I asked about the lines:
>> For needs must scrape the goose-flesh with a lacerating cob,
>> That from a frost-encrusted nail hung pendant by a string.
>> My father was a frugal man and wasted not a thing.
and Dan Mouer responded:
>I think a nice stack of dried cobs in the corner--or the practice of
>taking ones own to the outhouse-- was the norm. I've never heard of
>reusables <G>
But that is what gets me ... it seems that the pit would soon fill up with
these bulky, dried and slow to decompose cobs - it doesn't make any sense
unless you had an easy way to clean the pit or box out and had a regular
regimen for doing so. Has anyone found cobs in filled privy pits to give
archaeological evidence of this "reuse"?
Dan W.