet shams should also be
used.

BED DECORATION

There remains yet to be found anything more airily, chastely dainty
than the all-white bed with its plain or fringed Marseilles spread and
its ruffled pillows. Though drapery has a picturesque effect, it
interferes to a certain extent with the free circulation of air, and
affords a lurking place for our insidious enemy--the microbe. If used
at all, it should only be in a large, well-ventilated room, and
sparingly, for a fussy, overloaded bed looks anything but restful. If
considerable colo