Literature Network » Harriet Beecher Stowe

The rise and fall of the sleeping porch

Content courtesy of

From: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 19860815
Author:Walter Jowers; Eve Kahn

Not long ago, sleeping in a closed bedroom was considered trouble.

In the 19th century, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote of a child who "this morning sits up in bed with his hair bristling with crossness, strikes at his nurse and declares he won't say his prayers."

She concluded: "The child, having slept in a close box of a room, his brain all night fed by poison, is in a mild state of moral insanity." Well, Stowe may have had a gift for hyperbole, but her ideas about stuffy sleeping quarters weren't too different from those of her contemporaries.

By the turn of the 20th century, much of ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on Harriet Beecher Stowe

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.