Modern bathrooms are a relatively new convenience. Here in the small farming communities of Ontario, new homes don't get indoor bathrooms.
Building an Outhouse
Frank's new outhouse is three to four feet square by 7 feet high. Standard are single-holers, but the new luxurious double-holer will be installed. In The town of Tottenham, hotels have outhouses with a dozen holes. And at least one hotel outhouse in Fergus had a two story outhouse with a plank from the second floor going over to the second floor of the outhouse. The `droppings' fell through a 1 foot channel down past the first level into the hole.
Outhouses were easy to build. They were nothing more than a wooden shell with a roof, a floor and a front door. Inside was a 2 foot high box built into the back half that went from one side wall to the other side and came out from the back wall about two feet. In the top of this was an oblong hole about 12 inches by 10 inches. The outhouse was set over a hole that had been dug, usually about 5 feet down into the ground.
This is Frank's new outhouse sitting in his Tottenham backyard. It has to be built 1st before the house as it is a far more imposing structure.
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Do these things stink?
What kind of toilet paper did they have?
Although toilet paper may is marginally available in the General Store in Tottenham, it
didn't really catch on. People didn't know anything else, and had better things to spend
their meager cash on than this new unnecessary stuff. Generally, local people use
newspapers, the Eaton's catalog, and other magazines in the outhouse that aren't there for
reading. They tear a page out, ruffle it up to make it a little softer, then use it.
In the Summertime how were the flies kept down?
Tottenhamians really don't worry about the flies. Frank and Karen's fancy outhouse
eventually will have lids for the holes. Other, less fortunate people buy powdered lime or
sometimes lye and sprinkle it down into the hole. This also helpes the stench
considerably. One thing is for sure, wondering where that fly has been that was walking on
the dinner plate takes on a whole new meaning with an outhouse near by.
How far away from the house should the outhouse be?
Anywhere from 50 to 150 feet.
Can't Frank, Karen, and Christina do something
different in the cold winter time?
Like what? Many old timers in Tottenham and Fergus tell about their '50 yard dash' in
the middle of the night in the dead of winter, dreading putting their bare little bottoms
on that icy seat. But Frank will have `chamber pots' under his bed, as wel as in his car.
These will be used exclusively for '#1' and not '#2.' If they have to do 'that,' they
still need to run to the outhouse. In the mornings Frank has to take the chamber pot
outside and dump it, then take it to the well or creek and wash it out (never mind who
lives down-stream).
What happens when the hole under the outhouse gets
full?
Frank must dig a new hole a few feet from the outhouse, move it onto the new hole, then
take the dirt and fill in the old hole. However, some Tottenhamians get in there with a
shovel because they didn't feel like digging a new hole. (This leaves the seat just a
little messy.)
What about privacy?
Well, there isn't. Since it's a two-holer outhouse and two members of the
family can go and often can't wait -- -- well, you know, Walkerton Springs bottled
water will do that to you. People in the BIG CITY have two and three bathrooms in their
homes, but Frank, like other people in town, never thought hard enough about having two
outhouses to build another one in Tottenham.
How do I keep the dainty women folk from getting
embarrassed when going to the outhouse?
Frank knows to put the outhouse on the other side of the wood pile. Women, generally
being easily embarrassed, will stop and get wood if there are any men around. This way
Frank never has to carry wood into the house! And, Frank put the outhouse downhill,
he knows never uphill. The length of time it takes to get back
to the house doesn't matter.
And now for the most ask question - What about that
cutout of the moon on the door?
A moon and stars were used in colonial times to designate the sex of the outhouses.
Originally the moon was for women and the star was for the men. But Franks old outhousein
Fergus was usually in such disrepair, he wanted to use the Karen and Christina's outhouse
all the time. ...so, eventually he quit using the stars altogether.
Halloweening - a true outhouse story
We always had lots of fun on Halloween night when we were teen-agers. One of our favorite people was the town policeman. When us kids were out Halloweening, he stayed right at home, making sure that none of us came to do some Halloweening at his place. On Halloween in 1928, when I was 16 years old, we were down at his place trying to figure how we were going to get him and play Halloween tricks. We watched him close, and saw him come out of his house and go into his outhouse. He figured we were going to tip it over, and so he stayed out there, expecting to give us a little surprise. A friend and I got a long piece of wire off the fence. Then we told the rest of our bunch to go out and act like they were going to come in from the other side. While he was watching them, we came in from the back side, threaded that wire around the outhouse and twisted up the ends. Then we motioned for the rest of them to come and help us. They came sneaking around to where we were. When he heard us, he tried to come out to surprise us. But it was too late. It was him that got the surprise. With him in it, we tipped his outhouse over so it landed on the door. Then we all ran away. Luckily, he never found out who we were.
The funny part of it was, the next day I was in the cafe' and I heard someone talking about it. The man sitting by the table next to me said, 'There was sure something strange happen last night. I was away from home. My wife was there alone, and she heard somebody hollering. So she went out to see what it was. Here it was, the town policeman in his tipped over outhouse with his head out the hole. She couldn't get him out. So she went and told my neighbor, and he went and got someone else to lift the outhouse off him and let him out of there."
Life Around my Outhouse
As told by Alma NeitschMemory takes me back to the little house on the hill in Borkum. It had to be stationed at least 2 blocks away to protect the sensitive noses of those who lived in the area.
I was ill from eating too many of those wonderful shrimp caught in the North Sea. Once the need came to make the run up the hill. I made it up there and accomplished my mission but on the way back I ran into trouble. I awoke about half way to the house. I was lying in the path where I had fallen. I got up and everything worked so I made it back to the house. Oh, the troubles that accompanied the little house on the hill.
Another memory, unpleasant to recall: when the North Sea wind blew and the thermometer registered below -50C, the bad weather didn't stop the need to make a hurried run up the hill. The cold seat didn't help, either. We didn't linger long and the droppings froze immediately, thus making a neat pile which eventually reached the seat. In my mind's eye I can still see that neat pile that had to be tipped over quite often to make room for more deposits.
Oh the joys of the "Out House".
In the summertime the heat did a turn about on the pile. The smell really permeated the area. Thus, for a different reason, we didn't linger long. Big flies filled the interior and their happy buzzing was ever present. In my mind I could see those same flies crawling on my shrimp.
During the depression the government sent unemployed men into Borkum to build new sanitary out door toilets. It wasn't long before we had a nice new out house sitting on the hill. A cement box surrounded the hole and a nice cover was put in place that could be lifted up or closed according to the need. This new invention made the whole scene quite pleasant. But the story of the little house on the hill would not be complete without singing the praises of the old Speigel Magazine that was used with much anxiety. A far cry from the soft toilet paper we use now in Barrie.
Thank you, but, I'll just use my new toilet in the house.
Alma Neitsch
Pictures and a story about the building of the actual house will come later.
And now a brief word from the Mayor of Tottenham concerning the new residents.
I JusT waNt tO WelkuM fRanK and KareN and Kristee_NAh to our Fine towN. i No they will fYnde itt two bee even a bettER playce to Live Then Fergoose. On behaff of the TOwn of Tott-en_ham i welKum yous and hOPE Yewz Guyz have a long and HAppY life hear. If you kneed any HElp bill-ding yor howse, or deelucks owthowse plees Kall 2Guyswithatruck CoNzTuktion Kompanee, they is Xpurts in that Feeld.
2Guyswithatruck CoNzTuktion Kompanee
Call us at (905)-100-0000 we work good!
