The Outhouse

This picture is one of only a few that shows our outhouse on the farm. Of the hundreds of photographs my mother took she was always careful to keep our outhouse out of the pictures. She must have gotten caught up in photographing the young pigs that came down from our barn area to our yard. It’s out of focus, but at the upper center of the picture, it’s sure enough our out-back, down-wind gets-no-respect outhouse. 

Photo by

  
Margaret Walls  

Written by 
LeRoy Walls 
CEO 

Our outhouse was about 30 yards downwind of our house. A huge elm tree shaded it, and you reached it by following the well-worn path that started at the back porch. Our outhouse was old but sturdy. The outhouse, smokehouse, horse barn and old cow barn which we replaced in 1949, were on this 120-acre farm when Mom and Dad bought the place in 1939 for $625. They tore down the old house and built a four-room house on it before moving there in 1940.

The outhouse was made of rough sawn oak lumber. It had a diamond shaped cutout over the door for ventilation. It was a typical "two holer" with the bench at a comfortable height for adults. Going to the john was a private matter, then the same as now. The two holes were just to give a choice of sizes. One was adult sized and one slightly smaller. You used whichever one suited your fancy -- or actually the one that fit your fanny!

The view from either of these was the backside of the door -- but it could be much more than that. It could be a hideaway where you couldn’t be seen --- it could also be a place where you could see a farm day beginning, progressing or ending by looking out through the wide cracks and knotholes.

On our farm a snake would occasionally visit the outhouse. Black snakes were the most common snakes to crawl around below, on the wood floor and even up on the wall structure below the roof. They did this to check for mice and bird eggs to eat.

Like most farm boys I was so used to seeing snakes that they rarely surprised me. But glancing up from a daydream on a warm summer afternoon to see a big black snake up above you can sure speed up the decision of whether to sit or get off the pot!

There is a certain tranquillity and restfulness that an outhouse provides that is hard to find in inside bathrooms. The inside ones can, however, be made more pleasant and functional by the addition of Woodpro Personalized Bath Cabinetry.

12/31/1999