Today, we take bathrooms for granted.
In the house where I live, I have three of them. In my early childhood we didn't have such.
We bathed in the living room near the coal-burning stove. The water was heated on the kerosene stove in the kitchen. We bathed on Saturday night. All the children used the same water.
One night one of my sisters accidentally stepped in the pan of hot water and severely burned her foot. My father started running for the doctor, ran into the closed gate, injured himself, but managed to get the doctor. I remember that my sister was treated with "Jo-he-oil." I have no idea what that was, but it healed her burn.
No bathroom--no commodes. We had little and big white containers that we could use inside. Most of the time we went out to the outdoor toilet.
During the Roosevelt administration we had an agency called the Works Progress Administration. One of their works was to improve the outdoor toilets. During my mother's last ten years, she had one of those, and called it the "WPA."
Her bathtub was half of of a barrel, split longways. It drained through the wall out into the back yard, and water was heated in the kitchen.
In high school I had a bathroom, but no hot water heater, so again, the kitchen stove did the heating of the water. In college I had a hot water heater, but it wasn't automatic. If I was going out for the evening I would call home and ask my mother to light the hot water heater for me.
The next time you are enjoying a hot shower, realize what a luxury it would have been in my early childhood.
In the house where I live, I have three of them. In my early childhood we didn't have such.
We bathed in the living room near the coal-burning stove. The water was heated on the kerosene stove in the kitchen. We bathed on Saturday night. All the children used the same water.
One night one of my sisters accidentally stepped in the pan of hot water and severely burned her foot. My father started running for the doctor, ran into the closed gate, injured himself, but managed to get the doctor. I remember that my sister was treated with "Jo-he-oil." I have no idea what that was, but it healed her burn.
No bathroom--no commodes. We had little and big white containers that we could use inside. Most of the time we went out to the outdoor toilet.
During the Roosevelt administration we had an agency called the Works Progress Administration. One of their works was to improve the outdoor toilets. During my mother's last ten years, she had one of those, and called it the "WPA."
Her bathtub was half of of a barrel, split longways. It drained through the wall out into the back yard, and water was heated in the kitchen.
In high school I had a bathroom, but no hot water heater, so again, the kitchen stove did the heating of the water. In college I had a hot water heater, but it wasn't automatic. If I was going out for the evening I would call home and ask my mother to light the hot water heater for me.
The next time you are enjoying a hot shower, realize what a luxury it would have been in my early childhood.
4 comments:
Hey, I enjoyed the post. These are the kind of stories your kids enjoy hearing!
I remember vividly my own grandparent's outhouse and the black and white pot you describe.
Wow. I will never again take my bathroom luxuries for granted!
Yes, we are truly blessed, and we take it so much for granted. My grandma had an outhouse when we were kids, and the little white pot for during the night in cold Minnesota. Not a good memory for me!
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