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Show TDadchjs ifp. Fturij Tale j&T -MARy GRAHAM BQNNEH m writs nri.ni union - THE MATTRESS "It's hard not to get any . appreciation," apprecia-tion," said the mattress to the bedposts. bed-posts. "It is," said the bedposts. They did not say much. They were rather stiff and of few words. "The Dreamland King sends beautiful beauti-ful dreams, I know," the mattress continued. con-tinued. "He deserves the appreciation he gets. I am willing he should get It. Quite willing. "But I don't seem to get any appreciation appre-ciation at all. And many of my family fam-ily suffer In the same way." "Same with our family," said the bedposts. "You see," said the mattress, "people "peo-ple are all tired out when they come to me. They're tired of staying awake. "Or if they are not all tired out at least they are feeling that they need a rest anyway and that a rest will be good for them. . "Or if they do not think that about themselves some one else thinks It for them. "But they look forward to the dreams the Dreamland King may send them. And they don't begin to appreciate ap-preciate that in the first place I make It so comfortable for them that they feel like seeing the Dreamland King and of hearing what he has to tell them. "They hardly ever say a kind word for the mattress and It is just a shame. ' "It is seldom when you get up in the morning that you hear them say: 1 " 'Well, that comfortable mattress is n Joy.' i "No, they speak of a refreshing sleep and of how much better they feel and of pleasant dreams they have had but they don't say a word about me. "Once In a great while some on says when there seems to be no other conversation about if that is the way one speaks of conversation that I'm a good, strong mattress and a comfortable comfort-able one. "But those times are very, very seldom. "Usually they are at dull times, such as housecleanlng time, when maybe I'm given a little bit of the springtime and am allowed out on some benches with a nice green lawn beneath and a nlca blue sky above. "1 need that little bit of springtime for my life Is not very joyous when you think that hardly a pleasant thing Is ever said of me when I keep on giving giv-ing all the rest and ease I can." "They don't speak of us," said the bedposts. "And yet they'd be In a pretty pret-ty state of affairs if It weren't for us. "They wouldn't like to be on the ground, or on the floor. "We're quite sure of that. Yet they don't say a friendly word for the bed- A Little Bit of the Springtime. posts standing so straight and keeping them safe from falls. "But we're forgiving. Even if they don't appreciate us we will never let them fall." "No," said the mattress. "And neither will I do any other way than I have always done. "Besides, you very seldom see anything any-thing else, poor bedposts, and I do get aired,' as they call It, out the window. "Yes, I get a whiff of air and my mattress self feels much better for it And I'm changed and turned over every day or so, and that ts a great comfort. "I don't like being In just the same position all the time. "No mattress does. But I still think that a mattress Is treated pretty badly when It gets so little credit for what it does. "But then, alas, such Is life I And I'd rather be a mattress than bedposts. bed-posts. I like a lying-down position. I could never bear It standing up all the time." "But we wouldn't want to be lying down," the bedposts said. "After all, there Is something to be said In our favor. And we wouldn't want to be fire-escapes and exposed to nil kinds of wentlier." "I suppose the flre-esnipes would hate to be Indoors nil the time," the mattress said. "Yes, we nil have our complaints, hut I don't suppose, when It comos right down to It, we'd want to change places with anyone. I wouldn't even want to change places with the Dreamland King. I could never be so adventuresome, nor have so m;my "ideas !" |