Outhouses

When I was first aware of things and moving around I my own, that is walking, I learned about outhouses. They were the normal mode in my daily life. Everyone that I knew, in my limited way, had them. My great grandparents' was located off the side porch, and you could get to it without going out doors and best of all had two holes. Most had only one. My grandmother's was out back near her barn and had three holes. The whole family could go together. About this time we were getting ready to move from Phelps, NY, and the owner of our house decided to update it for the new tenants by installing inside plumbing, but we were not allowed to use it. (I never knew why) We then moved to a farm near Ithaca, and we had inside plumbing. Boy, did we feel special.

In some of the outhouses there was toilet paper, but most had the Sears catalogue, and you were supposed to use a page or two out of the catalogue. Shiny pages did not work as well. The other thing in lots of country outhouses was the insects in the summer. You had to keep an eye peeled for spiders and wasps, but generally they did not bother you. The other problem was a trip in the night when you had to go outside in the dark. Most had flashlights, but a trip in the dark can be scary for a kid. So, many had a chamber pot, which could be used in emergencies at night. Of course, in the morning you had to take the chamber pot and empty it out either outside or into the outhouse. That was no fun either. Chamber pots had many names, but my favorite was 'thunder mug'. Have you heard other names?