, white-handled and ivory-hafted knives. The one rare item
was the table-fork, which was not common even in England during the
period. "Eating with the knife," a step beyond the use of the fingers,
gradually became an established custom, and the practice has survived
among the homely folks, despite the many varieties of forks available
and in general use today.

The bed was a prominent item and the ticking of the best beds was filled
with feathers, which assured a soft, comfortable, cosy resting place,
especially in winter. There were no springs. The flock bed so often
mentioned was less downy but comfortable, being filled with bits of
wool, rags, milkweed or cattail-fluff, the latter in abundant growth
near the fresh waterways. This was the "next best bed" which was a
sufficiently important item to be left to heirs. Thomas Gibson, in 1652,
bequeathed to his daughter his "best flock bed, with rug (used for
covering), bolster, pillow and fine pair of Holland sheets." Sheets,
variously mentioned, were of canvas or of Holland, generally, the
latter, being an unbleached coarse linen. By the middle of the century,
valances and curtains around the beds "to shut out the night air" were
in general use. As soon as practicable, the English were bringing over
their brass warming-pans with long handles. These perforated pans
filled with warm embers were run in the beds just before the retiring
hour. As the antecedent of the modern American electric blanket, they
enticed the drowsy to bed. Retreating from the cheerful hearth, the
would-be sleeper, then as now, had no fear of being aroused by the
clammy chill of frigid bed-linen.

All colonists appear to have possessed chests of one kind or another,
some plain, some carved. When the early planter obtained sufficient
credit from his tobacco crop to indulge in a luxury, he acquired an
innovation in a chest-of-drawers, where was kept the family clothing and
the supply of materials on hand. Since dress was an important matter in
the Colony, the looking-glass was indispensable. Occasionally, there was
"a great looking-glass," but for the most part, the mirrors were small
and stood on chests or chests-of-drawers.

Stools and benches were in use generally. Chairs, rare in England until
the early part of the seventeenth century, nevertheless, found their way
to Virginia about the time they came into use in England. However,
chairs were scarce, and only the master of the house or his
disti