The revelation surprised me. Beds with curtains, I had assumed, were luxuries for the rich. Those Puritan colonists were anything but opulent. They practiced simplicity.
Turns out, those colonists weren't delving in extravagance. They surrounded their beds with curtains to keep warm.
Here are other measures they took to ward off the cold:
Embers from a fireplace were placed in a pan. Before going to bed, people rubbed the hot pan along cold sheets to warm the fabric.
Bricks were heated, wrapped in cloth, and taken into beds.
Getting up in the morning meant dressing oneself under blankets.
Suffice to say, those colonists struggled. But I'll bet they were happy. Puritans were known as well grounded people with a strong work ethic.
Perseverance in work offers more than tangible rewards. It improves one's well being.
I have endeavored to become a novelist. It's been a struggle. My first novel took years to write. The manuscript garnered rejections from agents and publishers. I shelved it.
My second novel is still in the making. Last year I brought an earlier draft to a writers workshop. The manuscript received a slew of criticisms along with positive feedback. Since then I've been working hard to improve it.
Even though I haven't succeeded as a novelist--at least not yet--I am not unhappy. Like those early colonists probably learned, happiness doesn't necessarily derive from success, but from the struggle to succeed.
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