Mattress

“ A hard mattress beneath a sheet is the sole furniture of the huge four-poster, surrounded by thick muslin curtains to exclude air and creeping things; pillows are stuffed hard with cotton-down, and no coverings are provided—an unalterable custom possessing obvious disadvantages in a climate reeking with damp, where the walls of a room closed for a day or two become green with mould. ”

“ I was mechanically stirring the saucepan full of broth I had prepared, lost in these golden thoughts, when the Frenchman suddenly sat up on his mattress.
"Ha!" cried he, sniffing vigorously, "I smell something good—something I am ready for. There is no physic like sleep," and with that he stretched out his arms with a great yawn, then rose very agilely, kicking the clothes and mattress on one side and bringing a bench close to the furnace. ”

“ All the while, through the beating of the wool, the two sticks beaten against each other play a distinct air, and each mattress-maker has his own, handed down from his forefathers, ending with a whole chromatic scale as the shorter stick swoops up the length of the longer to sweep away the lingering wool. Thus the whole mattress is transferred from a sodden heap to a high and fluffy mountain of carded wool, all baked by the heat of the sun.
The man has a hundred attitudes, full of grace. He works with a skill which is a conscious pleasure ”

“ Nothing so healthy as a mattress, nothing so good in every way. Mattresses are certainly cheaper, and there it ends. I maintain that no modern invention approaches the feather-bed. People try to persuade me to eat the coarsest part of flour—actually the rejected part—and to sleep on a mattress; that is to say, to go back about twenty thousand years in civilisation. ”

“ I felt at the side, and discovered that what had appeared to me from beneath to be the ordinary light canopy of a four-post bed was in reality a thick, broad mattress, the substance of which was concealed by the valance and its fringe. I looked up and saw the four posts rising hideously bare. In the middle of the bed-top was a huge wooden screw that had evidently worked it down through a hole in the ceiling, just as ordinary presses are worked down on the substance selected for compression. The frightful apparatus moved without making the faintest noise. ”

“ The sheets had been spread neatly over the mattress, but the bolster and pillows had evidently been tossed in place, for they had assumed grotesque shapes and to her excited imagination it seemed as if some human form lay sprawled across the bed. ”

“ The second series of folderies to which the novice was initiated concerned themselves with his bedding. This consisted of a mattress, three blankets and a pillow. It is an outfit at which no one need turn up his nose. I never spent a bad night in army blankets, though when out on leave I am sometimes a victim of insomnia between clean cold sheets. But the moment the Réveillé uplifted you from your couch, that couch had to be made ship-shape according to rule. No finicky "airing"! The mattress must be rolled up, with the pillow as its core, and placed at the end of the bed. ”

“ Do you think this household is so carried on that one lies about on ragged mattresses and sleeps, until a little one, who is far from old enough to turn a mattress, thinks of coming to ask 'does not this one or that one have a ragged mattress' on his bed? Yes, Sally, what cobwebs you do have in your head. ”

“ The purpose of an inner-spring mattress is to supply maximum resilience and buoyancy, plus independence and freedom of action which will enable the mattress to adjust itself immediately to the varying weights of the different parts of the body. Learn why the coils in the springs will not turn, will not push through the upholstery, will not collapse and entangle themselves one with another, and why they will give service for many years. Having learned these things yourself, study the art of making that clear to your customer. ”

“ Then your mattress will wear evenly, and not have a hollow in the middle where [120] you sleep all the time. Then you two will lay the mattress cover straight, and tuck it in firmly, so that you will have no hard wrinkles to sleep on. The under sheet, smooth and straight, must be tucked in all around. You will make the bed as smooth as the table. Now the upper sheet, which is the hardest thing to manage in bed making, must be neatly tucked in at the foot. But you must allow eight inches at the top to be turned over the blankets and spread. ”

“ I know what these occasional visitors beheld, because it, too, I have seen with my own eyes: seen the two balayeurs staggering downstairs with a bed (consisting of a high iron frame, a huge mattress of delicious thickness, spotless sheets, warm blankets, and a sort of quilt neatly folded over all) ; seen this bed placed by the panting sweepers in the thoroughly cleaned and otherwise immaculate cabinot at the foot of the stairs and opposite the kitchen, the well-scrubbed door being left wide open. ”

“ There I find plenty of finest linen and the clean odor which should always sanctify bedrooms. Canvas stretchers across the cot-like bedsteads make a delightfully cool and clean mattress. Carefully embroidered pillow-cases endeavor to excite our admiration, and brightly colored pictures of saints and martyrs on the wall, our devotion.
At three comes a Spanish jumble of sounds which mean, “Dinner is ready.” We walk out on a back piazza, overlooking the pretty courtyard with its shrubs and flowers, while we are sheltered from the sun by thickly-growing and blossoming vines. ”

“ How these six-foot men can sleep in any comfort in five-foot beds is a mystery. The mattress is a well stuffed feather bed, the coverlet is of eider down. The down is stuffed into a tick like a pillow and like a pillow it has a white case. One virtually sleeps between two feather beds. In the nightly struggles to kick the foot board out of my short bed, the overgrown pillow, used as a blanket, often fell to the floor and sometimes as a last resort to straighten out, I followed the coverlet to the floor, used it for a mattress and with a steamer rug slept in peace. ”

“ The padded mattress on which lay the feather-bed has been replaced by the “wire-mattress,” a network of wire stretched on a light wooden or iron frame, which is either a separate structure or a component part of the bedstead itself. The “wire-mattress” has taken the place of the “spring mattress,” in which spiral springs support the stuffing. The term “mattress” is used in engineering for a mat of brushwood, faggots, &c., corded together and used as a foundation or as surface in the construction of dams, jetties, dikes, &c. ”

“ A third corner of the paillasse was rudely grasped by a six-foot combination of yellow hair, red hooligan face, and sky-blue trousers; assisted by the undersized tasseled mucker in Belgian uniform, with a pimply rogue's mug and unlimited impertinence of diction, who had awakened me by demanding if I wanted coffee. Albeit completely dazed by the uncouth vocal fracas, I realised in some manner that these hostile forces were contending, not for the possession of the mattress, but merely for the privilege of presenting the mattress to myself. ”

“ The bed should be so placed that it can be reached from either side by the nurse and physician. The mattress may be reenforced by the placing of a board under it if there is a tendency to sag in the middle. Over this mattress is securely pinned the strip of rubber sheeting or table oilcloth. A clean sheet covers mattress and rubber cloth and at the spot where the hips are to lie may be placed the large sterile pad to absorb the escaping fluids. The floor about the bed is protected by newspapers or oilcloth. Good lighting should always be provided. ”

“ HEAL & SON'S SPRING MATTRESSES.—The most durable Bedding is a well-made SPRING MATTRESS; it retains its elasticity, and will wear longer without repair than any other mattress, and with one French Wool and Hair Mattress on it is a most luxurious Bed. ”

“ A wool-filled comforter, or double woolen blanket, placed over the mattress and under the sheet will contribute greatly to one's warmth. If the mattress is of proper thickness one can be comfortable with less covering and therefore less weight. However, I would suggest as a better plan the one that I have presented of sleeping in a virtual air bath the whole night through.
The use of a pillow is necessary in nearly all cases. When one is sleeping on his back a pillow is certainly an objectionable feature. It tips the head forward and is conducive to round shoulders. ”

“ For sleeping, a mattress is a mistake, as the same weight of blankets are as soft, more easily aired and packed, and can be used for warmth if needful. Take six blankets, laid one on the other and then folded over down the middle, and there are twelve thicknesses, of which three or four will serve for warmth above, and eight or nine for softness below, and the wind cannot get in on the turned-over side. ”

“ Section 1 of the act prescribes the following definitions:
'Mattress' means 'any quilted pad, mattress, mattress pad, mattress protector, bunk quilt or box spring, stuffed or filled with excelsior, straw, hay, grass, corn husks, moss, fibre, cotton, wool, hair, jute, kapok, or other soft material.' 'Pillow,' 'bolster,' or 'feather bed' means 'any bag, case, or covering made of cotton or other textile material, and stuffed or filled with' any filler mentioned in the definition of 'mattress,' or with feathers or feather down. ”

“ The mattress used to be the favourite place for your economies. If it is not used now it is simply to save the waste of good ticking which always followed a death. Now it will be a hole under the hearthstone, or in the thatch, or a cache under the third gooseberry bush as you go down the garden. ”

“ Place on the woven wire spring a good mattress either all cotton, or of straw with cotton top and bottom. Over this spread one of the washable pads which come for the purpose, then the sheets—unbleached if one prefers—the inexpensive colored blankets, and a honeycomb spread. One feather pillow of average size will be sufficient. When two servants occupy a room two single beds should be provided. If there is no closet, make a temporary one by means of a shelf and curtain. An attractive room carries with it a subtle and refining influence. ”

“ Remove pillows and bedclothes, one at a time, being careful not to let corners drag on the floor, and put to air. Turn the mattress over from end to end one day, and from side to side next day. If the patient does not have to return to bed at once leave to air for at least half an hour.
An old blanket, old spread or a quilted pad, spread over the mattress not only protects the mattress but prevents the sheets from wearing out, and may make the bed more comfortable. These should be kept clean.
The bed for a sick person is frequently made with a rubber sheet and a draw sheet. ”

“ The next step in building the mattress is even more simple and expeditious. A basket of long bobbins of roughly spun cotton was near the grandmother and probably her handiwork. The father took from the wall a slender bamboo rod like a fish-pole, six feet long, and selecting one of the spools, threaded the strand through an eye in the small end. With the pole and spool in one hand and the free end of the thread, passing through the eye, in the other, the father reached the thread across the mattress to the boy who hooked his finger over it, carrying it to one edge of the bed of cotton. ”

“ A feather-bed lets no cold reach you from below, and a box-mattress is often nearly as good a protection, but an ordinary mattress, even a good one, is very likely to let the cold through. If you don’t use a comforter under the sheet, for the sake of the mattress and for greater softness to the body, put one there for warmth. If this is not enough, spread several layers of newspaper or wrapping paper between this comfort and the mattress. It will crackle under your weight for a time, but it will keep you warm and cosy. ”

“ The bed may be of straw, even, and still, if full, fresh, and well-made, be every way sufficient for comfort and health,—better, indeed, than a poor or long-used mattress of any sort;—a mattress of hair, cotton, or wool makes a complete bed. A feather bed is the worst of all. Whatever the bed may be, it should remain open and airing whenever the patient is out of it for any length of time; hence the bed-room should not be the sitting-room when avoidable. ”

“ We've got one mattress left. What do you say?"
He's standing there now holding the mattress with the ticking sticking out. I don't think one torch will get us through. But it will be worth a try for one more look at the sun. ”

“ It avoids the mattress to pursue the iron of the bed, glances off the windows to glide over the curtain-rods, or the lead of the sash. It has been seen to penetrate thick walls to reach the iron safes hidden behind them. ”

“ We are getting quite used to a life shorn of most of its trappings, except for the two hotel meals a day.
My mattress, on the floor along the very low large window, with two rugs and cushions, and a holdall for a bolster, is as comfortable as any bed, and you don't miss sheets after a day or two. There is one bathroom for 120 or more people, but I get a cold bath every morning early. ”

“ Wire net springs are probably as good as can be got, and a feather bed under the mattress is an improvement to the best modern bed, if properly aired, turned and shaken daily. Mattresses should be remade and their contents pulled lightly apart before they grow matted or ridgy. Curled hair mattresses are, of course, the best, but English flock, excelsior, and straw, all make respectable beds, and can be made easier by covering them with thick comfortables or blankets, under the sheet. It is quite worth while to make slip covers for mattresses. ”

“ The head of the bed may be placed against the wall, but both sides must remain freely accessible not only at the time of delivery but also throughout the lying-in period.
A smooth, firm mattress, made in one piece, should be provided. One which has been used several years and possibly worn in a hollow will require renovation to be made comfortable. A feather bed should not be used under any circumstances. ”