| "Mr. Worthington has got a Brussels Carpet for the drawing
room two hair bottomed Sophas [sofas], handsome chairs and a mantle glass. James and I among others that
dined there on Thursday last." Nancy Swearingen, 4 January 1818
|
| "The hair of animals is employed in various articles of
furniture. . . . Hair is. . . woven into a cloth for covering chairs and sofas. The best for all purposes
is horse hair; but that from tails of bullocks is also good. . . . The long straight hair is reserved for
weaving into cloth for chair bottoms, for which purpose it is first dyed a deep black. The sating manner
of weaving it is now most generally adopted as the most agreeable and the most durable. Hair is a very
lasting substance, not being liable to decay through ordinary causes. It is insoluble in water, but is
acted upon and dissolved by alkalies; much soap, of course, injures it." (From, Thomas Webster, An
Encyclopaedia Of Domestic Economy
(New York, 1845), p. 221)
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