What are Comfortables?

[stormdog]

A talk with a professor reminded me of this 1858 ad for the Kenosha Water-Cure that I turned up while researching Pike Creek.

The ad notes that that "invalids will bring six crash towels, two cotton or linen sheets, a flannel blanket, and two comfortables."

What are comfortables in this context? Underwear? Something else?

Comments

[acelightning]

"Crash towels" refers to a particular kind of fabric used for utility towels. Given that the patients are required to bring towels and bedding, I would suspect that "comfortables" are pillows of some kind.

[stormdog]

Oh, interesting! I've never heard of crash. I just Googled it and read about it; I love having new bits of info! Thanks.

Comfortables as pillows; that makes sense. Someone on Facebook thought maybe it was comforters, heavy blankets. But I don't know if you'd need two of those.

[acelightning]

I suspect they do mean "comforters" (warm soft quilts, not necessarily decorative in design) Before central heating became widely used, people in places with cold winters (like Kenosha) used to rely on piles of comforters and blankets on their beds to keep them warm while they slept. People often wore bed socks to keep their feet warm, and also headgear of various kinds to reduce heat loss from the body through the head. (In "A Visit From Saint Nicholas", the narrator says that "Mamma in her kerchief and I in my cap, Had just settled down to a long winter's nap") And of course flannel pajamas and nightgowns were useful as well

[stormdog]

I just got myself a weighted blanket and it makes me really happy!

My parents house originally had one of those coal-fired passive circulation furnaces. It has a gas furnace with a blower now, but the passive cold air returns and the big heating duct registers are still there!

[anais_pf]

Soft thick quilts, to be laid under the primary bedcovering. Stuff to keep you warm in bed. Source: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=cehsdiss

[stormdog]

Ah-ha! Thanks so much!

[schnee]

Without knowing more, my first thought that it was pyjamas or so - a set of clothes you'd be comfortable in, as opposed to formal dress.

[stormdog]

That would make sense.