Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-08-31
THE OLD CORDED eEpsrEAp.

Some RecOllectiOns Also of the Straw Bee
and Feather Bed That Went With IT.
A correspondent of the New YorA
Sun writes entertainingly as follows
I'm wondering if there's any such
thing in use nowadays as corded
bedstead. They used to have them
when l was boy--bedsteads that
were corded with rope running back
and forth lengthwise and back and
forth crosswise filling the open space
between the sidepieces and the head
board and endboard with what was
practically very wide-meshed netting
OF cord running at right angles, upon
which the beds were laid; straw bed
first aud on top of that feather bed.
There were ropes made for this use
and sold in the stores under the name
of bedcords; you could buy BEDFORD,
just as you could buy clothesline.
In some bedsteads the BEDFORD was
run through holes in the sidepieces of
the bed and in some it was turned
around stout pegs at intervals in the
top of these parts, the pegs being
made rounding out little at the top,
like pinhead, SO that the cord
couldn't slip of. The BEDFORD was
stout and of good material, but in use
it would stretch some, SO that the bed
would come to sag more or less in the
middle; then we used to tighten the
cord up with bed wrench.
In the course of time the straw in
the straw bed would become broken
and ground up into little bits. Then
we used to take the straw bed down
in the yard and empty tit seems
sort of funny to think of ''emptying"
bed, but that's what we used to do
with the straw beds-and we'd burn
that refuse and buy of the grocer a
bundle or two of straw, according to
the size of the bed and the size of the
bundles, these bundles being great
sheafs of clean, handsome straw tied
around the middle with band of
straw, just like you see sheafs of
wheat in pictures. We used to open
the bundles and put the straw in the
bedsack and spread it around so that
it would be even and of uniform thick
ness, and then sew up the sack again.
In the course of time the slated
bedstead came into common use, and
what tremendous improvement it
wasl The cords used to break, and
instead of getting new one right
away we'd tie knots in 'em, and maybe
Knot would come just so, with the
stretching of the rope, as to come to
hole or peg, so that we couldn't
draw the rope quite tight; or maybe
the rope finally, with repeated break
ings and knottings, got so short that
we had to skip n mesh or two, leaving
an extra large space for the straw bed
perfect order and kept we'll set up the
corded bedstead was all right, but it
wasn't always kept up in that way.
And the bedsats not only gave more
uniform and stable support to the bed,
but they were far less trouble in every
way; you didn't have to buy new Stats
every now and then, nor did you have
to devote more or less time to setting
them up. l don't know of any house
hold improvement of greater value
than the substitution of the Slated for
the corded bedstead.
And beside the Stats we have had
all manner OF springs, cheap as we'll
as costly. We have nowadays mat
tresses of many materials, to say
nothing of those of no material at all,
stuffed, so to speak, with air. Idon't
see any more standing in front of the
grocery store, bundles of straw as
samples, to show that they have straw
in the barn. 1 suppose there are
mighty few people, in these parts at
least, who sleep on straw beds. l
reckon that in remote parts there are
still people who sleep on feather beds,
and maybe they have straw beds un-
der them, quite in the old way, but as
for myself, l have not seen straw
bed nor feather bed these many,
many years.
Verify, have we departed from the
ways of our fathers, and with all re-
spect and reverence for the old ways,
the new ways are vastly better.