Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 April 1896 — Wooden Defenses. [ARTICLE]

Wooden Defenses.

Life was very insecure In mediaeval times. It was usual for people to. sleep on a bed which was surrounded by sides of board, with strong posts at the four corners. These sides contained sliding doors, which could be fastened inside. When men retired to rest they took a weapon with them. If attacked in the night, they were aroused by the noise made by the crashing In of their wooden defenses, and were able to defend themselves. When the law became strong enough to protect human life, the sides of the bedstead were gradually dispensed with, but the four posts remained. The box-like bed still survives in the rural parts of Scotland, and Is almost necessary where the earthen floors and imperfect ceilings cause much damp. Emily Bronte in “Wuthering Heights,” describes one of these feedateads in the okt mansion as forming a “little closet.”