The night's rest lasted 8-10
hours in the winter. Older people have already slept for about 6 hours by
midnight so naturally they have had enough sleep. Not so for the children
who sleep "around the clock." In the summer the night's rest amounted to
4-5 hours. In the old days beds were so high that a stool was often
necessary to get into the bed. The under bed consisted of an enormous
filled straw sack over which there was a chaff sack with a radiant hemp sheet.
A chaff pillow and a feather pillow served for under the head. One covers
up with a large bedding "Bettzich" much too heavily filled with feathers which
prevent the body from perspiring. So one does not take off the socks and
goes to bed with the same underwear that was worn all day.
Unfortunately many still do today. Here there is only one room where the
whole family sleeps, often also married children. Husband and wife sleep in the
wide couple's bed which was provided with curtains and was the so-called
"Himmelbett" (4 poster bed). The curtains on the Himmelbett were also
necessary because the low windows offered a free view in the room to all the
passers-by on the street, especially when the lamp burned in the evening.
On the windows there were no curtains, venetian blinds, (Schalusienen?),
shutters, or even the wooden blinds like today. One could observe someone
exactly as he enjoyed himself watching a neighbor and during this no one was
disturbed around him.
Children often slept four in a bed. There
was also the need for a (Schuberbettladen?) for children's prayers, which was
pushed under the bed in the morning. The youths who outgrew school found a
horse stable to sleep in, often in a hammock. When these boys were older
they sought permission to stay out late in the evening. In the stable they
enjoyed themselves by smoking and playing. The big boys slept in the
stables with pride. They felt independent and considered anyone who slept
in a clean room as soft. Today the farmer's son no longer sleeps in the
stable. During the summer the farmer sleeps on the walkway with his pistol
beside him.
The beds today are lower. Each individual
also already has a mattress and also quilts in the summer, known only as
"Paplan" by us. Also there are feather under blankets which are just as
unhygienic as the heavy "Bettzichen." Almost everywhere each family member
now has his own bed, or arranged to be on such a wide bench every evening.
But it is highly reprehensible that in some homes 4-6 people sleep in 2 beds in
the kitchen while the beds were not touched in the spacious room.
