Bed Tick

[snowyday]

Bedtick

A bedtick, according to Mr. Webster, is a stout cover or case, which when filled with hair, feathers or the like, forms a mattress, pillow or bolster. Today we are rightly paying great attention to the subject of sleep. A man appreciates the few hours of unconsciousness while he renews his strength. A good many of us could nat stand it if we had to feel for 24 hours every day the way we do when we are awake.

Half a century ago, when folks worked hard enough so they always slept well, a lad expected one of his later autumn Saturday jobs to be filling the bed ticks with fresh crisp oat straw. It wasn’t a particular thrilling job. Mother ripped out the seam at one end of the tick, and then the old broken straw and debris was shaken out. For some reason, Mother always insisted that the ticks be turned inside out and brushed. Always seemed unnecessary to a young man to go through the labor. It was only a matter of time until the same condition would exist again. It was an art to fill the ticks just right. The straw had to be stuffed in tight. All too soon it would flatten out over the rope lacing of the bed. However, in the days when a fellow had a thick feather mattress over the straw tick, it didn’t make much difference. Electric blankets are a good thing, but in the days of yesteryear a man who now creaks in the morning, slept very well on the tick that he filled.

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