The selection of beds and the details of their equipment are the test of the competent home maker. A provision for comfort in sleeping rooms would, perhaps, receive more attention if we realised that fully one-third of a life-time is spent there. In the course of three-score years fully twenty, even if with only moderate sleeping, are passed in bed.

In the earliest history of beds, among the people of the East, a mattress was the only article used. This was spread out on the ground or floor when repose was sought, and afterward folded up and laid away. The Greeks at an early period had four-post bedsteads, and added to them afterward a head and foot board.

The Romans exceeded the Greeks in luxury and splendour, making their beds of state with tortoise-shell and ivory, with gold and silver legs.

The Britons, when conquered by Caesar, slept on skins, after the manner of the North American Indians, using later sacks of straw as mattresses. The house of the ancient English gentleman was not, as a general thing, provided with bedrooms. A chamber or shed was built against the wall that enclosed the mansion and its dependencies, and in this little cell the lord and his lady slept. The young men of the house slept on tables and benches in the great hall, with woolen coverlids and blankets for warmth, and servants and attendants slept on the floor. Later, in the time of the Tudors, the four-post bedstead, an immense piece of furniture having a canopy supported by tall posts, one at each corner, became the fashionable sleeping couch.

The four-post bedstead came over to America with the early settlers and was in favour till the early nineteenth century, when a rather low curved head and footboard - sometimes designated as the sleigh bed - appeared. Then followed a period when clumsy workmanship, tall headboards, ornate carving and heavy ornamentation made our bedsteads anything but desirable for the chamber. In the reaction against this excessive bed decoration, the open bed almost went out of existence and folding beds of every description were transformed from bureaus, bookcases, wardrobes, washstands, writing desks and sofas. A further change brought the metal bed into general esteem, and its simple lines, sanitary surfaee and adaptability to all kinds of furniture and almost any colour scheme have kept up its popularity.

The iron bed is usually enamelled in white paint, but any colour may be applied that is most fitting. Black-painted beds with brass trimmings are sometimes seen, but the effect is not pleasing. The brass knobs that are attached to the posts of the white iron bed often become loosened with frequent handling and the finish soon wears off. That these knobs arc not essential to a good construction is shown by a new style of bed with rounded head and foot. This shape is also made in the brass.

A BEDROOM WITH TWIN BRASS BEDS.

The ordinary finish for a brass bed is a lacquer that makes polishing unnecessary. When the lacquer is worn off the bed may be sent to the manufactory for a fresh coating. A dull brass finish can be given a brass bed at a slight increase of expense if it is desirable to match the hardware in the room - chandeliers or gas or electric brackets, door knobs, andirons and fire-pieces.

Although metal beds are so much in demand, wooden ones are still in evidence. The head and foot boards are now plain almost to severity, often following the style of other pieces of mission work that find their way to the bedroom. Mahogany beds are reproduced from colonial models, with the tester and posts ready for draping, or with slender columns and low foot boards. Birch, maple, French walnut, oak, ash and pine, enamelled white or covered with a coloured paint, are employed in making bedsteads to match the bureau, washstand, night table, chiffonier and chain of the modern bedroom. In chambers occupied by two persons it is customary to provide two single beds in place of one of double size, and special designs far these "twin beds" are manufactured.

The comparatively large outlay for the Springs and mattress of a bed is justified by their long wear and large measure of comfort. Spiral springs arc acknowledged to be the most resilient, but well-made woven wire springs are sometimes preferred. Feather mattresses are no longer in use as bedding. The regular full-sizc hair mattress is four feet six inches by six feet four inches, and five inches thick. Thirty-five pounds of hair are needed to fill this size. A mattress for a full-sized bed wears better and is easier to handle if it is made in two pieces. One part should be the width of the bed square, the other the remaining length.

Hair for the mattress is of two grades, pure South American and "drawings." The first comes from the manes of wild southern horses, and after it reaches this country it is sorted from the tail hair or "drawings" and cleaned, cured and curled to acquire the necessary life and elasticity. Sometimes horse hair is combined with hog and goat hair and sold as mixed hair at cheaper rates than the pure article. Cotton and felt mattresses are made now and used in some households in preference to hair, and each variety has its adherents.

An iron or brass bedstead becomes a more decorative feature in a chamber when it has a pretty canopy over the head. The old-fashioned close shrouding of the four-poster is too unhygienic for our enlightened days, but there is often a real need for a slight protection from currents of air. Fixtures of iron and brass for holding a canopy are made separate from the bed to be added at any time.

In a room with white-painted woodwork, flowered wall paper and white muslin curtains, a canopy of cretonne that matches the wall paper contributes a dainty touch. With darker and heavier woodwork the canopy looks better of linen taffeta or printed linen. With the right selection of design one may almost literally sleep in a bed of roses.

The outfit for a bed consists of a lightweight cotton pad to lay over the mattress, pillows, sheets and pillow eases, blankets, comfortable and spread. Sheets and blankets should be of generous Length to tuck in well at the bottom of the bed and at the sides. The comfortable may be folded and laid on the outside. A down spread is the Lightest and warmest, but cotton-filled spreads with a cover of silkoline or cheesecloth are ordinarily selected.

The covering for a bed during the daytime can be made one of the effective touches to the sleeping room. It may be of cretonne to match the window hangings or the wall paper, or it may be of plain linen embroidered by hand. A delicate ornamentation may be put on with a stencil, using paints that when dried are capable of being laundered. Lace spreads with a lining of sateen or silk are still in existence and also the spreads of Marseilles and dimity.

TWIN MAHOGANY BEDS AN ANTIQUE FOUR-POSTED BEDSTEAD.

A bolster roll of pasteboard or light wood is covered with material to match the spread and laid at the head of the bed during the day-hours while the night pillows are put away in the closet. If the pillows are left in place and laid flat a straight length of cretonne or linen, finished with an edge of white braid, may be laid over them - a sensible and practical treatment.

When a valance is attached to either wood or metal beds it assists in the dainty furnishing of the room. An opaque dimity in white or colours is to be found for valances, and it may be added also for the bed and pillow spreads, or cretonne, art ticking or linen taffeta may be used. The open head and foot of the metal bed may demand a slight protection from drafts, and the material selected for the spread may be tacked to a square of cotton batting and hung by tapes from the upper rod.

When a room must serve the double purpose of a sleeping and sitting place, an open bed may have to be discarded for some kind of a divan. If space is small a box lounge with the lifting spring to facilitate moving the lid will hold the bed coverings during tin-day. A plain frame fitted with spiral springs and laid with a good mattress makes a comfortable bed at night and a lounge at other times. The cheapest substitute for a lounge and bed in combination is the woven-wire cot with a mattress. To prevent the sagging of the middle part a row of spiral springs has recently been added.