This clipping came from the scrapbook of Joan Stoddart clipped from the Almonte Gazette. It was just too small to put on Facebook so I blew it up and posted it here.
Chamber pots were still used at the time of the Halifax Explosion? An average person visits the toilet 2500 times a year? Most toilets are designed incorrectly? You spend approximately 3 years of your life on the toilet?
OUTHOUSES
An outhouse is designed like a
shed, but instead of holding tools it holds a
toilet. The toilet seat inside of an outhouse was
once just a raised hole above the ground, but
then it became more. Some were built to
accommodate both adults and children so the
seat was built with varying hole sizes.
Once outhouses were built, it was discovered
that an outhouse did not need to fit only one
person, but instead could hold many. Soon
trenches were dug and outhouses built on top
to accommodate multiple users.
Then came the two-story outhouse. The bottom
toilet was installed like any ordinary outhouse,
but the upstairs one was pushed back so the
waste would fall down behind the bottom toilet
instead of landing above the lower room. It had
a separate entrance.
Since outhouses had such a pungent smell,
many were built with lids to help moderate the
smell and to try to keep the flies at bay.
Unfortunately, not all outhouses had a lid and
so many people would bring lime powder with
them when they went to the washroom to
sprinkle down the hole. This helped with the
flies and also offered a more pleasant smell.
where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun and theSherbrooke Record and and Screamin’ Mamas (USACome and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place. Tales of Almonte and Arnprior Then and Now.
lindaseccaspina 