Eating outdoors makes for good health and long life and good temper,
everyone knows that. The simplest meal seems a gala affair when everyone
is radiant and cheerful, whereas a long and elaborate meal served
indoors is usually depressing.
XIV
THE BEDROOM
In olden times people rarely slept in their bedrooms, which were mostly
_chambres de parade_, where everyone was received and much business was
transacted. The real bedroom was usually a smallish closet nearby. These
_chambres de parade_ were very splendid, the beds raised on a dais, and
hung with fine damasks and tapestries--tapestries thick with bullion
fringes. The horror of fresh air felt by our ancestors was well
illustrated here. No draughts from ill-constructed windows or badly hung
doors could reach the sleeper in such a bed.
[Illustration: AN OLD PAINTED BED OF THE LOUIS XVI. PERIOD]
This was certainly different from our modern ideas of hygiene: In those
days furniture that could not be hastily moved was of little importance.
The bed was usually a mere frame of wood, made to be covered with
valuable hangings which could easily be packed and carried away on
occasions that too often arose in the troublous days of the early Middle
Ages. The benches and tables one sees in many foreign palaces to-day are
covered with gorgeous lengths of velvet and brocade.
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