Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1886 — Old-Fashioned Beds. [ARTICLE]

Old-Fashioned Beds.

Two hundred years and more ago the beds in England were bags filled with straw or leaves, but not upholstered or squared with modern neatness. The bag could be opened and the litter remade daily. There were few bedrooms in the houses of ancient England. The master and mistress of the AngloSaxon house had a chamber or shed built against the wall that inclosed the mansion and its dependencies; their daughters had the same. Young men and guests slept in the great hall, which was the only noticeable room in the house, on tables or benches. Woolen coverlids were provided for warmth; poles or hooks on which they could hang their clothes projected from the wall; perches were provided for their hawks. Attendants and servants slept upon the floor.