Truckle bed

“ Single beds, wire and hair mattresses, clean and comfortable clothing of woolen and linen, clean uncarpeted floors and pure air, a box or locker for each man, make up a sum of comfort for the lodging of one accustomed only to the blanket and the bunk, which is well nigh perfect, and not to be found for the same person in the most luxurious bed-chamber wealth could provide. ”

“ 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. ”

“ At the Cadet Store, each man is issued his mattress, pillows, and bedding. A long procession of young Atlases, sweating like horses, stagger through the sally-port, bearing aloft everything necessary for sleeping, except the bed. A few zealous ones add 112 to the burden a bucket, perhaps a dipper rattling inside, and a broom that sways recklessly on the top of the mattress. Concealed somewhere in the mass is a bottle of indelible ink that is sure to drop before the room is reached. Standing in the Area are a few of the Wrathful tribe ever on the alert to see that no loitering occurs. ”

“ They found themselves in a hall off of which opened six small bed-rooms. In each was a bedstead of one kind or another, some of iron, some built of pine lumber. There were mattresses on all the beds but on only one was there other bedding. This was in the room the window of which the boys had more than once seen to be open.
A couple of blankets and a pillow were thrown loosely over this mattress. The latter was quite out of its proper position as if it had been placed on the bedstead hurriedly. Looking more closely the lads discovered that the other mattresses were awry. ”

“ If, after all our singles were gone, a couple appeared who wanted a single, we locked the back door of one of the doubles (so they wouldn't think they were getting twin beds for the price of a single, and use both beds!) and rented them the front room as a single. If it were a man alone, however, we didn't bother locking off the back room, as there wasn't much danger that one man would occupy more than one bed. Once, however, we got fooled; after renting a double cabin to a man alone, we found in the morning that both beds had been slept in. ”

“ The bedding for each person should consist of two blankets, a comforter, and a pillow, and a gutta percha or painted canvas cloth to spread beneath the bed upon the ground, and to contain it when rolled up for transportation.
Every mess of six or eight persons will require a wrought-iron camp kettle, large enough for boiling meat and making soup ”

“ I felt at the sides, 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. ”

“ A raincoat with blanket spread over it will form a convenient mattress. Some campers, and the weight of tradition, recommend cedar boughs for a bed, but the art of arranging and sleeping on them has to be acquired. The only kind of boughs or browse that can be comfortably used as the basis for a bed must be fine in quality, otherwise the corners of the boughs will find the bones of the sleeper with infernal ingenuity and make his rest very unsatisfying. Some campers prefer to sleep in hammocks. In some cases where the body is of sufficient length these may be slung from end to end in the car. ”

“ The camper who desires to "rough it" as much as possible and to carry only the necessities will find it quite a comfort to construct the bedding from grass or moss by weaving it in the manner of making a rag carpet, using heavy twine or small rope as the warp. Two stakes are set the width of the bed or mattress to be made, and a cross stick is attached to their tops. Several stakes are set parallel with the cross stick and at a distance to make the length of the mattress. The warp is tied between the tops of the stakes and the cross stick. ”

“ Time used in making a bed is well spent. Never let yourself be persuaded that humps and hollows are good enough for a tired man. If you cut boughs, do not let large sticks go into the bed: only put in the smaller twigs and leaves. Try your bed before you "turn in," and see if it is comfortable. In a permanent camp you ought to take time enough to keep the bed soft; and I like best for this purpose to carry a mattress when I can, or to take a sack and fill it with straw, shavings, boughs, or what not. ”

“ This trench is the "hip hole" and the making of it properly is what renders the bed comfortable. In making the bed the following order should be observed:
(1) spread the rubber blanket;
(2) the blanket spread so that one-half only covers the prepared couch;
(3) then spread the woolen blankets so that the "hip hole" is in the right place;
(4) add the pillow;
(5) fold the blankets over you and pin them with big safety pins across the bottom and along the side.
To Keep Warm
Stewart Edward White in "Camp and Trail" tells how to keep warm when sleeping on the ground: "Lie flat on your back. ”

“ These logs are pushed directly inward as the inner ends are consumed. The outer ends of the logs make excellent seats; sometimes they serve as pillows, especially for old men and women wishing to take afternoon, naps.
Beds and bedding are of far less account to the Seminole family than the camp fire. The bed is often only the place where one chooses to lie. It is generally, however, chosen under the sheltering roof on the elevated platform, or, when made in the lodge, on palmetto leaves. It is pillowless, and has covering or not, as the sleeper may wish. ”

“ 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 centre piece of the bed was of stout canvas, sewn into pipes at the sides, through which the side bars passed. The head of the bed was formed by fixing two uprights in holes made for them, and then fixing a cross bar on their ends to keep them in place. A very thin cocoa-fibre mattress, cocoa-fibre pillow, and three thoroughly good brown blankets, are conveniently packed in a painted canvas bag, with the framework of the bed. Camp beds, of endless variety, are sold by all outfitters ”

“ It is best to lay the foundation of good-sized branches, cover them with smaller ones, and over all place a deep layer of fir twigs broken off the length of your hand and laid shingle-fashion, commencing at the foot of your bed, or the doorway of your shack or tent, each succeeding row of boughs covering the thick ends of the previous row. A properly made bough bed is as comfortable as a mattress, but one in which the ends of the sticks prod your ribs all night is not a couch that tends to make a comfortable night's rest. ”

“ It won’t be so easy to do after dark.”
“Beds,” echoed the girls, staring up at her. It was honestly the first time they had realized the need for beds.
“That’s what I said,” returned Betty, whimsically. “They may only consist of a couple of100 blankets apiece but we can call ’em what we like.”
“What’s in a name?” murmured Grace, adding wistfully: “Oh, my comfy home and my still more comfy bed.”
“Stop it,” commanded Mollie. “You know very well, home was never like this. What if we do have to sleep with nothing but blankets between us and the cold, cold ground for one night? ”

“ If it is a box couch, further economy will be gained by its use as a place to store the bedclothes. But the simplest of all arrangements is a divan bed, formed of springs and mattress alone, and supported on legs nailed to the corners of the spring-frame. Over it a cover should be thrown during the day, and the pillows in use, if there is not room for them elsewhere, should be slipped into covers harmonious in color with the couch drapery. ”

“ When you've slept in holes and on benches, and under freight cars, and hidden away in machine shops, you know there's nothing on God's earth—not a blessed thing—that can take the place of a real sure enough bed with real sure enough sheets and pillow cases on it. ”

“ These tents are quite waterproof and stand weather well, whilst they are very light. [8]
One’s endurance and enterprise are not improved by sleeping on the ground, even on spruce, night after night. The X Compactum bed is a good portable bed, folds up to 3 feet by 5 inches by 5 inches, weight 20 lb., cost 24s. 6d. This, with a sleeping sack, a couple of Hudson Bay No. 4 red blankets, a waterproof sheet 7 feet by 5 feet and a hair pillow, make a good sleeping outfit for a main camp. ”

“ In fact, many white hunters and mountaineers go on long camping trips with insufficient bedding, simply because they are too lazy to carry enough to keep them comfortable. I would rather get into a good warm, soft bed at night without my supper, than eat a feast and then sleep on the hard ground, without covering enough to keep me warm. After a hard day's work a good bed is absolutely necessary to prepare one for the labor and fatigue of the following day. ”

“ In many instances where a customer is interested in investing in good bedding but cannot afford to buy the entire bedroom suite at one time, it may be well to suggest a box spring and mattress on legs with detachable headboard and a small dressing table with detachable skirt. An inexpensive chest of drawers completes the ensemble. Later the box spring and mattress can be used on the regular bed, the dressing table maintained or moved into the guest room, and the chest of drawers used in another part of the house. ”

“ It bears its owner into the public highway. The owner is overwhelmed with fright and dismay at the unexpected development, and indulges in frantic gesticulations as the bed canters merrily down the centre of the road, with the passers-by pursuing the unusual spectacle. The mystery of the Travelling Bed is easily explained. It moves for the simple reason that it is pushed from behind by stage hands. These men are concealed from the camera, which merely records the movement of the bed, the alarm of the owner, and the excitement of the crowd. ”

“ The frowsy old feather bed of one’s infancy has so completely gone out of favour that it is hardly necessary to place one more stone on the cairn of abuse already raised over it by doctors’ and nurses’ hands. A couple of thick mattresses, one of horsehair and one of wool, will make as soft and comfortable a bed as anyone need wish for. ”

“ There is a nice, old-fashioned, round-fronted chest-of-drawers with brass handles in the room, but the most striking detail of its equipment is a stumpy and amazingly abrupt bedstead against the wall, which is just big enough for a big doll. The bedclothes of this eerie little cot are thrown back, and in the centre of the rumpled mattress, in the hollow made by my heroine's recumbent form, curled up in a sublime indifference to the puffing and blowing of its mistress on the hearth, lies a shabby, emaciated, and disgusting cat. ”

“ It is a good idea in every mountain cabin to provide one metal lined closet with floor space the size of a single bed mattress and high enough to store your entire supply of mattresses and bedding, as well as other things you do not wish to go into chipmunks’ and packrats’ warehouses. ”

“ If a double one is used, prepare the side for the confinement which will permit the physician to use his right hand,—that will be the right side of the patient as she lies in bed. One objection to a double bed is its tendency to sag. This tendency can be obviated however by placing an ironing board under the spring from side to side, or by using shelves from a book case. This expedient will support the mattress, thereby rendering the bed firm and free from any sagging tendency. ”

“ Camping equipment is an enigma. A light tent, heavy enough to shed rain, large enough to accommodate all, and not having unwieldy poles, is the first essential; unless cabins, when accessible, or hotels are to be used. Second, enough cots should be provided to accommodate all. Car cushions and car beds are sometimes desirable. Probably the best is the small steel folding double camp bed with springs and a thin mattress. ”