p. 208 | STRAW IS CHEAP by James White

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 10, 1868

STRAW IS CHEAP.

By James White

In farming communities, straw is cheap, and all those who lodge the weary and worn laborers in the Lord's vineyard, can afford to furnish a suitable amount of the very best of straw to make their beds as comfortable as straw can make it.

But it is too often the case that the preacher is deprived of a full amount of good straw on which to rest his weary limbs. The bedstead is frequently of the sort with strips of boards across it, nearly one foot apart, upon which is placed a scanty straw tick, both in length and breadth, partly filled with straw that has been worn more or less for a year, until it is broken to chowder, and sinks down between the slats, so that the restless occupant can count the slats by the distinct pains he feels in his weary body.

We suggest that the bed ticks be of liberal dimensions, both in length and breadth, so that when it is filled with a proper amount of straw it will not resemble a bag of corn, but a well-constructed mattress holding its thickness to the sides, and to the head, and foot. Then there should be a sufficient body of straw in the bed to raise the sleeper twelve inches from the slats or cords of the bedstead. The straw should be clean and sweet, and not too coarse. Oat straw is better than wheat or rye.

On a recent time after riding fifty-five miles in the cold, keen, pure air of the first of February, we were shown to a small illy-ventilated sleeping room, the air of which was polluted with the strong scent of mould. At first we felt that we could not endure it, but the hour was late, we were weary, and among strangers, so raised a window and lay down for the night, wondering where the afflicting, musty smell came from. But in the morning further investigation revealed the cause. The bed had been recently filled with musty straw. Thus the bed was prepared for two who had been incessantly traveling and speaking, doing a year's work in six months, in the wide field from Iowa to Maine. And what makes the matter more aggravating is, that this was in a locality where straw is nearly as cheap as the snowdrift.

At the next place all pertaining to the bed was neat, but the bedstead was more fitted in length and breadth for children, and was partially covered by a straw bed one foot too small in length and breadth, partially filled with straw broken to fragments, which hung down between the sagging cords. We made the cords tight for the second night, and filled the bed with soft oat straw, and when we put it on the cords with the small amount of straw therein, it had become so shortened and narrowed up that we could see nearly one foot of the cords all around, the clam-shaped puff in the center offering a poor chance for a man six feet in length. That straw bed needed at least four yards more cloth. But with the greatest care we were able to so place, and pack, and level, the straw as to make the bed comfortable for the night.

At the very next place the straw in the bed was so worn, so short, and so scarce, that you could feel every cross slat beneath it. You might go to rest weary, but wake up in pain too early, and be obliged to arise with a want of sleep. And all this for the want of a little good straw. Brethren, straw is cheap, but not the worn and weary pilgrims who visit you to labor for your good, lack good rest for the want of a suitable amount of good clean straw.

JAMES WHITE.

Re-published by request.