Do you know what it is?

[mariok54]

Hi Tales,

I think that the purpose of the ring is to go over a finger, for security, pretty much like many of the little purses would have one so that the lady could slip it over their finger when they were dancing, but again only a guess   

[talesofthesevenseas]

Thanks for the additional info! That is what I suspected that they were used to hide unwelcome scents. (I have one of those old vinaigrettes and it got me to thinking about how tussie-mussies were used.) I wonder if there is anything to connect them to the old belief that posies could ward off the plague as well?

[mariok54]

Hi Tales,
Again, I'm only drawing from long distant memories of faded literature, but I'm pretty sure that for a while it was believed that they would do just that ...
Not so silly when compared to some modern-day beliefs ... 'Berlusconi is a good Prime Minister...' 

[fancypants]

As an addition to the 'stinky-ness factor' , I'll add the fact that many Victorian homes were planted with Tea Roses (often under windows that could be opened) , carnations & (one of my favorites) English Wallflowers .

A short 100 - 110 years ago , the majority of homes in the U.S. had outhouses which would really become extra pungent in the warm seasons .
Those fortunate enough to have indoor plumbing often had neighbors who did not .

My Grandmother had a tussy mussy which she would bring with her to social functions of her day (dances , tea parties & such) , and told me that many ladies in her social circle began using them (again) during the 'Spanish flu' epidemic of the early 1900's .
She used tea roses , rosemary , carnations , wallflowers , lavender & honeysuckle in hers (according to her) , as I recall .

[marcylove]

i actually dabbled in aromatherapy in college.  I have several necklaces that serve the same purpose, to alleviate headaches, stuffy noses and bad smells.  I wore them for a while, but essential oils can get expensive...

[talesofthesevenseas]

One thing to keep in mind on outhouses of the day, they were not quite as bad as the outhouses we know and love at today's  ;)large outdoor events. Not only were there far less people using them one after the other, but also back in the day a bag of lime and a cup to sprinkle some down the hole helped to make it so that it wasn't as "intense" as what we have to use at our local art and wine festivals.

[CuriousCollector]

All this outhouse talk reminds me of a letter we found among FIL's papers (dated August 28 1892), which I just transcribed for the family:

Dear Mollie
   I have had ahard time since last I wrote to you I lost my teeth and had to have some more put up and I had some pluging dun in my outhoss, I was in washing and they fell out of my mouth and sunk to the bottom of the [s?]uck, I never could fine them any more, it cost me about twenty dollars to get the work dun.  ...

[ironlord1963]

 

[waywardangler]

OMG, who would wear them after that even if they found them? 

[fancypants]

Nice story , CC !

I think the questioned/obscure letter near the end of the translation might be an 'm' , unlike the first letter I thought of .....

 

[talesofthesevenseas]

That's awesome!!!

[KC]

Love this thread!  Not only is it educational/historical...but has it's humor!  Bottom line....we are very spoiled with our luxuries today....and we don't even realize they are luxuries until we reminisce or travel to area/countries that don't have them....

I know that on old homesites....the area where the outhouses have some of the best "preserved" items of the past that were thrown out!

[mariok54]

When we bought this house (20 years ago now!!) there was an old outhouse halfway down the garden (it must have been a nightmare in the winter!!!!!). It wasn't in very good condition and had been used as a tool shed for a number of years. I decided to take it down as it caught the first rays of the morning sun and I thought 'what a great place' to have breakfast. It was brick built with a slate roof ... so I propped the ladder up against it, started easing off the slates, and next thing I knew was the whole thing was collapsing ... What I thought was going to be a whole morning's job took about 30 seconds  
The most interesting thing was that when I was clearing up the rubble (Nothing ever ends up on a skip, everything gets recycled and used for something else) ... the floor was tiled with thick old red and blue quarry tiles which I had planned to clean up and relay elsewhere....Beneat h the old quarry tiles was a floor of old Victorian Minton Tiles, in beautiful condition (once cleaned up). I sold these at Auction and made just over £300 (c $450) which actually paid for a lovely old garden table and bench, just right for breakfast  

Amazing how this has evolved from something small, beautiful and silver ... to ... something not small, beautiful and silver!!! It's a bit like a dinner party conversation after a few bottles have been emptied!

[KC]

Great story Mario54

[talesofthesevenseas]

I could make the worst joke about something being "built like a brick *$@& house", but I shall refrain... LOL. 

Here in the USA I have only seen them made out of wood, never brick and tile! That's really cool! You might want to excavate that site someday. A lot of times interesting artifacts are excavated from very old outhouse sites. People used to throw all kinds of things down there- bottles, jars, toys etc.