is not
known to have come over with him, and probably did not. It was very
likely bought for the use of the Council when he was governor. The
"table-boards" mentioned were laid on "trestles" (cross-legged and folding
supports of proper height), which had the great merit that they could be
placed in any convenient spot and as easily folded up, and with the board
put away, leaving the space which a table would have permanently occupied
free for other use.

Bradford mentions that when the fire of Sunday, January 14., 1621,
occurred in the "common house," the "house was as full of beds as they
could lie one by another." There is a doubt, however, whether this
indicates bedsteads or (probably) "pallets" only. Beds, bedding of all
sorts, pillow-"beers," pillow-cases and even "mattrises," are of most
frequent mention in the earliest wills and inventories. (See Appendix.)
"Buffets," "cupboards," and "cabinets," all find mention in the earliest
writers and inventories, and one or two specimens, for which a MAY-FLOWER
history is claimed, are in possession of the Pilgrim Society and others.
The "White" cabinet, of putative MAY-FLOWER connection, owned by the
Pilgrim Society, is a fine example of its class, and both its "ear marks"
and its known history support the probable truth of the claim made for
it. Of "chests" and "chests-of-drawers" there were doubtless goodly
numbers in the ship, but with the exception of a few chests (or the
fragments of them), for which a MAY-FLOWER passage is vaunted, little is
known of them. The chest claimed to be that of Elder Brewster, owned by
the Connecticut Historical Society, was not improb ably his, but that it
had any MAY-FLOWER relation is not shown. A fragment of a chest claimed
to have been "brought by Edward Winslow in the MAY-FLOWER" is owned by
the Pilgrim Society, and bears considerable evidence of the probable
validity of such claim, but proof positive is lacking. Boxes of several
kinds and sizes were part of the Pilgrims' chattels on their ship, some
of them taking the place of the travellers' "trunks" of to-day, though
"trunks" were then known by that name and find early mention in Pilgrim
inventories, and there were no doubt some upon the Pilgrim ship. A few
claiming such distinction are exhibited, but without attested records of
their origin.

"Andirons, fire-dogs, and cob-irons" (the latter to rest roasting spits
upon) were enumerated among the effects of those early de