My landlady in Memphis had in her parlor a "swooning couch" she swears was very common in the South. It looked like a very short sofa with one arm missing. Her demonstration of its use resembled closely the one given here. If a lady fell into the sofa at the open end, she could arrange herself so that the upper portion of her body rested on the high arm at the other end, providing a picture of frailty and great vulnerability, that a southern gentleman could not resist. She admitted that she had not used it in years. It would appear that values have changed in the South and nobody sets great store on the artifice of the swoon any more.