It’s been more than 150 years since “Sleep tight” was not a euphemistic
expression of good will.
Through the 1840s in America, it was quite common to sleep in a rope
bed, that is, a bed frame with stretched ropes supporting the mattress or
bedding. Use of metal supports or springs started to come into fashion before
the mid-19th century.
Such a rope bed required regular adjustment/tightening with a “bed key”
to avoid a sag in the middle of the bed. “Sleep tight” was a friendly
admonition to enjoy a night on a bed with snugged-up ropes giving firm support.
The Sealy Posture-Pedic mattress hadn’t been invented, so you can imagine that
“firm support” wasn’t really the norm.
Sometimes it’s not easy to get a familiar frame of reference for an
historical time period like “the 1840s.”
Here are some hints about that decade, roughly 170 years ago:
U. S. presidents in that era were William Henry Harrison, John Tyler
(of “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” fame), James Polk and Zachary Taylor.
Florida, Texas, Iowa and Wisconsin were admitted as new states in the
federal union.
The California Gold Rush started in 1849.
p.s. here’s the bed key used by Ulysses Grant’s vice-president, Henry
Wilson, who was a resident of Natick, MA. The Natick Historical Society has the
bed key in its museum, see here
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015 All rights reserved.
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