Penny For Your Thoughts
By: Nancy Whitaker
Believe it or not, some of us remember the old outhouses or as some say “privy.”
Yes, I remember going to one and when we had to brave the cold weather to “Go.” Sometimes bees or wasps would make a nest in ours and you had to be careful not to sit on one.
Prehistoric man did not have outhouses as they didn’t care much about privacy. They would go behind a bush and relieve themselves or dig a hole and go in it.
It is said that approximately 15 centuries before Christ, the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy 23: 12 -13 says this,
“Designate a place outside the camp where you can go relieve yourself. It goes on to say in your encampment have something to dig with, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.” I did not look up this scripture but found it in an article while researching outhouses.
It seems as if years ago around Halloween time, that a lot of outhouses were tipped over as a prank. Sometimes someone would be in the little building and had a hard time getting out of a tipped over John.
One Halloween, my grandma, who had 2 sons, was thanking God that her boys were home safe that Halloween night, and not getting into mischief. Ha! What granny didn’t know was her 2 innocent boys had snuck out of the house and had helped turn over several out houses in the neighborhood.
Grandma was surprised when the police came knocking on the door and it seems as if someone had spied her boys pushing over a outhouse. I am sure those 2 got a whooping and never tried that trick again.
Some people liked to decorate their privy’s. They would paint the outside and wall paper the inside. Always nearby was some corn cobs or a Sears catalogue as no one splurged and bought toilet paper at that time.
But it was in about 1878 that toilet paper was invented. At first it was sold in sheets instead of rolls. Who is credited with the creation of toilet paper? The Scott Company and until this day are producing paper products.
One interesting thing about outhouses was that Eleanor Roosevelt during her husband’s administration helped get people back to work through the WPA.
One project was to replace old outhouses with new ones and Mrs. Roosevelt supported this very much. Workmen could build an outhouse in 20 hours and even with cement floors it only cost $5.
Of course, outhouse contents needed to be cleaned out. At one time during the early years, it took 2 guys to clean the outdoor toilets. One guy would shovel and the other would somehow get the contents into a cart. They were called gong farmers. (I remember them being called honey dippers) The job was not a desirable position because of accidents and the stench.
If you recall having an outhouse you will remember how many holes yours had; going up a snowy path to use it at 2 am; and the worst thing of all …sitting on a wasp or a bee and getting stung.
There are not too many outhouses around anymore, but their use and stories they have to tell will always be remembered.
Did you have an outhouse? Did you have to go out in the cold to use it? Did you decorate your outhouse to make it more attractive?
Let me know and I will give you a Penny for your thoughts.
