(+) The Three-Story Outhouse

The following is a true story by Dick Eastman and is offered here as a Plus Edition article.

Just by way of introduction, I want to tell you that I was raised on a farm in the small town of Dexter, Maine, about 30 miles northwest of Bangor, perhaps 40 miles south of Moosehead Lake. Dexter is a scenic little town that was supported by woolen mills and a shoe factory in those days. Nothing much ever happened in Dexter, and the residents kind of liked that.

I grew up sort of “in between generations.” That is, when I was a youngster, I lived on a farm that had no indoor plumbing. The same was true of many of our neighbors as well, although not for all of them. It was a time when many people were converting from what we call outhouses to more modern small rooms that were indoors and had modern fixtures. That is, many of our neighbors were purchasing bathtubs, sinks, and flush toilets.

My parents, however, had none of those modern facilities when I was a youngster. We didn't have a flush toilet or a bath tub. In fact, I bathed every Saturday night, whether I needed it or not, in a galvanized tub in front of the wood-burning stove in the kitchen.

Our toilet was a two-holer inside the barn, with a hinged board covering each hole. And, yes, old Sears & Roebuck catalogs were available.

My paternal grandmother had a two-story privy. When I was a youngster, I thought that was a marvelous thing. It was the only two-story privy I knew of.

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