[B-Greek] Two men in one bed?
Nichael Cramer
nichael at sover.net
Mon Jul 24 11:24:08 EDT 2006
Harold Holmyard wrote:
>[...] I heard a sermon concerning the
>reality that even in the U.S. in past generations it was not uncommon
>for brothers to share the same bed, and for similar situations to
>exist. [...]
This is pretty radically off-topic, so I'll try to be brief (and beg Carl's
indulgence),
but I feel it might shed some light (on the spirit, if not the letter) of
this on-going discussion.
Much is often made, in various forums (both on the 'net and off) of the
practice --prior to recent decades-- of adults (often strangers) sharing a
bed[*].
Certainly there are many fictional accounts that indicate how common
(and unnoteworthy) this practice might have been--the meeting of
Ishmael and Queequeg in _Moby Dick_ leaps to mind.
But one particularly useful reference for this topic is _Lincoln at
Gettysburg_,
Garry Wills' splendid account of the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery
and Lincoln's "Address".
The relevant point to the current discussion is Wills' description of the
accommodations available to those attending the ceremony. Dignitaries
--senators,
congressmen, governors, mayors, industrialists etc-- from across the Union
descended on
Gettysburg. And virtually all of them shared beds with strangers (a
notable exception
was Lincoln himself who, as president, was allowed what was understood to be
a extraordinary privilege.)
Granted that the limited rooming available at Gettysburg must have been
stretched
to the bursting point. But the fact that these sleeping arrangements
passed otherwise
without comment --and that these luminaries agreed to these arrangements--
rather
strongly suggest that such a situation was not nearly so unusual (or suspect?)
as it might appear to us today.
Nichael
[* A particular favorite of mine is the story going around a few years
back that the fact that Jane Austen shared a bed with her sister into
her 20s proved that she was a lesbian.]
--
Nichael Cramer
nichael at sover.net
http://www.sover.net/~nichael/
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