What the Flock?

Conn.: Dear Oracle: In reading an old will executed in Rhode Island, I noted that a son was given a flock bed. Could you kindly tell us what this is? A.E.G.

Answer: In this case "bed" means simply the pad such as "feather-bed," only not all old beds were stuffed with feathers. Some were stuffed with "flock," which was odds and ends of wool-combings, lint, and so on. Not a fancy article.

—Sayings of the Oracle, Yankee, April 1970.