The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-11-19
NEEDS BED

How the Got Him in IL
Queer Fix.
Even though the school year is over,
the boys of Orange Military Academy
are not through talking about Ned
Bartlett's folding bed.
Ned entered the academy last fall as
a freshman. 1t w;s the first time he
had been away from home; but he felt
quite able to take care of himself. His
room was at the top of d big brick
building, and it had M small window
looking out over the drilling campus.
When Ned first saw it he said:
"WheW, but this is a box of Il place;
hardly room enough in it to urn
%around!'
And when he and his roommate were
both inside with their trunks II va
Uses, Ned declared that if any visitors
came they'd have to invite them to a
seat on the table. Ned was of an in
ventive urn of mind, and he resolved
to make room in some way. In order
to do this some of the furniture would
have to beermoved, and the two boys
agreed that the bed, as taking up the
most room, was the most Objectionable.
But when the captain in charge of the
dormitory was appealed to he refused
to listen to a proposition to purchase a
folding bed
"If we give you one," he said, well
have to supply every Il in the hail.
1t was then that the bright idea
popped into Ned's head.
"Ill make one myself" he declared.
The student swere allowed to
ment tehir rooms, and under this per-
mission Ned bought n set of ordinary
woven-wire bed springs. To the floor
near the wall he fastened two strong
cleats, and bolted to them arms about
twenty inches long. The other ends of
these arms he bolted to the ends of the
springs about fifteen inches from the
inner side. Then on the other side of
the springs he fastened two stout legs.
This made an ideal folding bed, ac-
cording to Ned, for when it was drawn
down it was as big as an ordinary bed,
and it could be easily folded up with
all the clothes against the wall.
When it was finished Ned draped cur
tain cloth, so that the bed would be
hidden when not in use, and thus leay-
ing plenty of floor space in the little
room. All the boys came in to admire
the wonderful bed, and see it work and
learn how it was made.
For two or three nights the room
mates slept in it without accident. But
one Friday evening Ned was alone,
Bert having gone out to al entertain
ment. Feeling sleepy, the wonderful
bed was let down, and presently Ned
rolled into it, and, in a spirit of fun,
kept on rolling until he bumped against
the wall. In an instant, Bert not being
there as usual to hold down the front
side, the bed shut up like a jack-knife.
Ned's nose rubbed hard against the
wall proper, and all the bed-clotheS
came tumbling down on top of him, At
first he laughed at the queer fix he was
in; but when he tried to get out and
found that he couldn't, he began to
grow alarmed. He couldn't get under
the edge of the springs-there wasn't
room, nor could he get the bed open,
nor could he crawl out at either end.
The more he struggled the more SuffO-
eating became the bed-clothes. And
presently he began to shout for help.
But his voice was so muffled that no
n heard him. After five minutes of
this kind of struggling Ned had made
up his mind that he would die in his
patent Deu, ana already ne was gasp
ing hard for breath. But just as he
felt his consciousness going the door
opened and his roommate came in. At
first Bert saw nothing wrong, but pres
emily he heard a muffled cry, accompa-
MED by a loud c%reaking of the bed
Help, help!" cried Ned's voice.
Bert ran to the bed and tried to pull
it down
"Don't" shouted Ned, family; you'll
mash my head
In terror Bert ran, shouting, into the
hall. The young cadets swarmed out of
their rooms and ran to Bert's help. Sev-
eral of them took hold of Ned's leg and
arm, and by main force lifted him up
until the bed could be opened. When
he was at last free Ned dropped down,
pale and more dead than alive.
And all the boys who had resolved
to have beds like Ned's concluded they
would not .
But Ned invented an anchor to keep
the front side of the spring down, and
has slept in his patent folding bed
ever since.