Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-04-10
CORD BEDS OF old
Traps In Whose Bubous Depths
Sleep Was 0nce WCoed.
PUTTING ONE UP WAS AGONY.


an Athletic Feat Beside Which a
Wrestling Match Was ChId's Play.
Il came across a bed wrench at
second hand curiosity shop uptown the
I other day" said an old timer land 1t
took me back to the boyhood days at
one jump.
Don't know what bed wrench is?
! OF course you don't. Nobody born OF
! this generation does That's because
they never had to put up cord bed
stead had the privilege OF sleeping in
the bed it held
THE cord bedstead was a joy. Next
| to putting up the stoveppe or putting
down the carpet with the base of
| fatiron for hammer to pound the
! leather headed lacks in with. the as
sembling Of the cord bedstead Of our
dadtiies was the job that called for the
most peremptory giving Of all the
Christian virtues Il vacation until the
! job was done.
The cord bedstead was the favorite
| bedStcad of commerce in those days.
Briefly described. there were four
posts of any height or girth to suit the
person or his pocket. Anywhere from
three to four feet from the floor Il hole
was bored in two sides of each post
| facing each other when the footboard
! and hcadboard posts were stood up to
/ be connected. The holes We're bored
| with Il thread to take the screw out on
! the ends of the connecting pieces at
/ the sides and ends of the hcdStcad.
"Thcsc connecting pieces were round,
| ana on what was to be the top of them
when the hrdstrad was set up was Il
| row of pegs shaped like so many muSh-
| rooms. \ hole about an inch in diane
! ter ran through each of the four con-
| Meeting pieces. When the hedstead was
! assembled by the fitting of the con
Meeting pieces into the holes in the
posts and screwed UP tight and in
| place by means of a stout stick thrust
| through the holes in the round pieces
the bed was ready to be corded up. and
! then the wrench came into play.
| 1.-THE bed wrench was something like
a stout wooden hand wise. The cord.
rope like Il clothesine. but of better
| quality, was run around the mushroom
| like pegs which We're few inches
apart, and lengthwise and crosswise
from connecting piece to connecting
piece. like big meshcd net.
But the cord couldn't be drawn taut
enough with the hands. and so daddy
or big brother Bill. or perhaps the
hired man. grabbed the wrench. tan
! ged it up somewhere in a part of the
cord where the tautenng up process
was to begin and by persistent lever
age around and about the bedstead at
last wrenched the cord to Il condition
| Of satisfactory tautness, and the tn
multi and the shouting died
"For don't 30 away with the idea that
the work of setting up that cord bed
stead was accomplished with the ease
and in the brief time that it takes to
tell about it. 1t generally required two
or three capable persons to tackle the
Job with any hope Of succeeding with
it, for i'm the way of refractory DISPOSE
ton and demoniacaI pcrversity the
| cord bedStead of the daddicS had the
| breechy COW in the garden skinned
/ mile. have known the GOOD wife to
take the children and go down in the
cellar while the old man and his aids
were dalYiug with the cord hedstcad
/ in an effort to set il w and Giving il
their opinion Of it as it W@bhlcd ana
slid and raracHcd and Slddcd ut tense
and critical STAGES If the getting Of il
tuutthpr.
"TIrn when il was all VI good and
solid aud the smell of sulphur got ont
Of the ru0iI mother used to come in
and put thr straw tick uu the wen or
he'd cord lNc tick with the Ljs il in
il where we liilrd it with fresh rye
straw until il looked l.l," "a balloon ali