Carolyn,
You probably heard the old joke where the comic says, "We were so poor, I 
slept in the same bed with two of my brothers. When it got cold, my mother 
would throw on another brother."
:)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carolyn Bruce" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2012 10:11 AM
Subject: About bedcovers... was inventory


> Quantities of blankets, quilts, and coverlids (a.k.a. counterpanes or 
> "countypins") were necessary in homes in which there was no central 
> heat... and if the fire went out, no heat at all. Most homes were of wood 
> and had no insulating materials. In addition, kinfolks might come to stay 
> awhile, often around the holidays... maybe with numerous children, which 
> would require providing pallets or some form of bedding to be able to 
> sleep everyone comfortably. Straw or corn shucks would be stuffed into 
> "straw ticks" which made rudimentary mattresses that were laid on the 
> floor to accommodate visitors, especially young un's.
>
> My mother told of growing up in a house with all her brothers and sisters 
> (there were ten) at home at one time, sharing beds among them, two or 
> three in a bed. There were two upstairs bedrooms, one for the boys and one 
> for the girls... but come fall of the year, teachers often boarded at 
> their house, and the boys were pushed out into an attic space. Cold 
> wouldn't even come close to describing the conditions. At times it was 
> truly freezing in the bedrooms and they would have to break ice on top of 
> the water in the wash bowl and ewer to wash their faces when they arose.
>
> In the time frame of your "wagoner", it was even colder than in the 20th 
> century, at least in the U.S. and Europe. Around 1700, it was so cold in 
> the area known as Alsace-Lorraine, it is said that birds froze in flight 
> and fell from the sky. Heavy snows fell in most of Europe, and canals and 
> streams froze. Remember Hans Brinker, the poor boy (and his sister) who 
> competed in the traditional speed-skating race from one town to the next 
> on the frozen canal? And all those snowy Currier and Ives prints from that 
> period? That was during a centuries-long dip in temperatures that started 
> in the early 1300s and ended about the mid-1800s... called the "Little Ice 
> Age". So your wagoner would have been most appreciative of having a large 
> stockpile of warm blankets and other bedcovers, as would most of his 
> neighbors.
>
> Thank goodness for central heat.
>
> Carolyn
>
> -- 
> Carolyn HALE BRUCE
> Virginia Beach, VA
>
>
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