BEDS.

Time used in making a bed is well spent. Never let yourself be persuaded
that humps and hollows are good enough for a tired man. If you cut
boughs, do not let large sticks go into the bed: only put in the smaller
twigs and leaves. Try your bed before you "turn in," and see if it is
comfortable. In a permanent camp you ought to take time enough to keep
the bed soft; and I like best for this purpose to carry a mattress when
I can, or to take a sack and fill it with straw, shavings, boughs, or
what not. This makes a much better bed, and can be taken out daily to
the air and sun. By this I avoid the clutter there always is inside a
tent filled with boughs; and, more than all, the ground or floor does
not mould in damp weather, from the accumulation of rubbish on it.

It is better to sleep off the ground if you can, especially if you are
rheumatic. For this purpose build some sort of a platform ten inches or
more high, that will do for a seat in daytime. You can make a sort of
spring bottom affair if you can find the poles for it, and have a little
ingenuity and patience; or you can more quickly drive four large stakes,
and nail a framework to them, to which you can nail boards or
barrel-staves.[9] All this kind of work must be strong, or you can have
no rough-and-tumble sport on it. We used to see in the army sometimes, a
mattress with a bottom of rubber cloth, and a top of heavy drilling,
with rather more cotton quilted[10] between them than is put into a
thick comforter. Such a mattress is a fine thing to carry in a wagon
when you are on the march; but you can make a softer bed than this if
you are in a permanent camp.